ADM Focus Mode

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Note: This message is from the outliners.com archive kindly provided by Dave Winer.

Outliners.com Message ID: 2162

Posted by srdiamond15
2004-08-27 20:53:04

ADM, I just discovered, actually has a focused mode that functions like BrainStorm. That is, in focused mode you have a hoisted topic and its descendents. From there you can move directly in only one of two directions with a single keystore: you can hoist a selected descendent or you can hoist the parent of the presently hoisted topic.

If ADM has all of the functionality of BrainStorm, this would make a good argument for using it as opposed to BrainStorm, since ADM has additional functionalities and is set up to function as a database, giving you a place to keep what you have organized. Does it?

Well, the keystrokes are different. Brainstorm uses the right and left arrow key, whereas BrainStorm uses home and end. They seem equally accessible and intuitive, but some users might have conflicts.

The way they handle data is different. ADM allows you to append in a text card, append by attachment, or insert directly in the outline. Only the last is available in BrainStorm, but BrainStorm is probably better about the insert process. It automatically breaks down the inserted matter, turning paragraphs into topics. ADM inserts the text as one topic. So if you want to manipulate the matter _in_ the text, BrainStorm could be better. For long documents the BrainStorm approach to text would be apt to overwhelm.

But these are tangential factors, because the focused mode is particularly good for brainstorming and pure outlining. Here BrainStorm has one overwhelming advantage. It has implemented unlimited or practically unlimited undo for ANY action in BrainStorm. ADM has only a limited undo function for text and NO undo function for reorganization of topics.

ADM Development has given a high priority to implementing unlimited undo for reorganization. I would speculate, however, that doing this isn’t technically trivial. If it were, I think this useful functionality would be seen more often, instead of being available only in the MS products, BrainStorm, and NoteMap—which are also generally the most technically polished products.Unlimited undo may function not only as a vital functionality in its own right but also as a marker for general technical competence.

I’m impressed, nevertheless, with ADM’s implementation. It did the focused view right—imo exactly right. But its usefulness, at least to me, depends almost entirely in putting a universal undo in place.

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