Re: MORE 3.1 lives in OS X

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

Outliners.com Message ID: 4624

Posted by srdiamond15
2005-11-25 19:39:12

Ted Goranson provides an in-depth comparison of the two major OS X power outliners: OmniOutline and Tau. (http://www.atpm.com/11.10/atpo.shtml)

Ted says Omni and Tau embody different design philosophies. Omni starts from the interface and implements features in such a way so to further the basic design. Tau starts with the features deemed important and organizes them into an interface. In theory, this difference is supposed to express a lot of what’s different between Windows and the Mac, except—as Ted also points out—few Mac apps, including those produced by Apple, really embody this design philosophy. As between Tau and Omni, part of this difference comes down to emphasizing the mouse in Omni and allowing any manner of keyboard mapping of commands in Tau.From the pictures, Tau seems to me to be a NoteMap on steroids, to use a cliche I usually try to avoid. Those who unlike me have a first hand familiary with GrandView might be interested in comparing it to Tau.

It’s disconcerting that there is no Windows outliner with power comparble to Tau. The only Windows application that I know of with comparble ambitions is ADM, but, to put it bluntly, Tau makes all the right design choices where ADM blunders: multiple tree undo and inline text (combined with the option for a panel view). I agree with Ted that inline text is essential for an outliner used for writing. On the features Ted considers essential for a modern outliner—cf. my modest multiple undo command and mark and gather—“I demand this. Links, styles, and outline hierarchies are the three ways we have to weave text. No outliner does this as well as I require, and each forces compromises on workarounds.”

Guess what Tau sells for—approximately $40. Compare this to $129, with a price hike in the offing for ADM 4.

It may be that it’s easier to create outlining software for the Mac, and perhaps we can hope this will change with Vista. For me retreating to the Mac isn’t an option because of the lack of specialized software on that platform. Reading the MacAttorney just makes me realize how deficient the Macintosh is in the legal field.

Finally, a paean to outlining that I can fully agree with from Ted: “It is exactly because outlining appears so ordinary; I believe outlining packs the most complexity of relationships in the most accessible of user interface notions. It is an ideal graphical superposition on (usually) the narrative text-based document model.”

Stephen R. Diamond

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