Zavala - An open source outliner for Macs, iPads, and iPhones

Posted by Maurice Parker
Jan 5, 2024 at 09:29 PM

I released Zavala 2.1 and did several smaller bug fixes to it. Hot behind it is Zavala 2.2. Some of the code that is in 2.2 I already had written before I released 2.1, so this one is coming out faster than usual.

Probably the new feature most requested is Focus (Hoisting). I’d really like to get some feedback on if I missed some feature of Focus or just about the design in general. I didn’t look at a lot of other outliners to create it, only Bike, and may have missed the mark. The implementation isn’t much like Bike’s except for the keyboard shortcuts. I think my interpretation fits well with Zavala’s clean and easy to use approach, but a developer never knows until someone else has tried it out.

Settings were rewritten to make it easier to add them. They look more like the newer style used on the Mac for Settings, so it could be a little controversial to some. I personally like it and especially like the fact that the code is now shared between the Mac and iOS.

Another new feature that I think is original is Automatically Change Link Titles. If you paste a web link into Zavala, it will go out to the web and grab that links page title and replace the text of the link with it. I find this very helpful when doing research, say for Christmas or something else I would like to buy. This feature is opt-in, per outline, since you might be a researcher working on a sensitive subject. In that case, you might not want your outliner going out and making web requests that could falsely incriminate you. There is a global app setting to make it default to on for new outlines.

A couple other little things. You can now disable animations in the Outline Editor. The Editor width is now restricted to a readable width. Word count is available under an Outline’s Get Info dialog. And of course, some bug fixes.

If you would like to help test and shape Zavala, just use the link below. I take feedback seriously and most of these 2.2 features come from community feedback.

https://testflight.apple.com/join/iFbND23m