two pane outliner question

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Posted by ndodge
Jul 31, 2011 at 03:08 AM

Hi, I asked a similar question a few years ago without much luck. I generally like one-pane outliners (still use Ecco a lot). However, a one-pane outliner doesn’t work for me very well if I get too many items in it. What I’d like, is an outliner where you can do outlining in a main pane but then switch between outlines using a second pane (e.g., a navigation pane to the left of the main pane), where the second pane either supports outlines, or as an acceptable alternative, a folder/tree type structure. I realize Ecco can do this to a point, but I want to try something different. I thought I saw one in a Google results search a few days ago, but didn’t look at it in detail, and now I can find what I was looking at.

Thanks,
Nathan

Posted by JBfromBrainStormWFO
Jul 31, 2011 at 06:16 AM

This is an interesting question to me, because it highlights what I perceive to be the insufficiency of the one-,two-, and three-pane outliner distinction.

Here’s how I understand the definitions:
one-pane - a basic outliner, like MS Word, MaxThink or OmniOutliner
two-pane - distinguishes between entry titles and entry bodies. entry titles are sorted in left pane, in a tree structure. entry bodies are edited on the right pane. E.g. Tree Notes.
three-pane - adds attributes to each entry in addition to title and body text. attributes editable in third pane(s). E.g. Ultra Recall.

OP, you can find a list of two- and three-pane outliners here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outliner

Here’s where I’m confused - the Wikipedia entry talks about hybrid one- and two-page outliners. These allow you to see the bodies of multiple entries in the right pane while viewing the parent navigation tree in the other pane.

So how does one classify BrainStormWFO? It is not a true one-pane outliner, it seems to me, since you can’t expand to view the children of multiple entries in a single pane. And also, you can view multiple panes at once, allowing you to see the parent level next to the child level, much like a two-pane outliner. But it is not a two-pane outliner, in that it lacks distinction between titles and bodies.

So perhaps it’s an odd type of hybrid one- and two- pane outliner? It does both less than the traditional hybrid the wiki describes, since it auto-hoists, and more, since you can theoretically open an unlimited number of hierarchical panes.

Posted by JBfromBrainStormWFO
Jul 31, 2011 at 07:17 AM

In the interest of avoiding the appearance of threadjacking for commercial purposes, let me point out that there are several other programs that defy the conventional categories:

MaxThink - the volume sorting capacity makes me unwilling to lump it in with all the other single-pane outliners, despite the identical layout
org-mode - a text processor outliner capable of multiple panes, with GTD and hotkey sorting support
personalbrain - not an outliner at all, but a mindmap database webber
others?

I’m working on a page that explores these differences, but I won’t link to it for the aforementioned reason.

I think a discussion of this category system would be useful, since the OP’s somewhat vague description of what he was looking for forced me to think about it.

Posted by Stephen Zeoli
Jul 31, 2011 at 10:38 AM

Nathan,

If I understand your question correctly, you want to be able to organize a collection of smaller outlines, each of which can be stored in categories. Essentially an outline of outlines. If this is the case, I think your options are limited, but there are options.

There’s an older application called InfoStore. It is still available, but not being developed. In your outline, you could create a text note or an list note. The list note could have hierarchy. Here’s the link: http://www.mhsoftware.co.uk/infostore/infostore_main_details.htm

Then there is Debrief Notes, which has a folder structure in which you can store many kinds of notes, including an outline note. I wrote about Debrief on my blog. Here’s that link: http://welcometosherwood.wordpress.com/2011/04/25/a-brief-look-at-debrief/

In MyInfo (and likely other options that are not coming to mind at the moment) you can have several outlines open at once accessible via separate tabs, but I don’t think that’s exactly what you’re looking for. But you could jury rig this, somewhat, by making one of your outlines a list of your other outlines, and create hyperlinks to them. I used to do this with the DOS program GrandView. Worked pretty well, actually.

Hope this is of some help.

Steve Z.

Posted by JBfromBrainStormWFO
Jul 31, 2011 at 03:03 PM

Ok, I found the answer to my question, in vast detail, here: http://www.sqlnotes.net/drupal5/index.php?q=node/1506

It’s from outlinersoftware.com originally

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