Congrats on the new version! Officially a customer now and some suggestions

[iLiAS]

Andrey and all,

Congrats on the new version! It looks great! Andrey is definitely doing
some really great work here, and congratulations to everyone who
contributes with ideas, suggestions and testing (especially Bob "ratz"
who has and continues to contribute greatly and to help all us newbies
here.)

And to put my money where my mouth is, I am now officially a registered
user. It always feels good to pay money to something that's truly worth
it. Congrats Andrey and here's hoping for a lot of success for you!

Now, a couple of suggestions (couldn't have a post without some of
those, e? Damn us "end-users".. always want want want) :)

Ok, my biggest issue with MLO right now (and it's getting bigger along
with my outline) is managing it--managing the outline.

Of course this is not new. We have struggled with this usability issue
in the windows file system forever. There have been some attempts that
helped, at least.

For example, I have always used dual-pane file managers. This is really
helpful when you have a lot of moving-around file management to do. You
basically have two copies of the outline, which makes it easier to copy
and move files and folders. Could something similar be done to MLO in
the future or this would confuse things? Food for thought.

Another thing is the ability to select and copy (or cut) multiple
tasks, something that is not possible today. I think the <Control> key
should work in MLO just as it works in Windows and many other apps.
Most users know and use this facility.

A third suggestion involves the *very* rapid entry of tasks. Rapid and
*mindless*. This, for me, is *critical*. Why? Because sometimes I am in
the middle of something else (working in another program), and I think
of something I have to do. Then, I have to open or switch to MLO, go to
the place in the outline where I want to input the task, select the
parent, hit Alt-Ins and then type it. Too many steps, I may be very
absorbed in what I was doing and there have been times where by the
time I decided to go through this procedure I had already forgotten
what the task was! (Worse, I may get lazy and procrastinate to do it.)

So...here's what I would suggest: A keyboard combination that would
bring up a small window--a dialog box with a textbox in it that would
immediately get the focus. Type the task/thought, hit <ENTER> and bam!
The task would go to somewhere in the outline, perhaps the same place
where tasks entered in Outlook get synched to--mine is called {INBOX}.
It's my "in basket" or "collection bucket" as David Allen puts it.

That way, anything that comes to mind gets *immediately* and
*effortlessly* added to MLO, and then we can go back at a later time
and arrange it and organize it in the outline. (Perhaps that dialog box
*could* have a Places inbox, as that is the most immediately important
task attribute).

Lastly, reminders. When you work on the PC long hours, reminders can be
necessary. I still have no good solution to this. Outlook offers
reminders, but they are a pain to use (too many steps). They are not
practical.

It's all about workflow. Say I am on the phone with a co-worker or a
client. We talk for a while, things get promised and committed, I need
to have a way to rapidly enter them. If he says "Ok, let me talk to Jim
first and call me in about an hour or so", I need to write that down
and set a reminder, or else I *know* I will forget it. I use a separate
reminder for this now, but I'd rather not have my data and tasks spread
in different apps, as that stresses me out (that damn ADD).

Reminders are an essential feature for any task management application,
and I think they would be a wonderful addition to MLO.

I have more suggestions and ideas.. but that's it for now :)

Cheers,

-ilias.

[shtreimel]

I love the quick entry idea. And the copy/cut/paste functions is
something I'd appreciate as well.

[Richard Musselwhite]

I like these ideas, too.

[jpjsmith]

A wish to add my vote to the quick entry functionality!

Jeff Smith

[Sean Harvell]

Ditto on the quick entry from a fellow ADD brother.

For now:
Currently I have a top-level <Inbox> node and I keep focus on that
entry. As I am working and the idea/task arrives I will rapid 2 step it
-- Win-A then Alt-Ins (or just INS if I am already under <inbox>).

Also the inbox is the last node of my tree so in the event <Inbox> no
longer has focus I wil F6+{END} to reset focus to <inbox>.

-Sean

[Andrey Tkachuk (MLO)]

"The *very* rapid entry of tasks" is one of the most useful feature I
will add soon. It is already in the list. I'll have to find time to
update the list on the web.

I have also added all your suggestions in the list which were not
there.

Thanks Ilias for great post.

Andrey.

[David Rees]

Is anyone else seeing this? Whenever a dialog box is open in MLO (it goes
modal) it removes itself and the dialog box from the task bar. So you can't
use the task bar, Alt-Tab, or other methods to get back to it. So you end up
having close all your non-MLO windows until its exposed again.

d

[Andrey Tkachuk (MLO)]

Yes I know this behavior. Actually if you open *modal* dialog in MLO it
removes itself from Alt-Tab list only. However it is still in the Task
Bar. So you have to click on Task bar and then on MLO window to bring
this modal dialog back on the screen.

Please confirm if it is also removed from *TaskBar* and let me know
your settings and steps to reproduce it.

The reason of this side effect is that I had to create all the MLO
windows (main, rapid dialog) independent so that they all have their
own button in the task bar.

Andrey.

[David Rees]

Your right, its still in the TaskBar, but it's not in the Alt-Tab list. Can
we leave it there also?

Thanks,

d

[Andrey Tkachuk (MLO)]

If I knew how to do it it would be already done :)

I do not like it myself and will investigate when have time.

Thanks,
Andrey.

[Andrey Tkachuk (MLO)]

>Your right, its still in the TaskBar,
>but it's not in the Alt-Tab list. Can we leave it there also?

This is fixed. It is in the Alt-Tab now. Will be available with new
update soon.