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outline posts

Filed under: Text, Office, Web services, web 2.0

Create simple, shared outlines with Loose Stitch


Sorting out all the ideas floating around inside our heads can be a real ordeal. One of the tools that I rely on is a good outlining program - like web-based Loose Stitch.

Loose Stitch is wonderfully easy to use. Just create a new outline, assign a password, and you're ready to start brainstorming. To get your team members involved, send them the URL and password you chose and they're ready to contribute. The editor's features are intentionally kept to a minimum and working with it is hassle-free.

Outlines can imported from and exported to OPML files, and can also be embedded on your own site. You can also download plain text, HTML, and DHTML versions of your creations via the share tab.

Pro plans are available and start at a modest $25 per year. You'll have access to a number of additional features, like centralized management of all your outlines and file attachments/hosting. Your mates won't be left out in the cold if you upgrade - free users can still access and contribute to your pro outlines.

Filed under: Macintosh, Office, Productivity, DLS Interviews

Tree: slick outlining app for OS X


Tree is a novel, lightweight outlining and organizing app for OS X. It's similar to apps like OmniOutliner, but with an important twist: the "Treeview" mode turns your outline horizontal, so new lower-level items branch out to the right instead of down. Tree handles traditional outlines, too, with customizable labels, fonts and numbering.

Aside from the main selling point -- the horizontal Treeview -- Tree can also open and export outlines in OPML format, which means you won't have any trouble sharing with people who use most other outline apps, and you can also check out your favorite existing outlines in Treeview. Because Tree is meant to be lightweight, it doesn't have a lot of frills: custom fonts, colors and numbering are available, but that's about it.

All in all, it's a well-done app, but it also sports the same $40 pricetag as OmniOutliner, which I think is still the dominant Mac app in this category. Do you have another favorite outline app? Let me know in the comments.

Filed under: Productivity, Web

Checkvist: collaborate on checklists and outlines


Checkvist is a free, multi-user list-making site that's extremely easy to use. The signup is quick, you can make a new checklist with one click, and the keyboard commands are all listed down the right side of the screen. You can drag and drop, import and export checklists and collaborate with other users.

Checkvist is no OmniOutliner (or whichever other commercial outline software you like), but if your main concern is finding a fast, collaborative, web-based option, it will work for you.

The first thing I noticed about Checkvist is how intuitive the keyboard shortcuts are. Want to move something down in the hierarchy? It's tab, just as you'd expect.

If you don't want to do everything by keyboard, you can hold shift to drag-and-drop items. Adding notes is also easy, and they're clearly labeled so you can tell who added them to a collaborative outline. Overall, using Checkvist is a painless experience.

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So, just how good at time waster games are you? Think you've got the stuff? Well, The World's Hardest Game 2.0 doesn't think you do. Yes, amazingly, it's possible to have a sequel to a game called "The World's Hardest Game". It doesn't seem logically possible, since if the first one was actually the world's hardest, how could another one come along and share the moniker? It made me doubt the name in the first place. That is, until I tried the game. The mechanics of the game are very simple. You are a small red square, ...

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