Summary: Omnioutliner has just gone to 3.0; look and feel are terrific. There are many new features and a nicely improved look and feel. My greatest excitement is over the ability to export home developed many featured outlines--in the form of dynamic html. After tipping my hat to Notebook (another outline-oriented CMS manager) I'll say a few words about the wonders Omnoutliner's dynamic outline as a knowledge communication tool.
Want a homegrown CMS? NoteBook is definitely worth a look. (I just checked out the site and noted MacWorld and MacAddict ratings). It appears to be working the personal knowledge organization turf, too. However I'll be staying with my longtime favorite Omnioutline. OO is great by itself and as augmented by working with OmniGraffle, drawing/graphing/charting, etc. software. I plan to stay with it for quite a while, not so much because I'm conservative about change (I'm the usual fickle software consumer) but more as a result of it's expanded feature set, particularly the saving of outlines as dynamic html.
Outline Formatting in Dynamic Html
Any outline can be published and subsequently accessed as an html file. Thus it is readable by any browser.
To me, the really exciting outline is the dynamic one (dynamic means that it can interact with the reader, even in html format). The appearance and content of a html version of a published outline can be altered, revealing more or less information, as suits the needs of the user, and as dictated the information and layers of the outline.
Take, for example, a course syllabus, the in-depth reference to the content and role related responsibilities of a university course. At first the user of the dynamic outline would see the major headings and nothing else. One of those headings might be "Course Paper" and one its subheadings (revealed by clicking on the original, top level heading) might be “Specifications for Final Paper”. The user clicks, in turn, on that heading and sees those subheadings. For this hypothetical student we'll say that most of the "Specifications for the Final Paper" make sense (or are not presently of concern) but “Citation Format” catches the users eye. S/he therefore clicks on that heading and it expands to reveal citation requirements in full detail. The user gets the information s/he wants with a few mouse clicks.
The full dynamic outline (with more details than any user wants at any given time) is an information source that can be as varied in its faces and uses as the interests of its readers and their varying sense of interest and need. Each user will be able to read the outline in unique manner, one dictated by many factors. The gift of the dynamic outline (as opposed to the one that is fully and permanently expanded) is that it only reveals the areas in which the user indicates (via clicks of mouse) active interest. Thus this altered presentation of the same material is less likely to distract, or overwhelm. It reacts supportively rather than sitting there in full [read as intimidating] “majesty”.
It almost goes without saying that the information imbedded in this marvel of user-responsiveness has to be detailed enough to be responsive to the needs of any user, at any point in their interaction with the outline’s focus. Also, assuming that the information provided is sufficient to these needs, it needs to be accessible for the average user; in other words, the headings and subheadings, etc., need to be good sign posts for users of widely varying sophistication, not just the developer.
*This one based on Marc Barrot’s activerenderer (see http://www.activerenderer.com/outlines/AR/activeRenderer.html for both a dynamic outline example and an explanation of the dynamic outlining process). Marc is a familiar friend to any who use RadioUserland's outlining features.
