Review: Outline Tracker 19

Herb Parsons checks in with an excellent review of Outline Tracker for webOS!

One of the things I've missed on my Palm Pre is is a good ToDo list. As long time users of Palm devices are well aware, our calendar integrated Tasks from the PalmOS is gone on the Pre, and was replaced with ... well, not much really. The Tasks application that comes with the Pre and Pixi seems a bit anemic at best. With limited features and little to no integration with other apps, it's become one of the "forgotten features" of my Pre. After 7 months, it looks like patience may have finally paid off for those of us looking and waiting for something more. Outline Tracker from Hominid Software (also available in a free version) will be a welcome relief for many WebOS users.

Don't let the "outline" moniker fool you; if you've been looking for a ToDo program, a Tasks list, or even a Project Management application, this is likely an app that will be of interest to you. In short, it's a simple way for people to organize and present their thoughts and plans.

I had previously been a big fan of Brainforest for the PalmOS, working through several iterations and using both the mobile version on my Treo and the desktop application on my Windows PC. When Outline Tracker first appeared on the App Catalog, it struck me that it looked vaguely like my old friend from PalmOS days. I was ready to jump, then saw the price tag = $23.50. I was hesitant to spend that much on a program I wasn't familiar with, from a publisher that I also was not familiar with. I traded a few emails with the author, and found that he was working on a limited trial version, and that he was partially inspired by my old friend Brainforest. I initially planned on waiting for the trial version, but the more I looked at features, the more I felt this program would work for me. I finally decided I'd taken bigger risks before, so I bit the bullet and spent the $23.50. It was definitely the right move for me.

Integration with WebOS

As stated earlier, don't dismiss this program because of the name. Yes, at its core, it is an outline program; but because the author added additional settings to the items in the outlines, it can be used for much more. Any entry can have a date setting, either "all day" or with a specific time set. An entry can also be set as a task. If set as a task, in addition to the date and time settings, the task can have a "place" set (more on this below), person responsible for completion, and a check tick to show whether it has been completed. Finally, any entry can have subordinate entries.

These added settings are what make the app a multifunction tool. Using a combination of the settings, the app can be used for something as simple as a Christmas list, or as complex as a project management tool with collaboration through the cloud. In between are tasks lists that only show the next item when a required task is complete, traditional outlines, and even categorized notes. I set up one "location" as Random Thoughts, and use that for categorizing small notes when I'm stuck in traffic. The possibilities are almost endless, and can be as simple or as complex as the user desires.

One of the things that impressed me with Outline Tracker is that it is truly a WebOS application. I always like a program that has small, but well thought out touches. For instance, when I added my Basecamp account and entered my login credentials, instead of just telling me it was unsuccessful, the application asked me if I had enabled API within Basecamp (I hadn't) then provided me the steps to do so. Task responsibilities are color coded so it can easily be seen which ones you, or someone else, are responsible for. But the author has gone beyond simple added touches, and incorporated a host of WebOS features into the application. Add a subordinate item to an existing one, and the small blue square becomes a large blue square. Expand an item with subordinates to show them, and the blue square becomes a stack of blue squares, and does it with very smooth animation. Collapse it, and the smooth animation returns the stacked squares into a single square. Nice. In addition, the interface is large, easy to select items, and flows well. Especially nice for my aging eyes.

Further WebOS integration shows up in other features. The app itself shows up as a Calendar source, so items with a date and time show up on the Calendar at the appropriate time, and tasks with a date but no set time show up as all day events. If a task needs to be completed by someone else, you can select that person from your contact list. Later, when checking under the Waiting category, you can tap that person's name, and the person's Contacts page comes up so you can text, call, or email them. Again, nice.

I also like the "hidden superior" feature. If I make one task a subordinate of another, the "superior" task doesn't initially show up on my task list. When the task is marked complete, the next task up the list auto-magically appears. I'll say it again, nice.

Finally, there's the cloud. What WebOS application would be complete without the cloud? An additional feature of Outline Tracker is that it's set up out of the box... OK, out of the OTA, to work with your account on 37Signal's Basecamp web-based project collaboration tool. I can't speak to how well the application integrates, since I wasn't a Basescamp user before I got the application, but it appears to be very functional. It also gave my wife and I a cloud solution to tasks & memos (see the Basecamp note below). Even though Outline Tracker works over the air with Basecamp, the data is all stored locally. If you don't have a network connection at the time of an edit, changes are saved then uploaded later.

Basecamp allows a single project multi-user account for free. I set up an account that my wife and I use with a single project - Shared. We can put tasks, shopping lists, birthday lists (with notes), etc. in the single never-ending "project", and we now have a very nice tasks system that lives in the cloud. She's happy - though I'm still wondering what I've done...

You can "get things done" on your Pre or Pixi now as well. I'd be remiss without mentioning that the author designed much of the functionality of Outline Tracker around David Allen's Getting Things Done® methodology. Hominid even has a web page describing functions within Outline Tracker that matches (or can be substituted for) GTD® methodologies.

Shortcomings

Obviously, no program is perfect. I was initially very disappointed that there was no desktop program to work in conjunction with the app. Two things have mitigated this for me to a large degree. First, the program uses a standards based XOXO format; and I'm hoping to find an existing application that uses the same format, or to see one created. Secondly, as mentioned earlier, the interface design makes it very easy to use - easier than I initially thought it would be. I may just discover that I don't need a desktop program.

I have two other major issues. You currently cannot drag and drop items to reorder them; though the author has said that will be a feature coming in the future. Also, there is no integration with more "mainstream" PIMs (Google and Outlook). I'm not so sure this one will be as easily overcome, but it would be nice.

There are a host of other small issues as well; alarms and notifications would be nice, I'd like checked items to not show on the calendar, but these are minor to me and probably amount to polish more than anything else. I suspect as the application is used and Hominid receives feedback, we'll see these improvements.

Price

One final note about the price. At $23.50, this is (currently) the second most expensive application in the App Catalog. I was briefly put off, but that was more because the price was from an unknown (to me) author, rather than the actual expense. The price is less than the lowest fee for one month of the Bascamp subscription. I also paid much more than this for my PalmOS copy of Brainforest, and Outline Tracker is far more functional. Finally, in spite of the current "$1 throwaway app" environment, WebOS users have to come to terms with the fact that if we want quality business apps, we are going to have to pay for them. I feel the application was worth the price, even though it's ultimately going to to cost me twice as much, since I'll be buying a copy for my wife. I think most users looking for this type of program will feel the program is worth the price and fills the need nicely.

Here are some related websites readers may want check out:

Outline Tracker - http://www.outlinetracker.com

Basecamp - http://basecamphq.com

David Allen's Getting Things Done® - http://www.davidco.com/

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Update: Outline Tracker's developer let us know that drag-to-rearrange is coming very soon.