Obviously I’d use v2. It’s not jus the updated look and feel, but the forecast view is a feature I couldn’t live without anymore…
Corentin
It’s too early for me to evaluate it very well, but a couple of things standout that I really like. I’ve been waiting for the Forecast mode for a long time, and it will make my work flow much easier. Also, having the inspector as a side bar on the right is really helpful. With OF 1 I did like the ability to have a different themes.
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This post reflects my views exactly. I’ve just been using OF2 for a few hours, and my first impressions are Forecast is great (been waiting for this since I saw it on the iPad) - it really helps my workflow. Very much missing styles customization though - I’d like to be able to compact some of the views, change fonts, colors, etc.
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I absolutely love the design of v2. I had stopped using OmniFocus 1 (I used it from the first beta until ~2011), because it was just such a chore to use. The new version is a huge improvement. And there’s a lot less fiddling to the UI possible (or even necessary).
The new beta is MUCH MUCH MUCH better than the first round, which I ended up trying for a few builds and then just abandoning ship altogether and using Reminders for a while (which wasn’t particularly great).
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Creating perspectives in OF1 was a bit of a mystery when I first started using. However, I learned how to use it after reading some blog posts somewhere. Adding perspective icons to the toolbar was not intuitive unless you were a Mac geek who knew to control-click the toolbar to customise the toolbar. So, a lot of the power features were kinda kept behind the curtain unless you read a blog post explaining some of the semi-hidden power features.
Now, perspectives in OF2 feels much more straightforward and more accessible. It’ll take some getting used to but I think newbies might be able to create their own perspectives more easily.
The first OF2 private test was very strange and the design language was very unfamiliar. It introduced new UI elements that I didn’t recognise before from an iOS 7 or Mac OS X viewpoint. The new private test actually builds upon the experience I learned from OF1 for Mac and OF2 for iPhone. It uses elements that I’m familiar with now. The new circle checkboxes from OF2 for iPhone, the Forecast from OF1 for iPad, and the new righthand inspector from other programs like Apple Pages or Numbers. Building upon previous experience helps to ease the transition from one version to another version. That was very helpful. I’m grateful for the new UI.
I think the colours do need a bit more contrast and pop. iOS 7.1 now has a preference setting for “Increase Contrast”. Maybe this will help? I know that I do have to struggle to see small things such as the note icon. Is there a note entered for this task?
I don’t necessarily like to see OF2 take over my whole screen. So I do shrink the window width down but I do keep the maximum height.
Overall, OF2 for Mac is looking good.
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All positive for me so far.
- The forecasts view is my fist port of call each day.
- I love theoption of having the inspectors window permanently open on the right
hand side bar. - Really love that when I select a task to which I have attached multiple documents, I can view each of those documents in that right hand sidebar without losing the data density in my tasks lists.
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Overall, v2 is very nice. And a drastic improvement over last years betas! :P As such, it is useable in its current version, and I am trying to use only v2 (however, find myself switching back to v1 to check things)
Am loving the new lease of life perspectives have in v2; the access, design and capabilities are brilliant. Also liking the inspect view being sticky.
However, the aesthetics of v2, generally, are worse. Making it quite difficult to find, view and therefore act upon actions, in comparison to v1.
In this, I mean that v1 was tight, compact and clear (different actions had different colours and line spacing was configurable); allowing me to view long lists quickly and completely. Conversely, v2 has large open expanses of white space, large rows and no colouring; meaning I get to see less of my actions, with their info spread thinly over a wall of white, and no idea if it is next action or single action (blocked are greyed text, so there is some visibility there).
Overall, the design framework is better, much better. But, I feel there needs to be the clarity that v1 had, which came mainly from style capabilities.
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I don’t think I could go back to v1 now. V2 is so much more visually appealing and cleaner. But the biggest advantage I get out of it is that with the new 2 line format (as apposed to the columns of v1), it now renders perfectly when I go from displaying OF on a thunderbolt display and then undock and use it on the laptop display. With the old version, the change in resolution used to play havoc with the columns and window size. This v2 beta seems to transition between the two perfectly.
Also, a big thumbs up to the UX improvements over the previous beta. This is miles ahead of that and a great credit to your designers.
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OF 2 is a major improvement in terms of consistency. Using OF 1 after adding tasks in OF 2 for iPhone I felt like riding a horse after sitting on a motorcycle. I don’t know if the position of the “checkboxes” is an improvement with respect to Fitts’ law, but it uses space more efficiently and makes me feel at home when switching between the iOS and OSX app.
BTW: I like this discussion board!
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I’m 100% in OF2, now that Perspectives have made it in. I like the aesthetic (personal taste), and additions like the Forecast view are great. I would like more control over data density and maybe some over look and feel (styles?).
OF2 has been fantastic so far, The data density isn’t really a problem for me when it comes down to actually doing work (imagine that), as I have deferred most things I don’t want in my today perspective, so theres only about 5 actions most of the time.
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I agree with a previous commenter about nested actions though, these are not defined enough for me, and it can feel a little bit of a chore when i’m in project view. I think this is due to the checkbox not providing a visual queue by being on the right side.
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I still feel a little uneasy with the checkbox being on the right side rather than the left side, I’m not used to it in OF2 for iPhone yet. Would like an option to switch this, but definitely a nitpick thing.
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Quick Open is incredible, I love it, and it has become muscle memory already.
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I would actually like the option to have more colour if i’m honest, I would like to be able to assign a colour to a context, and see that colour in the words in any views.
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I’m loving version 2. Finding some niggly things — some of which will undoubtedly get changed/fixed, some not — but overall I think you guys have already delivered something very, very nice, and well-polished. Congrats.
Overall its really good and sure will be great once ready for prime time.
Importantly 24hrs in and OF2 beta v2 is already my go to, mostly due to forecast view.
Thats including a few crashes, tweaks & polish would like to see ( more on that once spent more time ).
OF2 beta v1 didn’t stick like this, largely due to performance, crash issues but also as just didn’t warm to it, so used OF1 as default through that phase… not been back to OF1 at all today.
Great work all round.
Reminder: This thread is asking for overall impressions of v2 and whether you’re using it in preference to v1. If a post doesn’t answer either of these questions then it belongs in a different thread.
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Started using it right away with a sync to my database. No problems. Perspectives work just fine and I like the easy access to settings. Waay too much white space, spacing between related items is too big and item delineation is not as crisp. Right hand check boxes means I use the space bar instead of mousing but it’s familiar from iOS. Review will bring me back to the laptop from the iPad for this task. New features make it a plus, design change is not so compelling.
