After spending a day on OmniFocus 2, I am going back to OmniFocus 1, with these quick thoughts:
Great stuff
Love the quick open (best new feature by far)
glad to have inspector integrated into the view
Forecast and Review are welcome additions to OF2
Areas for improvement
I’m not really sure if it is data density, checkboxes on the right, general fonts and typeface related choices, or the icons, but I second the general thought that I am seeing my lists less clearly than before (when i think we were all hoping for the opposite)
i’m not 100% sold on the the decision to move away from the columns to the two row format at all - i tab through the fields and thought it wouldn’t matter either way, but not sure if this more related to the change of the notes field or general dislike of the two rows
using the notes field is more challenging, with multiple keyboard shortcuts required as compared to before
I want to amend my original comment: Up until now, I had been using OF2 exclusively on a 27" Cinema Display, but looking at OF2 on my 13" MacBook Pro Retina, the difference in visual quality is striking. On a non-Retina display, the type is fuzzy and there isn’t enough contrast between elements for my liking, while on this display, everything is sharp–even at a smaller size (“Medium” instead of “Medium and a half”).
Admittedly, text also looks sharper in OF1 on a Retina display, but in OF1, I’m able to select a font and size that works better on a non-Retina display, and that makes a huge difference for me.
Time to check back in. I’ve been using the beta builds since day 0 and haven’t looked back. I have no desire to go back to using v1. Each day, the developers seem to be chipping away at the things that don’t work or that I don’t like. I need a little more “configurability” around the interface to be completely satisfied, but that’s a quibble. v2 was worth the wait.
Ken your team’s recent refinement work is really nice and has flipped me from stubborn OF1 user to “Like OF2 more than OF1”.
What’s made the difference in recent builds?
condensing the main list layout
overdue counts next to project name
improved contrast between having note and just note button (I still think the note button is redundant displayed all the time - seems like a great candidate for “appear on hover”, like flag is now)
i like the new mini flag addition in main outline - it really helps
And also a big thing is I’ve started working in a narrower window to get the coloured circles closer to the content they relate to. A “hack” of sorts to get round the dissociation.
Outlines are still a little busy to scan in OF2 - but the big thing is now I flip back to OF1 to compare and IT’S the one feeling a bit gappy and disjoint. OF2 feels modern and evolved.
Thought I’d better register my change of vote! Nice one.
Seems to me OF1 was function over style and OF2 is style over function.
I like the fixed inspector but to be fair that could have been achieved with a small mod to OF1. I can’t really see OF2 making even a slight difference to my productivity.
People would always moan about how complicated OF1 was - it’s only as simple or complicated as you need to make it; if you want the complicated features use them, if not then don’t… They’ve tried to give OF2 a simpler UI but in doing so have taken some of its usability.
Well, I guess it’s not enough of a difference to have a different way of looking at your projects and tasks?
Like you, I prefer the inspector built in to the window. OF1’s floating inspector didn’t do well when trying to use OF1 in full-screen mode. I’d constantly have to move the floating window to see what was underneath it. Finally bringing in OF for iPad’s forecast mode sure helped a lot of us. I don’t know if a “small mod” would make it more effective.
OF2 for Mac introduced a new way to create and edit perspectives. Perspectives in OF1 is very powerful but kind of hiding. OF2’s view filter and perspective manager is miles ahead of OF1’s perspective creator. The revised perspective workflow in OF2 is easier to grasp for beginners and makes it a bit more straightforward. Creating and adjusting perspectives appears to be much easier in OF2.
I can see a few features that finally migrated over from the iPad version that certainly helped a lot.
The newest feature to migrate over from OF 1 for iPad are the Review and Forecast views. The Review mode is a much needed improvement over OF1 for Mac’s review mode. The Forecast view is also another fellow traveller from OF1 for iPad that wasn’t in OF1 for Mac. A lot of users didn’t know what they were missing because they didn’t try OF1 for iPad.
I definitely thinking that having these three features is stylistic and also functional. It definitely boosted productivity for many users - especially users who were never had a chance to try out OF1 for iPad. They didn’t know what they were missing when they never saw OF1 for iPad’s Review and Forecast modes.
Now, you may say that Review and Forecast as “not new” but it is new to the many user who never tried OF1 for iPad.
Besides, OmniFocus 2.0 is just the beginning. There’s more to come.
Like many here I aborted the original round OF2 testing as the UI was just too unfamiliar and seemed counter-intuitive to what I was trying to achieve (quick entry of tasks/projects and easy reviewing of progress/to do list for the day/week).
This new version has been running for 10 minutes and I’ve already closed OF1 and stopped it from auto-loading at startup. I haven’t used anything in-depth yet - but I can see this being a fine and appropriate replacement for OF1.
Well done - and thanks for keeping plugging away at it!
I love V2 after just a few hours of use. It fits in much better with the way that I use OF in iOS. In fact the iOS version meant that I rarely used v1.
I have had on crash so far - reported.
The only thing that I don’t like is the round task tickboxes when everything else in the interface is square. It looks out of place.
Forecast and review can essentially be achieved with custom perspectives on OF1. You get to see it in a calendar view now but true GTD isn’t suppose to be viewed in this way anyway.
I have only been on the v2 test a couple of days so this is very much a 40,000ft overview compared to v1.
The overall interface is much better, it is cleaner and easier to get around my data and get on with my tasks. The forecast view integrates nicely showing me anything that I might not have in OF including my Google calendars … good job on that.
So far the only thing I have come across that bothers me a little is the position of the flag on a task, at first I thought it was an interface glitch until I realized it was actively usable.
Look forward to deep diving and getting in the conversation!
Hm? It’s been a while since I’ve read GTD. But I thought I remembered that we should be doing some processing to clear out the various inboxes. One inbox is to check the calendar to see what projects/tasks is due or due soon as well as look at appointments that can create more projects/tasks.
Review and Forecast can be created with a custom perspective with due or due soon. But not everyone thinks in a “list” view. Some of us prefer to see it in a calendar view.
I don’t think “true” GTD can or should be seen in a list view only. Everyone sees things differently. But then again, that’s my opinion
What he says is - Calendars are for appointments; I have a very usable and far superior calendar in OSX.
I’m not sure that a task management software should try to be a calendar too. What next an email client maybe or could it keep me updated on the latest from the FTSE 100 share index?
From what I remember, a calendar is part of GTD. You look at what is in your inbox and park it where needed. Reference files are a part of GTD. A better place to put it is in a program like Evernote. OF2 is the place to park tasks and projects.
OF2 is part of the puzzle of GTD - what’s in my inbox? I have appointments, projects, tasks, contacts, notes, etc.
Not everyone has a far superior calendar program because all they needed may be the Forecast view.
And it appears that there are many who appreciate the Forecast view. Thus, it is not style over function. Sometimes style can work hand-in-hand with function.
You’ve clarified my point perfectly by eluding to Evernote - it’s function is to store reference material just like OF’s function is to deal with task management, just like a calendar is to deal with appoinents. Each one of the afore has a separate function and should stick to dealing with what it’s designed for.
Further, David Allen clearly states “a calendar should not be used for task management and only for reference of appointments”.
By the way the calander application I mentioned is the native one on OSX.
Can’t quite explain other than that v2.0 feels more comfortable.
I’ve just completed an annual GTD review going through all projects and actions, etc. For this, v2.0 was good. I can’t quite see why there isn’t a pop up calendar available in the main task window though when setting due dates… I seem to have to go to the inspector when intuitively I shouldn’t have to. Adding repeat options as another item in the 2nd row of each task would also make me not have to go into the inspector as often.
Where v2.0 falls down is in processing a large amount of items in the Inbox, which is exactly what GTD is founded upon; collecting to do items into an Inbox and then processing. Please allow the project list tree to be visible to drop inbox items in without having to open another window. To allow it in most other places and not in the inbox seems a little crazy when you read the first sentence of this paragraph again.
Overall though, thank you, v2.0 is excellent and I will be purchasing for all of my senior team once it is available on release.
@Cliftonplymouth, Your arguments are valid- it is just so hard to adapt what Mr. Allen laid out for an analog system into the digital world 1:1… Suddenly it would actually be possible to do email, file management, project planning and calendaring in one unified system: that’s what Daylite is all about, others are trying hard as well (Outlook, anyone ?-)…)… Does it make sense in a GTD sense? I wouldn’t dare generalizing an answer here… it unifies a lot of fields, thereby removing friction but making handling more complex…
Another thing is Omnifocus as a software: while clearly based on GTD, it never advocated for only being used for GTD- and clearly why should it? There is an obvious relation between due tasks and your calendar schedule, being adequately adressed by the Forecast view. This feature is a no-brainer to most of the users sounding off in this forum- You could say those who care and contribute.
So what if You feel it betrays Your viewpoint on GTD? Remove Forecast view from the Perspectives by removing the star in the perspective pane and breathe in orthodox task management. The Omni group is actually attempting to prepare a flexible powerhouse here that will adapt to Your needs as well as that of others.
I am so happy with what we have already right now…
I really want to love OF2, and most of it I do. But upgrading at this stage would be a backward step in my productivity.
I like:
The new sidebar on the left
The inspector on the right
The forecast view is great
Love the review mode
Not so keen on:
I miss being able to see project list down the side of the inbox. I can’t always remember what I’ve called a project, and having to scroll through the tiny pop-up list is a pain.
I miss being able to see in the project list which projects are not just manually on hold, but are date-deferred.
The deal breaker that will likely prevent me upgrading:
There’s too much clutter as I look down my task lists with the 2-line view. I need to be able to collapse them into a single line view to see just the tasks themselves, without all the extra project/context/note/dates information. I keep going back to OF1 to actually get stuff done.
Not seeing a list of Projects on the left feels to me like a step backwards. It takes something that used to be done simply - dragging an item from the Inbox to project - and turns it into several steps (or the need for multiple windows).
In addition, the 2-line view is - in my opinion - more cluttered looking than the 1-line view in OF1, adding to the data density problem others have complained about. In OF1 I can easily look down the list and see what I need to see. (Especially since I use custom Styles - fonts, sizes, colors, etc. - to create visual distinctions.) In OF2 it’s harder for me to see things quickly and clearly.
I think @vbampton has expressed some of my thoughts well. However, for me the result is not a deal breaker and a reversion to OF1. I definitely prefer OF2 and have used it exclusively over the last few weeks. I “get” the design much more than I ever did OF1 (and I’ve been using it for years!). OF2 seems more “obvious” and accessible and I love the Eye of Sauron much more than the filter bar. …
I don’t want multicolumn lists again but perhaps another setting in the Eye of Sauron should be a “Show action text only” checkbox which hides the note, project, defer and due dates (and perhaps even the checkbox?)" to reduce the “visual clutter” than some people dislike.
