Do you guys plan to anytime soon add any of these to your excellent apps esp. Omnifocus 2? :
1.Web Version (existing users get a free pass, others subscribe…)(Many of your users e.g. me, forced by work or school to use Windows for the main part of their day, don’t want to juggle 2 task-managers, and are leaving OF2 for this. Lack of ubiquity in a task manager is a deal breaker. I even got an iPad just to be able to use your products on the move, but lack of a web version is killing you guys outside the Appleverse and even within it.
2. Multiple tags or Contexts
3. Integration with mainstream web services…e.g. the way Todoist is doing it.
I’m switching to a more ubiquitous app like Todoist or Wunderlist, but it kills me to leave the gorgeous design that you have on your apps. Please try to extend your presence to the Web so ppl like me can switch back. For now, this is your achilles heel. I might hold on to OF2 however, if you have plans to do a web version with better integration with other web apps and better tagging, or if there are workarounds to any of these via Applescript etc.
Multiple tags/contexts has been talked about in the forums. They did say there were trying to implement it in the future. You can search the forums for “multiple contexts.”
I don’t know if the OmniFolks have talked about a web version. Before the iOS platform took off like a rocket, there were plans for a web based platform. But it looks like they put it on the shelf for now.
I’ve found that having two different task managers suits me well enough. At one work site, I use Asana to collaborate with my coworkers. All of my personal stuff goes into OmniFocus. I know that when I am in Asana, I am in work mode. I won’t get tempted to try to do some of my personal stuff while at work. I have to deliberately go into OmniFocus to do my personal stuff. Besides, I do not want to accidentally share my home renovation project or my vacations with everyone else.
Us Ng my iPad and iPhone has helped me tremendously to balance my work life and personal life.
More web services would be nice. But you might want to email tech support for direct communication. I’m not sure what else you might want. There is already sync services and a personalized OmniFocus email address that you can use to email tasks to your OmniFocus sync database.
Similar here. I’ve spent way too much time writing scripts to integrate OF2 w. Evernote and Fantastical and will prolly be doing todoist for schoolwork and OF2 for long term personal goals, since all that scripting and the UI has emotionally locked me in. If I wasn’t an existing user, attached to OF2 already, I wouldn’t have even given OF2 a shot due to lack of the features I mentioned. Same goes for OO and O.Plan which share the same outlining engine I’m guessing (I could be wrong). But scouring the forums has convinced me that neither multiple contexts nor a web version nor an extensive set of integrations (that would help the user get everything seamlessly connected i.e. email, to-do, calendar… ) is coming anytime soon. Products that are going for extensity (everything in one place) like IQTell, are too ugly to stare at all day, but products like Todoist have copied OF2’s best features (more and more sub levels to tasks &projects & so on) & are rapidly surpassing OF2 improving at a far greater pace than Of2. With a web version for the similar outlining structure that OO OF & OP share, and tighter integration at least with each other (let alone outside the Omnigroup) people could easily use OO instead of Evernote for personal task notes etc. and could easily manage ALL their project mgt needs…OF2 at personal level and OP3 at professional. I really wanted to see some subset of this happening but it doesn’t look like it will. I’m only a student by the way so I don’t need collaboration that much. But yeah, pardon the rambling, these are just the thoughts that led me to the forum.
Web apps don’t have any way to use operating system specific features. In a web version of OmniFocus, you will lose the quick entry shortcut in Mac OS X, the share button in iOS, the clipping shortcut in Mac OS X, and the ability to integrate with your calendar (unless we all switch to google calendar), and AppleScript in Mac OS X. Those are just few of the things you will lose in a web app version.
Lot of people use OF without Mac.
Some of them - even without iPad, only with iPhone.
So, Web version (even not as powerful as the desktop one) will be very very very welcome.
For what it’s worth, we think spootnik might be dead. Basecamp (the tool it was designed to integrate OmniFocus with) has changed a lot since we’ve seen activity from Spootnik.
I’ve used spootnik in the past but switched back to omni sync service as its lack of functionality does not justify the cost. What dismays me is why Omini cannot expand on the sync service they provide to allow a cut down web access. I feel sure this would win more users who (like me) love Omnifocus but are forced into a Windows environment at work. Omnifocus has such a well thought out UI it is a pity it does not seem to want to reach out to the Windoze majority. I’m convinced many would make the jump given a web based life line.
Remember that Omni Sync Server, just like any other server that OmniFocus syncs with, is just an Apache WebDAV server; there’s no actual OmniFocus client on it. The only “special” part of OSS is the account management part.
That’s not to say we won’t write a web client at some point, but it is not a matter of expanding The Sync Server; it would be a new project.
Thanks Dave. I take your point and thanks for the rapid response. I now have all fingers and toes crossed for a “new project”. It wouldn’t matter so much if Omnifocus wasn’t so much ahead of the competition 😀
Everyone has a different level for how much a function will cost. The question will be “how much would it cost to have web access?”
If a user never bought the iOS or Mac app and uses it exclusively on the web, what would the cost be to maintain it and to sustain it for future development. This will have to be a web-based subscription model.
Hi wilsonng. Good points well made. I for one would be happy to subscribe to an omni web service if the functionality justified it. Namely, perspectives create via the Mac or iOS, support for notes and hiding future actions. Meanwhile I’ll mange with my iPad.
I take it all back; I simply and humbly request the immediate arrival of proper tagging/multiple contexts. It’s been promised but seems nowhere in sight yet.
I’ve moved some replies from this topic that didn’t have anything to do with a web app or Integration to a new topic.
I actually think that we are among the most communicative of developers our size. With regards to future features, we share what we can, but we always recommend that you make a decision based on what is available right now. In large part this is our because plans change based on changes in the platforms that we develop for and Apple’s own decisions about these platforms. OmniFocus 1.x had a basic web interface (hosted by the app itself, not a service), and then iPhone OS 2 came out and we could write OmniFocus for iPhone and that seemed much less important. Similarly we postponed Mac and iPhone development by over a year when the iPad was released. These are decisions we felt we had to make for our own best interest (after all, our main goal is to sustain Omni itself), but customers who had no interest in the iOS platform were probably disappointed.
I hate to say it that I keep a copy of OF on my systems for old time sake to see if it will come up with UI changes that is as easy to use as ToDo or Things3. The interface looks old and outdated compared to either at this point in time. I LOVE OF2 and want to use it. However the amount of time I waste dealing with the interface makes it a non-started at this point in time.
