I have sent this email to the Omnigroup, and they, showing their usual impeccable customer service, have responded within 24 hours.
They asked me to see if there are enough other people interested, so this could be a good alternative to the Inspector window available now.
Here is the email I sent.
Quote:
Dear omni Group,
Well, to be honest, I am a long time Things user, and seriously considering using your application. I have tried the sneak peek of 1.8, and in its functionality, it is very very good, so you deserve a huge pat and thank you for the work you are doing, and for the thinking you put into this app.
I heard that the version 2 will have a much better design and UI, however I did not find much information about it, so I assume it will be a small evolution rather than a revolution.
I love your application, but I will give it a bit more time to see in which direction you will go with its design so that it is beautiful as well as functional. I guess we, as mac users, are spoiled with so many beautiful application available to us like discoapp, ripitapp, and Delicious library. I have seen the design of omnifocus for iPad and I seriously hope it will be part of the inspiration for the desktop app my friends.
I have seen improvements in 1.8 sneak peek, and I do like them a lot. However, I think that something that really makes the app a bit frustrating to use is the inspector. I have left the windows world a long time ago, used iwork as soon as it was out, and did not use office mac since the version 2004.
I, however, have had the opportunity to be one of the beta testers of Office for mac 2011, and in all honesty, it is an amazing product. I know just because it is made by Microsoft, especially on a mac, then it should be rubbish, but it honestly is not. They surpassed themselves and our wildest expectations with a product they are truly serious about.
Why do I go into this tangent? I hope it is not too daring, but I am honestly 100% convinced that you will offer all your customers a superior experience and much better ergonomics if you considered taking inspiration from the office for mac 2011 ribbon in Omnifocus.
I know it had its share of controversy. And well, it might mean nothing that, after using it, I find it incredibly useful and an advance in UI design.
But you should think about it from a different perspective. Omnifocus, for better or worse, is used mainly by power-users. Power users will definitely be using office 2011 at least for outlook, which means they will use the ribbon every day and will be very familiar with it.
So, for them, using the ribbon on Omnifocus will be a huge plus.
I hope you will consider this objectively. We all have negative associations with all that is microsoft made, so our natural response is to bash all they do, even if some has merit. But honestly, either try office 2011, or try mockups of the ribbon on omnifocus desktop, and I am sure that you will love this idea, and that millions will do too.
Thanks you.
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And here is a link to view the UI Ribbon design I am talking about, spread out at the end of these preview videos
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s62kJjdJVFI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqVd8TXQ70k
And please, my friends, negative emotions aside, consider how much the ease of use of Omnifocus will improve if it had a ribbon-like panel in its interface. Many users are afraid of adopting Omnifocus because it seems complicated, and the Ribbon has been confirmed after millions of dollars of study as actually an improvement in ease of use, and it does expose the powerful features hidden behind menus. Worth being at least a consideration?