[ksrhee]

Originally Posted by BwanaZulia

Funny, because it is exactly the same view, just less black space. Not sure how that makes it busier.

I don't know about you, but I want my GTD software to keep me busy. :)

BZ

Yes, that's what happened to me. Without those empty spaces, the screen looks too busy. With the empty spaces, I can quickly identify different groups visually and make sense of the screen quicker.

I'm a visual person, and those empty spaces do play a role in the way I look at the screen (for me).

[whpalmer4]

Originally Posted by BwanaZulia

BTW: I did find another nice feature, you can STAR any perspective and have it show up in your side bar. NICE. Now just a way to edit those.

What do you want to edit? The arrangement of the items in the sidebar? Tap the gear menu, select Edit Sidebar. This is all on the Using the Sidebar page in the help...

[masoric]

I really have no complaints. This version works great and looks great. I own the Mac and iPhone versions too, but this version is by far my favorite. I especially like the review process.

I really can't understand those who are fussing about wasted screen space...

[BwanaZulia]

Originally Posted by whpalmer4

What do you want to edit? The arrangement of the items in the sidebar? Tap the gear menu, select Edit Sidebar. This is all on the Using the Sidebar page in the help...

I want to edit perspectives.

More than that, I want better views, editable views or at least views I can push from the desktop version via sync.

BZ

[BwanaZulia]

Originally Posted by endoftheQ

I agree BZ, however what I do want is consistency, across all three versions. For what it's worth, see my comments in this link.

You know, that is a really good point. Consistency should rule and the iPad version just jumps outs "One of these things is not like the others".

It is also making me really question why they didn't build a universal app. Wouldn't that have take less time, been more consistent and could have added new features to two platforms at the same time?

BZ

[rrkpl]

Originally Posted by BwanaZulia

Right, so they always focused on function over form and that is why we use Omni products (I own all of them) because for us they are tools, not pictures.

I just think they got a little too "designy" in this last round and need to go back to the roots of "functiony" because that is their strength and what has made them successful.

If people want pretty, someone is always going to out-pretty Omni Group, but they have always won with function and features, ease of use and cutting to the core of the task and leaving out the bells and whistles.

BZ

Looking more at the big picture.

I work as a marketing strategist and have for some years focused on the evolution of computing to mobile devices. As a company goal Omni needs to:

A. Create a product that functionally provides the best user experience

B. Develop a UI that best fits the computing medium and user expectations

The iPad is the first generation of an entirely new computing paradigm though admitably a baby step. One of the user expectations of this new medium is user interaction with the computing device. The goal here is to make the computer fade further into the background than it does in traditional computers thus providing a more human based experience. To combine this with function is a tricky balancing act with no large knowledge base of previously valid experiences to reference. Some attempts are pretty cool others are horrible. To see this clearly just download the various publishers first try at magazines to your iPad.

Having had all versions of omnifocus since very early on I think omni is on the right track with their approach of iPad UI verses functionality considering the whole thing is in it's infancy. Time and evolution will tell for sure but I do believe in the great importance of paying close attention to developing software to cater to this new environment as opposed to cramming the environment into traditional software.

As an example I personally have owned tablet devices since they appeared some years ago and fully understand why they never took off till now.

[whpalmer4]

Originally Posted by BwanaZulia

I want to edit perspectives.

I agree, that'd be nice, especially for the iPad-only contingent. I don't think it is a "must have to ship" feature, though, and apparently I'm not alone in that opinion ;)

More than that, I want better views, editable views or at least views I can push from the desktop version via sync.

Describe these views you want...are you talking about something other than perspectives? Is this a new feature on the desktop as well?

[amorya]

Originally Posted by BwanaZulia

Funny, because it is exactly the same view, just less black space. Not sure how that makes it busier.

Less space around stuff makes a layout look busier. That's almost a design axiom!

Originally Posted by BwanaZulia

It is also making me really question why they didn't build a universal app. Wouldn't that have take less time, been more consistent and could have added new features to two platforms at the same time?

I would wager they're sharing the low-level data model code between the iPad and iPhone. With that done, there's no time advantage to building a universal app: you'd still have to code a separate GUI for iPad and for iPhone. And of course, it would bring in less money to do it that way :)

[tonycspc]

Thank you for your help and your explanation on the release decisions. It a great bit of info to know they are aware and it will be improved.

[Brian]

Originally Posted by BwanaZulia

It is also making me really question why they didn't build a universal app. Wouldn't that have take less time, been more consistent and could have added new features to two platforms at the same time?

Standard disclaimer: I am not an engineer. One may step in and politely tell you I got this all wrong. :-)

From my conversations with them, though, they didn't believe this to be the case.

The iPhone and iPad programming interfaces don't match up competely. In a universal app, you have to do more work to make sure you never call an API that doesn't exist on the device you're currently running on. That slows you down and means that you have less time to add features. More complex code also means that you generally end up with more bugs.

Code is still shared between the two projects when it's appropriate, but by keeping each project focused on a particular platform, it simplifies the work, which should pay off in the long run. Simpler code, fewer bugs, more features added per unit of time.