The result is a very narrow field filled many different types of controls. It stacks labels above controls, groups dissimilar datatypes, and behaves in a very different manner than its counterpart on iOS/iPadOS. OmniFocus' action inspector on macOS really shows its age. It's especially challenging when those controls also need to be translated to iOS/iPadOS. But putting that many controls in a small area is a really difficult task. Omni, like any good NeXTSTEP developer, has frequently leaned on inspectors as a core part of their UIs.and I think it works really well for the type of programs they make.
Omnifocus videos mac os#
Used as a catch-all destination for controls and information, inspectors were really popular with productivity and utility applications in the early days of Mac OS X.Įven as their popularity among third parties has waned, you can still find them all over the place, though over time many of them have migrated into sidebars rather than floating pallets.
Omnifocus videos mac os x#
The early versions of Mac OS X retained a lot of design elements from NeXTSTEP one of those elements being inspector pallets. The trends for iPadOS apps are starting to shift to adopting more Mac-like experiences. I think the current iPad app has the most potential for improvement – as it shares its user interface with the iPhone, rather than the Mac. My designs take the latter approach – but I recognize that's not necessarily going to be popular.įocus on the iPad. On the other hand, I think Omni is leaving some opportunities on the table to create strong stances on how the program ought to be used. On the one hand, it's wonderful as a user to be able to tweak the program to look and behave how I like. As mentioned above, The Omni Group has a track record of listening to its users and often implementing features, or providing options wherever possible. While my primary focus is not on features of the app, there are a few areas I wanted to contribute to.Ĭreate an opinionated design. The goal is not strictly to design the "Big Sur" or "iOS 14" versions of OmniFocus.Įxplore opportunities for improving the user flow where possible. I want to narrow that gap.Įmploy best practices from Apple's Human Interface Guidelines for each platform, while maintaining consistency and keeping the Omni brand in mind. Currently there is a significant gap between the user experience on iPhone and iPad when compared to Mac. The answer, it turns out, is not so simple.ĭesign a consistent UX that scales from iOS, to iPadOS, to macOS. So I wanted to see what it might take to re-imagine the OmniFocus suite of apps. As popular competitors like Things win acclaim for their clean, modern appearance, OmniFocus – for all of its power – appears stuck in another time period. Whether it's multiple contexts (now tags), batch editing on iOS, floating time zone support ( likely thanks to CGP Grey), or collaborative tasks (soon? please?) – all of these started as user requests.īut lately there has been a growing demand for the company to rethink the user experience and interface of OmniFocus. And to Omni's credit: they seem to listen. This is, of course, nonsense.īut occasionally trends appear in the cacophonous feature request threads on Omni's Forums. And you feel that somehow you understand the tool better than other people, including the developers themselves. You start to have ideas for new features – features that would, of course, suit you. It’s easy to develop a sense of entitlement when you use a tool for so long. Originally designed around the Getting Things Done methodology, and now on its third major version, OmniFocus has grown to be one of the most feature-rich task managers on any platform – far surpassing the common, but inadequate title of a to-do list.Īs an OmniFocus fan for nearly a decade I can sympathize with the strong opinions that grow out of being a heavy user of something. Perhaps Omni's most popular product is OmniFocus – a rich suite of task manager applications for macOS, iOS, iPadOS and web. It's the classic "Adobe" issue: Never remove, only add. This means any significant changes that Omni makes risk alienating those users – who trust and demand the most from these tools.
And when you consider that many of their products are pro-grade, best-of-class examples in each of their categories, you end up with not just passionate users, but demanding ones. Omni's focus on products and platforms for which they clearly have a passion in turn engenders a lot of the same passion and love from their userbase. There are few developers that have as rich of a history as The Omni Group with a product line that can trace its roots back to the earliest days of Mac OS X, Rhapsody, and even NeXTSTEP.
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