Weblog entry:
- OmniGraffle, OmniOutliner
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There’ve been a number of applications that have made my transition to the Powerbook a smooth one. TigerLaunch has found a permanent place on my system tray, XScope is a lifesaver on every design project I’ve used it on, and VNCThing’s a great way to manage my Windows and Linux boxes. But two altogether new programs that I’ve been introduced to since the switch are OmniOutliner and OmniGraffle.
OmniOutliner’s…well, an outlining program. It’s the first of its kind I’ve used, and I’m finding it pretty invaluable. I’ve used been using it exclusively for note-taking in client meetings, and for keeping track of project builds. The program’s interface is simplistic, sure — but that’s one of its most appealing features. Another kicker is OmniOutliner’s export options: XML or OPML are available if those are your bag, or a sexy XHTML unordered list if you’re into getting those notes online quickly.
OmniGraffle is diagramming application that’s about a thousand times
cheapermore polished than its Windows equivalent, Microsoft Visio. Excellent for tossing together wireframes, site maps, workflow diagrams, or any other model-esque graphs you might need to throw together. There are a whole host of extras and plug-ins for OmniGraffle (MySQL schemas, anyone?), and it does a remarkable job sharing documents with any poor saps that might still be stuck using Visio.But while OmniOutliner and OmniGraffle are excellent applications in their own right, there’s one killer way in which the two programs interoperate: documents created in OmniOutliner can be imported into OmniGraffle, which then auto-converts them into a visual diagram. Here’s a quick outline of sidesh0w’s architecture, and then the same outline as imported by OmniGraffle — instant site map. On a number of occasions, I’ve used OmniOutliner to quickly sketch out a client’s site IA during a meeting, opened the document in OmniGraffle, and then turned the laptop around to show the client a high-level view of what their finished site will look like. If that little IA workflow doesn’t kick all sorts of ass, I don’t know what does.
Besides, I heart all those pretty boxes.
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- 14th day of February 2004.
- Filed under Reviews, Software.
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