September 1, 2018

During the month I rediscovered favourite software applications that I thought I had permanently abandoned:

OmniFocus - My difficulty with classic OmniFocus was always how rigidly it stuck to a ‘GTD’ framework and what I called the tyranny of Context. The idea of is that actions require a specific tool or location and that is called context. My problem was that I felt this limitation is now less relevant as my phone often allows me to do things that ten years ago could only be done at the ‘office’ or at ‘home’ or on the ‘computer’. In the past OmniFocus positively encouraged context use and allowed only one to be used. Now context has become tags, and multiple tags can be applied to a task, allowing more powerful smart searches to be built around combinations.

Before this, I was using Cultured Code’s Things suite of apps to manage my to-do list. My move back to OmniFocus was hastened by Things continued inability to allow recurring tasks (such as paying a credit card) to be completed early.

Simplenote - For years, Simplenote was my tool for managing notes and lists. It was an elegant solution; simple, fast, and made it easy to manage data across devices. Trying to consolidate my tools to as few as possible, I merged my notes and longer-form writing into the Ulysses app, that is a great writing tool but best for longer-form projects. The move back to Simplenote does feel like using the right tool for the job once again.

iA Writer - Speaking of Ulysses… It is a great writing environment, but I was never entirely comfortable with the way it creates and formats markdown links. Because of that, I’m back to using iA Writer for my longer-writing (such as this blog). The reason is that I just find it cleaner and easier to use. I fell out with iA Writer about five years ago when they introduced their ‘Pro’ version and ‘Syntax Control’™.

Software


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