8 ms·

Fargo, online outliner and more with Dropbox storage

39 points by AndreasFrom 13y ago

ronreiter 13y ago
Awesome! Just don't really understand why Dropbox storage is so much better than just using Workflowy.
- davewiner 13y ago
  Workflowy is an excellent product, but having the outlines in Dropbox means you have copies of the files locally and can share them with other apps that work with OPML, which is a fairly standard file format among outliners.
eknkc 13y ago
This is great! I just love the Dropbox integration. My two suggestions: - Keyboard shortcuts for file operations. - 3-5 recently used icons accessible on the main interface.
- davewiner 13y ago
  Glad you like it! :-) I've added your suggestion to our list of feature requests.
jamesmccann 13y ago
Would be nice to be able to see the application without linking it to my Dropbox.
- davewiner 13y ago
  You can use just the outliner here: http://littleoutliner.com/ http://littleoutliner.com/ That's exactly the same outliner as in Fargo, using localStorage only. The other consideration is that Fargo only gets access to a sub-folder of your Apps folder in your Dropbox. The folder is created just for the app. So it's very well sandboxed.
d33d33 13y ago
way to aggressive - installing before reading? no thx, no matter how useful it could be or not! BAD PRACTICE
- davewiner 13y ago
  You can most definitely read about it before installing. We have two buttons, one takes you to a product backgrounder and the other takes you to Dropbox. No one forces you to go one way or the other.
stuartcw 13y ago
Those who remember this family of Software might see some similarity ;-) : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Userland_Software#Frontier http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Userland_Software#Frontier Just look at the article for protocols that they introduced and popularised. There's lots of other cool stuff under the hood that you probably won't notice at first, like: - It's a not just an outliner but it's also a outlined chat/collaboration tool. - It's not just an outliner but it's also a Javascript programming environment. i.e. you can execute functions that that you write in the outlines. - It's not just an outliner, it's a front end to your blogging platform. Also, don't worry about connecting it to Dropbox. It sandboxes all it's activities under the Apps/Fargo folder so won't go crazy with your files. Already there is a lot to try out and hopefully this will be the new frontier that we have been waiting for.
- davewiner 13y ago
  I really appreciate the enthusiasm, as co-founder of the company and one of two developers of the product. However, you can't at this time edit full JavaScript apps in Fargo, you can run single lines of code using Cmd-/. We do plan to make it a JS development tool, we use it that way ourselves, but first we want to release the server-side component. It is today a very good workgroup tool. Here's a doc that explains how to set it up for a workgroup. http://smallpicture.com/fargoWorkgroup.html http://smallpicture.com/fargoWorkgroup.html Dave
ericflo 13y ago
I couldn't figure out how to delete an item. Also kept getting "you have 1 synced document" growl notifications on Mac. Other than those issues, this looks to be really useful!
- davewiner 13y ago
  Click on the wedge in front of the item to be sure you're in structure mode. Then hit Backspace, or Cmd-X to cut. This kind of stuff is explained in the Outliner Howto. http://smallpicture.com/outlinerHowto.html http://smallpicture.com/outlinerHowto.html Glad you like it -- it is really useful. ;-)
gwillen 13y ago
"Fargo is the only idea organizer that runs in the browser, cross-operating system with entirely cloud-based storage." I'm actually quite fond of another one, Workflowy.
- SupremumLimit 13y ago
  I use Workflowy as well, and Fargo didn't feel quite as convenient to me. One thing in particular I noticed was that moving an item to the same level as its parent is easier in Workflowy. So I'm sticking with Workflowy for now. I just wish it allowed me to add multiline leaf items!
  - davewiner 13y ago
    Workflowy is great. In Fargo, if you want to move an item to the same level as its parent there are four ways to do it: 1. Shift-Tab. 2. Cmd-L. 3. Drag it to the left with the mouse. 4. Choose the Move Left command from the Outliner menu (useful on tablets and phones).
necolas 13y ago
FYI, the keyboard shortcuts on http://littleoutliner.com/ http://littleoutliner.com/ seem to prevent me from using cmd+opt+I or cmd+opt+U when the window has focus. cmd+opt+J works though.
vonskippy 13y ago
Clunky at best, especially via Smartphone. No clue why I would use this over Evernote - which has Android, iPhone, Web Browser, and Windows Apps - all pointing to the same dataset in the cloud. This app keeps forcing me to allow Dropbox. Might be cool after a few revisions - right now seems like Alpha stage work.
edavis 13y ago
I've been using Fargo since it was launched and highly recommend it. I use it every day for jotting down quick notes, keeping a work journal, as well as planning out larger projects. There's already an active community of programmers and writers using it to do some pretty interesting things. And the guys behind it are constantly listening to user feedback[1] to build functionality to match how people are actually using the product. If you're hesitant about connecting to Dropbox, give http://littleoutliner.com/ http://littleoutliner.com/ a try. It uses the same outliner code as Fargo, but uses your browser's localStorage for the storage mechanism. It's really pretty cool. If you do decide to give Fargo a try, make sure to open the Community Feed (Docs > Community Feed). If you can't figure something out after going through the very thorough documentation[2][3], feel free to shoot us a question. [1]: http://threads2.scripting.com/2013/may/mathewTaughtMeSomething http://threads2.scripting.com/2013/may/mathewTaughtMeSomethi... [2]: http://smallpicture.com/outlinerHowto.html http://smallpicture.com/outlinerHowto.html [3]: http://smallpicture.com/fargoDocs.html http://smallpicture.com/fargoDocs.html
- davewiner 13y ago
  Thanks for the kind words Eric! :-)
dodyg 13y ago
I highly recommend Fargo and its underlying OPML format. It is pretty much the only tab I keep open on my browser all day.
bowerbird 13y ago
fargo is most definitely an interesting web-app, and i can see it being useful for many people... dave is a little bit over-enthusiastic about it -- there are literally dozens of writing tools that've been using dropbox for a long time now, to correct just one of his main brag-points -- but it's not a crime to love what you've made. (nate kontny is similarly proud of his "draft", another writing-oriented web-tool that's newish and attracting a lot of fans with its qualities.) we'll see what dave's users end up doing with it. -bowerbird
- davewiner 13y ago
  We started a mail list for Dropbox users to find the software you're talking about. Maybe you'll join the list and post some links. https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/dropbox-users https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/dropbox-u... Note I tried not to be enthusiastic about your comment. Didn't work. ;-)
  - bowerbird 13y ago
    you've censored me too many times for me to contribute to any endeavor that you control, dave, so i'd pass on your listserve anyway... but such a listserve is largely unnecessary. it's easy enough to find such writing-tools, just by googling with the appropriate terms. (or, if you wanna just go immediately to the most versatile: https://www.textdropapp.com https://www.textdropapp.com; but fair warning, the yearly cost is $32+.) besides, dropbox support was big _last_year_. this year, something better is now available. i'll leave you to your own devices to find it, dave, and continue to wish you the best of luck, even if i feel you haven't treated me so nicely. and i certainly won't let your animosity color my view of your software, and the potential it has. although, to be honest, i think your earlier take -- that an outlining tool and a writing tool are two different types of tools, and need to retain their separate focus in order to be their best -- was the correct one, and your new hope that you can leverage fargo into a general writing tool is one that will ultimately flop. but hey, that's just my opinion, and i'd love to see your users prove me wrong, and do amazing stuff with fargo. -bowerbird
    - 13y ago
ssriram 13y ago
I've been a longtime workflowy user and recently started using Fargo. Here are my likes, dislikes and feature requests. Likes: - Dropbox storage - Calendar outlines as well as free form outlines - The 'Instant outline' communication model Dislikes: - Too much mouse, keyboard interaction due to Fargo's quasi-implementation of the vim like command-mode (structure) and insert (text) mode sans vim-like idempotent 'esc' and 'i' or 'r' toggles. -- So, Enter in fargo lets one exit out of structure mode by opening a sibling node, (== vim 'o') - The lack of an 'esc' however forces one to use the mouse to get back to structure mode and than keyboard 'del' to remove this empty node. -- A mouse click on a node in structure mode gets one into insert mode. (== vim i) - To navigate up/down by keyboard requires one to switch from down arrow to right arrow at an indent. Why can't i just use the down arrow? Feature requests - Auto-convert all http:// http:// entries into <a href= links - Support hashtags like workflowy - Allow intra-outline linking - Allow devs to build plugins / macros so they can customize it to suit their needs. - Allow for multi-line outline entries (maybe a shift-enter)
evanvhansen 13y ago
I've been following Dave on outliners for a long while. I haven't made the switch from workflowy yet. Would be nice if tools like subtask.com would layer nicely on outliners. IE the outline from Fargo could be used to create the mindmap or vice versa. Preferably keeping themselves in sync rather than importing/exporting manually.

39 points by AndreasFrom 13y ago

ronreiter 13y ago

Awesome! Just don't really understand why Dropbox storage is so much better than just using Workflowy.

davewiner 13y ago
Workflowy is an excellent product, but having the outlines in Dropbox means you have copies of the files locally and can share them with other apps that work with OPML, which is a fairly standard file format among outliners.

eknkc 13y ago

This is great! I just love the Dropbox integration. My two suggestions: - Keyboard shortcuts for file operations. - 3-5 recently used icons accessible on the main interface.

davewiner 13y ago
Glad you like it! :-) I've added your suggestion to our list of feature requests.

jamesmccann 13y ago

Would be nice to be able to see the application without linking it to my Dropbox.

davewiner 13y ago
You can use just the outliner here: http://littleoutliner.com/ http://littleoutliner.com/ That's exactly the same outliner as in Fargo, using localStorage only. The other consideration is that Fargo only gets access to a sub-folder of your Apps folder in your Dropbox. The folder is created just for the app. So it's very well sandboxed.

d33d33 13y ago

way to aggressive - installing before reading? no thx, no matter how useful it could be or not! BAD PRACTICE

davewiner 13y ago
You can most definitely read about it before installing. We have two buttons, one takes you to a product backgrounder and the other takes you to Dropbox. No one forces you to go one way or the other.

stuartcw 13y ago

Those who remember this family of Software might see some similarity ;-) : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Userland_Software#Frontier http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Userland_Software#Frontier Just look at the article for protocols that they introduced and popularised. There's lots of other cool stuff under the hood that you probably won't notice at first, like: - It's a not just an outliner but it's also a outlined chat/collaboration tool. - It's not just an outliner but it's also a Javascript programming environment. i.e. you can execute functions that that you write in the outlines. - It's not just an outliner, it's a front end to your blogging platform. Also, don't worry about connecting it to Dropbox. It sandboxes all it's activities under the Apps/Fargo folder so won't go crazy with your files. Already there is a lot to try out and hopefully this will be the new frontier that we have been waiting for.

davewiner 13y ago
I really appreciate the enthusiasm, as co-founder of the company and one of two developers of the product. However, you can't at this time edit full JavaScript apps in Fargo, you can run single lines of code using Cmd-/. We do plan to make it a JS development tool, we use it that way ourselves, but first we want to release the server-side component. It is today a very good workgroup tool. Here's a doc that explains how to set it up for a workgroup. http://smallpicture.com/fargoWorkgroup.html http://smallpicture.com/fargoWorkgroup.html Dave

ericflo 13y ago

I couldn't figure out how to delete an item. Also kept getting "you have 1 synced document" growl notifications on Mac. Other than those issues, this looks to be really useful!

davewiner 13y ago
Click on the wedge in front of the item to be sure you're in structure mode. Then hit Backspace, or Cmd-X to cut. This kind of stuff is explained in the Outliner Howto. http://smallpicture.com/outlinerHowto.html http://smallpicture.com/outlinerHowto.html Glad you like it -- it is really useful. ;-)

gwillen 13y ago

"Fargo is the only idea organizer that runs in the browser, cross-operating system with entirely cloud-based storage." I'm actually quite fond of another one, Workflowy.

SupremumLimit 13y ago
I use Workflowy as well, and Fargo didn't feel quite as convenient to me. One thing in particular I noticed was that moving an item to the same level as its parent is easier in Workflowy. So I'm sticking with Workflowy for now. I just wish it allowed me to add multiline leaf items!
- davewiner 13y ago
  Workflowy is great. In Fargo, if you want to move an item to the same level as its parent there are four ways to do it: 1. Shift-Tab. 2. Cmd-L. 3. Drag it to the left with the mouse. 4. Choose the Move Left command from the Outliner menu (useful on tablets and phones).

necolas 13y ago

FYI, the keyboard shortcuts on http://littleoutliner.com/ http://littleoutliner.com/ seem to prevent me from using cmd+opt+I or cmd+opt+U when the window has focus. cmd+opt+J works though.

vonskippy 13y ago

Clunky at best, especially via Smartphone. No clue why I would use this over Evernote - which has Android, iPhone, Web Browser, and Windows Apps - all pointing to the same dataset in the cloud. This app keeps forcing me to allow Dropbox. Might be cool after a few revisions - right now seems like Alpha stage work.

edavis 13y ago

I've been using Fargo since it was launched and highly recommend it. I use it every day for jotting down quick notes, keeping a work journal, as well as planning out larger projects. There's already an active community of programmers and writers using it to do some pretty interesting things. And the guys behind it are constantly listening to user feedback[1] to build functionality to match how people are actually using the product. If you're hesitant about connecting to Dropbox, give http://littleoutliner.com/ http://littleoutliner.com/ a try. It uses the same outliner code as Fargo, but uses your browser's localStorage for the storage mechanism. It's really pretty cool. If you do decide to give Fargo a try, make sure to open the Community Feed (Docs > Community Feed). If you can't figure something out after going through the very thorough documentation[2][3], feel free to shoot us a question. [1]: http://threads2.scripting.com/2013/may/mathewTaughtMeSomething http://threads2.scripting.com/2013/may/mathewTaughtMeSomethi... [2]: http://smallpicture.com/outlinerHowto.html http://smallpicture.com/outlinerHowto.html [3]: http://smallpicture.com/fargoDocs.html http://smallpicture.com/fargoDocs.html

davewiner 13y ago
Thanks for the kind words Eric! :-)

dodyg 13y ago

I highly recommend Fargo and its underlying OPML format. It is pretty much the only tab I keep open on my browser all day.

bowerbird 13y ago

fargo is most definitely an interesting web-app, and i can see it being useful for many people... dave is a little bit over-enthusiastic about it -- there are literally dozens of writing tools that've been using dropbox for a long time now, to correct just one of his main brag-points -- but it's not a crime to love what you've made. (nate kontny is similarly proud of his "draft", another writing-oriented web-tool that's newish and attracting a lot of fans with its qualities.) we'll see what dave's users end up doing with it. -bowerbird

davewiner 13y ago
We started a mail list for Dropbox users to find the software you're talking about. Maybe you'll join the list and post some links. https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/dropbox-users https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/dropbox-u... Note I tried not to be enthusiastic about your comment. Didn't work. ;-)
- bowerbird 13y ago
  you've censored me too many times for me to contribute to any endeavor that you control, dave, so i'd pass on your listserve anyway... but such a listserve is largely unnecessary. it's easy enough to find such writing-tools, just by googling with the appropriate terms. (or, if you wanna just go immediately to the most versatile: https://www.textdropapp.com https://www.textdropapp.com; but fair warning, the yearly cost is $32+.) besides, dropbox support was big _last_year_. this year, something better is now available. i'll leave you to your own devices to find it, dave, and continue to wish you the best of luck, even if i feel you haven't treated me so nicely. and i certainly won't let your animosity color my view of your software, and the potential it has. although, to be honest, i think your earlier take -- that an outlining tool and a writing tool are two different types of tools, and need to retain their separate focus in order to be their best -- was the correct one, and your new hope that you can leverage fargo into a general writing tool is one that will ultimately flop. but hey, that's just my opinion, and i'd love to see your users prove me wrong, and do amazing stuff with fargo. -bowerbird
  - 13y ago

ssriram 13y ago

I've been a longtime workflowy user and recently started using Fargo. Here are my likes, dislikes and feature requests. Likes: - Dropbox storage - Calendar outlines as well as free form outlines - The 'Instant outline' communication model Dislikes: - Too much mouse, keyboard interaction due to Fargo's quasi-implementation of the vim like command-mode (structure) and insert (text) mode sans vim-like idempotent 'esc' and 'i' or 'r' toggles. -- So, Enter in fargo lets one exit out of structure mode by opening a sibling node, (== vim 'o') - The lack of an 'esc' however forces one to use the mouse to get back to structure mode and than keyboard 'del' to remove this empty node. -- A mouse click on a node in structure mode gets one into insert mode. (== vim i) - To navigate up/down by keyboard requires one to switch from down arrow to right arrow at an indent. Why can't i just use the down arrow? Feature requests - Auto-convert all http:// http:// entries into <a href= links - Support hashtags like workflowy - Allow intra-outline linking - Allow devs to build plugins / macros so they can customize it to suit their needs. - Allow for multi-line outline entries (maybe a shift-enter)

evanvhansen 13y ago

I've been following Dave on outliners for a long while. I haven't made the switch from workflowy yet. Would be nice if tools like subtask.com would layer nicely on outliners. IE the outline from Fargo could be used to create the mindmap or vice versa. Preferably keeping themselves in sync rather than importing/exporting manually.