TAO - 1.8d

In theory it has power and flexibility like no other Mac outliner; in practice it requires intense study and patience to get the best out of it. Like other revered pieces of Mac shareware (Graphic Converter and Vuescan spring to mind) it is the complex and ingenious product of a single developer, which gives it the sort of single-minded focus that commercial software often lacks, but it also means that what may be obvious to the impressive mind of Mr Takashi can be a little baffling to the rest of us. You will be able to do things with TAO (sophisticated columns, minute control over formatting, comprehensive linking, extraordinarily flexible viewing options) that are not possible with most if any other Mac outliners, but do not expect to be able to achieve this without a considerable investment in time spent learning the intricacies of the app. TAO is not for the casual user, but can be very rewarding for those prepared to make the most of it.

I have found it to be stable --in that it has never crashed on me, or caused a 3rd party crash so far as I know-- but not bug-free: some of the preferences do not seem to work as intended, and even after a minute study of the manual, some corners of the interface continue to perplex. This is not surprising for so convoluted an app, but as some previous reviewers have noted, the fact that TAO still has glitches to be ironed out after over 3 years of development and innumerable versions, makes me worry about the prospect of finite resources being dissipated on a Windows version.

For $30, TAO is an absolute bargain. Please keep up the good work Mr Takashi.

Yes, just to chime in - I've bought this, I use it occasionally, I think it's good design.

But the betas are getting a bit insane... twenty-five betas reaching over months now, and no solid version since - well I don't have clear records when that was but it's been a very long time.

Incidentally, when I run a program that takes unneeded languages and architecture off my Powerbook, this is one of the only programs that stops running and needs to be re-downloaded. Any chance of separating the language and architecture files so this doesn't happen?...

The more I use this outliner, the more I like it. Not a very nice app, but don't be put off by this. Really, I recommend it.

Now, there's the problem of this never-ending beta development. The developer, I think, doesn't want TAO 1.1 to go final until the manual is not finished. But judging from some of the emails that I got from the developer, TAO 1.1 is near. At last :)

I own licenses for Mori, OmniOutliner Pro and Circus Ponies NoteBook, but decided to give TAO a try as well. It has the most powerful feature set by far, there's no point in listing it here. The price for such power is an interface that's awkward at best, which is what kept me away until now. You do have a lot of control over styles though once you get set up.

The documentation could be improved (a tutorial or two would be nice), but if you're interested, don't give up too quickly. Devote a few hours to learning to learning the basic functions, you can go back later and try to learn some of the advanced features.

Besides a refined interface, my other wish is that the web site had a forum, I suggested it to the developer; it is particularly necessary for an app of this complexity (while you're at it, there's no excuse to have such a crappy looking website if you're selling a product). I'm sure there are expert TAO users out there who would be willing to help out dummies like myself, and other users who would benefit from discussion. It seems to me the value of a forum to users and therefore to the developer would far outweigh any setup costs. And please aim for a 1.1 final release, if for no other reason than to encourage new users to try the app.