[ChristianR]

Hi there, I'm new...

I've been testing Bonsai on my computer for half an hour, and I can already say: GREAT! AT LAST. A PRECIOUS GEM, A MIRACLE. ALLELUIAH! MUEZZIN WAIL! CHAMPAGNE!

I'm talking about Bonsai as an idea outliner, brainstorming-to-final-text for writers and anybody who wants to transform freewheeling thoughts into projects and structured lists. Forget about the Palm sync feature etc., I don't even own a handheld. Since the demise of the "More" program on the Mac in the early 90s, I've been searching for a replacement, testing many other programs, and always resigning myself to suffering with Word outline mode. Now THE WAIT IS OVER. 15 YEARS.

Perfect keyboard shortcuts. Linking to files. Categories, columns, filters, sorting, implemented in a clean and obvious manner. Logical, uncluttered layout, simple no-frills-no-icons text outline mode. Thanks, thanks, thanks! I propose Bonsai for BEST GUI, BEST WINDOWS APP 2008 (I'm sending this message to the New York Times technology editor).

DO NOT ADD FEATURES. DO NOT ADD BUTTONS, TOOLBARS, MENUS, GIZMOS AND GRAPHICS OF ANY KIND ;-)

OK, maybe .rtf import, word count, and what was called "Hoist" in "More", which allowed any item to become temporarily the sole top one, thus hiding all its parents and siblings. Dictionaries are important for writers too, so I'm gonna test the English and French ones thoroughly. A few more hours of testing for bugs and handling of big file size, but I'm already 99% sure I'll buy.

Keep it simple. Keep it cheap. Stay the course.

Christian THE ECSTATIC SHOUTER Rittener

i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif

[tomas]

Keep it simple and add rtf import ? Those two don't go hand in hand - the desktop app is there mainly as a desktop/syncing solution for Palm app. That would add the complexity...not the buttons toolbars etc. that you can always disable (I'm running with most toolbars disabled).

What I could easily imagine though is the Bonsai for Windows to be taken and developed as a standalone version to cater the needs you have described (rtf or html, maybe even html in item titles, word count,...) as that would open a new market, not sure how big, but that market is there and hungry (see www.outlinersoftware.com).

Hoisting is there - from menu View > Zoom In