[IxDA Discuss] Content Inventory Tools

[Will Parker]

On Mar 5, 2007, at 9:20 AM, Josh Viney wrote:
> I've found OmniOutliner to be a great tool, and should work fairly  
> well for
> simple content inventory. I use OmniOutliner and can't seem to find
> something similar to Excel's multiple worksheets. Although, the
> functionality might be available in OmniOutliner Pro.
>
> You may not want to use OmniOutliner if your target audience  
> doesn't have
> access to it, because docs that have been exported to alternate  
> formats tend
> to get difficult to manage over time - entropy. I've found Excel to  
> be a
> great tool for the simple fact that I don't know many people who  
> don't have
> it installed.

I'd have to go along with Josh on this one. In a case like this, use  
a default file format that is readily usable by all the audiences  
that will actively use the data in the file. If everyone who's going  
to read / write / modify the data has a copy of OmniOutliner, go for  
it -- if not, find the lowest-common-denominator file format.

BTW, note that OmniOutliner does offer very strong scriptability via  
AppleScript, and if you need something other than a tabular display,  
it's relatively easy to create more complex graphic displays (trees,  
nodelists, etc.) in OmniGraffle using OmniOutliner data.

- Will

Will Parker
wparker at ChannelingDesign.com
206-228-3187 (cell-preferred)
206-783-1943 (home office)


"The only people who value your specialist knowledge are the ones who  
already have it." - William Tozier