Introduction
I love outlining, but I hate most outlining applications. Either they lock your data away in a proprietary format, or they hide inside a bloated word processor. So I set out to create my own, and Lucid Outlining Application is the result.
Go ahead and launch Lucid Outlining Application
Nota Bene or "Note Well"
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I am not a professional programmer. The code is probably messy and insecure, deal with it. Of course, you should feel free to send me feedback, I won't say no to help.
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This is a work in progress, you WILL find bugs and non-functioning features.
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I built this app for myself. If you do not like the way something works go ahead and send me feedback, but don't be offended if I don't implement your idea.
A modern browser is required! This application requires a few HTML5 features that older browsers do not support.
This application should work in the latest versions of:
It will not work in Internet Explorer 6 or 7, it might work in IE8, but I have not tested it, nor do I have plans to actively support any version of IE. As all three of the supported browsers are free and cross-platform I do not see any reason to support IE.
Release notes
Author: Lucid Outlining Application was created by Brandon Booth
Credits: Jquery 1.4 and Binny V A: Shortcut.js
License: Lucid Outlining Application is released under GPLv3, in general this means you can do what you want with the code, but any improvements must be shared freely with the world. Please let me know about any fixes or improvements you make, I'll certainly try to encorporate them here.
Usage notes:
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Keyboard Shortcuts
Shortcut Action Down arrow move cursor down to next line Up arrow move the cursor up to previous line Return add new line Shift+Return add new line above Shift+Command (mac) / Control (win)+Return add new unnumbered line Tab indent current line Alt+Tab indent line and its children Shift+Tab outdent current line Shift+Alt+Tab outdent line and its children Shift+backspace remove line Command / Control+left arrow undo last change* Command / Control+right arrow redo undone change* Shift+down arrow move line down Shift+up arrow move line up Command / Control + s save While not technically a keyboard shortcut you can press Option+Enter (on mac) to add line breaks within any line item, effectively creating complete paragraphs for single points. I'm not sure what the combination is for windows.
* A note on undo and redo: There are really two undo/redo mechanisms: your browser's and Lucid Outliner's. This can be very confusing. Your browser's undo and redo functions will handle text changes, deletions, etc. Lucid Outliner's will track the structure of the outline and allow you to go back through 50 iterations.
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Saving and Opening Outlines:
Files are saved in your browser's local storage. No data is sent to over the internet to my server! I do not, and cannot, have access to your outlines. This means your files are as secure as your personal computer (which may or may not be very secure depending on your security practices).
It also means that, for now, your outline files can only be accessed from the browser you create them in. Again, no data is saved on my server or anywhere in "the cloud", it is all saved on your computer's hard drive.
Known issues / bugs
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Safari and Chrome: the entire text of a line is highlighted after most actions, making it very easy to accidentally erase the entire line. If anyone knows how to fix this problem please let me know.
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Firefox only: drag-and-drop functionality is confusing. when it is enabled you cannot click on a line to enter text. When it is disabled you can drag one outline point inside of another. Currently this wreaks havoc, and I suggest you do not do it. Apparently Firefox's behavior is inline with the "standards." So it seems that there should be a simple fix.
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Several other things :)
Plans for the future
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Make it an offline web application!
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Make it easy to backup your data to a text file, or email an outline to a friend.