An outliner is a special text editor that allows text to be structured as an outline. Outliners are typically used for computer programming, collecting or organizing ideas, Getting Things Done, or project management. It is generally acknowledged that Doug Engelbart was the first to see the advantages of the expandable-outline user interface paradigm in software. Notepad is the standard text editor for Microsoft Windows A text editor is a piece of computer software for editing plain text. ... In computer science, a tree is a widely-used computer data structure that emulates a tree structure with a set of linked nodes. ... An outline is a hierarchical way to display related items of text to graphically depict their relationships. ... “Programming” redirects here. ... IDEA may refer to: Electronic Directory of the European Institutions IDEA League Improvement and Development Agency Individuals with Disabilities Education Act Indian Distance Education Association Integrated Data Environments Australia Intelligent Database Environment for Advanced Applications IntelliJ IDEA - a Java IDE Interactive Database for Energy-efficient Architecture International IDEA (International Institute... This article is about the book by David Allen. ... Project Management is the discipline of organizing and managing resources (e. ... Dr. Douglas C. Engelbart (born January 30, 1925 in Oregon) is an American inventor of Norwegian descent. ...

Hierarchy - principal attribute

The principal attribute of outline editors is that they support or enforce the use of a hierarchy in most of their functions (below), not just in the display of information. For example: A hierarchy (in Greek: , derived from — hieros, sacred, and — arkho, rule) is a system of ranking and organizing things or people, where each element of the system (except for the top element) is a subordinate to a single other element. ...

• Editing: Sound parent-child relationships are enforced when the user modifies the document structure. For example:
  • Promoting, demoting, copying, or deleting a parent has the same effect on the children.
  • Every item entry must be within one level of its predecessor, such that each item must be a sibling or child of the preceding item (thus, no item can be a great-grandchild of the preceding item).
• Viewing: The tool enables the user to affect the display by level. For example:
  • Applying styles by outline level (e.g., bold all 1st level items)
  • Displaying selected levels (e.g., show all 1st and 2nd level items, but none deeper).
• Search: The tool retrieves all items that contain the query terms plus the ancestors (parent, grandparent...) that give them context.
• File import / export: Both the content and structure of outlines are conveyed when files are imported or exported (e.g., from and to tab-indented files).

Intrinsic vs. extrinsic outliners

It is possible to distinguish between intrinsic and extrinsic outlines. An intrinsic (or classic) outline is one in which the text itself is organized in an outline format. Content elements are structural elements. An extrinsic outliner is a product that presents labels, titles, or headings hierarchically in one pane and related text in another pane. Content elements and structural elements are separated in this model. The principal benefits of intrinsic outliners are that editing is simple and thus quick because the user need not manage two panes, and that the user has great flexibility to mix concise headings and verbose text as needed. The principal benefit of extrinisic outliners is that they enforce concise structures (heading labels of few words) that simplify and thus accelerate navigation of the structure. An outline is a hierarchical way to display related items of text to graphically depict their relationships. ...

File formats

• OPML
• OML
• XOXO

OPML (Outline Processor Markup Language) is an XML format for outlines. ... OML (Outline Markup Language) is an XML format for outlines. ... XOXO (Extensible Open XHTML Outlines) is an XML format for outlines built from XHTML modularization. ...

See also

• Code folding
• Folding editor
• Personal information manager
• Mind map
• Desktop Wiki
• Notetaking software
• Category:Outliners

Code folding is a feature of some text editors, program source code editors and IDEs that allows the user to selectively hide and display sections of a currently-edited file as a part of routine edit operations. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into code folding. ... A personal information manager (PIM) is a type of application software that functions as a personal organizer. ... A hand-drawn mind map A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks or other items linked to and arranged radially around a central key word or idea. ... Some Wiki software is not intended for collaborative work, but for either content management or for personal information organising. ...

External links

Look up outliner in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• Outliners.com
• Expanding Brain Outliner Wiki
• Outliners and Mind Map Software: A Really Thorough, Annotated List
• "About this particular outliner"
• Overview of Windows Outlining Programs
• ActionOutline: Outline software with Explorer-like interface
• Writing in Outlines
• Outlines: The Do Everything Tool
• Selecting a Note-Taking Program, written by Glen J. Coulthard
• Tuxcards and KnowIt: Open source outlining
• OutlinerSoftware.com, Discussion of Outliners
• Keynote Open Source Win32 multi-feature tabbed notebook outliner
• Treepad Outliner and Personal Information Manager, by Freebyte
• The Guide Open Source Win32 outliner
• Jreepad Java based Treepad Lite clone multi-platform
• SEONOTE Freeware powerful outliner and information manager for MicrosoftTM WindowsTM XP, 2000, NT, 98 and 95 systems.
• EVERNOTE Powerful outliner "A Single Place for All Your Notes" to easily capture, store and quickly access typed and handwritten memos, webpage excerpts, emails, phone messages, addresses, passwords, brainstorms, sketches, documents etc.
• 2DO 2DO Notes management application with notes organized in a tree-view
• Leo, an outline editor that supports literate programming (open-source, free, platform-independent, written in python)
• NoteCase Open Source Outliner (Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Sharp Zaurus, Nokia N800) (free/open source)
• NoteCase Pro Advanced version of Notecase outliner (Microsoft Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, Sharp Zaurus, Nokia N800) (proprietary software)