The web has been about doing away with distances. Web 2.0 also has been a lot about doing everything in real time. What’s real time, you may ask? Twitter, is real time I would say. Real time is when an action draws an immediate response. When something gets on the web and is received by someone almost instantaneously, that’s real time. Web apps also have gone real time. There’s no more of mailing across and update and waiting for the response to flow in. Now, collaborative tools allow two or more people to work on the same web space.
It’s akin to sitting across the desk and thrashing out ideas over a cup of coffee – and it is how people can collaborate in real time.
Thinklinkr is another species in the new breed of collaborative web applications. With cloud based computing, the breed of collaborative web-based apps is crowding together. From online meet-ups involving huge projects to simple things as To-do lists or even sharing a screen session, collaboration tools are the new way.
Thinklinkr is not as complex as online project management tools. It is more in the line of OmniOutliner (paid) which is a Mac software or the web-based LooseStitch.
So, just to outline the three facets of Thinklinkr…
- It is web based.
- It is an outliner.
- It is fully collaborative.
Thinklinkr as an outliner
For those who have come in late, the application of an ‘outliner’ follows from the word – outline. An outliner is a program that allows us to arrange data into distinct chunks or sections or main headings and sub-points. Outliners allow data to be ordered and organized. Think of it as the first thoughts…the first idea of a plan or just a plain step by step of things you want to do. You can use an Outliner app for jotting down, brainstorming, or GTD.
Thinklinkr’s data organization features cover all that.
Using Thinklinkr, you can easily create outlines, indent and outdent them. With a mouse click you can collapse or expand the outlines. Drag and drop operations are all supported for easy reorganization of your data. A host of keyboard shortcuts may goad you to become a keyboard ninja and a hotshot outliner.
Advanced features like importing-exporting outlines to other Outliner apps as Text/HTML/Word/OPML files is great for flexibility.
View revision history of your outlines (using a slick slider) or just delete them for a tighter library.
The automatic save feature of Thinklinkr speeds up the outlining tasks as any data entered gets saved to the Thinklinkr servers.
Thinklinkr as a group or team tool
The usefulness of an Outliner increases manifold when you want to use it to collaborate in real time. In Thinklinkr, you can invite other team members as editors or simply as viewers to share the current outline. Editors can of course, make changes themselves which gets reflected in real time. Viewers can share any Thinklinkr project but they cannot make any changes themselves. Notification emails keeps the team updated on what’s happening in their Thinklinkr outlines.
The collaboration tool gets enhanced by the live chat service. All logged in team members can collaborate and chat in real time. An avatar next to the outline entry is the signpost to who’s contributing to the outlines in real time.
Will you be on Thinklinkr?
As a simple online Outliner application, Thinklinkr covers the basics. It is fast and free of glitches. For the first-time Outliner app user, the use of shortcuts to speed up the process is also easily accessible. You just need to press the little icon on the bottom bar to toggle the Keyboard Shortcuts screen. The screencast video help does all the explaining to the guy who has just signed up. Last but not the least – the chat service in Thinklinkr rounds off the real time collaboration experience.
This is just version 0.9.18. So more features surely will come in. The wish list includes more team management tools and a feature to attach external documents to the outlines. Also, for a collaborative environment, I believe the program shouldn’t stop at just outlines but should help the team to monitor the actionable steps taken on specific outlines.
Online collaboration and brainstorming apps are stirring up the cloud like never before. The free version of LooseStitch is already there. The new ThinkFold is also on the starting blocks with a beta.
Do you use a web-based outliner like Thinklinkr or prefer the desktop variant to collaborate in real time? Let us know your favorite tool for the job.
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