Review: Ximplify myList 3.0 Pro for Nokia 9200

[TANKERx]

Ximplify, the people behind myStationery, have come up with version 3.0 of the myList application. It comes in Pro and Lite flavours, the former of which is being looked at here.

Concept
From a users's point of view, myList is just like the Notes application that comes with the Nokia Communicator, only the difference being that myList does what Notes does a whole lot better, and it does a whole lot more.

The name, myList, is misleading since to me it suggests a wimpy little shopping list type application whereas in reality, it's a powerful data organiser that allows you to categorise your thoughts, ideas or any other information, into what is effectively a fully functional and searchable databsase, all be it flat file.

User Interface
The display is simple and straightforward. Your list is on the left, and if you want, you can have rich text memos displayed on the right.

Creating new lists is easy and uncomplicated and, at last, someone has finally included a 'Recent Files' to the File menu!

You can move lists and have all subitems moved at the same time, also you can copy a list to the clipboard as text. Your list items can be ticked or unticked and you have the ability to (un)tick whole lists at a time.

Import and export features are very powerful and allow you to merge in CSV files as well as bring text direct from any SMS that is in your inbox. You can send lists and list items as SMS, E-Mail and Faxe transmitions.

Preferences allow you to customize the appearance of the list in regard to list item numbers, gridlines and hotkeys. You also get limited control over the colours used by the display. And finally, from the menu, you can protect your list with a password.

Memos
The most useful feature has to be the fully editable memos that can be entered for each record. These memos allow you to embed word and sheet files, display images and attach files! The text is rich, so you can alter the typeface's font, size, face and colour. This makes for a very pleasant experience, particularly if you've ever endured the agonising time wasted waiting for the Notes application to do anything. myList doesn't suffer from this performance lag, though some more complicated memos can take five seconds to display fully.

This would get full marks except for....
...the fact that it doesn't remember the memo's width or the fact that you were in Memo mode at all. Also, I'm used to pressing Ctrl+Shift+F to change font properties, but there's none of that here, you must press the menu button on the screen.

If you have a Word document that contains bullets or paragraph formatting, it is preserved, but there's no way of changing any of this within myList, not even with keystrokes like Ctrl+Shift+S.

Conclusion
Despite its weaknesses, Ximplify's myList is excellent. The features of the two versions are as follows;

Pro Version [list]
Costs $30
2 pane, 4 column outliner
Support of up to 4 columns with choice of Description, Priority, Date, Date & Time, Duration, Integer, Floating, Yes/No.
Memo View of unlimited length, with support for rich text format
Support attachments and embedded objects
Sorting (for all columns and types)
Full view scrolling, layout and dynamic column width adjustment
Extended support for CSV import [/list:u]

Lite Version [list]
Costs $18
Single pane, single column outliner with maximum of 255 characters per item
No memo view
Ability to link files but NO attachment or embedded objects
No sorting function
No horizontal scrolling
Minimal support for CSV import i.e. one field and text only [/list:u]

This application is an answer to prayer and I hope to see Ximplify further develop this great application in the near future (maybe add HTML export, for example?).

I give it 4 out of 5.


www.ximplify.com

[Rafe]

Nice review.

I always thought Ximplify produce some nice stuff, without that much attention paid to them..

But Ximplify are you listening. The TANKERx has spoken... Will you meet his demands?