What makes BrainForest an ambitious project is the range of possible uses. It produces numbered outlines. In fact, there is a wide range of numbering/lettering choices available. A feature new to the latest version is the use of project planning boxes. This boxes graphically represent completion of a project from 10% to 100%.

When you create an item in BrainForest, a small text field opens up as shown in Figure D. You can enter up to 130 characters in this window. Should you need more space for your idea, you can attach a note to an entry. Once an item is created you can access a row of choices along the bottom of the BrainForest window. In addition to adding or deleting a new branch or leaving the outline, you have access to the details window. Here is where BrainForest starts to show off. A small window very similar to the To Do List details window opens. Every branch or leaf (topic or subtopic in BrainForest parlance) can indicate priority, whether or not to show a checkbox, a start date and a finish date. If you select the option of viewing the tree as a Project tree, you the action check box now graphically indicates completion from 10% to 100%.

FIGURE D

A small text field opens up in BrainForest.

So far this seems like pretty standard stuff. But BrainForest contains a powerful double sort feature. I can sort my entire tree (or just a single branch of it) by title, priority, due date, and completion % and at then rearrange all my branches and leaves again in a subsort using the same criteria. This produces vastly different views of my tree and information is no longer just organized. It begins to make sense and various patterns emerge. Figures E and F show two different ways of sorting the same information.

FIGURE E

This shows a project with information sorted first by Due Date and second by Project Completion in descending order.

FIGURE F

This shows the same information sorted by Project Completion in ascending order.

Those used to other outlining programs may miss the ability to promote or demote an item by dragging it to the left or right. Instead, you select a branch or leaf and make the graffiti symbol for space to promote an item and the backspace symbol to demote an item. Since there are already several formatting choices performed at the left end of each item (completion percent, check box, and numbering style) this is probably necessary to avoid accidentally selecting one of these

This full-featured program comes with a 95 page Adobe Acrobat users guide to enable you to get the most out of it.

Bob Freud is an active PalmPilot enthusiast and a Computer Communications Consultant specializing in Web Design and Multilingual Computing. He can be reached via email at quick@intac.com. Learn more about Freud Consulting at http://www.intac.com/~quick.