Lists
Since people first decided that there was more to life than finding a nice dry cave or berries that didn't make you break out in a rash, there have been lists. A stone ostrakon was found from the reign of Ramesses II (approx. 1279 - 1213 BCE) that records work attendence for 280 days of the year which, happily for them, shows that only about 70 of them were full work days. We aren't so lucky. Every day we are challenged to retain a torrent of information, channel it into something useful, and still remember to get bananas and milk on the way home. So we make lists.

Lists are the basic unit of organization. We list things we need to do. We list steps in a process. We list things we need, want, or hate, for that matter (please don't use Listz to pro/con your boyfriend, girlfriend, spouse; we couldn't take the guilt). We list things so we can "get things done", or "get it out of my head", or just "so I can see it all in one place". We list things to be creative, to explore, to muse, to brainstorm.

David Allen is showing the world that if you can get tasks out of your head and into a system you trust, your stress level will go down and your productivity will go up. There is something reassuring about 'getting it down.' It is natural - the way your mind works. ( To see why, try this. Without pencil and paper or computer, list all possible combinations of A, B, C, D. For example, ABCD, DCBA, etc. Repeat with paper, electronic or otherwise. Which was easier?)

Making lists is a stress reliever. "When I can see everything written down, I feel more in control." Then there is that lovely sense of satisfaction when you can check off items for things you have accomplished.

Whether you make lists for planning, productivity, creative expression, exploring ideas, or just to remember, the process can be revolutionized by really good technology. Listz...

Get it down
Whether you are brainstorming, planning, or organizing it is critical to "get your ideas and thoughts down". Listz's UI is designed to make this fast, easy, and sometimes, downright pleasant. You can create dozens of items in seconds. Then go back and add rich media notes, including graphics or even movies. Set due dates and give your items alarms to be certain you don't miss them, and of course, Listz's alarms work even when Listz isn't running.

Listz's powerful implementation of drag&drop interactions allow you to build up your lists just by dragging in URLs, files, or text, instantly creating new items for you as you go. This is a quick and powerful way to create lists of sites you want to re-visit or files you want to have quick access to.

The key is Listz's complete flexibility. Because you are not constrained to creating items in any one specific way, you can work the way that suits you best. It encourages you to get over that moment of procrastination and "get it down" so you can begin the process of creating, exploring, or organizing.

Listz has no limit on the number of items, tabs, or lists you can create; make them until you run out of hard drive space. You aren't constrained - let your mind work freely.

Organize
To most people "getting organized" brings to mind visions of some imposing aunt looming over them watching with narrowed beady eyes as they throw away their most beloved old junk ("but I am telling you, this was Elvis's shoelace!") to make way for a gleaming sterilized work space replete with razor-sharp yellow pencils aligned with military precision. It never sounds like fun and often feels boring and pointless.

Ironically, most of us wish someone would come in and organize for us. Ever wished you had alphabetized your music collection? Or that you could find all your recipes that use basil? How about grouping all your dissertation bibliographies according to the journal they came from? With Listz you can retain the natural, often chaotic, flow of gathering information together but then can imply order and organization to it when you are ready.

You can give items Categories, Priorities, Colors, Statuses. You can give your tasks Due Dates and set alarms for them, so that you don't forget.

The keys to good organization are grouping, sorting, and searching.

Grouping
Humans are the most amazing pattern-recognition machines in the world. We can see tiny relationships in seemingly unrelated things. However, in today's world we face a deluge of information, all day, every day. We need to be able to see those relationships once and not have to constantly re-define them over and over. This is the core of "grouping".

We form groups, both mentally and physically, every day. We lump together "things to take to work", "mail to go to the post", and "stuff to pack for Hawaii". Listz does the same thing for information, and on many, many levels.

At the highest level you can create separate lists. I have a list of "Work To-Do's", "Things I Need to Fix Around the House", "Web sites to visit again", "My Favorite Quotes", and "Article on Senior-friendly UI Design". Within lists you create tabs, allowing you to sub-group ideas. For example, within my "My Favorite Quotes" list, I have tabs for Contemporary, Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, etc. Even further sub-grouping can be achieved by categories. Within my work list I mark items as Meetings, Phone Calls, Travel, etc. You can add another layer by color-coding your items (color is one of our most primal mnemonics). For the real list afficionados, and people used to blogging, Listz allows you to mark items with Searchable Tags, as many as you like.

Sorting
Once you have your items grouped, (a huge step along the way to being more organized, efficient, and frankly, relaxed) you can begin to look at your information in different ways. The easiest, and often most powerful, way to do this is Sorting.

Sorting is one of those thought processes people do often without thinking. Mail gets sorted ("bill, bill, bill, junk, junk, ooh catalog!") billions of times a day around the world. The resulting piles are then reviewed, prioritized, handled. The exact same thing happens with information. In Listz, any view onto any tab can be sorted, with a single click.

Listz will sort for you by User Sort (an order you define by dragging and dropping items), Due Date, Priority, Category, Status, Alphabetically, Reverse Alpha, and, new in v. 1.2, Color. Listz's sorts are non-destructive so you can sort the items any way you want in User Sort, then pop the tab into another sort mode then bounce back, knowing it's exactly the way you left it. Smart!

Searching
All the brainstorming, planning, and organization in the world won't help you if you can't remember where you left it. How many times have you scrambled for that sticky note you wrote your list down on? Let Listz be your memory and you'll always know where to find what you need.

Listz's deep searching functions help you find what you need, when you need it. From the simplest text search within an item, to a search of all your lists for a tag, category, etc. Listz keeps your information at your fingertips, not buried under your paperwork.

Listz even has an outline-like Global View that shows every list, tab and item for those times when you can't remember what you are looking for, but will know it when you see it.

Get Visual
Color, shape, and texture are some of humanities most basic mnemonics. From the time we are babies we can differentiate between a ball and a dog even though we don't know their names. Listz leverages the power of these stimuli to pack incredible amounts of information into a small, aesthetically pleasing, space. It helps you keep track of what's what, and where, without having to actively engage your brain to "look for it".

For example, you can create a list for your "Travel Plans". Now change it's style completely; changing its title bar, tabs, background etc. Now, forevermore, you know just by scanning your screen that that list is your "Travel Plans" list without even thinking about it. You can take this one step further by only changing the background within a certain tab; say a tropical island photo from your last trip to Tahiti.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. With the upcoming StylzKit, you can create and share styles that you design with other Listz users. If you aren't a pixelhead yourself you can still download Styles from our Goodies page. Use those styles to help you differentiate your lists, or just make your Mac a little more hip, a little more you.

Listz is your app, so use it, style it, share it, your way.

Above is an example of a single Listz item, the basic unit of a list. You can tell right away that it's an event because it has a Due Date below the description. You might guess it's lunch without ever reading the text because of the hamburger at the left, and you'd be right. You can also tell immediately that this hasn't been completed yet because of the empty square on the far left. On the right the little icons tell you this item has an alarm set, has some notes attached, is displayed in your Mac's Dashboard in the ListzWidget, and is of #1 priority. All without reading a single word. It's unobtrusive but deeply informative. That's good thinking.

Share
"No man is an island" was never more true than in today's hyperlinked, Wi-fi with a latte, bandwidth-for-free world (even if that man's Ibiza). Whether you want to use your lists across multiple machines or share your categories, backgrounds, or styles, Listz is ready.

You can import and export lists, tabs, or items. You can share styles, categories, and in the new version 1.2, color palettes. Also in 1.2 is import and export for PDF, RTF, XML, and OPML, so you can share with other apps, devices, or your unfortunate friends who don't have Listz yet.