[mxuribe]

Same with me; I recall being taught to start things off with an outline, as you described. For work - where I get less chances to craft essays/long-form writing, it seems that lists prevail. It is more about "getting things done"/conveying actions/todos as fast/efficient as possible vs longer-form writing where there is opportunity to enjoy the "trip", or at least gradually dive into a particular topic. For me, essays - at least nowadays - are like slowly wading into the ocean deeper and deeper for enjoyment...While crafting lists is like taking a shower; a fast, practical way to get clean. ;-)

[tjr]

I enjoy Dave Winer's outlining tools. I'm not fond of the often-used Twitter authentication (just personal preference; no technical reason), but the overall concept and work flow of the tools themselves is really nice.

[gowld]

Are there current tools? http://outliners.scripting.com is stuff from the 1980s, last updated in 1999

Today's premium Mac offering is OmniOutliner ($20 barebones or $100 full-featured) https://www.omnigroup.com/omnioutliner/

[tjr]

Drummer is his current project:

http://scripting.com/2021/04/03/133021.html?title=theMakingO...

[antiframe]

Emacs has a wonderful outline mode and even more featurful org-mode. Easy to navigate, restructure, filter, etc.

[spccdt]

Here are a few outliners to consider:

* Workflowy * Roam Research * RemNote * Zavala

[PopAlongKid]

I receive his daily blog post via email, so I have read a lot of his comments about "outliners" and how wonderful they are. It always leaves me scratching my head; I mean, doesn't MS Word (and MS Excel, for that matter) have outlining capabilities built-in? How many different ways are there to construct an outline?

[gowld]

https://www.omnigroup.com/omnioutliner/features/

[runjake]

Link for others curious: https://www.google.com/search?q=dave+winer+outlining

If anyone has a better, more specific link, please reply, I'm curious.

[tjr]

http://docserver.scripting.com/drummer/about.opml