Today we are sincerely pleased to be introducing the long-awaited redesign and feature update of our main flagman — MLO task organizer for ...

MyLifeOrganized 5: New UI, and Much More Inside… The public beta is out!

Today we are sincerely pleased to be introducing the long-awaited redesign and feature update of our main flagman — MLO task organizer for Windows v.5.
It is where we combined the technology and tools we have been developing since our start with a new sharp, yet overwhelmingly stylish design, which makes MLO even more effective and convenient in usage. Read on to learn what’s new and enjoy exploring the public beta version! The download link and information on upgrade can be found on our website.
General outlook
Earlier we published the video of MLO 5 presented by our CEO Andrey Tkachuk, the founder and main inspirer. Careful attention to teamwork, quality and versatility of the applications have always played a huge role for Andrey. Having substantial experience in software development and managing big teams for different software development companies Andrey Tkachuk wove his own ideas and then professional task management methodologies into the MLO code. Later the program was reinforced by new great features that made the program more stand out. Read the full interview to learn more about MLO and its founder by the this link.
In MLO 5 our team tried to achieve as simple and clear user interface as it is possible in such a complex program. New carefully drawn and shaped UI elements look harmonic with the background and do not overload the general layout. In particular, we aimed to create icons with well thought-out symbolic meaning and simple easily recognizable forms. 
The task list design has been changed to a more intuitive and up-to-date mainly due to fonts, colors and icons. As before, you can either open or close the panes you use or don't use.
You can also see a status bar on the bottom — it provides information on the view you opened like how many tasks have been started, how many are overdue, time required for the tasks in view and etc. 
Speaking about functionality, there are even more crucial updates to mention here. The MLO team always listens to your requests and comments. We have been really concerned about repeated inquiries for specific features and realised that these features deserve to be incorporated into the new version of MLO.  Therefore, one of major updates deals with Google Calendar sync which makes your MLO tasks visible through Calendar, and vice versa. 
Integration with Google Calendar
We did not forget many of you commenting on formatting the notes, and another huge update to be announced is Markdown which will help to add headings, lists, bold, italic, links, images and so on – by applying relatively simple and non-intrusive markup.  Later you will get acquainted with these features in more detail.

Very noticeable changes were made in the task properties area. Now there is the preview pane which displays only those properties that you set up for the task (will be explained in one of our next posts). There are some extra options as well, for example, you can now mark a task as reviewed directly from the Preview pane.

Another important set of UI updates concerns new settings dialogues giving much more space for bettering and customization. One of such is the Manage Views where you can choose to show or hide a specific view similar to our mobile version, set up counters (another great new functionality!), create and delete views etc.

Manage Views dialogue
This is not the whole list of updates, there are a few minor updates that are worth mentioning. For example, filtering by text, sorting tasks by clicking on the header, or completing more than one task at once by pressing space.
And this is just to start — we will continue working on MLO5. We are going to improve it with another nice addition for rich visual experience — support of scalable UI for high resolution monitors, so that you will see sharper text and more details in pictures. Besides, we are currently working on the cloud auto-sync improvements, status bar improvements, adding more hotkeys for commands, simplifying the markdown usage as well as improvements for Sync with Google Calendar (based on your feedback) and more.
Enjoy playing around with the public beta of MLO 5! The version has proved to be fully stable - the Beta team has been testing it for quite a long period. You can install it over your current version and use for free for the first 15 days. After that you need to proceed with upgrade (free or paid) to continue using the new features. You can always return to the initially installed version at any time. More info on our website. The main (not beta) version will become available a bit later.
Download MLO 5 public beta
We stay assured that the updates backed by your feedback will make your interaction with MLO more productive and gratifying, and your impressions are going to be as smooth and inspiring as ours. Thank you for making MLO better!

Feel free to share your thoughts on the MLO5 features, your feedback is always welcome!



10 comments:


  1. 17 comments on the overview/preview, 0 on the actual release.
    Indeed pleasure is found in anticipation

    Can't thank you enough for this update.

    As corny as it may sound MLO is a life changing application (if used in the right way) and I'm NOT exagearting.
    I've played with it for a while an I'm not dissapointed

    Thank you

    random happy customer

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for the warm words! They are a great incentive for the team.

      Delete
  2. LENOVO Yoga 910, 4k display, the new UI is as blured as the old one.
    Why it's not prepared to be displayed properly on a high PPI display?
    Or am I doing something wrong?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. High-DPI will be supported soon, the team is working on it.

      Delete
    2. Hi, there. MLO 5.0.0.3020 public beta-2 doesn't support high-DPI displays as of 6/14/2018. Unfortunately, this prevents me from using it. Will high-DPI support arrive in 2018?

      How far along is the development work?

      It's interesting that playing with the .exe's Properties->Compatibility->Change high DPI settings has no effect. The text is always blurry on a Surface Pro 4.

      The Open Source application, ToDoList for Windows (http://abstractspoon.pbworks.com/f/todolist_exe_pre.zip), also has this problem, but it's able to be corrected by using "System" overriding in the abovementioned settings.

      Thanks,

      Steve

      Delete
    3. The team is still working on it. If we don't finish it before the release date, then High-DPI support will be available with the first updates for MLO 5. Yes, it will arrive in 2018. Thank you for understanding!

      Delete
  3. It's great!
    I have a suggestion: Can mlo customize the way it chooses the next actions such as picking out the ones with the highest computer-score, So mlo can tell me more effectively what to do next.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi All,

    I've been trying to find a feature-packed, desktop-based personal project management application for Windows, and a friend of mine pointed out MLO. I've investigated web-based SaaS applications such as Trello or Todoist, but they're too simple for what I need, and they cost a lot of money over time.

    The best overall application that I've found is the Open Source ToDoList for Windows (http://abstractspoon.pbworks.com/f/todolist_exe_pre.zip). See: https://abstractspoon.weebly.com/ for some screen shots. ToDoList not only has an outline view, but calendar views, a Gantt chart (which is very helpful!), a Kanban view, a mind map view, and even a word cloud view. It also has task timers, which is a feature that MLO users have been requesting since 2008. And it includes source control. You can easily check in and check out your to-do lists. The UI is a little clumsy, but if you right-click on the executable file and select Properties->Compatibility->Change high DPI settings->Override high DPI scaling behavior->System (Enhanced), it'll render razor-sharp fonts on high-DPI displays.

    I like that MLO allows you to set goals, and that it integrates with Google Calendar. But from the limited testing that I've done, it seems to lag significantly behind ToDoList in most areas. Having a Gantt chart view, a Kanban view, and a mind map view is important.

    How many full-time developers are working on MLO, and how often are releases dropped? Can we expect at least one major version release per year? How about the views mentioned above, as well as perhaps a time-phased view, and a view that shows resource loading (how much actual work is done over time, in the form of a bar chart)?

    What's the future road map for MLO, and the associated target dates? I'd really like to see a commercial product superior to ToDoList, and would happily pay money for a commercial product, but currently, the free ToDoList appears to deliver many more useful features than the public beta of MLO. I hope that that will change quickly.

    Many small software development companies claim that they'll address a critical limitation, such as blurry fonts on high-DPI displays, but fail to follow through. They also fail to give users a concrete time line for planned features, which reduces user confidence in the long-term viability of their products. Before investing a lot of data entry effort in a to-do product, users would like to feel confident that it will receive regular, major feature updates, and have a viable, long-term future.

    Can you address these concerns?

    Thanks,

    Steve

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Steve!

      Thank you for the detailed comment. We are open to any feedback but we believe that our blog is not the appropriate place for advertising third party apps, plus with a link. Could you please remove that from your comment?

      We are a small team with growing ambitions. We are constantly working on improvements in MLO based on our customers' views and opinions. We do not share our release plan. However, as soon as the plan has been adopted, it is made public on our forum, blog or social media channels.

      Again, High DPI support will be available in the first updates for MLO 5.

      Thank you for sharing your concerns, we do appreciate your interest in the MLO development.

      Delete
  5. Hey I love MLO!, its the first project management tool I could get to grips with after many years of trying misfits; as a Dyslexic Its rock hard to keep track/set up/ anything, Thanks for the great program! get the team to add Gnat Chart and Kanban views and Blow out the comp!

    ReplyDelete