Instapaper on the Mac is a pure web-based application but Marco Arment has developed iOS applications for both the iPhone and iPad. In-app reading is much more convenient than using Safari and the excellent iPad app, in particular, makes me yearn for a Mac version of Instapaper.
Before using the OF link I had a list of folders within Instapaper where I gathered useful items. But it was easy to overlook ideas and miss news opportunities.
Now it’s much simpler and more reliable to plan tasks. When viewing an Instapaper article on the iPhone or iPad the Share button offers a “Create Task in OmniFocus” option. This takes you smoothly into OF where the article link shows up as a task note. You can add scheduling and filing data then and there but I don’t bother, finding it easier to do this later.
Press Done and you have an new item in your OF Inbox. A quick double-click on the Home button and you return equally smoothly to Instapaper, always first in the list of running apps because it was the last used. This is the nearest you’ll get to the convenience of multiple windows in iOS.
I’ve now incorporated this into my blog workflow so I can manage and edit news leads from within OmniFocus. It’s much more convenient and I feel more in control.