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Software for creating writing project dashboard with links to files
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Posted by Dr Andus
May 30, 2013 at 09:07 PM
It’s been an old dream of mine to find a software that could be used as a dashboard for everything, or if not for everything, then at least for the most important writing projects. Mainly I want to be able to organise and re-organise links to files on my drive that pertain to specific projects.
The problem with everything I tried is that a) after a while a single page gets too crowded or b) it is too convoluted to link to files and rearrange items, or c) it is visually difficult to consume.
So far I tried WhizFolders, Planz, “hubs” in SmartDraw 2012, ConnectedText, VUE, and CmapTools.
The main criteria would be:
- light enough for it to start quickly (I’d want to have it open automatically at Windows start-up and keep it open);
- drag and drop of any file from file explorer creates a link to the file (ideally with an icon of the app and the file name);
- easy to rearrange, collapse, zoom in and out of branches.
- easy to duplicate branches.
- alternative visualisations (e.g. outline, mind map).
- internal linking between items;
- ability to add additional icons, colour-coding, highlighting.
I’ve just started using Freeplane for this today, and it seems to tick a lot of the boxes above. It’s a bit slow to start, doesn’t add the file icons, and you can’t zoom (hoist), but can do all the others. Besides the drag and drop of file links it can also link directly to internal ConnectedText (and other) documents, which is great. But it’s early days, as I don’t know how easy it will be to navigate once it has over a hundred links.
Any other suggestions for such a dashboard software?
Posted by Dr Andus
May 30, 2013 at 09:39 PM
I should also add the ability to annotate any item (any link to a file), which can also be done in Freeplane.
Posted by Stephen Zeoli
May 31, 2013 at 12:55 AM
Dr Andus,
You are describing TheBrain almost perfectly. You should really give it a try. I use it much the way you are describing as a dashboard for my office work. The only slight issue you might have with it is that the “outline” view is a little lightweight.
Steve Z.
Posted by Dr Andus
May 31, 2013 at 10:40 AM
Stephen Zeoli wrote:
>You are describing TheBrain almost perfectly. You should really give it
>a try. I use it much the way you are describing as a dashboard for my
>office work. The only slight issue you might have with it is that the
>“outline” view is a little lightweight.
Steve, thanks for the suggestion. I’ve tried TheBrain repeatedly over the years but somehow I never figured out what I could use it for. It hasn’t occurred to me to use it as a dashboard.
If I remember correctly, my problem with TheBrain was that individual items can’t be permanently pinned to a board. When you click on an item, all the related items dynamically rearrange themselves on the screen, which I find problematic because I want to remember the spatial co-ordinates of where things are.
The advantage of TheBrain over a standard mind mapper seems to be that it can zoom (hoist). However, what I like about Freeplane is that one can have a one-page total overview of a mind map when it’s unfolded, which doesn’t seem to be possible with TheBrain.
Is there such a thing as a zoomable/hoistable standard mind map? I’d love it if Freeplane would work like WorkFlowy, so that by clicking or double-clicking on a node you zoom into that branch but still have breadcrumbs to go back home in one go or gradually.
Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
May 31, 2013 at 02:38 PM
Dr Andus wrote:
>Is there such a thing as a zoomable/hoistable standard mind map?
Yes there is: http://www.mindgenius.com/
(hard to justify the price though, as with most mind mappers)
Dr Andus, reading your specifications above I also thought of TheBrain; then, when you mentioned the pinned-down view I thought of TreeSheets. I would imagine it is ideal, but not very convenient with the links, as you get them in full view.
TheBrain has (for me) a very big advantage over mind maps, which justifies a dynamic view: you can link anything to anything. A mind map has by definition one centre from which everything radiates; yet this is not a good model for the kind of information I personally deal with—your situation may vary. By the way, I believe MindGenius partly overcomes this limitation: it can restructure the map with different reference points, based on tags, similarly to TreeSheets.