Re: MORE: Web Info Architecture; VISIO-the joke

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Note: This message is from the outliners.com archive kindly provided by Dave Winer.

Outliners.com Message ID: 230

Posted by n.lowe
1999-08-26 05:23:10

Fascinating stuff! If I were doing this now, I’d want to be using Inspiration (demo and tutorial from http://www.inspiration.com), of which there’s been surprisingly little mention in the discussion so far. For those who don’t know it, Inspiration is like More without the bullet view but with the tree view on banned steroids: multiple links, allowing a kind of visual hyperoutline overlying the linear hierarchy, and complete freeform control over all graphical elements (if you want it; or More-like instant graphification if you don’t).

My one regret is that version 5 got rid of the customisable colour palette - and More users will also miss blending; cloning and gathering; hoisting; and the ability to stick graphics anywhere in an outline, rather than just at the end of a Comment. On the other hand, it does allow you to change your Home headline, something that you probably don’t miss in More unless you’ve got used to it. There’s a review by (who else) Matt Neuburg at http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/TidBITS-410.html#lnk3. (In defence of version 4 - the best, I think - it should be said that many of Matt’s favourite “new” features were ones he missed in his review of the previous version, http://www.tidbits.com/tb-issues/TidBITS-180.html#lnk4, because he was only comparing outline modules.)

I’d be interested to hear what others feel about Inspiration. For me, it’s the one current outliner that genuinely feels like a worthy successor to More, and an evolutionary step along from it. Be warned that, like all great outliners, it will completely rewire your head as you discover the new ways of thinking and working its graphical approach opens up. Did I mention that it imports and exports More documents, including graphics, faster than it does plain text? that it’s cross-platform (hurrah!), with a common file format for MacOS & Windows? or that it exports outlines with graphics to HTML, as single or multiple pages with links and GIFs automatically generated?

I’ve been playing in the last few days with originating web pages in More, which I then export to HTML via Inspiration. I’ve even managed to convert an old Three by Five corkboard to HTML via an arcane maze of pathways (through RTF, Word 5.1, Inspiration, More, back to Inspiration, and thence to HTML!). Something similar may be possible through PowerPoint, which I don’t have - anyone tried? Does it still import More documents?

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