One problem with trying so many programs is that one may forget things about those you think you know. One thing about BrainStorm that surprised me is that the limitation of levels means you can't select items at different levels to drag to a new location or throw to a new location. Somehow I think I tacitly assumed--or maybe I have now just forgotten--that the split window in BrainStorm lets you make such selections. But of course it doesn't, since effective selection only occurs in the focused window. Obviously this isn't something I do often. Neil Larson (Maxthink) even responded to my question about a similar limitation in his application by saying that having to reorganize items at different levels showed you did something wrong to begin with. Still it is something I have had to do on a few occasions, and it is the kind of feature that I like to know is there, even if I call upon only on rare occasions.

Is there a way around this limitation in Brainstorm? I don't think there is, but I could be suffering befuddlesment from CRIMP excesses.If it is a limitation, how material do users think it is? Was Neil correct?

Stephen Diamond

One thing about BrainStorm that surprised me is that the limitation of levels means you can't select items at different levels to drag to a new location or throw to a new location.

Stephen,

Am I wrong... doesn't the act of throwing one item after another to a new location give you effectively the same control over this process as you would have doing it the way you describe? That is, you mark the location with the little green box, then you can hop around to each item and throw it. Wouldn't this effectively be the same thing? What's the difference between typing ctrl-t to throw something and ctrl-m (or whatever) to mark it for gathering? Some limitations are that when you throw an item with children, the children go along for the ride as well, which but I can't see any way around that in BrainStorm; also, you have to manually navigate around to the different levels... maybe that's what you mean. Still, it seems to me that you get fairly close to the functionality you are looking for in BrainStorm, if not all the way. Or am I missing the point?

Steve Z.