Re: On to Styles

< Next Message | Back to archived message list | Previous Message >

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

Outliners.com Message ID: 5075

Posted by sub
2006-01-17 15:52:32

Charles,

Warm thanks for providing your Word macro to Brainstorm users through David Tebbutt; I think there’s a lot of potential in there, though I need to try it more extensively for further comments.

I recently realised that, although I prefer writing in plain text, there are several instances in which I wish I could embed formatting early on; for example, when working with formulas, even simple ones like CO2 or km2, that make little sense in plain text. Leaving such formatting for later is a nuisance as it’s hard to automate and easily leads to errors. Another case is references, footnotes and endnotes.

Not least is the ability to re-import and reorganise a document (a feature presumably offered by Writer’s Blocks) and having styles reflect that reorganisation.

There’s more, I’m sure; I think the more I rely on an effective information management software environment for the creative process, the more I miss the ability to handle as much of the finished product as possible from within that environment.

I comprehend that the above seemingly contradicts my own statement, in another recent post, that a set of well-combined tools is usually more effective than an all-encompassing one. However, what I refer to above as an information management software environment need not necessarily consist of one single application; Brainstorm plus Freemind or Notemap, for example, definitely represent such an environment.

In such a concept, formatting styles represent nothing more than information—or perhaps, metainformation- that could ideally be handled within that environment as well.

alx

Back to archived message list