Re: Wiki notetaking in ConnectedText, & wiki Brainstorm?

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

Outliners.com Message ID: 5298

Posted by kuehnm
2006-02-18 12:34:38

Daly,

I’d like to answer your question, but I don’t understand: “A step backward” to what?

(i) Do you mean formatting? As I said, I do not see how typing “//” (or other combinations) is inherently more work than typing “Ctrl + I” or other combinations. And in the application I have recommended there will be keyboard shortcuts and menus in the next version that make it even easier (if that is the problem).

(ii) Is it that there is one mode for editing and one for viewing? Perhaps that is a step backwards, but databases often have this “feature” (I think). In any case, hitting “Alt-E” for opening and closing becomes second nature. I actually like that it has these two modes, because it is protection against accidental changes.

(iii) Is it that it isn’t wysiwyg? Again, I see how one might think that this is a shortcoming. But again, I do not think it is. Applications like Notebook and ConnectedText follow the paradigm of structured text, like HTML. In fact, they are a simplified (dumbed down?) version of something like HTML, and they can easily be translated into HTML, etc. so that you can move your info into other applications in the future. The ability to save my information in text format without losing information concerning formatting, etc. is important to me.

(iv) Is it that it isn’t HTML or XML? Well, it isn’t, but it is the easiest way to do *Hypertext* that I know of. And that seems to me a great benefit. The ability to simply create and instantly link to another entry by enclosing a word or words with “[[]]” is what I find most compelling. It seems to me a godsend for note-taking and research. That’s all.

That being said, I understand that hypertext obviously isn’t for everyone. Nor is it good for everything and in all contexts. In that way, it is just like outliner applications. And it may be just my idiosyncratic view that there is a significant overlap between outlining and this type of hypertext (which may or may not be hierarchically structured).

Best, Manfred

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