Tinderbox 4.6

Posted by Stephen Zeoli
Mar 6, 2009 at 02:17 PM

Hugh,

Thank you for the thoughtful reply and the links to the Lit Lat forum pages. I had read the second thread, but hadn’t seen the first. Michael Bywater makes a strong case for Tinderbox. Amber admires it, but she also seems a little ambivalent at times (despite her vast knowledge of computers and programming, she seems a true CRIMPer at heart).

I know that Tbx is incredibly function rich. What appeals to me most is probably its most obvious feature: the ability to move notes around at will, without any structure being imposed. Every other notecard based application I’ve seen is grid based (SNC, Writer’s Blocks, Scrivener).

I agree with you that the outliner is more powerful and sophisticated than it initially appears to be. In fact, it seems to me to be one of Tbx strengths.

On the other hand, the implementation of attributes (metadata) feels really awkward to me. Actually, the entire program seems ungainly. I feel that I’d probably be able to overcome my aversion to those aspects once I used the program extensively, but I’m not sure. And that’s the problem with the pricing—it’s just too much of a monetary risk. If there was a money back guarantee, that might make it easier to justify the cost. So, I will probably hold off buying a copy, but I will keep my eye out for a special deal.

Thanks, again, Hugh.

Steve Z.