Online Outlining

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Posted by CopaceticOpus
Dec 20, 2006 at 11:18 PM

I’ve spent a ton of time today searching for a web-based outlining PIM application, and as far as I can tell it just doesn’t exist. I think this is very strange. I want to create a set of outlined notes that I can access from any computer and any operating system over the web. Does anyone know if something like this exists?

Surfulater doesn’t cut it, because it still saves its information locally. The closest thing I have found is Sproutliner. That will create an outline, but it doesn’t allow me to enter long text entries for each outline heading. What I’m looking for is basically TreePad or wikidPad in a web browser. I hope I can find it somewhere!

Posted by grapeshot
Dec 25, 2006 at 11:42 PM

I’ve been poking around looking at PIMs and note taking software lately. (It’s a good way to procrastinate since it feels like I’m doing something useful.) I haven’t seen anything particularly handy that works on-line.

Google has a notebook feature, but it’s very rudimentary. It acts like a large bin into which you can throw your notes. It’s hardly more than what your browser’s bookmarking feature offers with the ability to write in or paste in notes. I’m not that impressed with it, however it does allow sharing if you set up a public notebook.
http://www.google.com/notebook
I’m not sure how it would serve for linking to document files or storing images so that the whole group could access those as well. You might need some webspace for storage of those items and use Google Notebook for linking to them. Google Notebook is free.

You could also just go for a Backpack account, which could serve the same purpose as the Google Notebook. It doesn’t offer any sort of organizing tools, but it does offer a place for a group to store documents and files. It also offers a feature that allows on-line document collaberation. You would have to have a subscription to do any serious on-line note sharing using Backpack.

Neither of these offer what even the simplest note-taking software offers.

I also came across something called DeepaMehta which might come closer to what you may be looking for. http://www.deepamehta.de/
It’s advertised as mind-mapping software, but the “interactive example” on the website seemed to indicate that it could also serve as note-taking. The website offers to let you use it on-line. You have to email the owner of the website for an account. I imagine that several people could share an account and thus be able to share notetaking on-line. I sent away for an account just to satisfy my curiosity. I don’t know if any resulting notes or mind-maps from the on-line version can be turned into a document and downloaded or e-mailed.

You could also take a look at using something like TiddlyWiki (http://www.tiddlywiki.com/) loaded on a webspace somewhere, but you and your collaberators would need to learn how to use it (it’s not that hard) and you’d have to figure out how you might want to customize it (which is a little harder). I just now tried loading my personal TiddlyWiki file up on my personal webspace and it looks like some modifications would have to be done to it so that “tiddlers” could be added by a public group. (“Tiddlers” is the software’s name for notes.) I imagine that you’re looking for something that is a litte more “ready to go”.

Posted by David Dunham
Dec 26, 2006 at 05:25 AM

>I’ve spent a ton of time today searching for a web-based outlining PIM application,

According to my notes, iJot and Mind Raider might be what you’re looking for (I haven’t used them).

IMO your quest is problematic. I use my laptop from a number of places that don’t have good Internet connectivity (such as the daily commute—it’s a bus). It would be crippling to only access my notes or take new ones when I could use the Net. Far better to use an actual outliner like Opal.

Posted by Cassius
Dec 26, 2006 at 06:07 AM

C…O… said, “I’ve spent a ton of time today searching for a web-based outlining PIM application, and as far as I can tell it just doesn’t exist. I think this is very strange. I want to create a set of outlined notes that I can access from any computer and any operating system over the web. Does anyone know if something like this exists?”

I’d like to suggest an alternative: I believe that some “outliners” do or can store their settings in an .ini file instead of the registry. For example some variants of TreePad (http://www.treepad.com) can do this. Also, programs written for Windows 3.1 do this. In such cases, you might be able to put the program and your documents on a flash/thumb/jump USB drive, and carry it all in a pocket.

As you usually can download a trial copy of the outliners, it’s worth a try.

-c

Posted by Basil Musa
Jan 14, 2007 at 10:22 PM

CopaceticOpus wrote:

>I’ve spent a ton of time today searching for a web-based outlining PIM application,
>and as far as I can tell it just doesn’t exist. I think this is very strange. I want to
>create a set of outlined notes that I can access from any computer and any operating
>system over the web. Does anyone know if something like this exists?
> >Surfulater
>doesn’t cut it, because it still saves its information locally. The closest thing I
>have found is Sproutliner. That will create an outline, but it doesn’t allow me to
>enter long text entries for each outline heading. What I’m looking for is basically
>TreePad or wikidPad in a web browser. I hope I can find it somewhere!

We provide an online outliner server application at LessonsLearnedServer.com.
Actually, I’m one of the main developers in the Lessons Learned Server team.

Currently, we dont provide online accounts, but we have an online
demo account that you can try out at:
http://www.lessonslearnedserver.com/demo_1_2_0

If there is a strong demand for online outliners, I believe I will work
on convincing our CEO to pursue such an opportunity.

We would really be grateful if you can provide us with any feedback.

Thanks.

Basil

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