[was: 'Infoselect 9 Preliminary Version' but I am changing it for consistency]

Dominik,

Thank you for your explanation.

Does anobody know a program of this type (I mean: based on index cards concept ) that allows for completely free design of cards? During years I have developed my own system of making notes using cards and would be happy to reproduce it using computer instead of ajusting myself to actually fixed templates created by a developer.

Best regards,

Wojciech

Wojciech,

I am not sure whether this program fits your requirements but it is worth to have a look at:
http://www.azzcardfile.com/cardfile/indexcards.html

Regards,
Dominik

Dominik,

Thanks for the link. The problem with AZZ Cardfile is that while there are no predefined fields, there is also no possibility to create custom fields. However, I've installed the trial and found some interesting news in comparison to the earlier version (I saw this program a couple of years ago). First of all, you can now insert tables from Word and spreadsheets from Excel, embed various objects, you can also use hyperlinks. This does provide some ways for organizing and structuring information.

Best regards,

Wojciech

Wojciech,

Have you look into using AskSam for this purpose? I would think it could handle it just fine.

Steve Z.

Wojciech wrote:

[was: 'Infoselect 9 Preliminary Version' but I am changing it for
consistency]

Dominik,

Thank you for your explanation.

Does anobody know a
program of this type (I mean: based on index cards concept ) that allows for completely
free design of cards? During years I have developed my own system of making notes using
cards and would be happy to reproduce it using computer instead of ajusting myself to
actually fixed templates created by a developer.

Best regards,

Wojciech

Stephen,

Have you look into using AskSam for this purpose? I would think it could
handle it just fine.

AskSam? I've never thought about AskSam in this context. Thanks a lot! I will check it as soon as I can and let you know how it works as "free cart design" index card software.

Wojciech

Wojciech -

Does anobody know a program of this type (I mean: based on index cards concept ) that allows for completely free design of > cards? During years I have developed my own system of making notes using cards and would be happy to reproduce it using > computer instead of ajusting myself to actually fixed templates created by a developer.

How is your search going? Did askSam provide the features you needed?

Derek

Wojciech wrote:

Does anobody know a
program of this type (I mean: based on index cards concept ) that allows for completely
free design of cards? During years I have developed my own system of making notes using
cards and would be happy to reproduce it using computer instead of ajusting myself to
actually fixed templates created by a developer.

Steve's suggesting Ask Sam some posts down this thread makes me wonder whether Zoot could work for you. The new note forms in Zoot even resemble cards, and with the use of fields I should think -- hypothetically rather than on the basis of knowing what I am talking about from experience -- that you could get what you wanted.

Also, my sense is that Zoot would give you probably more ways to slice and dice your data than Ask Sam.

Daly

Derek Cornish wrote:

How is your search going? Did askSam provide the features you
needed?

Derek,

No, unfortunately not. While askSam is certainly a great program for collecting/searching different kinds of information, it is not flexible enough for my purpose. I mean that I want to able to change not only the number and structure of custom fields but also to design specific graphical layouts to imitate paper index cards. Besides - and of course this a matter of taste - the whole look of askSam is too stark for me, and the support seems to be poor (I sent them a message with some questions but never received their answers).

At the moment I use ndxCards, which I find quite useful for collecting several types of notes (bibliographical, quotations, paraphrases, ideas etc.) and than manipulating them using some outlining possibilities. And there are very supportive people.

However, the more I search and exercise various pieces of specialised software, the stronger is my feeling that designing... simple tables in Word (or WordPerfect) and making use of its different views - something that Peter promoted a couple of months ago - could be the most clear, fast and productive solution in this respect. In a table-card I can have as many cells-fields as I need and in a place I want, then I can insert any text, format it (I like different size of letters), use various colors and add arrows and shapes - both extremely important for me.

Wojciech

Daly de Gagne wrote:

Steve's suggesting Ask Sam some posts down
this thread makes me wonder whether Zoot could work for you. The new note forms in Zoot
even resemble cards, and with the use of fields I should think -- hypothetically
rather than on the basis of knowing what I am talking about from experience -- that you
could get what you wanted.

Also, my sense is that Zoot would give you probably more
ways to slice and dice your data than Ask Sam.

Daly,

Many thanks for this advice. I've never tried Zoot seriously waiting for the 'magic' 32 bit version. I will have a look at it as soon as I can. The only problem is that my trial period is over and this is quite expensive piece of software for me.

Wojciech

Sorry that askSam did not work for you, Wojciech. It seems strange that nobody is producing software with the type of features you mention. Maybe one of the traditional database programs (e.g, MS Access) might be worth looking at. They usually have reasonably good form-design features and, of course, excellent data-handling.

Derek

Wojciech

Following on Derek's comment about databases, have you looked at CardBox, a DB with a long history rivalling Brainstorm? It's at http://www.cardbox.com

Jack

Jack, I just looked at Cardbox's site.

I am curious about the program, but at its price I wonder why I wouldn't use Filemaker or a program like that.

Re the price, I find that a number of the British programs I have looked at in past have struck me as being fairly steeply priced.

Daly

Jack Crawford wrote:

Wojciech

Following on Derek's comment about databases, have you looked at
CardBox, a DB with a long history rivalling Brainstorm? It's at
http://www.cardbox.com

Jack

Derek,

Derek Cornish wrote:

Sorry that askSam did not work for you, Wojciech. It seems strange that nobody is
producing software with the type of features you mention. Maybe one of the
traditional database programs (e.g, MS Access) might be worth looking at. They
usually have reasonably good form-design features and, of course, excellent
data-handling.

Derek

This is an interesting idea, but I have only educational version of MS Office, ie. without Access, and buying the full suite is beyond my financial capabilities. Maybe I should try a database program that is included into OpenOffice?... I will think about it, many thanks for your suggestion.

Wojciech

Jack

You are great! CardBox seems to be exactly what I am looking for. The only thing that makes me worry is what they say about home version: no 'relational searching and linking' (professional version is definitely too expensive for me). Does it mean that it is not possible, for example, to link one source card with several notes cards? All right, I will be playing with it, hope to have some time for this on Saturday or Sunday.

Wojciech

PS. A rival of Brainstorm? How it is possible, looks like a absolutely different approach...
W.

Jack Crawford wrote:

Wojciech

Following on Derek's comment about databases, have you looked at
CardBox, a DB with a long history rivalling Brainstorm? It's at
http://www.cardbox.com

Jack

Hi Wojciech

I'm glad that Cardbox looks promising. I was interested in it as a freeform collections database. I can't help you with your relationship data question. My recollection was that you can link data. There are a lot of resources on their website so I'm sure that the exact answer is there somewhere.

My comparison with Brainstorm was in the context of their history not their features. Both programs have been on the market for more than 20 years and were designed originally before DOS. See www.cardbox.com/cardbox/history.htm

I would suspect that there are very few software products anywhere still in active development that have the longevity of Brainstorm and Cardbox.

Jack

- also have a look at Brilliant database:
http://www.brilliantdatabase.com/shots.html
So far it has proven very capable, support has also been excellent.

-cpb

Thanks!

Right, it also looks promising. I've noted the possibilities not only to add/change fields, but also to to adjust fonts, colors, choose location etc. On the other hand there are also some 'technical' limitations, concerning the number and size of attachments. The trial period is short - 15 days, but they have 50 per cent discount for non-commercial institutions and I hope this means also education sector.

Wojciech

cpb wrote:

- also have a look at Brilliant
database:
http://www.brilliantdatabase.com/shots.html
So far it has proven
very capable, support has also been excellent.

-cpb

Since we're talking about relational databases - MS-Access, Brillant - I feel I should mention Alpha5, which is currently at v.7:

http://www.alphasoftware.com/products/a5v7/highlights.asp

Pricing:

http://www.alphasoftware.com/shop/a5v7desktopversion.asp

Granted the program lists for $199 (Desktop Version), current promotion (until 08-24-2006) is offering $119 - I've seen it go for $99, they're always running promotions.

I've been using Alpha since v.2 for DOS cameout way back when, and although I haven't upgraded from Alphs5v4, I've been tempted on numerous occassions - A5v4 still suits may needs, and I'm not developing for a large office any longer (just personal projects to meet my needs).

Although, I haven't trialed Brillant - based on it's published feature set - for the price difference Alpha5 has a lot to offer.

The Desktop version will allow you to develop single user applications, and if you are the only user you can skip a lot of the menu development and error checking (elaborate field validation). Although the real power of the program lies in the Xbasic progtramming language, this can be hidden through use of Action Scripting.

Anyway, something to consider...

Later,
KenA