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Mac: Notebook vs Notetaker
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Posted by Daly de Gagne
Aug 8, 2010 at 06:07 PM
Any thoughts on Notebook vs Notetaker?
They seem similar to me in ways from first quick look.
But Notebook has some template setups which seem helpful, though I could probably replicate them in Notetaker, if I wished.
I’m wondering which one would be easier to work with after months and months of adding information and data?
Daly
Posted by Hugh
Aug 8, 2010 at 06:54 PM
I think Steve Z, has more experience of NoteBook than I have, but I did trial both applications early on in my Mac experience.
The reason I abandoned them was because I decided I didn’t need them. With DevonThink as my heavyweight information management system, I decided I did need a lighter-weight, “instant” jotter/clipper/scratchpad as well, and MacJournal has mostly fulfilled that role for me. In addition to the attributes that Steve lists in another thread, it also has a quicknote feature, which I find useful. Other Mac applications that can perform an information-management-lite plus quicknote role include Notational Velocity and Shovebox.
(To some extent DevonThink’s most recent version has made MacJournal redundant in this regard. To some extent - but not quite entirely. Using DevonThink for jottting still feels like using the proverbial jackhammer to crack a nut.)
Circus Ponies’ Notebook has an attractive user-interface and many good features, and who isn’t intrigued by “Circus Ponies”? But for me, it and NoteTaker, which is very similar (I believe the two developers used to work together), fall between two stools. It’s not heavyweight enough to compete with DevonThink, and it’s not nimble enough to rival MacJournal, Notational Velocity, Shovebox, or several others like them.
Posted by Stephen Zeoli
Aug 8, 2010 at 07:58 PM
I agree with everything Hugh said. I have a license for Notebook, which I got early on in my Mac career. I like the concept of the notebook metaphor, but it really doesn’t work for me in practice. And I really want it to work. Every few months I fire it up again with the intention of really, really using it… but then it quickly fades into the background. The pages and dividers and tabs are just too cumbersome and really get in the way in practice. I could see it being useful as a project manager, where I create a notebook for each project. But at this point most of my “project” work is done at the office on a PC.
Still, it is a very powerful application and if you like the metaphor, you might give it a whirl. I know some people swear by it and do almost all their work in it.
A few months ago I took a look at Notetaker just for the heck of it. Unfortunately, I don’t recall the experience very well. There was something that it did that Notebook didn’t that appealed to me, I just don’t remember what it was… and, regardless, it wasn’t enough to get me to buy it.
A final note, both applications are fairly functional outliners, so that might be appealing—although without custom columns. I don’t know if they do clones.
Steve Z.
Posted by Daly de Gagne
Aug 8, 2010 at 08:51 PM
Hugh, thanks. I’ll check out the two programs you suggested.
I’m liking Devon Think - but on the other hand, am finding it covers a lot of the same ground as EverNote - and EN is a lot more pleasant to use in its Mac version.
Re Notebook - am liking the multidex at the back - it is kind of neat.
Daly
Hugh wrote:
>I think Steve Z, has more experience of NoteBook than I have, but I did trial both
>applications early on in my Mac experience.
>
>The reason I abandoned them was because
>I decided I didn’t need them. With DevonThink as my heavyweight information
>management system, I decided I did need a lighter-weight, “instant”
>jotter/clipper/scratchpad as well, and MacJournal has mostly fulfilled that role
>for me. In addition to the attributes that Steve lists in another thread, it also has a
>quicknote feature, which I find useful. Other Mac applications that can perform an
>information-management-lite plus quicknote role include Notational Velocity and
>Shovebox.
>
>(To some extent DevonThink’s most recent version has made MacJournal
>redundant in this regard. To some extent - but not quite entirely. Using DevonThink
>for jottting still feels like using the proverbial jackhammer to crack a
>nut.)
>
>Circus Ponies’ Notebook has an attractive user-interface and many good
>features, and who isn’t intrigued by “Circus Ponies”? But for me, it and NoteTaker,
>which is very similar (I believe the two developers used to work together), fall
>between two stools. It’s not heavyweight enough to compete with DevonThink, and it’s
>not nimble enough to rival MacJournal, Notational Velocity, Shovebox, or several
>others like them.
Posted by Daly de Gagne
Aug 8, 2010 at 08:54 PM
Steve, thanks for your feedback.
The proof is often in the pudding, and I’ve found that getting into Notebook is easier than I thought. It actually felt kind of intuitive. (Am very disappointed in the lack of intuitive feel with Tao, Mori, or even OO).
I am using OmniOutline for a database to track what I’ve read, and plan to read.
Will take a look at NoteTaker in more detail.
Daly
Stephen Zeoli wrote:
>I agree with everything Hugh said. I have a license for Notebook, which I got early on in
>my Mac career. I like the concept of the notebook metaphor, but it really doesn’t work
>for me in practice. And I really want it to work. Every few months I fire it up again with
>the intention of really, really using it… but then it quickly fades into the
>background. The pages and dividers and tabs are just too cumbersome and really get in
>the way in practice. I could see it being useful as a project manager, where I create a
>notebook for each project. But at this point most of my “project” work is done at the
>office on a PC.
>
>Still, it is a very powerful application and if you like the metaphor,
>you might give it a whirl. I know some people swear by it and do almost all their work in
>it.
>
>A few months ago I took a look at Notetaker just for the heck of it. Unfortunately,
>I don’t recall the experience very well. There was something that it did that Notebook
>didn’t that appealed to me, I just don’t remember what it was… and, regardless, it
>wasn’t enough to get me to buy it.
>
>A final note, both applications are fairly
>functional outliners, so that might be appealing—although without custom
>columns. I don’t know if they do clones.
>
>Steve Z.