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Mac: Notebook vs Notetaker
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Posted by Stephen Zeoli
Aug 9, 2010 at 02:41 PM
Hugh,
What distinguishes VoodooPad as a personal wiki is the editor window is a full-fledged word processor. There’s no need to enter “edit” mode. This is a very alluring feature. The thing I find most limiting about VP—and one of the main reasons it is not a go to application for me—is that it has a weak ability to provide an overview of your wiki. It does have a flat index of the various pages, but that is mostly useless when you get to hundreds of pages. This, of course, is a problem all personal wikis have to deal with. But ConnectedText on the PC has far more powerful tools for getting an overview—the navigator and the topics list.
My other problem with VP—perhaps a silly one—is it feels very depressing. The colors are drab and the tool bar icons very uninspired. Not a good reason NOT to use the application, but not really all that inviting either.
Steve
Posted by Daly de Gagne
Aug 9, 2010 at 03:05 PM
Steve, I had tried this - and am told that it does not link between notebooks, although the help file says the opposite.
I do exactly what the help file says, and get no where. It is the same story as trying to make a custom column with Mori.
Either I have suddenly gone stupid and don’t read English anymore, or the help file is badly written.
Since reading your note this morning I have tried, and after several tries got the internal link to work - not at all sure why it works some times and not others.
And this last point, is really nice - after I made a second link and got it to work after a couple of times, the link disappeared.
So the documentation is lacking, or the program is quirky, or both.
Sorry I sound so frustrated Steve, but frankly, there was a time when Mac programs really were easier to find your way around in. I am very disillusioned, and am quickly arriving at a conclusion that Windows developers are making more of an effort and have closed the distance - in spite of the issues we have all discussed so many times.
And come to think of it - how many times do we see Mac developers here?
But…in the meantime, if anyone can help me figure out how to make NoteBook internal links work consistently, sure would appreciate it.
I am going to shut down the program, and reopen it to see if that helps. If it doesn’t, I will shut down the computer and boot it up again.
Thanks for your patience.
Daly
Stephen Zeoli wrote:
>Daly,
>
>Notebook does have internal linking. Search in help for “link to cell or
>page.”
>
>Steve Z.
Posted by Daly de Gagne
Aug 9, 2010 at 03:21 PM
Steve, I think I have got the NoteBook linking to work consistently - though it is apparent the help file missed a couple of details.
Since I am in rant mode - why when we deal with outliners do developers not make it easy to create lists in text areas by providing the choice to use bullets, etc.?
This would have added to value of both OO and NoteBook.
Last night, to put a bit of a positive spin on this, I worked until about 0130 - real work - writing some book review material for my blog in NoteBook - I enjoyed the process. That was all good. I had earlier in the day laid the basis for another review in OO.
So it looks like both these programs may be keepers - also looking at MacJornal as you suggested.
Anyhow, when I wanted to list the books in my text item, I had to play around with the ruler to set up first line hanging indents (think that’s what they’re called) just as I did in the late 90s with WriteNow - virtually every major Windows program has the option to go to bullets, etc in text.
Maybe I should just use a word processor and be done with it - but when I am in an outline and have everything in front of me, that helps to move me to action.
I will look at Scrivener, but for writing 700 word blog posts, that sort of seems like taking a cruise missile to kill a Manitoba mosquito!
Daly
Daly de Gagne wrote:
>Steve, I had tried this - and am told that it does not link between notebooks, although
>the help file says the opposite.
>
>I do exactly what the help file says, and get no
>where. It is the same story as trying to make a custom column with Mori.
>
>Either I have
>suddenly gone stupid and don’t read English anymore, or the help file is badly
>written.
>
>Since reading your note this morning I have tried, and after several tries
>got the internal link to work - not at all sure why it works some times and not
>others.
>
>And this last point, is really nice - after I made a second link and got it to
>work after a couple of times, the link disappeared.
>
>So the documentation is
>lacking, or the program is quirky, or both.
>
>Sorry I sound so frustrated Steve, but
>frankly, there was a time when Mac programs really were easier to find your way around
>in. I am very disillusioned, and am quickly arriving at a conclusion that Windows
>developers are making more of an effort and have closed the distance - in spite of the
>issues we have all discussed so many times.
>
>And come to think of it - how many times do
>we see Mac developers here?
>
>But…in the meantime, if anyone can help me figure out
>how to make NoteBook internal links work consistently, sure would appreciate it.
>
>I
>am going to shut down the program, and reopen it to see if that helps. If it doesn’t, I
>will shut down the computer and boot it up again.
>
>Thanks for your
>patience.
>
>Daly
>
>Stephen Zeoli wrote:
>>Daly,
>>
>>Notebook does have internal
>linking. Search in help for “link to cell or
>>page.”
>>
>>Steve Z.
Posted by June C
Aug 19, 2010 at 09:40 AM
I prefer Notebook.
Posted by rogbar
Aug 19, 2010 at 02:16 PM
I spent quite a bit of time trying out the various Mac information managers, and much as I appreciated the interfaces of Notebook and Notetaker, I decided the “notebook metaphor” didn’t work for me. Being in one section or on one page felt limiting compared to an outline, where it’s all out there to see (if you want to expand everything for that purpose).
I really liked MacJournal - it’s clean, elegant, has nested folders (unlike Yojimbo), and works quite well - but settled on DevonThink for its cloning abilities. It’s also one of the most rock-solid pieces of software I’ve ever seen. I can load it up with enormous amounts of data, images, files, whatever, and it never slows down, crashes or even burps. I gather that Daly has given up his Mac experiment, but if he hasn’t, I’d encourage him to take another look at DT. It might feel like overkill at times, given its many capabilities, but its Replicate function could possibly provide the linking that he’s looking for.
I do use OmniOutliner for a lot of things, Notational Velocity for quick and easy note-taking, and Evernote for certain things, mostly because of its over the air synching. But the heavy lifting belongs to DT in the three-pane view.