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Whiz Folders Deluxe 6
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Posted by Graham Rhind
Feb 28, 2007 at 07:40 PM
I’ve been a fan of Whizfolders for a while, and have used it to write all my software manuals and one book. (My books don’t require references, footnotes etc., which is why I don’t need other, in my eyes overcomplicated, programs to achieve this). Sanjay, the writer, moved very quickly to resolve any problems I had and added new features as I requested them.
I find it a completely intuitive program to use (I know this is a personal thing - some members here find programs intuitive which I find a complete mystery). I don’t really get the “overwhelmed with windows” comments. Whizfolders opens one window with a documents list and one new window per document open, so if you work on one document you get two windows. (The first time you use the program a tutorial window opens, which may seem off-putting). I prefer this to programs where documents are tabbed within a single window; and once you’ve found the right keystroke it is quick to switch between windows. I like the paradigm of keeping documents distinct in this way - it means I can have multiple instances of the program running on different machines and accessing different documents over the network, without having to close instances or worry about a single document containing all my data getting corrupted or whatever. The documents are also easy to carry around on, for example, a USB stick.
I am a fan but I do have my criticisms of the program - table editing suffices but is primitive, and only small pictures can be easily embedded, but there are workarounds, and when I find the perfect organising program, I’ll let you all know :-)
Graham
Stephen Zeoli wrote:
I just can’t get over all the windows
>that pop up as you run the program… they kind of overwhelm me. I am sure that if I just
>stuck with the program for a while I would get used to this, but when you’re trying to
>write something and you have a deadline, it isn’t easy to have patience, I’m
>afraid.
>
>Steve Z.
Posted by Stephen Zeoli
Feb 28, 2007 at 09:26 PM
Graham,
Perhaps “overwhelmed” was a bad word choice on my behalf. It would probably be more accurate to say that I find the way the windows open in WhizFolders distracting. I’m sure that others have had the same comment, because Sanjay added a Windows List view tool, to help navigate the windows a couple of years ago.
I want to emphasize that my comment is a reflection of my own personal feeling toward WhizFolders and not a criticism. I admire the program and always upgrade to the new version—I bought a license four years ago, I believe. It is a good program. I just wish I could warm up to it.
Steve Z.
Graham Rhind wrote:
>I’ve been a fan of Whizfolders for a while, and have used it to write all my software
>manuals and one book. (My books don’t require references, footnotes etc., which is
>why I don’t need other, in my eyes overcomplicated, programs to achieve this).
>Sanjay, the writer, moved very quickly to resolve any problems I had and added new
>features as I requested them.
>
>I find it a completely intuitive program to use (I know
>this is a personal thing - some members here find programs intuitive which I find a
>complete mystery). I don’t really get the “overwhelmed with windows” comments.
>Whizfolders opens one window with a documents list and one new window per document
>open, so if you work on one document you get two windows. (The first time you use the
>program a tutorial window opens, which may seem off-putting). I prefer this to
>programs where documents are tabbed within a single window; and once you’ve found the
>right keystroke it is quick to switch between windows. I like the paradigm of keeping
>documents distinct in this way - it means I can have multiple instances of the program
>running on different machines and accessing different documents over the network,
>without having to close instances or worry about a single document containing all my
>data getting corrupted or whatever. The documents are also easy to carry around on,
>for example, a USB stick.
>
>I am a fan but I do have my criticisms of the program - table
>editing suffices but is primitive, and only small pictures can be easily embedded,
>but there are workarounds, and when I find the perfect organising program, I’ll let
>you all know :-)
>
>Graham
>
>Stephen Zeoli wrote:
>I just can’t get over all the windows
>
>>that pop up as you run the program… they kind of overwhelm me. I am sure that if I just
>
>>stuck with the program for a while I would get used to this, but when you’re trying to
>
>>write something and you have a deadline, it isn’t easy to have patience, I’m
>
>>afraid.
>>
>>Steve Z.
Posted by Jack Crawford
Feb 28, 2007 at 10:54 PM
Thanks for the interesting comments about Whiz Folders.
>Per Dominik:
>Rough summary:
>WhizFolders is the tool for quick note taking and writing documents or software manuals (with screenshots) where you don’t need a professional or academic reference system.
This would place it in the same market as OneNote, IMO the best new app developed by MS for many years.
Jack
Posted by Dominik Holenstein
Mar 1, 2007 at 08:32 AM
A very interesting thread has come up here!
I agree that OneNote is one of the best applications developed by Microsoft!
They have mabe outsourced the development of OneNote to another company otherwise it wouldn’t be that good… ;-)
Even it’s a good application I don’t use it.
Some more experiences withe WhizFolders Deluxe:
Keyboard shortcuts:
You can change the shortcuts. I still believe that keyboard shortcuts are faster than using the mouse or menues. WhizFolders has some shortcuts to which I am not used to. Changing the topic title is Ctrl + R and not F2 like in most other applications. So I changed that an it’s perfect now.
Collecting Web text snippets:
I have copied some text snippets from websites and pasted them into WhizFolders. Works pretty well and if you don’t need the orginal formating of the webpage it is very handy and useful. WhizFolders adds the link to the orginal website to the text snippet. This link works fine and is correct compared to other applications where sometimes a wrong or incomlete link is added.
Quick Note taking:
I feel that it is easier in WhizFolders than in other applications to add new notes while being on the phone or having a new idea. WhizFolders is the general data pot for not seriously structured data for me. When I need an information later then I add it to UltraRecall or to IdeaMason.
Again Brainstorming and text development:
Very easy and fast, and similar to how you can do it in UltraRecall (UR allows to open several topics as well in tabs).
Keywords/Metadata:
Definitely not the key feature in WhizFolders and it is not developed for that purpose. If I really need a structured approach then I use UltraRecall (task management for example). Very handy: I can add an universal link from a UR text pane to a WhizFolders topic.
Assigning keywords to topics and text passages is very useful.
Dominik