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Mind versus tree navigation; html versus rtf editing
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Posted by Cassius
Mar 10, 2007 at 07:50 PM
Hi Graham R.
You said,
“Onto myBase. I like the idea of having an rtf tab and an html tab side-by-side, but it has some very peculiar limitations. It can only insert pictures with pasting (no right click->insert support) and its table handling is very primitive. Html files in the browser can’t be pasted without an additional module, or editted. Very surprising to me is that you can’t use the browser to browse - there’s nowhere to type in a URL. I did like the way it dissasembled web pages into component parts as attachments - I haven’t seen that before in any program. I can see its potential, but it would drive me slightly loopy in its present form.”
You later found that a saved Web page could be edited.. (I do it by pressing F2.)
I don’t know what you mean by primitive table handling. I pasted a table from a` Word 2000 document with no problem. [I put cursor at left top corner of table. A small box appeared. I right-clicked on the box, selected copy, and pasted the table into a “Text Note” tab.] I can also do some editing in the table, but not everything that I can do in Word.
With respect to pictures, I don’t know what you mean by “no right click->insert support.” Maybe I’ve missed a useful function available in other programs?
The WebCollect module is really vital. Without it, MyBase is not worth having.
You can browse the net from within MyBase, but they admit, that is not its primary use so it is somewhat primitive. Here’s how: At a “blank” “Webpage” tab, there is a box into which you can type a URL. You must include the “http://” prefix for it to work.
This version can also do indexed searches that include both the rtf and html tabs.
It appears that there is some keyword facility, but I haven’t tried that yet.
I’ve just started working with this version…I expect to find lots of goodies!
Finally, on my old laptop, parts of MyBase 4.x ran, but very slowly. Version 5.x is supposed to be faster, but I can’t compare as I am running 5.3 on a new laptop with a 2 ghz Core 2 duo and 2 gb of RAM.
-c
Posted by Graham Rhind
Mar 10, 2007 at 08:11 PM
Hi Cassius,
Please see my responses interleaved below.
Cassius wrote:
>I don’t know
>what you mean by primitive table handling. I pasted a table from a` Word 2000 document
>with no problem. [I put cursor at left top corner of table. A small box appeared. I
>right-clicked on the box, selected copy, and pasted the table into a “Text Note” tab.]
>I can also do some editing in the table, but not everything that I can do in Word.
I’m not talking pasted table here, but native table support. You can’t create a table with more than 9 columns. You can’t change column sizes. You can’t add or remove columns or rows. That’s really what I mean by primitive. Their help file admits that it is a basic table system. You can alter the contents, but not the nature of the table itself once it’s there.
>
>With
>respect to pictures, I don’t know what you mean by “no right click->insert support.”
>Maybe I’ve missed a useful function available in other programs?
The same thing as my issue with UltraRecall. Whilst editting I expect to be able to right click to get a menu which will include “Insert->Image”. Whizfolders has this, for example. myBase does not - you have to paste from memory, which means opening the image in another program first to be able to copy it into memory. I don’t like having to jump through hoops that way. In that respect myBase is like UltraRecall - it keeps stuff it can edit in rtf and stuff it can display in a browser strictly separate.
>You can browse the
>net from within MyBase, but they admit, that is not its primary use so it is somewhat
>primitive. Here’s how: At a “blank” “Webpage” tab, there is a box into which you can
>type a URL. You must include the “http://” prefix for it to work.
Unless I missed something (a distinct possibility), this is only possible when you first open the browser and get the default page. After you have entered a URL and surfed to a new page, there is not way to surf further except by following weblinks. There is no place (that I found) to type in a URL again. As you say, they admit it’s not its primary use, but I think it would be a useful (and easy) feature to add.
>I’ve just started
>working with this version…I expect to find lots of goodies!
Keep us posted!
Thanks,
Graham
Posted by Ken Ashworth
Mar 10, 2007 at 09:09 PM
Graham,
I’m no UR expert but I’ve run some quick tests with UR v.3.1 and here’s what I’ve found:
In the rtf editor (this would be the detail pane of a Text Item) when you drag-drop an image file from Windows Explorer a link to the file is created - the link will be absolute if the file location is NOT a child folder of the UR data file, otherwise the link is relative. The same will hold true if you select an image file in Windows Explorer and Copy, then Paste into the rtf editor - a link is created.
The only way that I could get an image to paste into the rtf editor was via the clipboard - which means that you’ve got to get the image itself into the clipboard, which means employing an external program to open the image, then copy to the clipboard.
The rtf editor appears to lack a File-Insert function.
The UR File-Import function will allow you to import an image file, this importation will create a new Doc Item (this is a different Type of Item from the Text Item) and should show the image in the detail pane (the Doc Item Type employs the UR Internal Browser). From here you can select-copy-paste into the rtf editor - in essence you are placing the image into the clipboard.
I guess you could call this a work-around, but it does eliminate the need to employ a separate image program to open and load the image into the clipboard for pasting.
Depending on your Import Option settings, the imported image will either be Stored or Linked.
As Chris mentioned, the only other option is to use Word for editing.
This can be accomplished in a number of ways:
The simpliest way is from a new Text Item (or any Text Item) do a Ctrl-J (Open Document) which will launch Word (assuming that rtf is associated to Word under Windows). Now from Word you can use its advanced rtf features to create tables, insert images (Word also provides automatic resizing and other image manipulation options). After editing in Word is complete, close Word and the document is now available back in the UR Text Item (may need to access it via one of the links that appear in the rtf pane).
Building on this, you could create a Word document with a table already created and image options already set, then Import this Word Document to the UR Template Folder (a new Doc Item will be created). Then from Tools-Options-Browser for File Extensions to Display in Broswer add the .doc extension. This will elimanate the need to launch Word when using this UR Template.
Anyway, as mentioned previously, the UR rtf editor leaves a lot to be desired and there are other programs that handle this funcitionality better. But if you have Word on your system, the above method may be the best solution.
Later,
KenA
Graham Rhind wrote:
>
>1) I am typing some text as a topic (or whatever Kinook calls
>them)
>2) I want to add a picture. I cannot add a picture from a file (which I want to do).
>Instead I have to open up another program, open up the picture file, copy it to the
>clipboard, then go back to UR, and then paste it. For me this is ludicrous and already a
>reason not to use it. BUT:
>3) I now get a LINK to the image (NOT the image) in my text. To
>view the image I have to click the link, so the image opens in the “browser” window of
>UR.
>4) I.e., I don’t get the text and image together.
>
Posted by Wes Perdue
Mar 12, 2007 at 04:43 PM
Steve,
Thanks for the reference to The Journal. I have needed something to re-stimulate my journaling habit. I was using GemX’s TexNotes the past few years for this purpose, but got bogged down by the complexity of the software.
I tried The Journal out over the weekend and registered it. CRIMP attacks again, but I really think this app will make a difference in my writing frequency; I really want to write more often.
I appreciate The Journal’s focused simplicity. I too find its topic marking method unique and useful.
Regards,
Wes
Posted by Stephen Zeoli
Mar 12, 2007 at 07:12 PM
Wes Perdue wrote:
>Steve,
>
>Thanks for the reference to The Journal… I tried The
>Journal out over the weekend and registered it. CRIMP attacks again, but I really
>think this app will make a difference in my writing frequency; I really want to write
>more often.
>
>I appreciate The Journal’s focused simplicity. I too find its topic
>marking method unique and useful.
>
Wes,
I’m pleased to be able to recommend the Journal. David Michael, the developer, is the very model of a responsive programmer. He is actively involved with the Yahoo forum for The Journal, answering questions almost as fast as people submit them. He upgrades his product frequently, and he even distributes a (somewhat) monthly e-newsletter. In short, he’s just the type of programmer that it is a joy to support. Plus, his products quite good.
Happy writing!
Steve