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outlining in the left pane, text in the right?
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Posted by Stephen Zeoli
Nov 19, 2011 at 12:11 PM
The original poster is asking about something that is hard to find in modern “outlining” applications, and even harder to find on Macs. Most Mac applications of this sort (DevonThink, Together) rely on a folder structure to build hierarchy. Few of them allow you to nest one note under another. In addition, in most cases, shifting back and forth between the “tree” and the editor is awkward. Those applications with strong editor panes, are usually not set up to make the tree pane as easy to editor an organize as the poster is requesting. It’s odd that this seems so difficult to code, because it seems like a perfectly legitimate request: An application where it is easy to move between the editor and the outline, and where the outline is easy to edit and restructure using the keyboard.
I agree with MadAboutDana (Bill?) that Tree is a good option to try, though the notes are inline and not in a separate, right-hand pane as the original poster requests.
Steve Z.
Posted by JBfrom
Nov 19, 2011 at 01:07 PM
You can do this in Emacs Org-Mode by using indirect buffer, vertical split screen, and visibility cycling. Everything is handled via hotkeys.
It’s available for Mac.
I frequently work in this mode for longer documents.
Posted by Lucas
Nov 19, 2011 at 02:09 PM
In the past, I used Mori for this sort of outlining and found it well suited. Both folders and notes can be hierarchically organized, and you can used the app’s “Widescreen Layout” to get to the sort of set-up you’re looking for. There are export options, but I don’t know know whether they would fit your needs. Development has been scarce and erratic in recent years, but you can try Mori for free.
Tinderbox’s Explorer view is my currently preferred solution.
Regarding Scrivener, it does have keyboard commands for basic rearranging of the outline, and I also recommend Keyboard Maestro for setting up your own keyboard commands in any app.
And of course there’s always all the Windows apps that you could run via Parallels (or VMWare Fusion or VirtualBox).
Posted by Lucas
Nov 19, 2011 at 02:12 PM
Upon re-reading, I think I now understand what the original poster is requesting in regard to export. Tinderbox would be the post powerful in this regard, but also may require a significant investment of time and energy to learn how to tweak the export.
Other than Scrivener, I don’t remember what other outliners export body text, but I’m sure I’m forgetting something.
Posted by incandescentman
Nov 22, 2011 at 05:29 AM
Thank you all for the amazing replies.
Steve Z, you nailed it. That’s exactly what I’m looking for.
JBfrom, emacs org-mode sounds like a great solution. I’m intrigued. It also looks a little complicated, but if it indeed does exactly what I’m describing, then I’m willing to take on a learning curve. I’ve downloaded emacs and org-mode. Can you describe how to set it up to do this, or direct me to a resource that will?
Thanks again everyone.