SENSE seems to be progressing very nicely. Given the interest here for this tool in the past, I thought I'd post some relevant news, with the usual disclaimer: I have no affiliation with the developer other than being a happy customer.

Of the numerous enhancements the following are particularly noteworthy:

- "Viewpoints", provide a powerful way of cloning and reorganising parts of a document in a new view, without influencing its original structure; changes in texts in a viewpoint should be directly synced with the relevant part of the document. I note that I have not worked with this myself as yet.

- Sense can effectively be used as a one pane outliner by hiding the content browser; shortcuts to create/manipulate document elements should work normally, so you can focus on the text and build the structure as you go along, see the relevant discussion here http://www.outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/3906/0/retrospective-outlining

- Sense should now be more intuitive for users of other word processing software, having implemented several standard navigation/selection shortcuts, like Ctrl+Shift+left/right to select words, and 'extended selection' (Steve's favourite), i.e. double click to select word, triple click to select paragraph.

Since a few days there's also a forum at http://forum.silvaelm.com/

There is now a QDA (qualitative data analysis) plugin available for SENSE.
This should make SENSE quite attractive to students and grad students looking for an inexpensive QDA tool.

I have yet to test it. I am really looking forward to the ongoing development of SENSE and the QDA plugin

Does anyone here use Sense Editor regularly? What are the main benefits? Just curious where this product fits in the marketplace.

Also, there is a sale on right now:

"Get 30% off Sense License Purchases. Simply enter the voucher code 4TVK2 while placing your order.

Sense is currently available as two versions: a 1.19 Beta Version Download with its new support for the Html Plugin and a 1.18.Production Release.

All Sense plugins (RTF, OPML, RSS, TXT, QDA and HTML) are free with information and compatible download links provided on the main Sense download webpages.

Offer is valid until 7th March 2014."

http://www.silvaelm.com/

I use SENSE quite regularly; it is my tool of choice for long and complex texts.

It is the only editor I know that can display a full hierarchy in its left pane, right down to the paragraph level (one line per paragraph). I can switch from overview to detail seamlessly. It is a two-pane outliner which can be used as one-pane too: the tree navigator can be hidden and full control of level expand/collapse etc. is available in the text pane via keyboard shortcuts.

In addition, the Viewpoints feature effectively turns it into a 'relational' text editor, much like Brainstorm, as you can be working on various parts of the same document in separate windows while still maintaining another with the overview.

I'm sure I've written more about SENSE's benefits several times elsewhere, so I will write here a bit about its weaknesses (some of which may be strengths too from another viewpoint): it is not WYSIWYG, its handling of images and tables is quite rudimentary, it can import/export RTF but not MS Word. It is Windows-only; I would use it more often if I could make it run on Linux (I stress the _I_ part; someone more knowledgeable in Linux might be able to do it already).

Last but not least, it is licensed by PC, not by user. A license entitles you to one year of free updates and development is continuous, so you'll probably want to pay again next year. Notwithstanding, given its functionality I find the price quite reasonable, even without the current promotional reduction.

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:

I use SENSE quite regularly; it is my tool of choice for long and
complex texts.

It is the only editor I know that can display a full hierarchy in its
left pane, right down to the paragraph level (one line per paragraph). I
can switch from overview to detail seamlessly. It is a two-pane outliner
which can be used as one-pane too: the tree navigator can be hidden and
full control of level expand/collapse etc. is available in the text pane
via keyboard shortcuts.

In addition, the Viewpoints feature effectively turns it into a
'relational' text editor, much like Brainstorm, as you can be working on
various parts of the same document in separate windows while still
maintaining another with the overview.

Thanks for that, Alexander. The above features do sound interesting. Who would you say the main competitors are here? MS Word? Scrivener? I'm intrigued by Sense, but somehow I haven't managed to figure out where I'd fit it in within my various writing processes.

Dr Andus wrote:

Thanks for that, Alexander. The above features do sound interesting. Who
would you say the main competitors are here? MS Word? Scrivener? I'm
intrigued by Sense, but somehow I haven't managed to figure out where
I'd fit it in within my various writing processes.

I think that Scrivener excels at the overview level, whereas Word is better for the detail (including formatting). SENSE is a sort of rare beast which facilitates continues switching between the two--but without the strong formatting / object embedding features. I can only compare it with Brainstorm. In this context, SENSE has much more powerful overview/navigation but not clones.

I don't think that it is easy to integrate SENSE in an existing workflow like yours. Building a workflow around SENSE from scratch would probably make more sense (pun not intended)--and this is not a suggestion to yourself Dr Andus. I believe that SENSE could be brilliant in an academic setting, provided it added support for footnotes/endnotes and possibly LaTex and similar stuff. However I don't do academic writing anymore so am not in the best position to judge.

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:

SENSE is a sort of rare
beast which facilitates continues switching between the two--but without
the strong formatting / object embedding features. I can only compare it
with Brainstorm. In this context, SENSE has much more powerful
overview/navigation but not clones.

Thanks for the explanation. Do you think SENSE would be useful for reverse outlining? For example, could I paste in/import e.g. a 10k word plain text (or RTF) and then gradually add headings of unlimited hierarchy (i.e. not just the usual 6 of HTML or 9 of MS Word), all the way down to every single paragraph, should it be necessary?

Currently I use Outline 4D or Scrivener for that sort of work, but I'm wondering if SENSE might offer some advantages. Personally I don't need footnotes, endnotes, referencing or LaTeX, as I either use Markdown and raw EndNote codes (plain text), or just basic formatting in RTF, such as headings, italics, and block quote indentation.

I downloaded the trial thinking this might be something that would provide a different slant for organizing research. All I can say is, be prepared for a serious time commitment to figuring this thing out unless you're smarter than me (you probably are).

I tried reading the tutorial by following links to various topics. It seemed obvious to me that there would be a navigation arrow that would allow you to go back to where you just came from like you can do in Onenote. I could find no such command on the toolbar. That would seem like an obvious thing to have.

Next I tried to open a blank document so I could experiment with entering information but the "New" and "Open" commands in the File menu are grayed out.

I spent an hour on this thing and didn't get out of the batter's box.

Wayne

Dr Andus wrote:

Do you think SENSE would be useful for
reverse outlining? For example, could I paste in/import e.g. a 10k word
plain text (or RTF) and then gradually add headings of unlimited
hierarchy (i.e. not just the usual 6 of HTML or 9 of MS Word), all the
way down to every single paragraph, should it be necessary?

Plain Text and RTF files may be imported into Sense using the relevent plugins. [href=http://forum.silvaelm.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4285]How to Create Headed Hierarchy from a Text File[/url] details the proceedure using the Open Dialog for latest Sense versions.

The principle is much the same for RTF files where Word Headings are translated to Sense Sections (Headings).

Plain text may also be pasted directly into a Sense document: in this case, conversion to headings and hierarchical organization would have to be carried out manually using Convert To and Move context menu options within the Browser Pane.

The heading hierarchy is effectively unlimited.

Wayne K wrote:

I tried reading the tutorial by following links to various topics. It
seemed obvious to me that there would be a navigation arrow that would
allow you to go back to where you just came from like you can do in
Onenote. I could find no such command on the toolbar. That would seem
like an obvious thing to have.

Next I tried to open a blank document so I could experiment with
entering information but the "New" and "Open" commands in the File menu
are grayed out.

A toolbar option for forward / backward link Navigation is available: ensure the Link toolbar is enabled via Options Tools main menu.

Sense is not an MDI Editor -- the New and Open menu options will be grayed out if a document is already open.

If this doesn't help, may I kindly suggest you contact support via http://www.silvaelm.com/contact.shtml

Alexander Deliyannis wrote:

I can only compare it
with Brainstorm. In this context, SENSE has much more powerful
overview/navigation but not clones.

I'm not familiar with Brainstorm so I'm not sure with regard to the context in which cloning occurs: however, cloning is supported within Sense Professional's ViewPoints.

and Dr Andus wrote:

For example, could I paste in/import e.g. a 10k word plain text (or RTF) and then gradually add >headings of unlimited hierarchy (i.e. not just the usual 6 of >HTML or 9 of MS Word), all the way down to every single paragraph, should it be necessary?

Once the unlimited headed hierarchy has been created, headings or more generallly lines may be drag / dropped from the main document into the ViewPoints Pane as "viewpoints" for (out of main document context) subject categorization, review and editing.

Cloning allows repeated viewpointing of material irrespective of overlap: for example, a headed hierarchy may be viewpointed at different levels.

Viewpointed material may be edited with changes resynchronized across all cloned instances and back to the main document on focus change or via toolbar synchronise selection.

Dave Ewins wrote:

Once the unlimited headed hierarchy has been created, headings or more
generallly lines may be drag / dropped from the main document into the
ViewPoints Pane as "viewpoints" for (out of main document context)
subject categorization, review and editing.

Cloning allows repeated viewpointing of material irrespective of
overlap: for example, a headed hierarchy may be viewpointed at different
levels.

Viewpointed material may be edited with changes resynchronized across
all cloned instances and back to the main document on focus change or
via toolbar synchronise selection.

Dave, thanks for your explanations. Would you mind also explaining what the basic principle of the ViewPoints feature is? It sounds interesting.

Dr Andus wrote:

Dave, thanks for your explanations. Would you mind also explaining what
the basic principle of the ViewPoints feature is? It sounds interesting.

ViewPoints was developed to enable dispersed information to be referenced from main document context into groupings under one or more (common topic / subject specific) categorized nodes within the ViewPoints tree structure.

Documentation from external Sense Documents may be Viewpointed as well.

Categorization nodes within ViewPoints may be hierarchically arranged as necessary.

ViewPointed material irrespective of source (Sense) document may be edited, printed and exported to new documents.

Edited material is saved back to source documentation at the appropriate time.

Material may be selectively shown and hidden from view via Category and ViewPoint node collapse and expand.

Printing and Export is based on the WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) principle.

At a more basic level, ViewPoints may be used to reduce document navigation requirements when editing / referencing different regions of a larger document.

Hope this helps.

The more I am reading here about SENSE the more intrigued, and yet the more confused, I become. As I shall be commencing upon some large scale reseach and writing Projects in the coming months, I am keeping my eyes pealed for any software which might aid in that endeavour. And thanks to Dr. Andus' heads-up about the current discount offer, it looks like the only way I shall get to know this program, is by buying it!; (unforntately, the discount might seemingly be on offer only in the UK, because it does not appear on my web-viewing; however, the Code seems to be accepted, in spite of the different currency, so I shall just have to dive in - I have not the time to learn the program at the moment, nor for a while yet, so I will just have to place my trust in the good words).

Oh, and BTW, I introduced myself a couple of weeks ago, back here http://www.outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/4055/0/ideamason-down-for-the-count but the post didn't show up, and I since then got confused about my own user name (not cool, definately Not Cool). But as I have now re-referred to IdeaMason, and Dr. Andus was enquiring about unlimited levels of heirarchical headings, maybe IdeaMason might be worth a peek. Its 'Composition' section is primarily a Single-pane Outliner on the left-hand side (working at the heading level - with 'Materials' (i.e., actual texts) being denoted as item/headings), whilst the right hand panel displays the contents of these Headings and Items (again, in a single-pane). It also allows for all sorts of commenting procedures (within the Outline panel), which can be exported - along with the complete Outline - to MS Word; or you can chose not to export your comments. In the above mentioned post, I pointed toward a set of Videos regarding IdeaMason, and the presenter of these shows some of that which I have been trying to explain. The presenter even works at the 'paragraph' level, though she gets there at merely the third or fourth tier.

wayzen wrote:

(unforntately, the discount might seemingly be on offer only in the UK,

The voucher is available from http://www.silvaelm.news.shtml and is used to claim the 30% discount at the e-commerce site - it's not UK specific..

I would recommend you make use of the free 30 days trial (full Sense Professional capability) first.

Any problems, then contact Silva Elm for help.

Dave Ewins wrote:

ViewPoints was developed to enable dispersed information to be
referenced from main document context into groupings under one or more
(common topic / subject specific) categorized nodes within the
ViewPoints tree structure.

Dave - many thanks for the clarification.

The correct link is actually http://www.silvaelm.com/news.shtml
Cheers,
critStock

Dave Ewins wrote:

The voucher is available from http://www.silvaelm.news.shtml and is used
to claim the 30% discount at the e-commerce site - it's not UK
specific..