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On web aware applications and the future of Surfulater
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Posted by Dr Andus
Jul 9, 2012 at 01:39 PM
Dr Andus wrote:
>Maybe I’m too old-fashioned but labels or tags just haven’t been able to
>fulfil the same function for me as a hierarchical folder tree.
This Rightnote video makes a good point about why a hierarchical tree is still preferable to a hierarchical tag structure: because you can organise the hierarchical tree freely, as you like it, and items stay in the same place, as opposed to an alphabetically organised tag tree, where item locations change every time you add a new tag (unless there are apps where tags can be organised freely and work exactly like hierarchical folders).
http://www.outlinersoftware.com/topics/viewt/4159/0/rightnote-has-evernote-cloud-syncing-notes
Posted by Daly de Gagne
Jul 9, 2012 at 02:38 PM
I’ve posted a comment on the Surfulater blog with regard to Neville’s plans for the next generation of Surfulater.
http://blog.surfulater.com/2012/07/03/surfulater-next-generation-part-2/#comment-127593
Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
Jul 9, 2012 at 07:11 PM
Dr Andus wrote:
> If Surfulater loses it hierarchical folder structure, then it?s no longer the Surfulater that I know or want.
I have my concerns as well, and have posted about them in the Surfulater Blog Part II of the said presentation, as you probably have seen. That said, I do want Surfulater to survive, and trust Neville to find a good compromise between features and flexibility.
> you can organise the hierarchical tree freely, as you like it, and items stay in the same place,
> as opposed to an alphabetically organised tag tree, where item locations change every time you
> add a new tag (unless there are apps where tags can be organised freely and work exactly like hierarchical folders).
I use tags mostly in Evernote, for the simple reason that hierarchical folders are not available there (at least up to now, see post on Rightnote). They can be organised hierarchically at will, with no limitation in levels as far as I have seen. Within each level, tags are indeed ordered alphabetically. But I don’t find this a limitation. In fact I always sort my folders and nodes alphabetically in most outliners, to avoid missing or duplicating a category or item. The only exception are mind maps, where the spatial positioning of a node may hold a certain meaning for me.
If there is a reason to keep my folders and items in a specific order, I will precede them with a relevant number. Most often however I may simply want to create ‘zones’ of folders, in which case I will precede the names with special symbols, e.g. ! ^ & etc
Posted by Neville Franks
Jul 11, 2012 at 02:58 AM
Alexander, Dr Andus & Daly,
Please see my replies to your comments here: http://blog.surfulater.com/2012/07/03/surfulater-next-generation-part-2/
Re. Cloud storage and data lock-in, there are ways we can help with this, such as enabling off-line access to your data (ie. synchronized copies are stored on your devices), use of a local-cloud that resides on your PC/Server and of course full Export of your data.
These are all good as far as they go, however the bigger question is what do you do with this data when it’s host application no longer exists, for whatever reason.
-Neville