I was recently reminded - quite unexpectedly - of the advantages of a prog that has largely fallen from favour: Phantech's InfoRecall.

Most people regard UltraRecall as the natural successor to InfoRecall, and on the whole they're right - except for one thing. InfoRecall is still the very best at supporting multiple documents, because it's one of the few apps around that supports MDI (as opposed to the SDI that has become so prevalent). By that, I mean to say that you can arrange multiple documents in one single interface window.

Now you can, of course, do this in Word, by unchecking (unticking, fellow Brits) the 'Show windows in Taskbar' setting under 'Options' (not very intuitive, but hey). But InfoRecall also supports document tabs, which is quite useful. In fact, the 2013 version (just released) brings the whole thing very nearly up to speed with UltraRecall, albeit without the elegant interface.

I'm just editing six brochures simultaneously, all of which share similar bits and pieces of text. And I'm struck by how badly modern authoring programs handle this very straightforward situation. Really you'd expect something as powerful as Word to offer auto-comparison / auto-concordancing functions, plus other basic functions like a pasteboard where you could drag and drop bits of text, document references etc. In fact, the longer I reflect on this, the more I conclude that the actual process of writing documents on computer hasn't progressed much at all (pace Scrivener lovers and all you ConnectedText fans!).

One of the most powerful features of the modern computer is, for example, its ability to auto-index stuff. A natural corollary of this should surely be autotagging (not to mention instant autocomparison). The disadvantages of manual tagging have been discussed at length in this very forum. And yet you won't find many apps that do either (let alone both) of these things. One of the ones I've got my eye on is ProjectBook for iPad, currently only available in the US of A, but due to be launched in Europe 'any day now' (with desktop versions upcoming). What makes this little gem stand out, apart from its outlining and task-compiling functions, is the fact that it indexes everything, including attached files, and tries to identify and correlate keywords, too, so every folder contains a 'related documents' smart search folder. It's still an immature app, so these impressive features apparently still need some work - but what a great concept! Being an iOS app, ProjectBook does not handle multiple docs simultaneously, of course (although it does have quite powerful outlining features, but that's really not the same). Shame.

Now, ConnectedText proponents will, no doubt, tell me that CT does all this and more. I'm sorry, but impressive as CT undoubtedly is, user-friendly it is not. This is why it is so exciting to find something as ambitious as ProjectBook running on something as user-focused as iOS. But really, this is what apps like InfoRecall and UltraRecall should be on the PC - they've had many more years to devise truly friendly user environments (sorry, that's what people now call the 'user experience (UX)').

The function+function+function approach to program development is, I think, under threat, and will soon expire. I for one am looking forward with great enthusiasm to the enormously imaginative solutions that we can expect to see in the near future!

Bill, musing on 2013

Bill,

Thanks for the rant, because you made me take another look at ProjectBook, which is a much more comprehensive info manager than I had originally understood it to be.

Steve Z.

MadaboutDana wrote:

I'm just editing six brochures simultaneously, all of which share
similar bits and pieces of text.

Not fully relevant to the topic of auto-tagging and the rest that you discussed, but I would do the above in Brainstorm. I would tag the similar sections in the six texts with namesakes, allowing me to slide from one to the other at the corresponding section at any time. If there were any identical texts, I would have them as namesakes too; so, any change done in one section would be reflected to all its other 'clones' at once. Last but not least, given a big enough monitor, I could keep separate windows for the six documents open concurrently.

MadaboutDana wrote:

I'm just editing six brochures simultaneously, all of which share
similar bits and pieces of text. And I'm struck by how badly modern
authoring programs handle this very straightforward situation.

In fact, the longer I reflect on this, the more I
conclude that the actual process of writing documents on computer hasn't
progressed much at all (pace Scrivener lovers and all you ConnectedText
fans!).

Now, ConnectedText proponents will, no doubt, tell me that CT does all
this and more. I'm sorry, but impressive as CT undoubtedly is,
user-friendly it is not.

One needs to make a distinction between writing and editing (esp. 6 docs simultaneously). Also, writing can have many different stages from note-taking and "brainstorming" to writing the final draft. I still haven't found a single software that can cover all the steps involved and perhaps there never will be one (and that might be a good thing).

Re: CT, I'd recommend it for note-taking, storage, analysis and outlining but not for the writing and editing process, exactly because it only has one edit/view window, so you can't view your notes and write about them at the same time. Which is why I use a separate software for actual writing (Outline 4D) (while looking at the CT notes), and yet another one for word processing (Word).

With O4D you could definitely lay out 6 docs across two monitors and work on them simultaneously. Here are what 3 docs looks like on a 22in monitor:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/428516/Outline4D_2013-01-11_22-52-43.png

But you still won't get auto-comparison / auto-concordancing...

BTW, CT might not be at its friendliest to the first-time user, but it makes up for it later :)

Dr Andus wrote:

With O4D you could definitely lay out 6 docs across two monitors and
work on them simultaneously. Here are what 3 docs looks like on a 22in
monitor:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/428516/Outline4D_2013-01-11_22-52-43.png

And here is Outline 4D with 4 docs tiled vertically in a 22in monitor:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/428516/Outline4D_2013-01-11_23-11-28.png

Oh wow, dude, that's actually really cool! Blimey, I hadn't realised it could do that. It's a lot more expensive than InfoRecall, mind... (sorry, that's just the whining of an inveterate CRIMPer who's just had to handcuff his hand to his chair so he can't reach his credit card and buy Outline4D immediately...). That's really quite mind-boggling. Thanks ever so for the screenshots - I shall have to think about this. I know, I shall check out the search function to start with - that's always a sine qua non for me.

As for the idea of using BrainStorm - I confess, Alexander, that hadn't occurred to me, but it's a clever approach. It's not a program that appeals to me, for various entirely personal reasons, but (perhaps as a result) I haven't really had a good root round in it. Goodness, so much to play with... ;-)

In the meantime it's been quite fun to rediscover InfoRecall, which was one of the first and earliest of the super-information-managers.

Steve, I'm frightfully excited by ProjectBook, especially once it starts to invade the desktop. It's much the most imaginative bit of software I've seen for a while, and may (once desktop versions are available) even replace my favourite iPad/Windows information transfer system Notebooks (which is capable of handling huge amounts of information and has a perfectly amazing search engine - currently on the iPad only, unfortunately).

If you visit the ProjectBook Facebook page, you'll find lots of frustrated Europeans whingeing that it hasn't been launched in Europe yet... Actually, I can't believe the rude remarks: you'd think people were personally insulted that the programmers had this amazing idea and haven't IMMEDIATELY made it available to them. Sad or wot? It's an aspect of our "instant gratification" culture I simply don't understand.

Besides, as a sad CRIMPer, I now have something to look forward to! Meanwhile I must just check out this TaskUnifier thingy that Alexander was muttering about - open source, eh?

MadaboutDana wrote:

I shall check out the search function to start with - that's always a
sine qua non for me.

There is not much to the search function in O4D, I'm afraid. Just the usual find/replace previous/next stuff. It only searches per doc, not across multiple docs. In the end it's just an outliner/writing software, not a PIM (though with some very unique features). I plan to write a blog post about it one day.

MadaboutDana wrote:

Meanwhile I must just check out this TaskUnifier thingy that Alexander
was muttering about - open source, eh?

Open source--with the exception of the synchronisation features; but you are able to try out these for a limited time. And I've found that the Toodledo plugin is more than worth the $12 charge.

MadaboutDana wrote:

In the meantime it's been quite fun to rediscover InfoRecall, which was
one of the first and earliest of the super-information-managers.

I'm quite impressed by its continued development http://www.phantech.com/New.html
BTW, after the $5 promotion, the price is back to a more 'reasonable' $30.

Dr Andus wrote:

>With O4D you could definitely lay out 6 docs across two monitors and
>work on them simultaneously. Here are what 3 docs looks like on a 22in
>monitor:
>https://dl.dropbox.com/u/428516/Outline4D_2013-01-11_22-52-43.png

And here is Outline 4D with 4 docs tiled vertically in a 22in monitor:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/428516/Outline4D_2013-01-11_23-11-28.png

And here is an example of O4D with 8 docs tiled vertically using two monitors (19in + 22in):
http://drandus.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/outline_4d_eight_windows_tiled.png

Dr Andus wrote:

>>With O4D you could definitely lay out 6 docs across two monitors and
>>work on them simultaneously. Here are what 3 docs looks like on a 22in
>>monitor:
>>https://dl.dropbox.com/u/428516/Outline4D_2013-01-11_22-52-43.png
>
>And here is Outline 4D with 4 docs tiled vertically in a 22in monitor:
>https://dl.dropbox.com/u/428516/Outline4D_2013-01-11_23-11-28.png

And here is an example of O4D with 8 docs tiled vertically using two
monitors (19in + 22in):
http://drandus.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/outline_4d_eight_windows_tiled.png

Actually this view can be further improved if the toolbars get moved side-by-side into one line, rather than piled on top of each other.

Dang! I'm jealous... of the two enormous monitors, mainly! I use a notebook + 18" monitor, but that pales into insignificance next to a 22" and a 19" combo.

It would be interesting to hear - purely for amusement value - how many of us knowledge workers on this forum work with multiple monitors, and how many prefer just one (albeit maybe an enormous one...).

I must say I like the streamlined look of the Outline 4D screen - not a lot of furniture getting in the way, there, the buttons all look very functional. I've downloaded the 5-day trial (bit stingy, wot!).

Thanks for your useful blog post on Outline 4D - very interesting. A shame development appears to have stalled. But perhaps we can exert some joint pressure!

Meanwhile I am going to sit down and with renewed zeal, design the perfect authoring/info collection tool! It can be done!

MadaboutDana wrote:

I've downloaded the 5-day trial (bit stingy, wot!).

I do recommend reading the manual (or at least some of it). It does take a bit of setting up to get the desired look and feel. I suggest starting with the provided "4-Level Outline" template file and then a) adding more levels (I have 7) and b) customising the formatting (font types and colours and background colour).

You guys do know that Info Select does this as does WhizFolders (well, soft of using its Advanced Editor)? I really wish Ultra Recall could do this natively. I know and use the CTRL+J trick (editing documents externally), but it's not the same.

Jon