Forum Posts Feed
A Lot of Buzz about ConnectedText, but what about Mac users?
< Next Topic | Back to topic list | Previous Topic >
Posted by Dellu
Nov 4, 2013 at 09:02 PM
if you are writing your dissertation, Sublime Text 2 does a better job than Scrivener. Some people have developed great tools for writing latex in Sublime Text. Sente works quite good with the Latex as it exports decent quality Bib file. Tinderbox, arcane app, is a pain for composition since it can integrate neither to the latex not to the MS word writing environment easily. Tinderbox is really not a practical application to get things done. It is just great for the curious tinkering; spending your time playing with its maps, agents and adornments. as its file organization system heavily relies on propriety metadata (attributes), when you migrate to another software, you will understand that all the time you spend organizing the notes in TB is a time you spent on vain. I wouldn’t recommend TB for dissertation. You would better go for a more flexible application that can import different formats as image, rtf files, pdfs, export to different formats. TB can do none of them. Writing templates to make exports is a heck of a pain; you will spend your time tinkering with the agents than getting your dissertation done.
- you can try connected Text using CrossOver in Mac bzw. it works quite well.
Posted by Nhaps
Nov 5, 2013 at 01:32 PM
DD Bw wrote:
if you are writing your dissertation, Sublime Text 2 does a better job
>than Scrivener. Some people have developed great tools for writing latex
>in Sublime Text. Sente works quite good with the Latex as it exports
>decent quality Bib file. Tinderbox, arcane app, is a pain for
>composition since it can integrate neither to the latex not to the MS
>word writing environment easily. Tinderbox is really not a practical
>application to get things done. It is just great for the curious
>tinkering; spending your time playing with its maps, agents and
>adornments. as its file organization system heavily relies on propriety
> metadata (attributes), when you migrate to another software, you will
>understand that all the time you spend organizing the notes in TB is a
>time you spent on vain. I wouldn’t recommend TB for dissertation. You
>would better go for a more flexible application that can import
>different formats as image, rtf files, pdfs, export to different
>formats. TB can do none of them. Writing templates to make exports is a
>heck of a pain; you will spend your time tinkering with the agents than
>getting your dissertation done.
>
>- you can try connected Text using CrossOver in Mac bzw. it works quite
>well.
Thanks for your suggestion. The problem with Sublime is that it does not support right to left (RTL) languages like Hebrew, so I can’t use it for my research. Tinderbox has its place, but I agree that its exporting formats are poor. I will keep an eye on the upcoming 6 version. CrossOver for CT is an option, will look into it.
Posted by Nhaps
Nov 5, 2013 at 01:37 PM
Dr Andus wrote:
>>I’m getting the impression that you’re talking about outlining both as
>>the earlier phase of organising and analysis of material, and the final
>>phase of writing reports out of the organised material.
>>
>>Personally I use CT for the former, but not for the latter. I’d say
>>Scrivener is more geared towards the latter, than the former. But the
>>two could be used in conjunction (organising tool + writing tool).
>
>Actually, in light of the new floating windows of v. 6, CT might offer
>some advantages in certain areas even in the writing process over
>Scrivener, especially if used with two monitors. E.g. you could view the
>outline structure of a document you are writing in the Table of Contents
>(TOC) pane on the left. Now sections can be moved around within the TOC.
>
>You could write in the middle pane, have the Outline pane on the right
>with an overall (master) outline for the entire book or thesis or
>whatever, with links to other documents or notes.
>
>And then you can still view an unlimited no. of notes in floating
>windows positioned anywhere across the screen. Not to mention that the
>TOC and the Outliner can also be floating.
>
>At the moment I use Outline 4D and Gingko for actual writing, and CT as
>the notes database, but I might test the above model to see how it
>compares to O4D’s single-pane writing and Gingko’s writing-in-columns
>experience…
Thanks for your suggestions. The problem here is that I work in the Mac platform only. And CT floating windows are restricted to my Virtual OS window, cannot drag out of it and add viewing windows in additional monitors. As for the outline, its for pre-writing, and then writing development.
Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
Nov 5, 2013 at 02:08 PM
DD Bw wrote:
>you can try connected Text using CrossOver in Mac bzw. it works quite well.
Very interesting; thanks for this info. I will try it with Crossover Linux which I use. I hadn’t even considered the possibility that such a complex Windows program would work on Crossover.
Have you tried it with CT v.6?
Is there any tip I should keep in mind?
Posted by Nhaps
Nov 5, 2013 at 02:12 PM
Stephen Zeoli wrote:
I’d like to know what you feel is lacking in your current work flow that
>you expect CT to improve. CT is an outstanding all-in-one application,
>but I don’t think it is a better writing environment than Scrivener.
>It’s not a better outliner than OmniOutliner. It’s not a better
>reference manager than Sente. And it is not a better free form database
>than Devon Think.* You could probably eschew all those other programs
>and just use CT, but I’m not sure that will make you more productive,
>especially when you add in the learning curve. I’m just curious. Is
>there a specific issue you need to address, or are you just suffering
>from CRIMP?
Reassuring comment, an all-in-one package cannot supersede the academic workflow I now have in mac. The specific issue we need to address is that Tinderbox is the only software I now that provides tools for conceptualizing and organizing material from a database (DT for example) so that it can be used for writing (Scrivener). There is no time for the learning curve.
As for CRIMP, what I am complaining about is the lack of software in the category of Tinderbox, just the opposite of CRIMP.