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little red hen needs help
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Posted by Dr Andus
Feb 1, 2014 at 11:34 AM
andyjim wrote:
>Speaking as a non-programmer, I nonetheless wonder if it may not be as
>difficult to implement as it sounds. Seems to me the underlying
>structures may be fairly straightforward database stuff (but I’m
>not a database guy either!).
Hi Andy,
You could try the folks at DonationCoders. They could hook you up with someone who might be interested in developing this as donationware. As you can see, there are a number of us here who would want to try such a software.
http://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?board=71.0
Posted by MadaboutDana
Feb 1, 2014 at 01:00 PM
I’ve just been reading your interesting definition of the ideal ‘inspiration-capturing’ environment. I’ve thought about it, and would suggest that you actually need an iPad, using Launch Center Pro and possibly something like Notebooks (but there are loads of other options, including the astonishing Editorial app).
a) an iPad is ‘instant on’ - perfect for capturing fleeting inspirations
b) Launch Center Pro allows you to create macros for launching more or less anything (an increasing number of iOS apps support what are known as ‘x-url-callbacks’, basically simple scripted actions that can become quite complex). A simple sample macro provided with Launch Center Pro, for example, launches a simple text box into which you can type your inspiration, then save it directly to Dropbox - perfect for those lightning-flash moments
c) Launch Center Pro has literally just become available for the iPad (previously only available for iPhone/iPod)
d) You’ll find a really useful discussion of these things on the MacStories website, run by the amiable Federico Viticci. The main website is at http://www.macstories.net; his detailed discussion of Editorial as a platform for precisely the kind of information management defined in your ‘spec sheet’ is at http://www.macstories.net/stories/editorial-for-ipad-review/ (he’s turned this comprehensive review into an excellent iBook - I have it, and can thoroughly recommend it).
The iPad is, in fact, the tool you’re looking for, provided you have the right apps. He swears by various Markdown-focused editors/information managers. I do, too, but my preferred option (also Markdown-compatible if that’s what you want) would be Notebooks, because its search function is so good, and because it’s got desktop versions. It is a two-pane outliner, but also supports tagging. You might eventually decide on a combination of apps (e.g. Launch Center Pro + Editorial or 1Writer + Notebooks), which would give you huge flexibility in terms of ‘clean’ writing interface vs. sophisticated organisational abilities. So: Notebooks would act as the back-end repository; you’d use other writing apps (e.g. Editorial, but there are dozens of others: 1Writer is one of my favourites) as your authoring environments; you’d use Launch Center Pro to shuttle data between the different environments (it would effectively act as the coordinating engine).
Hope that’s helpful!
Cheers,
Bill
Posted by Gary Carson
Feb 1, 2014 at 04:51 PM
I have to point out that your search for better software is diverting you from your main purpose, which is WRITING. If your goal is to be a writer, you need to WRITE, not wander off into the black hole of programming. I used to be a professional programmer and it’s a time-consuming, obsessive kind of occupation in and of itself. Believe me.
The problem, I think, is that you’re fixated on SOFTWARE.
If you’re looking for “a minimalist yet effective thinking/journaling/writing environment [that will] help me organize my thousands of past files and snippets,” there are other solutions that don’t require investing in compilers, learning how to program and researching word processor/outliner/database software design.
Here’s a truly minimalist solution that will probably be rejected out of hand:
Start writing longhand with a fountain pen or something like the Palomino Blackwing 602 pencil. Use 3-ring binders to save/organize your journal entries and miscellaneous notes. Print out everything you have so far. Organize the binders with tabbed dividers and tables of contents. Set up a comfortable writing desk with good lighting and leave the computer TURNED OFF in another room.
I know a suggestion like this will be considered blasphemous and out of place. After all, this is the “outliner SOFTWARE” forum. Still, nothing is more minimalist than writing longhand and there’s nothing like it for focusing your attention on your actual writing. Sometimes the old technology is the best.
I have to warn you, though. Writing longhand can lead to obsessive behavior just as bad as CRIMPing. The Blackwing 602 pencil, for instance, is the center of a cult of writers and artists (do a search, for instance). If you get into writing longhand, you will soon find yourself on a quest to find the perfect fountain pen or pencil, the perfect eraser, the perfect pencil sharpener, the perfect paper, the perfect notebooks and organizers and leather-bound journals, etc. etc. Do a Youtube search on the Midori Traveler’s Notebook, for example, or check out the Fountain Pen Forum.
The search for perfect tools is endless, but eventually it becomes just another distraction.
Posted by Dr Andus
Feb 1, 2014 at 06:41 PM
Gary Carson wrote:
> leave
>the computer TURNED OFF in another room.
Or you could still use your PC but turn on an internet connection blocking software like Freedom:
http://macfreedom.com/
Posted by Gary Carson
Feb 1, 2014 at 11:19 PM
I’ve tried Freedom and LeechBlock and every other program and browser add-on I could find, but they’re all too easy to disable or work around. If I remember correctly, all you have to do with Freedom is reboot your computer. But even if you can resist the temptation to waste hours on the internet—something I’ve been failing at today—there are still a million other distractions available with a computer. You can listen to music, for instance, or play games or whatever. I’ve found that the only solution is to turn the demonic machine off and leave it off. I would pay good money for a time-lock feature that wouldn’t let me turn the computer on at all until a certain time and only for a few hours.