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Curio 9 Released
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Posted by mprazoff
Jun 24, 2014 at 02:00 AM
Curio 9 has been released. Apparently the internals have been reworked and the new version is only compatible with OS X Mavericks and the upcoming Yosemite. The rather idiosyncratic interface introduced with Version 8 has been reworked, to be more consistent with the new versions of iWork. As such, there is a customizable toolbar across the top and an inspector area to right. There are many new features, that will take time to evaluate. Some notable changes include: Lists, a.k.a outlines, have been improved by having only disclosure triangles appear and eliminating bullets on childless nodes. There are new figures types including Albums - images and captions, and a Pinboard, like a small idea space within an idea space.
The change from version 7 to 8 caused some initial disorientation for users; so far the change to version 9 seems much more of an evolution. Curio continues to grow as a very rich note taking environment. While there is still no sign of an iOS version, which is apparently in the works, there is iThoughts Native File Support and a “live PDF” export option, which can produce a readable and updating version of a notebook on an iPad. I look forward to further exploring this program.
Mark
Posted by Paul Korm
Jun 24, 2014 at 05:38 AM
Mark, thank you for the notice—and the loss of sleep!—I stayed up many hours too late just to play with the new version of Curio ;-)
I have used Curio since its first release, and I continue to be delighted by every new version. The developer, George Browning, in my opinion is among the top tier of the group of independent creators of Mac software—along with Keith Blount (Scrivener) and Criss Grunenberg (DEVONthink and DEVONagent). After spending a few hours with Curio 9, I agree with Mark’s assessment that Curio 9 is evolutionary. The interface is much more refined and seems to incorporate the design elements of Mavericks with more polish, understanding, and care than Apple does with its own products. But I don’t want to imply there are no new features—the release notes are extensive and the feature set is richer than before. It will take much more time to explore the product. I’ll be interested to read others’ impressions, too.
Posted by Hugh
Jun 24, 2014 at 09:43 AM
Thanks, both. I too have long been a fan of Curio - a true outliner in the widest sense of the word - and I’m looking forward to exploring the new version.
One of the indicators for me of the level of the skill of George Browning - as Paul says, the developer of Curio - was the relative ease and error-free quality - in computing terms - of the previous version, which was very different in design from its predecessors.
Posted by Stephen Zeoli
Jun 24, 2014 at 10:40 AM
Just swooped in to inform everyone that Curio 9 was officially released, but see that Mark beat me to it. But I can add this link to an overview of new features:
http://www.zengobi.com/products/curio/#whatsnew
I concur with what has been said here about George Browning. My only problem with Curio 9 is that it requires Mavericks, which means I can’t use it on my MacBook Air, which I had upgraded then rolled back to Mountain Lion, since the memory was being pushed to the edge under Mavericks and it was consistently running hot. Maybe the next OS version (Yosemite?) will cure that problem.
Steve Z.
Posted by Hugh
Jun 24, 2014 at 11:18 AM
I concur with the hope that Yosemite will be less hungry for memory. I remember that a previous version of OS X (Snow Leopard?) shrank the operating system’s memory demands. In any case, I’m looking forward to Yosemite (which is also one of my favourite spots on the planet).