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http://www.zengobi.com/products/curio/

Curio should be on the top 5 short list of software for any Mac user.

Just curious: What would your other 4 be?

Paul Korm wrote:

Curio should be on the top 5 short list of software for any Mac user.

I agree.

Personal Top 5:

DEVONthink
TheBrain
Curio
Ulysses III
iThoughtsX

Second 5:

Keyboard Maestro
Typinator/TextExpander (take your pick)
OmniFocus
Parallels (with a Windows VM)
Tinderbox


Franz Grieser wrote:

Just curious: What would your other 4 be?

I should have said - thanks for the tip-off, Franz. As it happens, I'm already "invested" - otherwise I'd have acted on your tip.

But top 5s/home screens/favourites comprise a perennial interest. Franz, what are yours?

But top 5s/home screens/favourites comprise a perennial interest. Franz,
what are yours?

On Windows:

LibreOffice (writing, calculating, presenting)
Scrivener (structuring)
Papyrus Autor (spell checking, grammar checking, style checking)
Evernote
Xmind and Scapple

On Mac OS X:

LibreOffice or Microsoft Office 2013 (I don't like LibreOffice on the Mac so I installed MS Office but both are less than ideal)
Scrivener
Papyrus
Devonthink Pro (or Curio or AND Curio - just got Curio)
Tree 2

Interesting. Thanks, Franz. Papyrus is highly rated by a German author whose work I respect. Its website says that an English version was expected in the autumn this year, although I haven't seen evidence of a launch yet (perhaps I haven't looked in the right places).

Hugh wrote:

Interesting. Thanks, Franz. Papyrus is highly rated by a German author
whose work I respect. Its website says that an English version was
expected in the autumn this year, although I haven't seen evidence of a
launch yet (perhaps I haven't looked in the right places).

Your're talking about Andreas Eschbach? I like some of his novels, too. BTW, he is also a member of the Scrivener forum.

Andreas had great influence on the development of Papyrus Autor, especially the style checker, which makes Papyrus unique. There is nothing like that in German software and I do not see anything similar in English software. What is more: Papyrus also includes an adapted edition of the Duden spell and grammar checker - that software used to be available for Microsoft Office and OpenOffice but was discontinued a few months ago. But the makers of Papyrus say that their cooperation with the Duden developers will continue.

I do not know whether and when a English edition of Papyrus will come out. I'd say that the style checking features would have to be developed from scratch maybe based on Strunk. We'll see...

Franz Grieser wrote:

Hugh wrote:
>Interesting. Thanks, Franz. Papyrus is highly rated by a German author
>whose work I respect. Its website says that an English version was
>expected in the autumn this year, although I haven't seen evidence of a
>launch yet (perhaps I haven't looked in the right places).

Your're talking about Andreas Eschbach? I like some of his novels, too.
BTW, he is also a member of the Scrivener forum.

Yes. Good writer, helpful guy.

Franz Grieser wrote:

Andreas had great influence on the development of Papyrus Autor,
especially the style checker, which makes Papyrus unique. There is
nothing like that in German software and I do not see anything similar
in English software. What is more: Papyrus also includes an adapted
edition of the Duden spell and grammar checker - that software used to
be available for Microsoft Office and OpenOffice but was discontinued a
few months ago. But the makers of Papyrus say that their cooperation
with the Duden developers will continue.

I do not know whether and when a English edition of Papyrus will come
out. I'd say that the style checking features would have to be developed
from scratch maybe based on Strunk. We'll see...

Yes, that would have to be the case.

Here's the English-language website: http://www.papyrus-author.com

Folks:

I have looked at Curio several times, but have always passed it by. It looks pretty interesting, but because of the wide range of things that it does, I have always felt overwhelmed at the prospect of trying it.
Are there any good sources that show how the software can be used?

jamesofford wrote:

Folks:

I have looked at Curio several times, but have always passed it by. It
looks pretty interesting, but because of the wide range of things that
it does, I have always felt overwhelmed at the prospect of trying it.
Are there any good sources that show how the software can be used?

None that I know of James; Steve Z. or Paul Korm may know of something.

But... I don't think that it's particularly difficult to learn (nothing like as difficult as Tinderbox, for example). I find it useful to think of it as a whiteboard, and the various items that you can "pin" on that whiteboard. Then all you have to do is to learn the various methods of "pinning", all of which follow a similar pattern.

James,

I wrote a review of version 6.4 of Curio several years ago for the now defunct Mac AppStorm website. The page remains available (though I'm not sure for how long). You can find it here:

http://mac.appstorm.net/reviews/office-review/curio-a-workshop-for-your-creative-projects/

In that review I talk about what Curio is and who might benefit from using it.

A couple of years ago, I reviewed version 8 for AppStorm:

http://mac.appstorm.net/reviews/productivity-review/curio-8-the-ultimate-project-workshop-gets-better/

Some of what I wrote there is no outdated, of course, since Curio is in version 9.

Anyway, I hope these might be helpful.

Steve Z.

Stephen Z's reviews are excellent -- and influenced my own adoption of Curio.

As mentioned -- the basics of Curio are straightforward. The interface metaphor is similar to OneNote, so if you have experience there then Curio won't seem difficult. Also, there is a "Getting Started" document that can be opened any time from the Help menu which is a great way to explore features. Finally, the Curio forum is very good, and George Browning the author and proprietor is a responsive and actively engaged.

I entirely agree with Paul. Curio's list of features is daunting. But the basic concept is extremely simple; much the same as OneNote.

The best thing to do is plunge in and start experimenting (there is a trial version, too).

Just add bits and pieces onto a couple of experimental workspaces, and you'll soon be impressed at the sheer quality of the content. I actually use Curio to generate simple website graphics (charts etc.) because the quality is so good.

Once you're ready to start investigating the app in more detail, read through the (very good) user manual, which is supplied as a Curio document.