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*praying* to find a good Clarisworks clone for Windows
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Posted by Dr Andus
Jan 1, 2015 at 10:05 PM
Tiggerlou wrote:
>It also has to be software that won’t go extinct anytime soon. I’ve
>looked up lots of outlining software just this morning, and to be
>honest, the websites look like they haven’t been touched in years and
>years. That does not inspire confidence in the stability or likely
>longevity of their product although I’d be happy to be convinced
>otherwise.
There are some software that have been so well made (kept simple) that they continue to be stable and work well in subsequent OS’s (Natara Bonsai comes to mind), even though they are no longer developed.
I think the important factor concerning longevity of data is the ability to export/import with ease from/into as wide a variety of standard formats as possible. Or to use software that does not keep all the associated content wrapped into a single proprietary file that only it can open but instead keeps content files in their own format (.doc, .xls, .jpg etc.) and only links to them.
Posted by WSP
Jan 1, 2015 at 11:10 PM
Have you considered MyInfo? It has most of the capabilities that you are looking for. And it’s been around for many years, is very stable, and is in active (though slow) development.
Posted by Tiggerlou
Jan 2, 2015 at 01:50 AM
Thanks SO much for your suggestions. I’m really grateful that you’ve taken the time to consider this.
Quick question: when you suggest importing into Libreoffice, does that mean it can import the .cwk files directly into LibreOffice? Or would I simply copy and paste the text?
Somebody asked what my key value if for Clarisworks—definitely *outlining*. I never used Clarisworks for anything but that.
One thing I particularly appreciated about Clarisworks was the fact that I could make the indents and the margins as small as possible and save that as a stationery document to use over and over again as a blank document. That meant I could pack the maximum number of characters into each line, even with several “generations of children”. I named stationery file TWILI (the way I like it) and opened all new documents from that stationery document. It would be wonderful to find something that would have that flexibility.
Thanks for your comments about longevity of software. Saving documents in a file format that is widely used would of course make a difference in that regard.
I will try out your suggestions. If I have questions, I may well come back to this forum. I really appreciate your help!
Posted by Dr Andus
Jan 2, 2015 at 02:49 AM
Tiggerlou wrote:
>Somebody asked what my key value if for Clarisworks—definitely
>*outlining*. I never used Clarisworks for anything but that.
>
>One thing I particularly appreciated about Clarisworks was the fact that
>I could make the indents and the margins as small as possible and save
>that as a stationery document to use over and over again as a blank
>document. That meant I could pack the maximum number of characters into
>each line, even with several “generations of children”. I named
>stationery file TWILI (the way I like it) and opened all new documents
>from that stationery document. It would be wonderful to find something
>that would have that flexibility.
If you’re looking for an outliner to work on individual outlines (rather than a database for organising masses of heterogeneous data), then you may want to take a look at Outline 4D. While unfortunately it’s no longer being developed, it’s fairly light, and it can import and export .RTF files (which you might be able to convert your files to by first converting them to an OpenOffice/LibreOffice ODT file, and then to an RTF file.
Outline 4D also allows you to save your own formatted template (though I’m not sure if it’s as compact as Claris). I posted one of my 10-level templates here:
http://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=39015.0
Is this what you mean by outlining in Clarisworks? (I don’t know anything about it.)
http://www.wap.org/journal/outlining/Outlining.html
Posted by jaslar
Jan 2, 2015 at 04:35 AM
Caution: I haven’t actually tried to import cwk files into LibreOffice, but I’ve seen on the net that several people have done so, and it’s a direct import, not cut and paste.
I haven’t found a modern outliner that gives me the control over display you mention. Interestingly, you can do something very like this in LibreOffice: build very precise definitions of margin and font size and style for each HEADING. Then you can use the Navigator to do the expansion, collapsing, and text movement. But it’s way clunkier. You can save it as a template, too.
Nonetheless, if you have TWO aims (one to preserve the historical files, and the second to find a comparable tool going forward, LibreOffice will get you through the first one.
Dr Andus wrote:
Tiggerlou wrote:
>>Somebody asked what my key value if for Clarisworks—definitely
>>*outlining*. I never used Clarisworks for anything but that.
>>
>>One thing I particularly appreciated about Clarisworks was the fact
>that
>>I could make the indents and the margins as small as possible and save
>>that as a stationery document to use over and over again as a blank
>>document. That meant I could pack the maximum number of characters into
>>each line, even with several “generations of children”. I named
>>stationery file TWILI (the way I like it) and opened all new documents
>>from that stationery document. It would be wonderful to find something
>>that would have that flexibility.
>
>If you’re looking for an outliner to work on individual outlines (rather
>than a database for organising masses of heterogeneous data), then you
>may want to take a look at Outline 4D. While unfortunately it’s no
>longer being developed, it’s fairly light, and it can import and export
>.RTF files (which you might be able to convert your files to by first
>converting them to an OpenOffice/LibreOffice ODT file, and then to an
>RTF file.
>
>Outline 4D also allows you to save your own formatted template (though
>I’m not sure if it’s as compact as Claris). I posted one of my 10-level
>templates here:
>http://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=39015.0
>
>Is this what you mean by outlining in Clarisworks? (I don’t know
>anything about it.)
>http://www.wap.org/journal/outlining/Outlining.html
>