Forum Posts Feed
outliner software wanted: single outline with arbitrary lines marked as nodes for an overview
< Next Topic | Back to topic list | Previous Topic >
Posted by thomasteepe
Aug 23, 2016 at 09:03 PM
I am looking for an outliner software with a fairly simple basic feature.
Any help is greatly appreciated.
I’m using a Windows systems, but information from the Mac world is of course very welcome.
Here’s a sketch:
You first work on an ordinary outline.
Then, you can highlight those lines in in the outline that shall work as a “node” in a structural overview.
This overview shows the nodes in their hierarchical structure.
Here comes a simple example that should give the flavour - the “node” lines are marked with an asterisk *.
(Hope the display on the Outliner Software forum will show it how it’s meant.)
example outline *
this is an irrelevant remark
I’m slowly approaching an insight…
here is my first insight A *
here are some details for A
here are more details for A
here is an important question
and here is the next insight B *
here are details for B
back to the higher level
here is something irrelevant
and here is insight C *
The structural overview for this case would look like this:
example outline
here ist my first insight A
here is the next insight B
and here is insight C
In this case, insight C is not a child of insight A, but a child of “example outline”. One can imagine different ways of dealing with hierarchy levels that do not contain a node.
In the case above, empty levels are simply left out, showing A and C on the same overview level although they are not on the same outliner hierarchy level.
Of course, the structural overview and the outline should then interact as a two-pane outliner, with the overview allowing instant access to the nodes.
Inserting nodes directly in the overview would need a mechanism for the exact location of the new nodes in the outline (which should be feasible).
Again, one can imagine all sorts of extra functionalities for this type of outliner.
Here are some remarks.
I try to stay away from CRIMPing as best as I can, so my knowledge of note-taking software is fairly limited.
Most outliners I know store the content of separate nodes in separate “containers” but not in a single uninterrupted outline.
In contrast, the concept above deals with nodes as “signposts” in a single outline.
—-
I’m new to this forum, so some bits of information about me may be in order:
My name is Thomas, I’m a 45 year old mathematician from Germany working as an actuarial consultant with a software firm.
My current main interest in the outliner universe is with the process of “Schreibdenken”, i.e. the process of thinking through writing.
Posted by Chris Murtland
Sep 3, 2016 at 07:48 PM
Welcome to the forum, Thomas. I’m sorry I missed approving your first post. I’m replying here to bump your post back to the top.
Posted by Paul Korm
Sep 3, 2016 at 08:15 PM
Hi Thomas—welcome!
If you don’t need or want “containers” for each node in an outline—they maybe you already have the tool you are looking for. Just the simple windows Notepad—or anything along those lines—would produce the kind of outline you are looking for. Otherwise, I’m not sure why anything more complex than Notepad would be a better tool for you.
Posted by MadaboutDana
Sep 3, 2016 at 09:03 PM
A good - and free - option for what you’re describing (as I understand it) would be TreeSheets, which runs well on Windows, but also on other platforms.
More info here (it’s worth checking out the tutorial carefully to get the most out of this clever, apparently simple but actually very powerful program): http://strlen.com/treesheets/
Posted by Dr Andus
Sep 3, 2016 at 09:11 PM
I’m not sure if I fully understand the requirements but perhaps one way of achieving the effect is to use a Markdown editor like SmartDown that has folding.
Then all you need to do is insert one or more hashtags (#) in front of the lines that you want to act as part of the “structural overview,” and those becomes foldable headings (outline nodes).
WriteMonkey additionally also has a standalone floating “table of contents” viewer, so you can have two panes, one with the outline (TOC), and the other that has the entire text.