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Why isn't notetaking software better?
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Posted by Derek Cornish
Sep 24, 2006 at 10:12 PM
Reading Cassius’s “From Jot+ to ???” got me thinking more generally about notetaking programs, so I thought I had better start a new thread. I’d like to jump in with some general comments about what, for better or worse, have become known as “two-pane outliners” - essentially note-taking programs the titles of which are displayed in the form of a hierarchical tree in one pane, with the corresponding notes in the other one.
There are so many of these programs - e.g., MyInfo, WhizFolders, Treepad, Jot+, etc., etc.,etc. - that it is difficult to differentiate between them - in part, no doubt, because they make use of many commonly-available “bolt-on” elements. When considered alongside free programs like KeyNote (http://www.tranglos.com/free/keynote.html) or similarly free word-processors like RoughDraft (http://www.salsbury.f2s.com/rd.htm) it is often hard to see (1) what value is being added by the commercial products; and (2) and how different they all really are from one another.
Last month I carried out another glum trawl through some of the better-known programs to see what was happening. The answer seems to be “not much”. It’s true that one can occasionally point to useful differences: MyInfo’s .HEAD import feature is one example, and WhizFolders’ upcoming “copy universal link feature” (see the thread on “Whizfolders and graphical front ends” back in July) promises to be very helpful, and may temporarily differentiate it from the other clones.
Overall, though, I have been rather disappointed with these programs. This is probably a bit unfair. After all, I already use Zoot, a free-form database program that covers many of the PIM or note-taking and note-organizing features that I need. If I weren’t using Zoot I might be looking for one of the two-pane notetakers, although I’d probably plump for something more like MyBase or UltraRecall. As the main defect of Zoot is its lack of a rich text editor, the new Whizfolders, with its promised universal links is the only one that directly adds much value to what I already have.
Even so, the sector does look rather moribund. What is really wrong (IMO) with all these two-pane notetakers is the lack of a decent single-pane outlining facility within the notes pane of the software. Suggestions and calls for such an obvious feature fall upon deaf ears in software forums, and one has to conclude that this is mainly because there is no easy way of implementing it with available rich text editors. The only notes programs I know of that have such a feature are ndxCards, MS OneNote and InfoSelect. Given the drawbacks of two of them - InfoSelect (lack of a demo; high upgrading price) and ndxCards (oddly archaic interface, to my mind) - that leaves MS poised to sweep the general two-pane note-taking field with its new version, even though its outlining features so far are rudimentary.
What has gone wrong with this software sector? Or am I just experiencing one of those jaded plateaux that are to be expected when in the grip of longterm CRIMP…?
Derek
Derek
Posted by David Dunham
Sep 25, 2006 at 12:12 AM
So why not use a decent one-pane outliner?
Posted by Stephen Zeoli
Sep 25, 2006 at 02:22 AM
Derek,
I agree with your assessment. In my opinion, it is actually a misnomer to even call them two-pane outliners. They are hierarchical, free-form databases. In this task, many of them excel. UltraRecall, MyInfo, probably ADM would be among those that add useful features for managing this data beyond the simple hierarchy. I think these programs actually inhibit outlining as a creative tool because they are cumbersome to use and isolate each piece of work in a discrete box. The few single-pane outliners are definitely more deft at reorganizing your work and provide the holistic view that is crucial for smooth writing, but they lack an database functionality. I hate to sound like a broken record, but I still believe that GrandView was the only program that provided a powerful, single-pane outliner and powerful database functions. It baffles me that no one has yet to replicate GV in the Windows environment.
Steve Z.
Derek Cornish wrote:
>Reading Cassius’s “From Jot+ to ???” got me thinking more generally about notetaking
>programs, so I thought I had better start a new thread. I’d like to jump in with some
>general comments about what, for better or worse, have become known as “two-pane
>outliners” - essentially note-taking programs the titles of which are displayed in
>the form of a hierarchical tree in one pane, with the corresponding notes in the other
>one.
>
>There are so many of these programs - e.g., MyInfo, WhizFolders, Treepad,
>Jot+, etc., etc.,etc. - that it is difficult to differentiate between them - in part,
>no doubt, because they make use of many commonly-available “bolt-on” elements. When
>considered alongside free programs like KeyNote
>(http://www.tranglos.com/free/keynote.html) or similarly free
>word-processors like RoughDraft (http://www.salsbury.f2s.com/rd.htm) it is
>often hard to see (1) what value is being added by the commercial products; and (2) and
>how different they all really are from one another.
>
>Last month I carried out another
>glum trawl through some of the better-known programs to see what was happening. The
>answer seems to be “not much”. It’s true that one can occasionally point to useful
>differences: MyInfo’s .HEAD import feature is one example, and WhizFolders’
>upcoming “copy universal link feature” (see the thread on “Whizfolders and
>graphical front ends” back in July) promises to be very helpful, and may temporarily
>differentiate it from the other clones.
>
>Overall, though, I have been rather
>disappointed with these programs. This is probably a bit unfair. After all, I already
>use Zoot, a free-form database program that covers many of the PIM or note-taking and
>note-organizing features that I need. If I weren’t using Zoot I might be looking for
>one of the two-pane notetakers, although I’d probably plump for something more like
>MyBase or UltraRecall. As the main defect of Zoot is its lack of a rich text editor, the
>new Whizfolders, with its promised universal links is the only one that directly adds
>much value to what I already have.
>
>Even so, the sector does look rather moribund.
>What is really wrong (IMO) with all these two-pane notetakers is the lack of a decent
>single-pane outlining facility within the notes pane of the software. Suggestions
>and calls for such an obvious feature fall upon deaf ears in software forums, and one
>has to conclude that this is mainly because there is no easy way of implementing it with
>available rich text editors. The only notes programs I know of that have such a feature
>are ndxCards, MS OneNote and InfoSelect. Given the drawbacks of two of them -
>InfoSelect (lack of a demo; high upgrading price) and ndxCards (oddly archaic
>interface, to my mind) - that leaves MS poised to sweep the general two-pane
>note-taking field with its new version, even though its outlining features so far are
>rudimentary.
>
>What has gone wrong with this software sector? Or am I just
>experiencing one of those jaded plateaux that are to be expected when in the grip of
>longterm CRIMP…?
>
>Derek
>
>Derek
Posted by Kenneth Rhee
Sep 25, 2006 at 02:46 AM
For windows, I would suggest Evernote for note taking and Ariadne for outlining.
However, I would agree that the Windows community is lagging behind Mac for me . . .
If I were using a Mac, I would have a lot more choices in this area.
Notebook, Notetaker, and DevonThink would be something I would use for everyday note-taking.
OmniOutliner and Tinderbox are also a capable outliner as well.
Posted by Derek Cornish
Sep 25, 2006 at 06:27 AM
I do, actually, David. Like Steve Z. I’m a longtime Grandview user.
But I’d like some other options, too - e.g., ones that combine single-pane outlining within two (or more)-pane notetakers. In a rather vague way I thought OLE might be another answer - if one could, say, embed a Word outline within a notetaking program and edit it without opening up Word itself. But this does not seem feasible so far.
Also, as Kenneth points out, there just seems more on offer for writers who use MACs.
Derek
David Dunham wrote:
>So why not use a decent one-pane outliner?