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Diigo
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Posted by Luhmann
Dec 17, 2017 at 02:49 AM
I recently checked out Diigo after a long time. They seem to be continually updating the app. It has many of the features of something like Pocket or Instapaper but also some other stuff, like an outliner. The outliner is like a stripped-down version of Workflowy. It supports zooming, but not tagging, and the iOS app can read outlines but not edit them. Hopefully these features will continue to be improved. The thing I like best right now is the ability to make highlights and annotations on one’s bookmarked items. Instapaper has this, but not Pocket, and unlike Instapaper it supports tags. It also allows you to store and annotate PDFs, although there are limits on what you can do if you don’t pay for a pro account (like PDF storage limits).
Posted by kjxymzy
Dec 17, 2017 at 06:07 PM
http://getliner.com/ is newish and offers similar web annotating to Diigo.
Posted by Luhmann
Dec 18, 2017 at 11:27 AM
Diigo does much more than annotation. It serves as read-later service, an outliner, a collaborative research platform and more. Not sure if it is for me, but certainly worth a look if you tried it out a few years ago and haven’t gone back since.
Posted by kjxymzy
Dec 18, 2017 at 07:05 PM
Luhmann wrote:
Diigo does much more than annotation. It serves as read-later service,
>an outliner, a collaborative research platform and more. Not sure if it
>is for me, but certainly worth a look if you tried it out a few years
>ago and haven’t gone back since.
It is powerful. If you are doing research online on a topic, the annotation plus outliner is super. Just crank through a bunch of articles/PDFs on a topic, annotate/comment, drag quotes/comments to outline, organize and in no time you’ll have a solid overview of a topic in a nice structured form.
Some other positives:
With the premium version you also get cached pages of your bookmarks so you don’t have to worry about pages/websites disappearing(Ive encountered a few too many bloggers deleting their entire sites off the web). I also love seeing annotations I made on a webpage months after the face. I haven’t tried the collaboration, and prefer Instapaper for read-later.
I’d say it is a great tool at the project level. However it feels too heavy/clunky as an everyday bookmark/internet clipping bucket. Also, it is often a pain to get annotations out of Diigo and IFTTT type automations aren’t that great (that’s why Ive been using Liner recently => easy share to Evernote, text).
Posted by Marbux
Dec 18, 2017 at 10:22 PM
I have used Diigo for several years but hate it. It is vendor lock-in software. Its API does not permit exporting of all your data. I took a very hard look at using its API to move data back and forth between NoteCase Pro using NC Pro’s scripting capabilities, but was completely blocked by Diigo’s API. You can get some but not all data types out and the ability to restore it after processing in NC Pro is non-existent.
In my mind, that fact weighs very heavily against Diigo’s convenience of use. I was seduced by that convenience but am now making the transition back to Zotero. I don’t think there is another digital research assistant out there that comes close. Yes, it has a steep learning curve, but it is an extremely versatile system so that’s to be expected. Take a look at the quick-start guide if you’re interested. https://www.zotero.org/support/quick_start_guide
The Zotero system is open source software and the API is mature. And no vendor lock-in in sight.