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a few thoughts about infoqube
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Posted by jimspoon
Oct 1, 2019 at 04:01 PM
I just want to encourage those who have not tried Infoqube to take a deep dive. I would really be astonished if there is anything like it, anything nearly so rich in different ways to gather and organize info. You can employ any number of different models depending on what you are trying to do. You have the tagging model, the outlining model, the grid model, etc. etc.
Sometimes I have thought that Pierre was taking a wrong turn by focusing on certain features. For example, by working so much on the editing capabilities of the “Document Pane”, or the new tagging system. I’ve wanted him to focus more on grids and fields instead. For example, I’m just not a great believer in putting my notes into document pane html documents, because in that pane, you don’t have the slice and dice capabilities of the grid and outliner. BUT I’m learning to like it - there is a nice Home Page feature where links to all my grids appears in an HTML documents and I use it all the time. I just need to use my imagination more to discover what I how I can use the document pane.
But I’ve been using the hierarchical tagging system lately, and my eyes are being opened. It is particularly good for the “initial” categorization of data. And the thing is, the one model for organizing data can be used to facilitate the application of another model to the same data, in a synergistic fashion. For example, once you have categorized your items with hierarchical tags, that categorization will facilitate the application of the grid / table / rows / columns model. You can find the items that have been assigned a certain tag, and then make them the children of a certain parent item (outline model), or assign a certain field and value combination (database / table / spreadsheet / grid model).
It really is a great playground just waiting for you to use your imagination.
With all respect to the folks to who are devoted to Ecco Pro, or are looking for its true successor, Infoqube is like the Starship Enterprise compared to the Horse and Buggy. HAHA!
Posted by nathanb
Oct 2, 2019 at 02:30 PM
Agreed, it seems like every time I go into full CRIMP mode and question my choices in life I take another look at InfoQube and see that Pierre has added several huge functions. Just within the last year or so it’s gained hierarchical tagging (WITH inheritance!), mapping, and related items (which is a true two-way link between items). Wow.
Posted by DataMill
Oct 2, 2019 at 02:33 PM
I agree completely that it is a wonderful piece of software. I’m also a former Ecco user and just love IQ. Before retiring as a database designer, I made heavy use of IQ to manage my work. Now that I’m retired, I continue to use it to track health data, legal and financial meetings and readings, and my photography hobby. How I use it since retiring has changed but this points to how versatile IQ is. Since I love to tweak and fiddle data structures, it has been incredibly enjoyable for me. I bought a license several years ago and it’s been well worth the investment. Congratulations to Pierre for his work.
Posted by Pierre Paul Landry
Oct 18, 2019 at 06:56 PM
Thanks Jim, nathanb and DataMill !
InfoQube is all about providing users with tools to manage their information. No single model suits all needs, and this is why IQ supports many models:
- Flat lists of items
- Outliner with data columns (à la Ecco Pro)
- Outline of Rich-Text / handwriting documents (2-pane outliner)
- Calendar, Gantt and Timeline date-based views
- Mind map / Concept map 2-D views
- Index cards 2-D view
- Kanban board state processing (Trello-like drag-drop)
The beauty of it, is that these are not in separate silos as in many other apps.
By this I mean that for example, in Outlook or Google services, a calendar event, a task, a contact, a Notes card are **separate** entities viewable in their context.
Not so in InfoQube: any item, whatever its characteristics, can be viewed in any of these views.
Last but not least, items have a rich set of links and custom properties:
- Graph structure of multi-parent children links (less limiting than Tree structures)
- Ad hoc two-way links (“See Also” links)
- In-text hyperlinks
- Custom field values with optional rules and equations
- Best-in-class tagging system
- Sync with Google services (Calendar for now, Contacts and Tasks in dev.)
It’s been a long journey, but we’re really getting close to v1.0
(or should it be named v10.0, as in: Windows 10 and 10X, macOS 10.??, Surface Pro/X ... LOL)
Pierre Paul Landry
IQ Designer
http://www.infoqube.biz/
Posted by DataMill
Oct 19, 2019 at 12:53 PM
Having worked as a database designer, I had one foot in the Windows world and the other in the Mac world. There’s nothing in either world, in my opinion, that works as well as IQ to manage data. I run it on a Surface Pro 6 and take it with me, so I have my data when I need it. I realize that there is a huge push to have it on every device we own but it has seemed to me that there is a price to pay for this capability. Obviously, others may see it differently but for me, IQ has been wonderful and has surpassed ECCO and many others.
Mike