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General brainstorming for Note-taking software

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superboyac:
I don't know if this is a good idea, but I wanted to start a thread where we can all just brainstorm about note-taking software.  Anything you want to say, wishlist of features, what you like about existing programs, what you'd like the ideal program to do.  I know a lot of us would like to see a good review of this genre done here at DC, and we all know how hard that would be to accomplish, so maybe this thread could be a place where ideas can be collected.

In my opinion, it would be absoutely impossible to do a traditional review where we'd pick a couple of programs as the "best in this category.  Everyone has different needs for this type of software.  I think the review will ultimately have to be such that we subcategorize the software out there and say, "Well, if <this> is what you're trying to do, then <this> is the best software for it."  So, different programs can be categorized as the "best" depending on what specific task is trying to be accomplished.  There's no way we can collectively pick one program as the ultimate.  Heck, if it was just me, I can't even say which program is the best for me!

mouser:
i could not agree more with your assessment that this category needs a different approach - the approach you say sounds right to me - though this is actually a direction we are moving torwards in our normal reviews i should point out.

in fact it may be even impossible to do a "if this is what your trying to do, this is the best", and it may just be more sensible to try to do a good comprehensive review where each program is basically taken on its own merits, with a BIG table of features to compare so people can see which ones have the features they want.

with at the end maybe a round up of "favorites".

we could try something unusual like:
ok what if we broke it up into like 3 stages:
stage 1 - identify good apps in this general category
stage 2 - start building the feature table
stage 3 - write some basic text about these kinds of tools, etc
stage 4 - get a bunch of people who use these tools to write a couple paragraphs on which is their favorite tool and why.

just an idea..

rjbull:
While there's an overlap, I assume this is separate from outliners in the Keynote or ECCO senses?

My first thoughts:

1)  Indexed, for fast retrieval
2)  Boolean searching, for precise retrieval
3)  Keyboard driven, or rather, everything readily accessible by keyboard

mouser:
i think we are talking about keynote style programs.

in fact i would RESTRICT this review to HIEARCHICAL note taking programs.

mouser:
can i make strong request that part of this review involve formulating some attempt to describe what the "ideal" hierarhical note tool would look like, as with my new codebase i've been working hard on, i want to give this category a real try.  the keynote2 disucssions may be a good starting point.  but it would be useful to have a kind of prioritized blueprint..

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