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Main Area and Open Discussion => General Software Discussion => Topic started by: Steven Avery on January 30, 2015, 02:42 AM
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This thread and idea comes out of a couple of recent discussions.
editor with built-in column or tiling facility - (Listhings comes close)
https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=39951.0
The (stickies) memoboard as a column-based editor, flexible size rectangles, has turned out to be my fav, as in the pic below.
Also I want to look at some of the benefits, and some of the needs, with Notezilla if you use it this way. Other sticky programs can be considered if they have a memoboard implementation. This thread may double as my Notezilla discussion thread. One reason I am ready for this is that I have some of the elements nicely laid out on my Notezilla memoboard dedicated to Stickies programs! Notezilla helps me keep track of Notezilla weaknesses as well as strengths.
Web-based memoboard implementations (eg. Listhings, which only lacks the RTF, having tabs rather than a tree structure) can also be compared. My requirements will differ from others, so by going over the major feature set, it might help with the idea.
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Goal
1) tree and/or tabbed note system
2) free-form structure that allows column-based and tile-based representations.
a) avoid massive white-space common to desktop note programs
b) match the fact that different types of thinking have different length and style notes appropriate
3) RTF - (also background colors) (also take pics from the clipboard)
4) ease of use on editing, sizing, searching, moving from one topic to another.
stability & support
pleasant to navigate and use
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Major Auxiliary Elements
multi-user collaboration, network, sync and/or export-import capbabilities
webpage annotation system (Internote stickies and Diigo-style workspaces, where Notezilla is at least in the mix)
publish to web (e.g. Menomic) - (FYI: Notezilla may have some utility here per memoboard by things like HTML export)
tablet capable
multi-OS
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Overlap areas. They will not be the prime decision areas. Why? Because I am in my note program 20-50 times in a day. It really wants to be pleasant and quick. If the note program I like the most is only used with USB or Dropbox style sharing, that is fine by me. For this function, I don't want a less happy program just for the "use easily anywhere" experience. I also like the fact that Notezilla and Vueminder will be happy Taskbar companions, always one click away, never lost in the Tab Maze.
Saying that, I will acknowledge that Listhings, a free web-memoboard, able to be used anywhere, is quite fine overall for many note uses. I simply like my notes in RTF, which is not available, and there is no active development. Backing up and persistence up is also less clear. If a webboard did have all the basics, it might surpass using Notezilla.
My other related tools ?
Xerpi - VueMinder Calendar - Linkman - Firefox with extensions and bookmarks - Lastpass
Hmmm... I mention this because there is a type of data relatedness that makes these programs central. The first step on the net is Xerpi, as a startpage.
Other browsers are used, Facebook has its place, document programs are utilized. At work, there is a CRM / project and task manager, yet the group above make my daily personal net navigation experience. Contacts can be in Linkman, often with the keyword "addy", so this bypasses the PIM. (VueMinder can do structured contacts with custom fields, if needed also there are free web CRMs). At the moment Listpro and Todolist and Task Coach and Swift Todo and database and others are mostly on vacation. Rightnote is curtailed, on a diet.
Overall, I want to put as much as possible into the Notezilla and Linkman quasi-freeform structure. Many databases are de facto in Linkman, like software registrations with keyword SN#. Screenshots and file managers and utilities and DriveHQ and backup are a separate region. Documents and writing and research are a separate region.
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Next, I want to go into where Notezila shines, and improvements desired.
Steven
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For multi-user collaboration, I'd suggest taking a look at Trello (https://trello.com/), which can also serve as a fantastic project management tool.
They use it a lot where I work, for everything from assigning books & courses to teaching assistants, to brainstorming for new project ideas, to their Agile board.
I have begun using it for collaboration with a few other people, to organize the books yet to be added to my free programming ebook site (which was a lot of work copying over my Notezilla notes for every book to be considered, but well worth it)
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There are quite a few videos about Trello on youtube (https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=trello), covering everything from using it as a personal ToDo list to project management. It has a lot of features that Notezilla doesn't have.
Oh, and it's free! ;)
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Trello looks very cool. I'd like to try it and see how it compares to Slack.
Stephen, why did you stop using Rightnote? I'm curious because it seems like we have the same needs. I'm currently kind of dedicated to RN, but I haven't been exploring these other interesting options. I don't find Rightnote lacking except for one thing which is not its fault...it's a tree hierarchical organizer, so they are all basically the same visual experience. Something like what you showed with Notezilla is better in the sense that I can clearly and quickly glance at several notes at once. You know what would be a great feature for RN...if you clicked on a folder containing subnotes, and all the subnotes are displayed the way you show for notezilla. Instead, it just behaves like a regular note.
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I've worked with some people who have completely committed to using Trello. I does what it's designed to do. And it works quite well. I am not personally enamoured of it. But I have my own work/planning tool preferences, so that shouldn't count for much. Well worth a look.
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I'd like to try it and see how it compares to Slack.
-superboyac
It's not really comparable to Slack and would not replace it. (we use both at work)
I would compare Slack to other live chat environments, such as IRC, Jabber, texting over Skype, etc.
Trello has more in common with stickie notes and project management software, than a chat room or instant messaging.
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I just tried Notezilla (again)...no, it doesn't work for me. As I mentioned before, a really great feature for rightnote or any similar tree hierarchy is the option to display in masonry-style, all the subnotes.
(http://www.code-pal.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/masonry-css3-jquery-fallback.jpg)
So I'll be sticking to RN. I mentioned this in another thread, but I'm still favoring Outliner 4D more and more for more structured glancing at notes and ideas. But it's a manual process...i dump a bunch of stuff in wiznote, then eventually add the significant items to RN, then if i really need to dig into an idea, I'll do it in Outliner 4D. I keep looking for tools to simplify this process, but at this point I'm almost philosophically convinced it can't be accomplished with a single tool.
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I keep looking for tools to simplify this process, but at this point I'm almost philosophically convinced it can't be accomplished with a single tool.
-superboyac
Something I concluded as well a few years ago. But that's ok. I'll settle for "good enough."
A lot of it may also be because I've become significantly less interested in information curation and more interested in ideation.
I sometimes think too much note-taking, planning, and structuring gets in the way of actual thinking and creativity. Because a lot of what they are is (sometimes superfluous) preparation to do something, rather than actually doing it.
Eventually I think I'm going to wind up reverting back to what I used in college before we had all this fancy electronically augmented note and process technology. Which is to say a pen, a couple of blank notebooks - and a rudimentary memory palace (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_of_loci). (See Francis Yates book The Art of Memory if you want to get some historical background on the technique(s) employed.)
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8)
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Something 'unusual' I have done and mentioned in passing here on DC before is use a local WordPress install and make each post a note. It of course has tags, inline images, search, etc. With a theme I can make it look like masonary style, with another (or a plugin) I can make it show a summary (excerpt) of all notes. Another plugin to make it look like a calendar ... on and on.
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Hi,
One of the problems with both Rightnote and Notezilla is that, due to the lack of a forum, you learn about special uses only in a piecemeal fashion. (Same on other porgrams, like Linkman.)
Superboyac
"I just tried Notezilla (again)...no, it doesn't work for me. As I mentioned before, a really great feature for rightnote or any similar tree hierarchy is the option to display in masonry-style, all the subnotes."
Can you show how this is done in Rightnote?
I see something interesting in the:
RNUserGuide
Tab - More Features
Tree - Samples - "Sample Week Template".
Here you have a group of independent boxes (conceptually could be columns or tiles) and the size is variable (increases as data comes in.)
That, and your picture, are at least in my ballpark.
Searching the help file for "Template"
Takes you to the clipper section only:
"New content is actually added by way of a pre-defined template. Advanced users may want to modify the default templates or create their own. For an example of supported variables take a look at the "BookmarkXX.rvf" templates in the SystemTemplates folder (My Documents\My RightNote\SystemTemplates). Templates can be edited with the RichViewEditor utility that is available at http://www.bauerapps.com/RichViewEditor.zip."
If I can learn the functionality to have RightNote a convenient, linked, full screen (little white-space) note-keeper, then I will likely have an interesting decision as to where to use Notezilla, where Rightnote.
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As to why Notezilla is working for me, so far, I can get in, find, and add or change very quickly. Looks good. Allows emphasis. Tree tells me what section I am in. Can move a note from a memoboard to another board super-easily. When a page gets crowded, you set up a sub-page and put a few related items down there. It actually is very easy to work with.
And I did not realize what is for me the actual best use capability of Notezilla till recently (maybe I'll set up a set of 4 pics) .. no forum, few pics. I thought of the memoboard only in the context of the note manager, and everybody has a manager, so it was no great shakes. At the time.
Likely a similar situation with Rightnote.
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I'm taking a little look at Wiznote and Outline 4D.
(I will mention again Listhings, that I only pass by mainly because of the RTF lack. Quite a web page organizer and I have a lot in there ready to move to Notezilla.)
And I agree that you won't find a single tool that does everything. In my situation, the goal is to have a few tools that help with quick notes, structured research and writing and publishing to the web. Within the quick notes, I find the concepts behind Notezilla, Rightnote and Listhings all very friendly, even while very different. Rightnote allows for more advanced types of organization.
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Steven
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Before you spend too much time looking...let me clarify, Rightnote does NOT have that masonry feature anywhere. I was trying to say that such a feature for any tree style notetaker would be a nice thing. I haven't seen it anywhere. You're picture of notezilla got me thinking about it.
It's the same approach as the windows tiles on windows 8 and windows phones. It's the best use of space in a rectangular shape. It's also been a feature we've been seeing more on websites since about 5 years ago.
I totally agree with your initial comment, Stephen, about the wasted whitespace. That's the big challenge with these notetakers.
Wiznote is basically just like evernote, in some cases worse, some cases better. I don't have any particular reason to use it other than evernote pissed me off. But the thing I like best about it is the very flexible exporting ability. So if i ever change my mind, I can get everything out of there in a good way.
And Outliner 4D....this is not a notetaker by any means. But for organizing ideas in a structured hierarchy, it's the absolute best that I've ever seen. And my favorite part...you can print the outline just like you see it on the screen (try printing good looking outlines with any other software)...and also, the outlines can be exported in rtf. I'm big into the rtf like you, because it retains formatting and is a middleman format for transferring stuff between applications. I'm totally with you there.
There was a notetaker in the past that kept each note in a separate txt file or something. Ah...Am-Notebook! But I never latched on to that. The idea of keeping notes in separate files was interesting, though.
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Outline 4D emphasizes in their blurbs screen writing and fiction writing. And it does look like a solid tool in many ways. The question is whether it adapts well to non-fiction writing.
In my case I have a number of articles planned on the history (includes the writings of specific individuals) and textual and translational aspects of certain Bible verses. Take any technical non-fiction writing (e.g. theories relating to 911 or the shooting of JFK or an analysis of freeware and software strengths). The question is simple .. do the strengths of Outine 4D carry over? Have you found the program a big help on non-fiction writing?
With Wiznotes, whenever I really try to use Onenote or Evernote, I should also try to use Wiznote :). Overall, I'm not sure if will need a web-desktop type of app. And I saw the fine Wiznote thread on DC that was a type of review-discussion.
Steven
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Outline 4D emphasizes in their blurbs screen writing and fiction writing. And it does look like a solid tool in many ways. The question is whether it adapts well to non-fiction writing.
In my case I have a number of articles planned on the history (includes the writings of specific individuals) and textual and translational aspects of certain Bible verses. Take any technical non-fiction writing (e.g. theories relating to 911 or the shooting of JFK or an analysis of freeware and software strengths). The question is simple .. do the strengths of Outine 4D carry over? Have you found the program a big help on non-fiction writing?
-Steven Avery
I'd consider O4D a fairly generic outliner (at least the outliner part, the timeline part might be a bit more specific), so it's perfectly suitable for nonfiction writing. I often use it for academic writing. The outliner part of it is a classical single-pane outliner with inline notes and some basic rich text formatting.
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"a really great feature for [sic, not: of] rightnote or any similar tree hierarchy is [not: would be] the option to display in masonry-style, all the subnotes"
That was correctly worded, albeit I immediately feared the misunderstanding that didn't take long to appear indeed.
In fact, I cannot mention any sw that does it exactly in that visual rendering, but it's clear as day that's a functionality that is blatantly absent almost everywhere, whilst being of tremendous practical use. Hence:
- Many outliners offer a similar functionality by export / print; of course that's not the same thing at all; it should be done within the program, and those bits should be editable (i.e. your edits therein should be replicated within the original sub-items)
- I know 2-3 outliners or similar which do something LIKE that, but none (?) of them does offer the above-mentioned functionality of your editings-done-within-that-spread-out-view being replicated into the original items:
-- Citavi (of course it's debatable if you could use that program for general IM, and the answer is probably no)
-- Treeline ( http://sourceforge.net/projects/treeline/ , free and very interesting, but from an "experimental" pov; it's not really useful for heavy use)
-- UltraRecall has a feature similar to Citavi, but, incredibly, UR then does clip=hide all the intermediate sub-titles, i.e. the titles of the items spread-out. This is completely nuts, since in 99.9 p.c. of possible use cases, you will be in deep need of those titles (and be it only for knowing where the previous original item began, and where the next starts; for the 0.1 p.c. of use cases where these item titles are unwanted, you could have implemented an option that is), and I mentioned this it's-not-a-bug-but-an-incredible-dumb-feature to the developer YEARS AGO, without the slightes reaction; here again, no replication of your possible edits (if they are possible that is, I don't remember, and the same remark applies to the other applics mentioned here) back to the original items
- To SOME (i.e. very poor) degree, 3-pane instead of 2-pane could "help"
- As mentioned, as soon as you think "print/export", your current possibilities widen considerably up, so in some use cases, with a macro, perhaps, there could be some (very limited) means.
As you all know, development of desktop outliners is more or less stalled, for the time being, and this absence of real hope for getting such functionality in an acceptable way may be sufficient reason to mention the lesser, semi-solutions above.
P.S. This problem is similar to the flattening out of the file system's directories... where some file managers help out a lot.
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Outline 4D emphasizes in their blurbs screen writing and fiction writing. And it does look like a solid tool in many ways. The question is whether it adapts well to non-fiction writing.
-Steven Avery
I've used it for everything. It's not a genre specific tool. :)
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Hi,
Notice that the Scrivener pics avoid the white space plague
http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php
And I may place this in my front-tier of programs to try out. Never really worked with Scrivener, Zotero, etc.
Peter discusses Citavi and Ultra Recall above. Citavi
https://www.citavi.com/
is new to me, and looks like it is a similar genre to Scrivener.
I may need do a little study and trial here. Along with Outline 4D and I noticed WIT (Web Idea Tree) and Open Element and some others in my studies. The question here is the interplay between study, research, outline and structure, writing and web writing. (See also below, Connected Text.) I think there is a tendency for reviews to see less than the big picture. Maybe MyInfo and Ultra Recall is in here as being somewhat multi-dimensional. And I chuckle every time Ultra Recall is mentioned because it was my fav program a gazillion years ago.
Going a bit afield, Memonic remains interesting, and I ran across a new bookmarking start page possibility called Mojave.
And Notezilla still is the one place I want to do personal notes. You just got to get over the "Sticky Note" mentality, for this it is a Memoboard. Let me give an example. I was struggling looking at gmail notifiers, for a specific need. And struggling about how to keep my notes (e.g. this program looks good, but is quirky and allows multiple instances, a no-no.) And once I set up a Notifiers memoboard in Notezilla, it was all well-formed, trivial go get in and out, quick and pleasant. For that type of ad hoc need, I have not found anything close. Notezilla with RTF and tree has replaced the web-based Listhings with tabs. (Tree and tabs are ultra-best.)
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Here is a blog and researcher who looked at some of these notetaking issues, with lots of reviews:
Paul J. Miller - I used to be undecided, but now I'm not so sure.
https://pauljmiller.wordpress.com/category/software/note-taking/
First, note that a missing link is that he did not get around to trying out RightNote.
ConnectedText was a winner, in his book, MyInfo and Instant Recall got major pluses.
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From Peter's excellent post:
as soon as you think "print/export" -
True, for me insufficient, this is really a thinking, reading, looking at the screen need.
development of desktop outliners is more or less stalled ...the lesser, semi-solutions above.
Agreed. Often the gems are a bit hidden, and you can make something special out of them.
similar to the flattening out of the file system's directories... where some file managers help out a lot.
Yep, that is one of the most important functions that is made not so obvious.
Last time I simply used Everything. I wanted to see what had been downloaded, created, on a specific date/time. Worked great!
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Added:
Silvernote - listed on the Paul Miller blog, shows some promise in the memoboard category
http://www.silver-note.com/features
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Steven
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Hi,
Continuing with Notezilla as a full-blown personal note system.
Here are the biggest improvements that I see that would enhance it greatly:
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1) Snap to Grid - some way to make the layout nice and organized. Note that scroll-bars, or the potential for them to arise as the setup requires, does impact this to some degree, in terms of notes being flush one to another.
Also worthy of consideration, in addition to having notes snapped next to one another, an internal box or tiles system within the memoboard would be nice. Right now you could set up a cross note as a type of section header. Even a couple of tools within the memo-board like special section lines would help organization and visibility.
2) Tabs - the tree-structure combined with 5-10 notes on a page (you are trying not to have a scroll-down page) is reasonable, tabs on the top would be a huge enhancement, similar to various note programs. (Another method used by note programs is to allow the opening of different named files, this would be another possible solution, not as elegant as tabs, that would give Notezilla more flexibility. There could be multiple names/locations of the Notezilla data file and you open one at a time. One for biz, one for personal, stuff like that. Best, though, is tabs.)
3) Full screen mode (or "almost" full screen mode). Maximize the space and be consistent as to the layout size (which varies a bit by the number of notes on a memoboard.)
4) Print feature - including print landscape natively - One that keeps the formatting and, optionally, the color schema of the visible note. Or simply an alternative like line bars around each note. As well as printing what comes out of the current exports HTML or txt. My current workaround is single page at a time print screens, possibly macroized.
5) Publish to web (this last may be asking a lot)
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A couple of esthetic things that I don't think are there
1) a corkboard background look for wallpaper (Listhings and many others)
2) a notepad lined writing mode look for paper (Listhings)
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Steven
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Tonight I looked a bit at Onenote, which I had previous sort of ignored. The fact that it became totally free helped.
Onenote does seem to be the one software that has a similar capability to the memoboard, since every note can be enclosed in a type of box. Nice.
Now, in comparing with NoteZilla for this memoboard purpose you have some interesting comparisons.
Notezilla has the colored background, with a clear border for each note and with distinctive backgrounds for notes possible.
Onenote has a better editor with many extra features and can use space better overall. Even tables and spreadsheets. Sensible printing.
So far I have not seen a border or background color method with Onenote, a bit of a surprising lack (if it really is not there.)
Notezilla has the pop-up integration with url pages and with programs (with additional memoboards in the note browser that relate to those notes.)
Onenote has integration with SkyDrive to allow usage from multiple puters. And in this version is forced to the cloud for storage.
Notezilla has a tree structure on the Y-axis with subfolders. Then it has individual notes titled within each individual page. This does allow for very quick page-note switching.
Onenote has tabs on top, X-axis, combined with multiple pages on the right, Y-axis, for each tab.
Onenote also has multiple Notebooks, and the possibility of multiple accounts off the same drive.
(So far, the only Notezilla extra utility I have thought of would be to have a hand-utility that moves various .db files that are renamed back and forth to Notes8.db.)
They both have auxiliary features.
Notezilla has a special network and lan messenger aspect. And it has a due date aspect. Also an Android app.
Onenote has Onetastic with a calendar implementation and macros. Tools for drawing. It can be much more of a word processor. A big plus for certain uses.
And it even has screen capture clipping and OCR (I generally use Abbyy Screenshot Reader for that so I don't know if it is much of a practical difference.)
Ok, the web clipping may be a good feature to be using, possibly. All sorts of integration and extension possibilities, including a Firefox extension.
This is all sketchy, and I might be missing a lot.
And I was surprised that the Onenote aficionados did not point out that it avoids the white space problem with the box entry focus.
Are there others? Your thoughts?
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It is clear that as a research and complex writing tool, Onenote is loaded with helpful features (and I like the architecture more than anything I have seen from Evernote and others, allowing that it is from Microsoft!) However, for the personal notes memoboard system, I think it is a close call, with Notezilla still holding its own.
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Added: The cloud implementation of OneNote can lead to issues like the file architecture and synching being cumbersome.
This Spiceworks thread is an example of that discussion.
http://community.spiceworks.com/topic/366906-onenote-any-power-onenote-users-in-here
Steven
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Just to show that I am not the only person in the universe who likes the Notezilla memoboard personal note idea:
How I Set Up My Development Machine on Windows
Zack Wallace
http://www.sitepoint.com/how-set-up-my-development-machine-windows/
April
http://appsapps.info/about.php
Apps Apps
http://appsapps.info/
"And among my payware tools, you'll find Beyond Compare: http://www.scootersoftware.com/
and Notezilla (every project and website gets its own memoboard): http://www.conceptworld.com/Notezilla"
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That is how I use Notezilla .. dividing various projects and concept-blocks so that each gets its own memoboard, with the sub-board implementation.
Steven
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April
http://appsapps.info/about.php
Apps Apps
http://appsapps.info/
"And among my payware tools, you'll find Beyond Compare: http://www.scootersoftware.com/
and Notezilla (every project and website gets its own memoboard): http://www.conceptworld.com/Notezilla"
-Steven Avery
This is a carry over habit that goes back to my 3M Post-it Software Notes days, where I would build a tabbed memoboard for each project and run into issues with its limitations (max 12 tabs per board, no way to split tabs any further without resorting to mental hacks, using visual cues, such as color & position). Notezilla was a breath of fresh air.
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Hi,
Yep, Notezilla is the only desktop sticky I have found that has a real memoboard implementation. And it can work quite well. Maybe you have some ideas to add to (1)-(5) above. Those are the big picture items, I am going to add separately a number of lesser comments and requests.
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General Major Wish List -
(1) May be Too Difficult to Bother
(1) The ability for browser window stickies to work by the url of the specific page, as done by Internote for Firefox - If you go by what often works, e.g. a site or company name, you can easily find that your needed window has a generic names like "Client Logon". Which you really can not relate to the site or company. If it could be done for Firefox especially it would be neat. This is as much a vision and wish than a request, as it may not be time-practical. And it hits the snag of changing browsers and versions and APIs.
On the other hand, one change above that might be relatively easy is a File-Open capability that brings forth a different set of notes. Then you don't have to cram every type of business and personal and research note on one tree. Right now this can only be done externally (macro, autohotkey, etc) where you would switch the files outside of Notezilla.
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Here are some general requests:
"Undue" feature
note "Title" centered capability (you can put in dot to create the result now)
Right Click on Context Menu for "New Note"
Reduce the hot area on a url .. it is too easy now to accidentally load a page
(and/or give a button to turn on/off clickability)
Notes Browser memoboard header (Title, Due, Tags, etc.) layout - default global setting
In that column for the header that is "memoboard", allow full Notezilla path (folders-->subfolders)
Skins be less than global .. e.g. for memoboard
browser back-arrow forward-arrow style navigation within Notezilla memoboard (since it can great crowded in tree)
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Steven
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Steven, I'm loving this discussion, glad you're back!
I was thinking about Onenote and why i don't use it. There's nothing really wrong with it, but I really don't want to commit to it. I'll tell you what it is...it's one of these popular softwares that impresses you the first week you get introduced to it, and you feel like this is going to do the trick for you. Then a month later, you realize that you just don't want to use it anymore.
Then, something like Rightnote was the opposite. At first, I'm like this is the same as every other freaking tree-hierarchy organizer. But as you use it, it grows on you. And I can't put my finger on a particular feature that even makes it stand out much.
Then there's wiznote. It's like evernote, but I like it more. I'll show a couple of screenshots of why I like it. I don't use these features much, but it shows that this is my kind of software.
This is the "content extraction" screen. Pretty powerful, shows the user that getting the notes out of there into something else is very possible.
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And the note "history" item, with very granular control.
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I just noticed this long discussion about Notezilla (http://www.conceptworld.com/Notezilla). I have taken note of this whole thread so that we think deeply when we need to design the future versions of Notezilla. Very interesting discussion.
Sorry that I cannot go deep into each feature and comment or commit. But I am surely keeping a watch.
Regards,
Gautam Jain
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Here are two more major ones that would make Notezilla visible for prime time, ie. more people would consider it for a full-blown note system.
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6) multiple files available through a File->Open command
Currently the .ini file holds the information given in Advanced-->Preferences-->Advanced
Thus in my system I have:
DataFolder=D:\Apps\Notezilla\Data
BackupFolder=D:\Apps\Notezilla\Backup
Instead of the default spots.
I'm not sure if the .ini file itself can be moved (e.g. by a parameter in the shortcut)
So in my Windows 7 system the Notezilla.ini file is at its standard spot:
c:\Users\(user name)\AppData\Roaming\Conceptworld\Notezilla\
So if I have multiple .db files, I can look at one at a time by renaming data files, and/or renaming .ini files.
A File-Open command would be much more appropriate.
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7) Similar to this in being a functional help, increased versatility, would be a .db merge command. One that allows one .db file to be added to another, under a new specified folder name. This would allow you to have available very easily a file that you had at another location or another now-dormant computer.
Is there a Navicat style utility for the SQLite .db files?
Or more specifically something like this:
Database Content Compare and Merge Tool
http://www.altova.com/databasespy/database-compare-tool.html
I plan to try out this solution on test files.
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This is very good, at least, for looking at the database structure.
DB Browser for SQLite
http://sqlitebrowser.org/
Although looking at data (again, duplicate test files only) hit some potential snags, eg:
"A table in this database requires a special collation function 'NOCASE' that this
application can't provide without further knowledge.
If you choose to proceed, be aware bad things can happen to your database.
Create a backup!"
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Only today am I trying out the "Skins".
They are explained here:
http://www.conceptworld.com/Notezilla/Help#Sticky-Notes-Skins-Downloading-Importing
And the download site is:
http://www.conceptworld.com/Notezilla/Skins
At one point I complained about not having some backgrounds like corkboard, that plaint is now inoperative!
(Well there should be a corkboard memoboard, which is not quite cartonboard.)
At least when it comes to the notes themselves.
Although I would still like more flexibility on the white background which is the full memoboard background.
You get to applying the skin to a note by the Appearance toolbar button. I had missed using that.
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Steven
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Here are three more small enhancements:
Date format in memoboard (e.g. allow date, not necessarily date plus time)
Possibly similar options on the note date, although not an issue for me, shows date only.
Ctrl-F bring up the search box (this is a habit thing)
Search should include the titles (looks like it passes that up now.)
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I just discovered OrangeNote, which looks like it hasn't had any development since 2011.
BUT it is a pretty cool sticky note program. I've been testing it out. It's got pretty robust search, tags, rich text notes, autozooming text sizes (which you can turn off), notes can snap to borders and each other, notes can roll up, colors.
"Pro" version has syncing via desktop but I haven't tried it yet.
I have upgraded to the version 2 beta, which is what allows rich text and some other stuff. To get it, download the thing on the website, then inside the program setting do auto-update, check the 'beta' box, then 'check now' button. It will find the version 2 beta, then you can download it and upgrade to it.
This looks like a really cool sticky notes program to me, but surprisingly I can find almost nothing about it anywhere on the web. Probably since the developer hasn't done anything with it in a few years.
http://orangenote.littlesoftware.ca/
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The author Logan had made a point here:
OrangeNote – A Smart Note Taker & Clipboard Manager
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/orangenote-smart-note-taker-clipboard-manager-desktop/
Feb, 2010
"gave up on the .NET framework because of too many problems with it (performance, memory issues, and just overall limitations and annoyances)."
They said that:
"Update: The developer sent us an email requesting us to put up a small comment saying that the app is again being actively developed. He has also released an upgrade. Check it out"
And that was the April, 2010 update.
I did not see and RTF editor referenced, so I passed for my use. Also it did not really seem to have a memoboard that was functional like Notezilla.
Steven
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Indeed OrangeNote seems to be a a limbo at best since nothing's changed in years.
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Stephen, could you describe what you mean by "memo board"? I'm not quite getting it.
Also, have you tried PNotes, 7 Sticky Notes, GloboNote? In what specific ways is Notezilla meeting your needs that they don't?
From playing around with OrangeNote and PNotes and Notezilla, I'm starting to wonder if one of these apps might be a better place for my simple notes, instead of OneNote (which I'm using now) or CintaNotes (which I'm considering). I really like the visualness of them and the ability to move individual notes around easily.
Strong search and filter abilities would really entice me a lot, which is why I'm intrigued by OrangeNote. So far I've put about 300 test notes in it and it seems to have a pretty fast indexed search. No real filtering as far as I can tell though. But then none of the others have an super-easy filter either. In the case of desktop sticky notes, to me a filter would be a search box on the task bar where one could type something in and notes that meet the criteria (e.g. have the text in them) would show up, everything else would be temporarily hidden.
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First, the searching.
Notezilla is pretty good on the searching.
A note browser "answer" comes up to the search, and then you can look at one at a time. Es suficiente, since a lot of Notezilla as a full-blown note systems is based on the tree hierarchy.
Here is the results of a search for "Donationcoder" on my current Notezilla "NotesBrowser".
The one note that is showing is the first row, but I can quickly see the 2nd, 3rd row etc.
(My major desired enhancement here is that the "Memoboard" column should have the option to show the whole path to the specific memoboard. Also I think the titles are not in the search.)
Note that the fact that each individual note can selectively be placed to pop up on webpages is a nice part of the integration ("Windows" on the columns). I am using that aspect more than more.
Next I will show you a new memoboard (page) in action. One that I am just setting up, active notes on Donationcoder threads -- "Donationcoder Discussions".
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
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This reminds me that I should learn some of the tricks for posting pics.
Anyway, here is the new memoboard page.
Any Notezilla competitor has to be able to give a similar clear visual representation of an "issue".
OneNote can allow rectangles to hold each note, but my quick check was not too happy with the visual nature of the result.
[ You are not allowed to view attachments ]
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Ah. Thank you for those screenshots. I do like the idea of having hierarchical grouping of notes, Notezilla seems to be well-suited for this.
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Thanks Steven,
I don't understand following requests:
"Undue" feature
note "Title" centered capability (you can put in dot to create the result now)
Notes Browser memoboard header (Title, Due, Tags, etc.) layout - default global setting
In that column for the header that is "memoboard", allow full Notezilla path (folders-->subfolders)
Skins be less than global .. e.g. for memoboard
Can you explain with little more words?
Regards,
Gautam Jain
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.
Undue .. oops .. undo ... just undoes the last thing, such as a text change or deletion. This is more common in word processing programs and is an editing function. Revert one step.
.
note "Title" centered capability (you can put in dot to create the result now) .... The Title of the note is left justified. Esthetically you might like it in the center. One way of achieving that now by hand is with a dot and then spaces. A "center title" option would be nice. Depends a bit on whether the toolbox supports it.
.
========================
IMPORTANT
.
Notes Browser memoboard header (Title, Due, Tags, etc.) layout - default global setting ...
The layout of the columns (Title - Due - Tags) I think are now done memoboard by memoboard. Generally I want my own specified layout, e.g. I may not be using tags much so that is on the right. I may want to always have the memoboard column over to the left. I want to set it up in one spot globally. "Apply to all memoboards". (Then it would be nice to be able to change it for an individual one. But even simply the "Apply to all" would be the real need, I doubt that I would ever change one.) I did not see this function.
.
In that column for the header that is "memoboard", allow full Notezilla path (folders-->subfolders) ...
this is also important. In my picture above where the "memoboard" would be "Donationcoder Discussions" I would like the global option to say instead the path, which is -
My Puter --> "Donationcoder Discussions"
Thus, if I end up with 200 or 500 memoboards, I can find it right away.
.
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Skins be less than global .. e.g. for memoboard (forget this one, "skins" are fine. I think they are simply really "(additional) Memoboard backgrounds". ) Is that right? The term skins usually has a wider use. No problemo.
Thanks!
Steven
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Thanks Steven. I understood all of them. The whole memoboard path would be useful. At least, it should should as part of the tool tip (mouse hover)
Undo already exists. Press Ctrl+Z inside sticky note. It is inside right click (inside sticky note) More->Undo menu also.
Title is centered if the note date (that's on the right of the title) is disabled.
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Earlier I wondered about a merge. I somehow deleted or lost some note branches (I was doing clean up.) Plus I emptied the trash. There were some notes on an earlier file that I would like to get into the master one.
Any ideas?
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Hello Steven,
You may want to restore notes from Notezilla backup (Notezilla does keep some backup copies).
Please refer the following url to learn how to restore Notezilla notes from backup:
http://www.conceptworld.com/blog/?p=18
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Hi,
Yes, I actually accessed the old notes in that type of way, from an earlier backup. The backup, however does not have a lot of recent tweaking.
However there are now good notes on both data files that want to be rejoined. ** Probably has to be done by hand.** Maybe using an intermediary word document program, and then going from one file to the other. If you know of any other way, please let me know. Granted, there may not be enough purpose for this type of techie request, and there is no sky falling down.
========================
btw, I also had a question on the Internet keeping of the notes. (So that they can be accessed on my ipad, I tried it for a week or two and found it "ok", not great but reasonable.) I thought I had paid for a year, until 2/2016 by Paypal (sent you a note privately on this) but then it expired quickly, and I wrote you an email. Did not see a response. I let it go since I am happy with the usb sneakernet method, even though it leaves the ipad out of the loop.
Can you help me unravel those questions? I have been on the road a month so my communication has been spotty, we can use the Donationcoder message method. I know you try hard to take care of everything well.
==================
From daily usage it would be very good if you instituted the enhancement to have the search show the full "path". That is the biggest encumbrance to full usage as a note system. You "find" what you are looking for but then have to do a lot of searching to really find exactly where it is.
Thanks!
Steven
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Thanks Steven. I have taken note of your showing "full path" request when searching notes in Notezilla (http://www.conceptworld.com/Notezilla).
Regarding your subscription, I have sent you a separate email.
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Enhancement note: Another one that is sort of minor but would be nice is to include the titles in the searches.
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Notezilla already searches inside titles when you choose "Look In: Content". Do you want a "Title Only" option?
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Yep, all fine. Maybe it was added, I remember it used to be missing. Anyway, thanks. Title only is not needed.
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Here is a new request, that came out of my problem. Two instances of Notezilla running at the same time on different data files. This could be by a command line parameter. This would be a great tool for selective merge.
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I remember, one Stickie program was strong on sending a note to another user by the net. Is this an area where a future release of Notezilla might enhance? If I could send a note or board to another user, that would be really neat. (i could also accomplish my selective merge request, but dual opens is the best for that.)
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Right now, I could create an extracted dup. (E.g. For the other people in my company) by making a current backup, deleting my personal leaving the company related boards, saving that to a special name, and then restoring my backup and sending special name over to co-workers puter. Then they rename back. In fact, I may do that today.
Steven
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You can using Notezilla's Export and Import feature. That might work.
Go to Notes Browser and click on File->Export. You can selectively export notes from old database and then import them in your new latest database.
Regards,
Gautam Jain
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Sounds good. Hopefully es suficiente.
I realize the net quick messenger style transfer would be a whole new baliwick. An the stickie that does that is missing your superb notes browser structure. I'm going to think about the quickest, cleanest way to accomplish that. Currently we use Skype, Facebook Messenger, and played with hipchat. It would be nice to have a way that maintains Notezilla RTF. Would I cut and paste into a second stickies program? Hmmmm.... maybe. Any suggestions on Messenger programs, preserving RTF?
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Any suggestions on Messenger programs, preserving RTF?
No really.
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Here is a new neat request. I noticed that Windows 10 has OneNote as a printer, with a Print to OneNote option.
Such would be neat with Notezilla. You could have a special folder for receiving printouts, and then move it later at leisure! :)
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Yeah. That will be a nice feature to add. I have noted this down. Thanks :)
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Here is another, a major improvement:
Stick to Window -- > "Stick Note to Windows selected below:"
ADD to that as one new Window line the current url, allowing it to be shortened, as with the window names.
And check the url match, as well as the window API for a "hit".
Many times you are on a page and want a sticky to stick and the page has a generic name like "Order - Mozilla Firefox" instead of "Amazon". By allowing "amazon.com" to be part of the url hit that page will be up on all Amazon pages.
Some stickies have worked with url, some with Windows, by having both you will be well-covered.
Steven Avery
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Hello Steven,
Thanks for the suggestion. But Notezilla cannot get the url from the browser. However, we are planning to write some extensions for the browsers so that this is possible.
By they way I tried to contact you several ways (via your pure**** email address) and also sent you private message. Please reply to that earliest.
Regards,
Gautam Jain
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Sorry to be late to the party....but couldn't a kanban (http://dmitryivanov.net/) system be (mis-)used for your purposes?
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Shade, my biz group is recently working with one online, Kanbanchi. I think they are good for visual collaboration, my sense so far is that they are not as excellent for a full blown note replacement. Remember, I am using Notezilla as, more or less, a replacement for most of the things for which I would normally use Rightnote, Keynote, Treeprojects, etc. It is true that the Kanban joins Notezilla in addressing one of their lacks (non-column orientation) so in that sense it should be looked at. Plus, any time Rightnote, etc. have a solid column orientation, I would look at it again. Anyway, Shade, I will look at Kanbanchi and any others with that idea in mind, could they really become a full-blown note system? (Possibly by using urls to your shared Google Docs, possibly if they have decent native editing.) They would have to have the tree indexing, the fine RTF, take pictures in natively, good search, etc. The colorful aspect and quick use of Notezilla is one reason it is so pleasant to use. Plus, the stick to windows would generally be missing in a Kanban, and that is key to how I use Notezilla. Hmmm...
Gautam, I will write you this AM, I was travelling for about a month in Tucson/OroValley and Asheville areas, (now back in Dutchess County, NY) so this type of stuff was low on the priority thing for a bit. Yes, the Firefox (especially) add-on, Chrome #2, would be very nice, all browsers helpful, it would shore up one area, window and page definition, taking it from very good to great. It is hard to overestimate how helpful it is to have a page come up when you open a program or web page. Your notes about something then have placement, yet they can still be found in the hierarchal tree or simply by search (which could be improved a smidgen). This 3-layer cake of finding and using notes is what really makes Notezilla, on top of the color-comfort-RTF-friendliness.
Here is another question. Any combination of "snap to grid" that lines up in columns? And/or preformats that are already lined up (e.g. in 3 columns) would be good. Granted, I can see that because of the screen variableness, this may be more work than help. Notice that this is, more-or-less, a Kanban feature brought over to Notezilla!
There is one additional area that Kanban is interesting, what you might call the "note, or document, behind the note". Would this be a feature in Notezilla? Inquiring minds... Similarly, any sort of mini-table feature might be interesting (think Rightnote) however that is getting into a whole nother realm, maybe tearing the envelope. The idea of a note behind the note, however, should be considered. True, the minimizing of a note is the current way of saving space, I may have more thoughts on this after more Kanban usage.
I think the biggest problem with Notezilla is getting people to realize its potential. Normally sticky note concepts are simply a minor aid, and I am talking about a full stretch of the envelope. However, it works!
Steven
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If monthly recurring fees aren't a problem, you could also consider using a system as Jira (https://www.atlassian.com).
Although it is intended to be a software issue ticket system, you can use it for a lot of different purposes too. You can create projects in Jira, each with their own workflow if you want, works fine in a browser and there are open source/commercial additions that make it really easy to use on a computer/tablet/phablet. Dragging and dropping notes into it is no problem. User access/authorization is very extensive (if you want it to be), workflows too (if you so desire). Searching through issues, notes, comments, descriptions, labels, user(s), user groups etc. is easy. And you can store search queries into filters. User audit trails are covered too.
For a relatively small monthly fee (for small companies) you don't even have to run the Jira server yourselves and you have access to a "well-stocked" store to add whatever functionality you are missing. Even has it own API's to easily add/remove things in automated ways.
The only downside I see with Jira is your RTF requirement. Jira does work work with Markup, but I am not sure about RTF. Perhaps you can find that in their store.
I am familiar with their issue tracker, but they have more collaboration products and if these are in the same quality league as their issue tracker, than you should definitely consider the products of this company.
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+1 :up:
I thought about suggesting JIRA too, but it could be overkill in some situations, especially as a note-registration system. Confluence (http://confluence.atlassian.com) would be more appropriate for that.
Jira does work work with Markup, but I am not sure about RTF. Perhaps you can find that in their store.
-Shades
No, it doesn't support RTF, and in my years maintaining our on-site JIRA servers, I've not found a plugin that adds that as an option, yet. Confluence uses the same markup.
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"note, or document, behind the note"
Steven, is this like linking 2 notes so that you can jump from one to another?
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"note, or document, behind the note"
Steven, is this like linking 2 notes so that you can jump from one to another? -conceptworld
More or less, but the idea is that the behind note is simply an expansive note that might have more features. It might be overkill. It is possible that Kanban NEEDS that feature because of limitations on the front screen (e.g. fixed size). I'm thinking.
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Two features that may be needed, or I have not found it yet.
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The column headers on each Memoboard - the ability to set that up globally, or copy a template.
On the columns, a checkbox if a note is stuck to the desktop.
=====================
(Earlier I mentioned the possibility of a path showing.)
Steven
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Thanks @Steven.
The column headers on each Memoboard - the ability to set that up globally, or copy a template.
Setting up globally isn't possible yet.
On the columns, a checkbox if a note is stuck to the desktop.
This is shown, now in the column. But when you select the note in the notes list, the top toolbar button will indicate. Make sure you are using the latest update of Notezilla 8.
Thanks.
Regards,
Gautam Jain
Notezilla: http://www.conceptworld.com/Notezilla
Support: http://www.conceptworld.com/qa
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I am on 8.0.23. When I have notes that have "Stick to Desktop" I can see that by opening the note and right-clicking. Also I see now that you have it by a Filter, which is in fact sufficient. Although a column as well would be nice, which I don't see.
(Remember, an option for the path to a note will be a nice improvement (it could be an option to check yes/no), it could at times make for an ultra-long "Memoboard" column, but that is up to the user... long or short names, 2 levels deep or more, where to place the column, you might make the Memoboard the last one.)
In this nice vid you show a ! column and a Reminder Filter but now you have Due. Is there a difference? Did reminders become Due? And what about "!".
http://www.conceptworld.com/Notezilla/Video?Name=GroupingTagging&Play=Current
And I have not used stars and tags, and they could be helpful.
On the completed status, the actual header row can take a checkmark, that does not mean anything right? Only the checkmark in an individual note, which leads to strike-thru. Correct?
You took .db files out of export. That is because it is not necessary with the auto-backup to folders and the explanations of how to use a backup program?
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Let's talk about iPad and Android. Let's skip sync for a moment.
Android has a user-accessible file manager. Does it read the same .db files? Could I copy over?
How about the pop-up stick to window features when using browsers in Tablets? Is that gone-feature due to architectural differences?
Can tablets use network transfer?
=================
Adding computers on a network
http://www.conceptworld.com/Notezilla/HelpTopic/Sending-Sticky-Notes-Over-Local-Network-Adding-New-Computer
Is that awaiting names that we retrieve from things like HomeGroup? Or do you have another access method? If it is homegroup oriiented, could you read the data for us? Or is there something akin to a VPN or whatever method something like Teamviewer remote access allows file xfer.
A bit more explanation here would be helpful. I used it a while back, but memory is slim pickens.
=============================
Thanks!
Steven
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Hi Steven,
Following are your replies to questions related to Notezilla (http://www.conceptworld.com/Notezilla).
(Remember, an option for the path to a note will be a nice improvement (it could be an option to check yes/no), it could at times make for an ultra-long "Memoboard" column, but that is up to the user... long or short names, 2 levels deep or more, where to place the column, you might make the Memoboard the last one.)
Yes. I had noted when you last suggested it.
In this nice vid you show a ! column and a Reminder Filter but now you have Due. Is there a difference? Did reminders become Due? And what about "!".
http://www.conceptwo...ing&Play=Current
This video is for the old version Notezilla 7. Please refer videos on this page: http://www.conceptworld.com/Notezilla/Videos
Both Reminder and Due are same.
On the completed status, the actual header row can take a checkmark, that does not mean anything right? Only the checkmark in an individual note, which leads to strike-thru. Correct?
Correct.
You took .db files out of export. That is because it is not necessary with the auto-backup to folders and the explanations of how to use a backup program?
.db file export was mainly to export specific Memoboards and import on another system. But this caused confusion and users often used it to backup their data. Plus we have syncing now. So we removed it.
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Android has a user-accessible file manager. Does it read the same .db files? Could I copy over?
No. Both files are different.
How about the pop-up stick to window features when using browsers in Tablets? Is that gone-feature due to architectural differences?
Yes, architectural differences.
Can tablets use network transfer?
Meaning, sending notes over LAN? No. Only syncing via cloud.
=================
Adding computers on a network
http://www.conceptwo...-Adding-New-Computer
Is that awaiting names that we retrieve from things like HomeGroup? Or do you have another access method? If it is homegroup oriiented, could you read the data for us? Or is there something akin to a VPN or whatever method something like Teamviewer remote access allows file xfer.
Don't know what exactly you mean here. But Notezilla requires computer names shown under HomeGroup etc. Or you can specify IP address also. We currently don't have a way to browse those computer names. We will add in future.
Regards,
Gautam Jain
Notezilla: http://www.conceptworld.com/Notezilla
Support: http://www.conceptworld.com/qa
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Thanks, good answers top to bottom, appreciated.
One of the reasons I highly recommend Notezilla even if you are an Evernote, Onenote or Rightnote afficianado. The support, the web pop-up and the built-in notes browser structure and the color-friendliness and the ability to paste in the pics and such are all great. Also, the proper use of real estate on the screen with the memoboard type view is really important (with Evernote I am trying to find the simplicity of at least importing such a column template, likely made in Word, to fake it out a bit). I tried all the various web alternatives like Listhings and had to let them pass. And in the desktop world, I tried Stickies and some others, and some are good, but Notezilla still was my fav by a good margin.
I will try the IP address. Does that have to be local on your network, can it work with something like VPN of Teamviewer or some general internet access. Can you expound more excellently?
(And I don't think you do mention IP addy at the entry spot or in the docs.)
The idea of a memo export still remains interesting. Outside of sync. Let's say my personal Notezilla has one memoboard that is all related to a biz activity and I want to share that complex memoboard (I just noticed you do allow a good number of nesting subboards, normally I would just use one subboard) how would I accomplish that end? Or similarly all the notes relating to one project or activity, one friend or family member. I realize that it is hard for a developer to keep a feature that causes a bunch of yelps in actual praxis, how can we find a good compromise? Is there a selective export you can recommend as working well, I think the only export that keeps the real Notezilla feel is .db .
And one minor new enhancement request. Let's say you have a memoboard with 10 notes. You go into the notes browser and they may be way downhill. It can be a bit of a hassle to bring them uptown. How about a "close and condense" option to bring them all to the top. (The close will make it simpler.)
At one time I mentioned the possibility of grid (snap to grid, or by numbers) options. That might be too much effort for the gain, understood, but it does receive honourable mention :) .
Steven
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I will try the IP address. Does that have to be local on your network, can it work with something like VPN of Teamviewer or some general internet access. Can you expound more excellently?
It can be any reachable IP address (any where in the world) where Notezilla is running.
(And I don't think you do mention IP addy at the entry spot or in the docs.)
Thanks will update the docs and also the UI in the next version.
You go into the notes browser and they may be way downhill. It can be a bit of a hassle to bring them uptown.
Are you talking about the notes? or the memoboard? What will be downhill?
I think the only export that keeps the real Notezilla feel is .db .
Yes, correct.
At one time I mentioned the possibility of grid (snap to grid, or by numbers) options.
Yes. Have that in the to do list. No promises though :)
Regards,
Gautam Jain
Notezilla: http://www.conceptworld.com/Notezilla
Help: http://www.conceptworld.com/Notezilla/Help
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When you are in a memoboard there could easily be a dozen notes on the board, some open, some closed. A few will generally be right at the top. But some could be down, way down, maybe the equivalent of 3 or 4 screen areas ... thus the dragging back up is laborious. Up screen, drop, Up screen, drop, Up screen, drop. A close and condense option would simply drag everything up with a little space in between each note. They could even be in a column format, since you are likely to maneuver them around afterwards. It is just the difficult of bringing them "uphill" that is a bit cumbersome.
Steven
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thus the dragging back up is laborious.
Just right click inside the sticky notes view in Notes Browser and choose "Arrange Notes" top bring all notes on top.
Regards,
Gautam Jain
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Thanks. You already had it! The Stickers is what I will usually use, although not automatically at startup. Your implementation is solid with the two options.
The background color is a feature I might add, various light colors.
The "favorite" for a memoboard .. hmm nice, have to read the docs, maybe it is the memoboard equivalent of a star for the individual notes? A way to group a few of the active memoboards together (show favorites?).
Here is a little question. Is there a method possible to do any external linking or opening to a specific memoboard (or note). e.g. As a parameter on the notezilla.exe?
Hmmm.. import or export to Evernote? (At this point I see a major place in the sun for both Notezilla and Evernote. ) Note: Evernote is a bit finicky on how it handles cut-and-paste RTF stuff (It does have something called "Paste and Match Style", afaik it does not have a standard text paste which in Notezilla is "Paste as Plain Text").
Granted, I can put a link to an Evernote Note into Notezilla and use that as an occasional coordination spot. There are occasions where I will simply want to use Notezilla pointing to Evernote. I had an example recently with a little complex note about phones on a family plan.
As to Notezilla regard sync and tablet .. I am still in test mode .. also on sending notes to another IP or network puter.
**********************************
Readers take note .. all the fine features in Notezilla can easily be missed if you don't really kick the tires.
And apparently coming soon to Bits du Jour!
Here are two or three absolutely incredible features in Noetzilla, even before considering specials:
1) the pop-up to a web page or to an application
(Notezilla goes by the "window" name, some other stickies work by the URL, both have advantages and it would be nice to add a url additional implementation in Notezilla. However, url does not help with an application window. The ability to know that you have notes that come up when you are in a particular site or app is really really strong, and I use it everywhere.)
2) Stickies give a full real estate usage on a screen. Note programs like Rightnote and Evernote struggle here, even Templates are a struggle. This is a huge visual plus.
You can see maybe four notes at once in a note browser, you can scrolled up "today" notes on a sidebar. (I keep an edge free with MaxMax, there are many ways to do that).
3) Notes Browser implementation is strong - it is a fullblown Evernote or Rightnote alternative in that sense, allowing that this is an Evernote specialty. Sub-folders is key here, stuff like stars and favorites.
And Gautam chose a nice icon in the taskbar, you find it immediately :) .
Steven
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Thanks Steven for everything.
I doubt if anyone is reading our one-to-one conversation :huh:
Is there a method possible to do any external linking or opening to a specific memoboard (or note). e.g. As a parameter on the notezilla.exe?
Not yet. Noted.
Hmmm.. import or export to Evernote? (At this point I see a major place in the sun for both Notezilla and Evernote. )
Yes, I agree. I think they have an xml export version which Outlook uses which Notezilla also can use. Will think about it.
Regards,
Gautam Jain
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And today is the 2nd (usually last) day of the 40% discount
Bits Du Jour
http://www.bitsdujour.com/software/notezilla-8/in=todays-deals-home
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I doubt if anyone is reading our one-to-one conversation :huh:
-conceptworld
well, following and skimming it, yes.
considering a BDJ purchase mainly because of Steven showing how he uses it, and seeing the good feedback here.
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Thanks @Tomos ;D
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I doubt if anyone is reading our one-to-one conversation :huh:
-conceptworld
I had looked briefly at Notezilla some time ago and dismissed it, but reading this conversation made me realize that it could in fact help me with some specific needs, so I bought a subscription yesterday.
I also appreciate your responsiveness as a developer. :Thmbsup:
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I doubt if anyone is reading our one-to-one conversation :huh:
-conceptworld
If it has to do with Noteilla and it's posted publicly, I'm reading it. ;)
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Sometimes Notezilla is puzzling. I put aside the sync some years back, but I know that sync is often problematic and you have to be careful. It works nicely in Evernote, about the only place I trust synch. .. in the Firefox bookmarks (I also use Roomy Bookmarks so it is a kind of information system) I find I do better with backup and restore when switching to other puters.
A few months ago, there was a glitch in a file, Gautam fixed it, although I was out of commission for a little bit. Ok, fair enough. Good support, program-data glitch of some sort.
Still, the positive elements have been extremely productive. Popping up a note to a website is really kewl, although this is not unique to Notezilla. Some of the structural excellence of the Notes Browser are less significant now that I use Evernote a lot more for permanent notes. I like to use Notezilla when I am first working with something, and then transfer it down to Evernote. If Notezilla does not prove itself stabile, then Stickies, PNotes or another (as long as they pop up to a website, note that there are two methods, one involving window name, one involving url, both are satisfactory, the window name has the advantage of including applications, that is what Notezilla uses) have to be considered.
Today I hit something else. Some glitch in the mental file placement and saving of changes logic. I can make a change, close Notezilla, and then the change is not there on reopening. In addition, there has not been a save for a few days. (Notezilla I think simply is supposed to automatically give you one daily save, if you are active in that day.)
I'll write Gautam, but this is important enough that I want it to be hashed out here, unto fix, understanding, completion.
It looks like the only place the data and backup files are supposed to be is at Advanced-->Preferences-->Advanced. So how could that not work?
Steven
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Hope everyone had a nice day of giving thanks.
Psalm 100:4 (AV)
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise:
be thankful unto him, and bless his name.
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Since my Notezilla has a glitch, I decided to play with PNote and PNote.net. In fact, I ended up deciding that the older PNote is friendlier, at least for now. It is a rather robust program. Here are some notes on sticky notes.
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STICKY NOTES BASICS IN EVALUATION
1) How well do they stick to a window?
2) How well do they take advantage of the inherent advantage of a schema of, say, 5-columns on the Desktop and easily moving in and out of multiple such desktops?
(One big weakness of Evernote, OneNote, Rightnote, etc often boils down to the real estate waste. One note is one whole page. Evernote does give you some flexibility of having multiple notes open on neighboring parts of the desktop, and it has a nice "shortcuts on top" system. Presumably Onenote also has some flexibilities here. Nonetheless, it is still far from sticky nice. Note that Evernote has at least two attempts to add a stickies element by utilities.)
Can you easily go in and out of multiple such schema? What is the organizational method? Would you be comfortable using it for a full-blown note folder-style note system?
3) Do they have any weaknesses on the basics of RTF, pasting pictures, editing. (e.g. some sticky programs are bland text only)
4) Do they have extra capabilities that really look like they might be used (sending over a network, sync, etc.)
5) Do they have unique frustrations, such as puzzling groups of icons sans text
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That said, I am going to compare Notezilla and PNote. Feel free to include Stickies or any other.
1) How well do they stick to a window? This is Notezilla all the way. For one, a single note can stick to multiple windows. (Wildcards work well, too.) Easily. And PNote seems quite frustrating, once you pin a note, to find out how to unpin it, even in the Control Panel where the Pin is shown. And the moment it is pinned to a window, it is removed from the desktop (Notezilla nicely asks).
(Sidenote: the Firefox Internote used to go by URL for a browser, rather than a Window name.)
Overall, I have not found anything close to Notezilla on Window (including web pages) pop-up. Even if I only used it for that purpose, at this time it should be in my arsenal.
2) Columns on a Desktop?
Notezilla works with a Notes Browser. It has a strong multi-folder structure and you can change the notes easily while in the Notes Browser. Thus if you are trying to do a full-blown note system, as an alternative for Evernote or Rightnote or Onenote, it is possible. However, I do not give Notezilla a point here, unless you have decided to make it your everything system. Due to a preference for Evernote and an occasional Notezilla stability or usage glitch, I am not going that way currently.
PNote has a Control Panel. While you can not modify notes easily withinin the Control Panel, it has a very strong Groups and Tag system. You can easily show one or two single Groups on the Desktop. Thus you can create sets of virtual full-desktop notes.
So far, it seems like a win for PNote, in terms of setting up multiple Desktop groupings. You could set up 5 or 10 or more groups, each one filling the desktop in 5+ columns (one or two rows, all flexible, some docking capability although not needed) and show one at a time. This is how I like to work during the day. I like my ongoing notes be set up, and then as they mature on a topic, they might be moved to Evernote. Some, like "what to do today" or "short-term travel plans" or "need to contact" will always do well as sticky note centric.
3) Weaknesses .. none apparent, but PNote can be a bit frustrating with things like too many buttons that are small. Or extra clicks to do something. The Notezilla edge here is minor and we can call it a wash. (I'm more used to Notezilla)
4) Extra capabilities .. both have some. For now, a wash.
5) Unique frustrations? I mentioned how PNote seemed almost surprisingly unusable for window-sticking with flexibility. Notezilla has glitched a couple of times (including currently.)
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Steven
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On the desktop groups, both Notezilla and PNote allow you to right-click the system tray and do a show-hide.
With Notezilla it is the (one) Desktop that is shown and hidden. Whatever notes are currently marked as Desktop. (They can be anywhere in the folder system.)
With PNote, with an extra click or two, you can show a Group of notes, or Tags (also Last Modified). PNote has a fine implementation there.
What Notezilla could do is allow a Memoboard to be brought to the Desktop with Show/Hide. There is not a necessity to add Groups and Tags to have a similar functionality since the folder / memoboard element is comparable to Groups / Tags (PNote also has folders and sub-folders, but since the Control Panel does not show the notes themselves it is less functional.) Similar with those starred favorites.
Steven
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Hello Steven,
I don't understand the saving issues that you are having. Can you send me an email about what exactly you are facing, regarding data saving and data loss?
Thanks.
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Just to clarify. The backup problem is not a problem now, I am getting daily backups, of the same file. (Although I do think we should have a backup-on-demand alternative, I think that was removed from the recent version, we discussed some elements of this before.) The couple of days that were missing are not an issue.
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The Windows time date of the file is not moving forward. It is just as if the file was acting as read-only. My changes do not take. The file was brought over by Teamviewer from another computer where it was working fine. In fact, I don't think any of my changes after that took.
Looking at properties in Total Commander and I see only archive checked, which looks normal, not read-only. Interestingly, in one case the Date Accessed was updated, but not Modified or Created. I could try importing the file again from the puter 800 miles away. I didn't do that partly because I was concerned it would work and we would never find the root of the problem. :)
I would be happy to send you the file. Or show you in a Teamviewer or Skype viewing type of session. At the moment I am relaxed about it, and happy that it helped me to research more deeply the differences between sticky programs (and especially how much superior is your stick-to-windows feature and the recommendation I made you that would make multi-virtual-Notezilla-desktops easier to accomplish.) It is a bit of a :) comparing Notezilla with PNote.
I'll send you a note by email in a few minutes.
Steven
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admin@concept... email has a vacation auto-responder. I was saying the same as above.
I recopied the file over, it looks fine, taking updates. Minor hassle, made me research and think a bit more. I kept the old file and could check it out sometime to see if it really, really has some glitch that prevents modifications.
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Consider that one spot where PNotes shines, the ability to have multiple easy-access desktops of sticky notes. e.g. One might be shopping, one might be biz, one might be today, etc. each one doing the real estate nicely on the desktop and switchable with a couple of clicks. They accomplish it with Groups or Tags. The tags are especially flexible because one note can be in multiple tags. It is a nice feature, but not one that I would say that Notezilla needs.
You would accomplish the same basic idea if you could Show/Hide a Memoboard to the Desktop. I would say that is easily the #1 improvement I would recommend. While you do have the advantage of being able to work within the notes browser itself (lacking in PNote) it never really has the space niceness of working on the full Desktop. Keep in mind that, in addition to sticking to windows, this multi-note kanban style aspect of stickies is one big, big advantage over Evernote et al. The ability to have 3 or 10 or more "virtual note desktops" is really where stickies are always going to gain a lot of fans, on top of window sticking (where you are easily the best, afaik, and that alone is sufficient to buy and use the program, imho.) If you made a nice video showing how this works, the multi-desktops, the fans will come and follow.
btw, even when using Evernote, I try to have it set up so that two or three notes can be paneled while in use. However, nothing is really able to be saved. I would say that the Evernote shortcut feature is one you might want to consider emulating. You both have good searches, but shortcuts right on top of your page are really nice.
Steven
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Notezilla does have tags, they simply do not seem to be as much utilized within the system.
Here is a feature I really like in PNote .. the "On Top" toggle for any note. Not sure how to replicate that in Notezilla.
Ok, it may be similar in Notezilla. And in Notezilla it does not seem to be a toggle. Easy enough to place a note on Top, with a rightclick on top. Not sure how to say "no mas" on top, there is a Hide option but then you are not longer anywhere to be found except in the browser, if you remember where to look. (I usually keep part of my Notezilla notes on a reserved clear space set aside by MaxMax on the right. )
Notezilla links to files and folders, a nice feature I have not used.
PNote has a way to link notes together, which at times might be redundant to a Group, but may have some good applications.
I'm actually reaching the point that I want to use both programs, plus Evernote.
PNote is handled for my multiple "Desktops" .. right now I only have one.. it has about seven notes, different colours and placed nicely. Do to the show/hide groups and tags functionality it would be easy to have multiple.
Notezilla is used for all my pop-up notes, which is a major functionality as well. Part of this is the ability to have mulitple calling windows for one note.
Evernote is used for the permanent placement and tweaking of notes.
I am quite happy, so far, with the three layer note-cake.
Steven
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Oh, why is Notezilla better than PNote on the popup window?
Well, I mentioned that you can easily stick one note to multiple windows. So if you want one note to be your note about note software itself, it can stick to *Notezilla* and *Evernote* and *Pnote*. That cross-lineage note will pop up. So, this is Top-Notch for Notezilla.
Along with that, once you have the note, and you want to move it to a memoboard, Notezilla has excellent visual navigation. You might make a memoboard with you puter productivity notes and put it there. That is much easier to do in Notezilla, since you actually see the notes in the NoteBrowser.
So, as far as I can tell, if you have both programs, you always use Notezilla for the popup notes, even if you use PNote for a Desktop Doozy.