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General Software Discussion / Re: General brainstorming for Note-taking software
« on: March 01, 2006, 01:40 PM »
Hi superboyac,
Thank you for the reply. I installed MyBase again just to understand where you are coming from. I suppose a lot comes down to subjective "feelings." I just don't feel as connected to my data with MyBase. One feature I think should be included in any editor is the ability to view everything in a hierarchy. By this I mean that if I have 20 files grouped in a folder, I would like to view all of those at once without selecting each one separately. For me this makes my notes more accessible - I can find them visually. I was using General Knowledge Base for this reason, but it had limitations. I could view all of the files in a folder (and their subfolders) but I couldn't preview them all at once. The program also separated each type of article, i.e. WebPages, notes, attachments. What I like about Surfulater is that I can view everything at once if I want to...again it just "feels" easier. I can click on the folder "Code Requirements" and view every article I put in there, along with my comments, attachments, and links to other articles. My main complaint with most programs is that I feel disconnected from my information. Its not intuitive to access it. Perhaps in this area I share your complaint with a tree only interface.
I do agree that Surfulater needs to work on the ability to add article templates and easily edit notes (the pencil icon is a disturbance, and it kicks you out of edit mode from time to time.) However, for the moment I am willing to put up with these disturbances because the other features (mainly accessibility to data) make up for it. I just started using the program and I already have it filled up with information, everything from project requirements, contacts, construction materials, and personal notes. I don't want to use a program, fill it up with information, and then dump it because something better comes along. This is another reason I selected Surfulater. I like the start of the program so much that I am willing to wait for updates. I find this thread interesting because these types of programs could be extremely powerful, even irreplaceable if done right. I hope that there will be a lot of development in the area of simple information management - because we all need it and there isn't anything that completely fits the bill - and I think Surfulater is on the way to become one of top programs in this field.
Thank you for the reply. I installed MyBase again just to understand where you are coming from. I suppose a lot comes down to subjective "feelings." I just don't feel as connected to my data with MyBase. One feature I think should be included in any editor is the ability to view everything in a hierarchy. By this I mean that if I have 20 files grouped in a folder, I would like to view all of those at once without selecting each one separately. For me this makes my notes more accessible - I can find them visually. I was using General Knowledge Base for this reason, but it had limitations. I could view all of the files in a folder (and their subfolders) but I couldn't preview them all at once. The program also separated each type of article, i.e. WebPages, notes, attachments. What I like about Surfulater is that I can view everything at once if I want to...again it just "feels" easier. I can click on the folder "Code Requirements" and view every article I put in there, along with my comments, attachments, and links to other articles. My main complaint with most programs is that I feel disconnected from my information. Its not intuitive to access it. Perhaps in this area I share your complaint with a tree only interface.
I do agree that Surfulater needs to work on the ability to add article templates and easily edit notes (the pencil icon is a disturbance, and it kicks you out of edit mode from time to time.) However, for the moment I am willing to put up with these disturbances because the other features (mainly accessibility to data) make up for it. I just started using the program and I already have it filled up with information, everything from project requirements, contacts, construction materials, and personal notes. I don't want to use a program, fill it up with information, and then dump it because something better comes along. This is another reason I selected Surfulater. I like the start of the program so much that I am willing to wait for updates. I find this thread interesting because these types of programs could be extremely powerful, even irreplaceable if done right. I hope that there will be a lot of development in the area of simple information management - because we all need it and there isn't anything that completely fits the bill - and I think Surfulater is on the way to become one of top programs in this field.