Recent Posts

301

Mini-Reviews by Members / Outlining

« Last post by Dormouse on April 17, 2021, 06:29 PM »

In my mind, I was thinking of programs such as Dynalist and Workflowy when I considered outlining as one of the approaches. I've actually used Dynalist for this purely because I have it on this computer and don't have Workflowy. I believe that this is right at the opposite end of the spectrum to Timeline 3, being best for brainstorming and early development. The brainstorming is easy - writing ideas as they come, each idea being a branch from the previous idea or a new one. Complete freedom to go up and down and put new ideas in whenever they spring into being. Once there are enough ideas, they can be shuffled around - potentially many times - until a structure starts to develop. There's nothing fixed about what sort of structure it ought to be and nor, yet, is there a need for a sequential list of scenes. Pictures, photographs and other files can be attached to the appropriate bullet. Focus is improved by being able to fold/hide all the branches that are irrelevant, and Dynalist has hoisting so the single branch can be elevated on its own. Many writers have never felt the need for anything more than outlining for both brainstorming and development. Plottr has templates for beat sheets, Hero's Journey etc, but it is easy enough to do in outlining with the beats as main nodes.

It's never really worked for me. They're useful when I'm in full flow, but simply don't provide me with the stimulation I need when I stutter to a standstill. I'm aware it's just me. I find drawing, mindmaps, diagrams - anything visual - helpful; I find spreadsheets helpful because I can work backwards from target wordcounts into structures and see what is still needed (and what definitely won't work); but, when ideas and words aren't flowing naturally, outlining doesn't trigger them. So they won't help me with my current problems until and unless something else gets things going, and the words flow again. When words do flow, outlining can be good because it's a fast and efficient way to capture the ideas produced (at the risk of requiring a structure that doesn't properly represent the relationships of the ideas).

302

Mini-Reviews by Members / Jutoh 3 Storyboard and Writer's Cafe Storylines

« Last post by Dormouse on April 17, 2021, 06:27 PM »

I've combined the two programs into a single review, because they appear to be essentially the same program, with the Jutoh version updated, and somewhat simplified.

Like the corkboard/pinboard programs, there are cards, but they have (optional) straight linking lines (horizontal or vertical) and the background is arranged as in a table or spreadsheet and each card has to be in a cell. In Jutoh, there can be more than one card in a cell but not so in Writer's Cafe. This sounds like the lines option in the Scrivener Corkboard, but, imho, it is much more useful because there can be cards in every cell in a column. The original idea was that rows would represent chapters and rows, but they can be configured and that allows huge flexibility in how they can be used.

For instance, let us imagine plotting a country house murder. The rows could be set to rooms and the columns to times. Cards could represent characters, each character having one card per column; on that card could be written what the character was doing. As the plot was developing, and options were being considered and changed, the cards could be moved around between the rooms, until they fitted. Some of the fit would be designed to provide descriptions when the surviving characters were interviewed - it would be clear who and what they could see at the time in question. Part would be to detail the movements of the murderer and the murdered. Some to grant, or hide, lines of vision. And then to plant red herrings. All this can be done using the cards to check it out and to record the relevant plot details. As only Jutoh allows multiple cards in a cell this would only work with Jutoh; images can be used in both.
Or
Columns could be times again, but the rows could be arcs, giving a description of what is happening with each arc. Moving the cards as necessary to produce the best integration of events in all the arcs. Tags could be used to indicate whether the events were in the narrative, or omitted.
Or the columns could be characters, and the rows too. Reading across, could give the row character's feelings/perception of the column character (including self). Only half the cells would be filled, of course. This use though might best be done on a table or spreadsheet, if there would be no value in changing the position of the cards.
Or or ...

I've gone into some detail of possible usage in an attempt to illustrate the difference between this and corkboards and spreadsheets. It isn't a tool to be used in the brainstorming or early working out stages of a project (other techniques are better for that), but it can be very useful when starting to work out some details. And yet it is very simple and easy to use. The text in a card can be linked to the text in the narrative, and can actually be the primary writing screen if it is preferred.

Unfortunately neither version has a dark mode which will limit my own usage a little - but I can mitigate this by doing most of the Storyboard work in full screen mode (F11) which can hide all the glare. There are a number of differences between the versions, but, personally, the multiple cards in a cell clinches it for Jutoh. I'll use that anyway for formatting.

303

Mini-Reviews by Members / Notezilla

« Last post by Dormouse on April 17, 2021, 06:26 PM »

As everyone will know, Notezilla is a sticky note program where the notes can be coloured, formatted, resized and moved around freely (including on top of each other) - just like the WC Pinboard. But it has a few extra tricks in its locker which extend it's range of use.
The first of these is noteboards. So instead of one pinboard there are as many as desired - and notes can be dragged between them. (You can have more than one pinboard on WC, but the process and use is much more laborious.)
Also tags.
And the notes can be attached to windows, so although the text is not directly linked to writing content each note can be stuck to a file in which you are writing.
Word and character counts are helpful. Ability to do reminders, todos etc could sometimes be useful too.

From the perspective of the review, the advantage of the memoboards is that they allow the notes to be structured and organised. They act like folders in a file explorer, thereby giving a hierarchical structure as in outliners including Scrivener. So the notes can be organised in any way, reorganised easily at any time, and the system can contain different types of organisation at the same time.
For example, if someone is writing a novel, they could brainstorm and develop characters, or groups of characters, on one board with places etc on others. Plot, events and scenes could be worked up in a different group of boards. It would be possible to write up those scenes in full on the notes, arrange the folders and sequence exactly as in Scrivener and then export the whole as an HTML file (or CSV or individual txt files) - a full book written in Notezilla; I wouldn't suggest anyone did this - there are too many useful features in editors in writing programs that would be missed - but it is possible.
There's also the possibility of synchronising across all devices ($14.95 pa), making for easy cross-platform use.

For my project, this is looking like a very attractive option. It is simple, flexible and very visual. Organising and reorganising is easy and adaptable. Cross-platform and sync. With the added bonus of CSV import and export, it's starting to look as if Excel, AeonTimeline 3, Mindomo and Notezilla could be the core of a complete creative and organisational writing system for all types of writing.

It wouldn't suit anyone who likes the support of an integrated structured system as is found in most programs aimed at writers. There's no suggested structures or recommendations or pre-existing links between different components of the writing system.

304

Mini-Reviews by Members / Scrivener Corkboard

« Last post by Dormouse on April 17, 2021, 06:25 PM »

The Scrivener 3 Corkboard is at the other end of the spectrum from the simplicity and ease of the Writer's Cafe Pinboard. It really is very Scrivenerish. Now, I am no expert on Scrivener, let alone the new Scrivener 3 and some of my observations may be due to ignorance of the precise menu or setting that would have produced a different outcome. Whereas the WC pinboard is only really suitable for brainstorming and early development (and reminders), the Corkboard seems as if it ought to be capable of detailed organisation and reorganisation. There are certainly enough options.

The question, for the purpose of this review, is whether delving into them is likely to be a productive use of my time. And it didn't take me much thinking to know that the answer is 'No!'
To explain - the corkboard has a freeform option the same as the pinboard, but it also has the linking lines as seen in the WC Storylines feature, as well as a grid view option. Relevant controls exist at the bottom of the Corkboard pane, and in Corkboard options under the view menu; there's also an entry on the Navigate menu ('Corkboard Selection Affects'). Whereas the WC Storylines allows cards in the same position on every line, thus giving a freedom of choice about exactly what the lines represent, the Corkboard allows only one; moving them along shuffles them on other lines and will also change the sequence of the linked section in the binder. The analogy is that they represent scenes in a book and two scenes cannot be in the same place on the same page (though while this is true for conventional text books, it would not necessarily be true, for example, in picture books and need not actually be true in text books, though I wouldn't like to format an ebook to achieve this; many textbooks don't have this arrangement either). Additionally there are labels and icons etc etc, but I'm already fatigued.
The point is that it doesn't simplify anything unless you have a book that is already structured on Scrivener lines - and, given the extent of interdependence of the features, being constructed entirely within Scrivener.

And I used to be such a fan of the corkboard!

I have never been assimilated into the Scrivener system, but I have dipped into it at times for individual tasks where Scrivener had especially useful features. I anticipated that ought to be the case here with my project, but I can already see that the amount of work I would need to do to get it in, and the reading and learning I would have to do to use it, is way over the likely benefit. And the lack of flexibility over the 'track' feature makes me doubt there would be any benefit at all.

305

Mini-Reviews by Members / Writer's Cafe Pinboard

« Last post by Dormouse on April 17, 2021, 06:24 PM »

Simple corkboard with notes (text + images) that can be formatted, coloured, resized and moved around freely (including on top of each other). afaics the content doesn't link to any writing content, just making it a freestanding pinboard for ideas, though copy and paste is easy enough to do.

Simple and easy to use. Useful for brainstorming and early development, but the lack of any structure makes it harder to use for organising etc. I'm not sure it would be worth using if you weren't already using Writer's Cafe - unless it's the only similar option you have.

306

Mini-Reviews by Members / Draw.io; Bubbl.us and many simpler mindmapping alternatives

« Last post by Dormouse on April 17, 2021, 06:22 PM »

After the suggestion from KodeZverg, I started looking at Draw.io, which was quite easy and intuitive. Diagram software rather than mindmap, so no outlining or import/export that isn't visual. When I first looked on my tablet, it didn't seem to work very well but it was fine on Windows (I'd note that this is true for the web version of Mindomo too); can be attached to Drive, Dropbox etc as well as local drive option so multi-device sync and availability is there. Shapes and arrows, colours, templates. Passes my quick and simple test and joins my list for trying on my project.

I started by looking at Bubbl.us - I was interested to see what it was like. But didn't grab me at all. Then tried many alternatives. All had faults that made them worse than using a pen and paper:

• insufficiently intuitive
• too inflexible
• visuals poor, making it hard to see what is going on
• too much effort required to make them function as desired.

I had expected that having the ability to create more impactful mindmaps would constitute a sufficient advantage for at least one of the programs to outdo pen and paper. It's not as if many of them are cheap; Bubbl.us has a free tier but its functionality is limited and only 3 elements allowed. And like many of them it then went to $5 a month. Might be okay if used regularly, but not cheap, and that is standard pricing for the multiplatform web apps. I'd probably be mostly Android, which would be cheaper, but I still didn't see anything giving the advantage I'd need over pen and paper. Far too much work required for them to be helpful with reorganisation.

So I decided to discount the category completely, though I'd be happy to look again if there's a strong recommendation for one program.

Of course, it could be a completely different story if we use a more powerful mind mapping program extensively as part of our writing workflow. If that were the case, then it ought to be easy to look at the the main mindmap to look for clues to what could be done to make things work better.

Maybe I ought to look at at some of the better programs to see see how well they would work. The downside is the cost: they are mostly subscription and not cheap; I doubt if free works well enough, from what I remember. Hmmm.
No, of course I should. I have always known that this type of visual approach would work best for me in many areas, but nothing ever has in practice. Pure mindmapping doesn't work with its central node - that makes it just a visual outliner, and text outliners don't work for me either: I need multiple links and multiple starting points. Diagramming works, but it's only a visual overview - the link with text, notes etc is still required in practice.
So back to my eternal quest to find a mindmapping/diagramming program that suits me. If it's good enough price won't matter. Cross platform is essential, web might do. Interoperability is essential, preferably linking with .txt and/or .md files. Easy is also needed - too complex and much of the effort expended is producing little gain in output.
(I note that this is an interesting comment on the Obsidian graphing, which I don't use much; what I'd really like is a graph view where I can draw the graph and the notes and links are then created. I will check to see what already exists in that way.)
Maybe a second best will do.

But using a new creative framework still doesn't address the need identified in this review.

307

Mini-Reviews by Members / Scapple

« Last post by Dormouse on April 17, 2021, 06:20 PM »

This is Scrivener's equivalent of pen and paper as a Mac/Windows program - Windows, as usual with L&L, being a paler reflection of the Mac version. (Rant - I do wish they wouldn't simply try to slavishly copy the Mac originals; that makes it much harder work for the Windows developers, especially when dealing with functions integrated into the Mac OS, and then doesn't allow them to take advantage of similar advantages within Windows. A simpler, cruder, equivalence target would probably be more effective.)

The big downside is that it doesn't have same advantage of easy availability. Computer only. For me, that doesn't cut it in an age when phones and tablets have apps that will do very similar things (eg iOS Notability, Android Squid - I regard these as digital pen and paper).

The advantage it has is easy extraction of text and easy import into Scrivener. Which makes it a reasonable choice for Scrivener users who sit at their computer all the time.

308

Mini-Reviews by Members / Pen and Paper or digital equivalent

« Last post by Dormouse on April 17, 2021, 06:18 PM »

The huge advantage the pen and paper (including digital equivalents) option is that it is the most accessible by far. This is backed up by its flexibility in being abe to be used in all ways for all stages. And has produced more great works than everything else combined. *And* is processed neurally differently to computer based systems or typewriters. **And** it is always easy to digitise with phone cameras.
There are many digital options; I liked Notability on iOS and Squid on Android.

I use it frequently. For anything.
The big weakness with me is that it doesn't integrate easily into detailed planning. Even if I were writing a piece longhand, it wouldn't - the detailed planning would be done in my head with just enough scrawled down to trigger my memory. And this means that reformulation is difficult without just starting again. Moving things around is hard on paper, and not that easy on digital equivalents.

• For me, the main value is in not losing ideas.
• And the initial brainstorming, rough thinking part of the process.
• But it can be used at any part of the process. In organising and reorganising, it's useful being able to think through connections; drawing dynamics into the picture rather than a static diagram. And being able to incorporate notes and details at the same time.
  

309

Mini-Reviews by Members / Really tiny reviews for creating, organising, analysing and reorganising writing

« Last post by Dormouse on April 17, 2021, 06:14 PM »

This mini-review was triggered by two circumstances:
1. I have a project. It isn't exactly stuck, but does feel as if it would benefit from rethinking the structure. Which led to me thinking about how best to do it, which brought me on to 2.
2. I was mulling on a spreadsheet with cards instead of cells, wondered about the Storylines feature in Writer's Cafe, checked Anthemion's website, found there was a new version of Jutoh which included a similar looking StoryBoard feature, as well as an update to Writer's Cafe. Definitely looks a bit like a spreadsheet with cards.

And on investigation:
3. Although StoryBoard and Storylines look identical, the instructions suggest quite a lot of difference under the hood, so comparison needed.
4. And there are other approaches I could take, and other programs. So possibly a wider set of comparisons, so I know where best to turn in future when I need to address something structural.
5. And AeonTimeline 3 is on the horizon. Nice to know where that fits.
6. And worth checking for anything new.
7. And if I'm going to do it, I might as well write it down for future reference, in which case I might as well put it up as a mini-review.

And doing this systematically means:
8. I can learn and try out some of the programs in order to design, structure and write the review.
9. And then test it on my project.

I needed to decide a program for writing and storing the necessary research. The obvious choice for me was Obsidian. So I set up a new folder and made it a new vault nested inside the Scriptorium. Produces a contained space for all the work and research. To record progress, I made use of the Daily Notes feature for the first time. Most of the full writing packages such as Scrivener would have worked too - but none had advantages over Obsidian.
2. Thence to working out what to do. Brainstorming phase. I tried outlining in Obsidian, but found it unconvincing - outlines are designed to be sequential and this wasn't. But the chosen approach needed to aid developing the sequence. I felt a free-form corkboard would work - eg Scrivener's Corkboard, Writer's Cafe's Pinboard, or panes in Notezilla. I decided to try the Pinboard, not having used it previously. It was easy and perfectly functional.
   1. This produced three sections:
      1. Programs or alternative approaches
      2. Important issues and features to consider
      3. The tasks themselves - or Stages of Creation, Organisation or Reorganisation.
3. When away from the computer I needed to do something different. I tried a digital pen and paper with screenshot. That also worked easily and well, but would have been more cumbersome to shift entries around.

My original idea was to categorise the essential tasks and then to prepare a detailed comparison table of the important differences between all the options that came to mind. But I hit a wall of reluctance once I realised that this would mean spending time describing and recording options that I had already dismissed in my own mind.
So, I will simply give my personal perspective of each option up to the point where I stopped looking at it.

310

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« Last post by Dormouse on April 17, 2021, 05:53 PM »

The plugin allows .txt to follow markdown styling. It allows links and transclusions, in .txt files. It doesn't allow .txt to be read natively or to be transcluded itself, and links to .txt files have to be typed out in full. Neither are tags in .txt recognised and nor do .txt files appear in graphs. Having hit these limits, I am now wondering how much use I will be able to make of it. For some things it will work fine, but not being able to be transcluded means that the technique of embedding chapters into a file to produce a complete MSS won't work. Of course, there's no difficulty in renaming them all at that point but working out which format to work in at each stage doesn't seem straightforward now; quite a collection of swings and roundabouts.

-Dormouse (March 23, 2021, 09:19 PM)

Now looking as if there will be no further development, either into other extensions (unless someone writes a plugin for them) or giving any further Obsidian functionality to .txt files. That means the plugin gives me very little that is useful, which is a bit sad after seeing the possible gains. 

And naturally limits what I might get from Obsidian. I don't use Obsidian Search because I usually want to look across all files with text not just the extensions that Obsidian reads. Tags (ditto). The key feature in Obsidian for me is the wiki-link linking, so that means making sure I have .md versions of everything I might want in the linking system. I can live with that.

I'm still playing with different approaches (and programs) for search and tagging.
Still love nested vaults.

311

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« Last post by Dormouse on April 15, 2021, 04:04 PM »

Unless I just didn't pay attention, I never received an e-mail, and I'm a subscriber.

-wraith808 (April 15, 2021, 02:56 PM)

That's very odd. I half wondered if they said $10 to those currently paying $5.
From the email

if you are ...

A current paying customer paying 5$/month or more, your subscription also applies to the new version without any changes.
A customer paying less than 5$/month, you will eventually be asked to upgrade, or close your account. I can't continue to provide my time (in terms of customer support & software development) at that low a rate.
An existing free user, and happy with the service, you will eventually be asked to pay to continue using it.
A desktop version customer that received a number of free months of the web version, you will have those applied to the new web version as well.

My impression is that v2 web is in active development and the desktop app, being developed only slowly, is a lower priority.

312

General Software Discussion / Re: Jutoh 3, recently followed by the release of Scrivener 3 Windows from beta

« Last post by Dormouse on April 15, 2021, 03:47 PM »

my use of Timeline has been limited because of having to use the timeline to set it up and that being a little painfu

-wraith808 (April 15, 2021, 02:57 PM)

I'd agree with that. v3 looks easier (given I've not tested it at all). I still suspect that you'd only use it for something very detailed unless you like to spend most of your time creating detailed plans. But I've not seen its equal for detailed and complex timelines. For the 0.1% of fiction writers who need them and historians and historical writers.

313

General Software Discussion / Re: Jutoh 3, recently followed by the release of Scrivener 3 Windows from beta

« Last post by Dormouse on April 15, 2021, 09:03 AM »

I'll put up what I have done so far later, and then add to it as I go down the list.

I've just had my invitation to Timeline 3. Impressed on a very brief inspection, and the spreadsheet pane is very helpful. I expect to add it as a core tool to my own workflow. But it is highly complex and unlikely to be worth using for anything simpler.

Also starting to use Mindomo, which is quite complex too, but with good import/export (including xlsx, csv, md, txt). So it seems as if Mindomo, Obsidian and Timeline could be a good combo.
But I'm only just learning how best to use Obsidian in development, and adding another two unfamiliar tools is no way to tackle a current problem so I'll let myself learn slowly and use something simpler for now.

314

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« Last post by Dormouse on April 14, 2021, 10:20 AM »

Though I see he's developing v2, and it's a bit pricier- at $10 a month after beta!

-wraith808 (April 14, 2021, 08:55 AM)

The email I received seemed to suggest that those paying 5 would just continue unchanged.
But I can see it being worth it for users who are productive with it. There's nothing else like it really.
I might have a look at the new version, but never progressed beyond quite liking the old one.

315

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« Last post by Dormouse on April 13, 2021, 06:43 PM »

Also noticed that Gingko is moving to $5 a month with a free trial rather than a document limit.

316

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« Last post by Dormouse on April 13, 2021, 05:52 PM »

I already stopped using TagSpaces. With largish collections of documents, it really lags.

-wraith808 (April 13, 2021, 05:01 PM)

It does. And the interface just isn't showing me enough. I don't remember it being like that on the desktop - different resolution, faster processor - but this ought not to be slow. So TagSpaces will go. That's OK, not invested much in it overall.

Still dk about Xyplorer. Tags etc aren't multi-platform etc, but it does at least have them. Test documents aren't really an issue because, as you say, they are typed in, but other types of files are. So I will look at how well it might do that.

But my big winner will be OneCommander (v3 beta). For the purpose of going through a very large collection of files, I find that the Miller Column approach suits me (and the mouse) perfectly. Has 7 colour tags - so something for very temporary visual use. But it's no use for tagging.

317

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« Last post by Dormouse on April 13, 2021, 03:03 PM »

The big issue I have now in the zettelkasten is the file management.

-Dormouse (April 13, 2021, 11:34 AM)

I have many file managers & TagSpaces. Plus Search utilities.
In the past, I've found that I tend to have a preferred file manager and setup for particular activities. But none of them jumped out at me once I was doing zettelkasten type notes in .md files. I probably don't want to change Directory Opus, which has been my general go to. I like Q-Dir for shuffling files between folders.
Will need to think about XYplorer more.
dk about TagSpaces. I suspect that I will stop using it. I like the idea, but I'm not sure it can be configured as part of a simple and efficient workflow - display is a bit noisy but also not as detailed as is needed for huge numbers of files.
I have OneCommander installed (v2 + v3 beta), and look at it from time to time. The attraction is Miller columns, and that does offer a genuine alternative in the way the file system is presented.
I like mouse rather than keyboard, which is different to many users, and many explorers which seem optimised for keyboard with less attention to mouse options.

318

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« Last post by Dormouse on April 13, 2021, 11:34 AM »

Thanks. I'm nibbling away at it, while still trying to get some stuff done.

The big issue I have now in the zettelkasten is the file management. I need to refine programs for doing that. Obsidian doesn't really: it does its bit with its own files, but not files in general. Was always going to be crucial with everything in files. I have ways of managing them,  but not a refined system.

Here's the summary of my zettelkasten, as previously described.

319

General Software Discussion / Main Programs in my Current System (for now anyway)

« Last post by Dormouse on April 12, 2021, 01:53 PM »

I thought it might be helpful to give an idea of the main PC programs that I'm using now. (I've ignored programs used for unrelated purposes.)
Some aren't in frequent use, but are an essential part of the system.
It's a very different system to the one I I had when I started this thread. Evernote and OneNote are out.
Some programs have databases, but everything is saved regularly into individual files. The main programs are cross-platform and I have them synced on all devices.
It's organised with inputs at the top, outputs on the right, and supporting programs below.



Mindomo is very new, and might not work out, but it fits a clear gap in my system previously tackled with a range of disconnected approaches - a successful bodge job but not the smoothest for workflow or efficiency.

I used it to do the diagram. All floating topics, which is why they don't line up properly. Multitudes of templates and themes, but none quite fitted. I did look at doing a simple change, but quickly learned how detailed and technical some of the configurations were. Will take me a long time to learn those and I'm determined to spend most of my time producing something rather than just learning, so it will be a long journey, even assuming I stay on the path.

Always possible I have forgotten a number of important parts of the system.

320

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« Last post by Dormouse on April 11, 2021, 02:57 PM »

Actually, pretty much sold on signing up. Unfortunately desktop + mobile requires a subscription, but it always takes me at least a year to try things out properly (Obsidian was an aberration), and the price seems pretty standard for the paid mindmap apps. Ticks all my required boxes. Some clashes in markdown syntax, but that's a straightforward conversion. Pessimism has turned to optimism.

I have asked myself what it doesn't do better than all the programs on the list for the short review I'm doing. The answers are:

• cost
• direct link to the editor used for writing
• enforced simplicity (ie risk of being pulled into unproductive ornamentation)

This feels like a remarkably short, though not insignificant, list.

In truth, Mindomo will be the best of these options for brainstorming, organising and reorganising lengthy writing if most development work is done in it from the beginning.

One issue for me that I've noticed is that the text editor for attached notes doesn't seem to have a dark mode option, which risks a glaring white panel. But that should be avoidable. Actually on the web version, it comes up in dark mode on Vivaldi anyway, so no problem at all.

321

General Software Discussion / Re: I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten

« Last post by Dormouse on April 11, 2021, 09:33 AM »

After the demise of my visits to Bubbl.us and friends, I wondered if it was time to restart my search for a mindmapping program that would work as a major part of my workflow. They have progressed a long way since I last looked.

I need:

• cross-platform
• Interoperability (preferably through .md or .txt files; Excel would be good)
• Ease of use (mindmaps quickly become bogged down in setting up details)
• Styling that works for me (I'm always so quick to dismiss mindmaps that I know how subjective this must be)

Having moved quickly through a herd of major contenders, I came to Mindomo which looks possible. Apparently integrates with the ProWritingAid Chrome  extension too.
I'm not hopeful after previous experience, but I'll give it a go.

322

General Software Discussion / Re: Jutoh 3, recently followed by the release of Scrivener 3 Windows from beta

« Last post by Dormouse on April 08, 2021, 01:30 PM »

Yes. I added it because markdown might be important for some potential users. And I thought it was worth checking whether it would interfere with DocxManager.

323

General Software Discussion / Re: Jutoh 3, recently followed by the release of Scrivener 3 Windows from beta

« Last post by Dormouse on April 08, 2021, 08:15 AM »

DocXManager

-wraith808 (April 05, 2021, 03:51 PM)

I've added it to the list. With Writage.
Not a cheap combo at $49 (standard) + $29 + Word, but might suit those familiar with or stuck with Word.

324

General Software Discussion / Re: Jutoh 3, recently followed by the release of Scrivener 3 Windows from beta

« Last post by Dormouse on April 07, 2021, 08:20 AM »

That makes complete sense.
I've always done my best to avoid writing in Word, but sometimes it was just easier to do that than the whole export-import-format thing. And the primitive outlining etc was a thorn in the side then. Though the add-ins I looked at seemed more effort than they were worth.

FWIW I've been playing around with Jutoh's Storyboard. Succession of thoughts going 'Wow' and 'Wow' and 'Wow!'. Very complex and finicky to configure unless you just go with default settings,  but can be saved as a template once done. And now, having developed some understanding of what it can do, I have to think about what use can be made of it.
Supposed to be simpler than the Writer's Cafe Storylines, but also more flexible.

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General Software Discussion / Re: Jutoh 3, recently followed by the release of Scrivener 3 Windows from beta

« Last post by Dormouse on April 06, 2021, 03:13 AM »

Ha! Yes. Thanks.  It certainly wasn't something that sprang to my mind, and I don't remember ever hearing about it before. Though I might have forgotten.
And it's certainly from a different dimension.