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« Last post by Dormouse on April 20, 2025, 08:14 AM »
When I started using Lattics it was a very slow and gradual process; initially I moved in simple WIP, and expanded from there. The timeline feature didn't even exist. The documentation was incomplete (it's been better done imo for recently introduced features). It took time for me to get my head around the most comfortable workflows for starting new projects or bringing over more complex WIP. So I've written a simple summary of how to do it - originally for my own use.
Suggestions for starting a project and planning/plotting in Lattics.
The key fact to remember is that content text exists only once in the database. Everything else is an editable view of that content - articles, cards, timeline events, mindmap nodes (and will be &etc when they introduce new views - whiteboard apparently on way) - edit one, edit all; and don't delete cards unless you want that content gone (you can always retrieve them from the trash).
The best starting point, once you know you want a new project, is to work out the tagging system. Lattics uses hierarchical tags and they're not simple to edit once you have them set up; but it is quite simple to work out the system at the beginning and to add to it afterwards. It can all be set up later, and it is quite simple to add tags to a group of cards, but it might require a bit of effort to check that you have tagged everything you want.
First set up your project - ie create a folder for it.
You should gather all the already existing cards you want to use and add them to the project; that won't remove them from any other project they are already in. You might want to add project tags too.
Then it's just a question of preference and the needs of the project.
If you like traditional outlining, there a couple of options.
You can just write the outline on a project page or in a card (no need to use bullet points); because each entry is a block, it is easy enough to convert them to cards (the text will still show in the outline). Alternatively, you can just outline using the document tree directly. Or you can use tables to do something similar. Personally, I'd choose the first because it's simpler to add comments. This is the simplest place to start if you already have a clear idea of the narrative structure
If you are still brainstorming, with no idea of structure, a better place to start may be the mindmap/graph. If there are no articles, then it's a blank canvas and it's easy to click to add cards and draw arrows between them. There's little control of appearance, just enough to start playing with possibilities; presumably the whiteboard view, when it comes, will bring a richer visual experience.
If you have some idea of "events", then look to the timeline. Events on a timeline can be given start and end times - but they're optional, and you don't have to think of them in that way. There are lanes which contain tracks and events are placed in the tracks. Many projects won't need more than one lane. Effectively it's a grid making it easy to see arcs and people over time. The mindmap/graph is a blank canvas and the timeline is a gridded canvas. It can be used in exactly the same way as the plotting and character grids in other writing programs. It's worth remembering, if you are setting times, that there's a minimum size for an event on the graph which can make them look a bit out of place at some zoom levels.
Of course, it's entirely possible to follow all these approaches at the same time - edits in one will update all.
Again, when I started I was slightly apprehensive about how fragile the workflows might be and stuff just breaking - an all too frequent experience with many newser apps. But it has actually (touch forests, cross toes) been robust so far; and felt like it too.
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