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5101

General Software Discussion / Re: Someone MUST make a new PowerMarks program.

« Last post by superboyac on September 22, 2008, 05:27 PM »

OK, here are my suggestions so far for Power Favorites.  If these things are implemented, I think there's no reason for current Powermarks users to not want to use Power Favorites.  Personally, I think Power Favorites is almost there, and I think my suggestions are pretty minor and shouldn't be that difficult to implement.  But I'm not a programmer, it's just my feeling.
Of course, these comments are also applicable to any other bookmark manager, including Linkman.  Essentially, there's are a few of the things that made us love Powermarks so much.

ESC key clears search

ESC key should clear the search box.  Additionally, in Powermarks, if you pressed the down key from the search box, it would immediately go into the list and you could navigate to the desired bookmark.  This was good for quick keyboard navigation.  I always wished that if you pressed the UP key from the top item, it would go back to the search box, but it didn't.  This is where Power Favorites can improve on that feature.

More keyboard shortcuts

There's a keyboard shortcut for opening the main window, but a lot of users would really appreciate keyboard shortcuts for all of the significant program functions.  Things like: --adding a bookmark --moving cursor to search box or other windows (like an alt-tab for the program itself)

Program window closes when a bookmark is selected

A useful option would be for the program window to close/minimize automatically after a bookmark is selected.

Option to get rid of the big folder title bar

Have an option to remove the big bar that shows the folder you are using.  In my opinion, it's distracting for users that are using the program in a very fast way and it's way bigger than the other elements in the program window.  WHen I am working quickly, my focus is on the list of bookmarks, not on the folder title.

minimize/close to tray

Have an option to minimize and/or close the program to the tray.  Most likely, we will always want the program running, so there should be the option to always have it go to the tray when minimize or close is clicked.  That way, to exit the program, the user must actually exit the program from the menu.  I think right now it automatically closes to the tray, but I don't see an actual option for this.

Firefox (and other browsers) buttons

Powermarks had three buttons: --One to open the main program window --One to add a bookmark (where the fields and tags were automatically filled) --Another to SILENTLY add a bookmark, meaning the user doesn't review the link and the tag.  You just click the button once and the bookmark is in the list immediately.  You don't confirm or anything. It would be nice to have these options in Power Favorites.

Options on how to open links in browser

At least for Firefox, there should be these options: --Open the link in the current tab --Open the link in a new tab --open the link in a new window Everyone works differently here, so the options are pretty necessaary, in my opinion.  I personally like the bookmark to open in the current tab.  That way, I don't have a new tab or window opening every time I use a bookmark because that will me way too many tabs and windows after an hour or so.

5102

General Software Discussion / Re: Someone MUST make a new PowerMarks program.

« Last post by superboyac on September 22, 2008, 05:05 PM »

I agree, the column customization is very useful.  As for the display on the bottom, I actually kind of like it.  A simple option to turn it on or off should be perfect.
I will post my suggestions in just a few...

5103

General Software Discussion / Re: Someone MUST make a new PowerMarks program.

« Last post by superboyac on September 21, 2008, 10:27 PM »

I totally forgot about Linkman, I've been meaning to try it out since the minireview done here.  So I just tried it and these are my intial impressions:
It is really powerful and customizable.  I like that.  But I can't seriously use it until it has a proper Firefox plugin.  Meaning, I need to be able to add bookmarks with a click of a button with all the appropriate information automatically filled.  Otherwise, I have to use another product.  But, besides that, it seems to be really awesome.  I also like how the program is very lightweight and fast.

Tomorrow, I will post suggestions for Power Favorites about how a couple of tweaks can make it very similar to Powermarks.  The same suggestions can be extended, of course, to any other bookmark manager, including Linkman.

5104

General Software Discussion / Re: Someone MUST make a new PowerMarks program.

« Last post by superboyac on September 20, 2008, 01:27 PM »

Yes, tuckndar, my impressions were similar also.  I was using the firefox plugin and couldn't figure out what it does.  I made a list of comments and suggestions about the program, but it's at work.  I will post it on Monday.

It's actually quite close to functioning like Powermarks, it's really not that far off at all.  A couple of minor changes and it could be there very quickly.

5105

General Software Discussion / Re: SQLNotes...what is it exactly?

« Last post by superboyac on September 19, 2008, 03:45 PM »

that is default behaviour - this way you get to see the parent items & can expand as you wish
I know Armando works differently but I can never keep up with him

-tomos (September 19, 2008, 01:30 AM)

That is not surprising as Armando and I think alike on a lot of this stuff.  So, I don't see what's the point of having a show all subitems feature because there's already that little expand tick under the item bullet that hides/expands the subitems.  If I don't see the tick there, I assume there are no subitems.
It's confusing to me.  I understand if you want to hide items using the filters and stuff.  That makes sense, it's logical.  But this is confusing because the item is being hidden because it's a sub-item?  That's confusing to me.  When an item is created, I prefer the grid it's created in to be automatically checked.  It doesn't make sense to add an item to a database and then the item is not associated with any grid by default.  By default, all items should be associated with the grid it was created in.  If you don't like that behavior, then you can uncheck it later.  That makes more sense to me.

5106

General Software Discussion / Re: Someone MUST make a new PowerMarks program.

« Last post by superboyac on September 18, 2008, 01:24 PM »

I am the developer of Power Favorites. Twinkler mentioned my program in this post .  although the comment is not very positive  . I'd like to know what features you all need most for managing bookmarks, I will try my best to follow your wisdom.

Thanks.

-markstone (September 18, 2008, 12:00 PM)

Thanks for the comment!  I haven't tried your program, but if you ask my input, I will say this much:  if you can make your program work just like PowerMarks, I will be ecstatic!

Personally what I'm looking for is this:
--If I want to go to a site, I click a button to open the program (or hotkey, whatever).  I see a big list of all my bookmarks in a compact form (I don't need the bookmarks taking up a lot of space, again, just look at Powermarks).
--I'd like my most visited sites to be at the top of the list (like Powermarks) so you're program needs to be able to track that information.  Usually I will just click on that bookmark at the top somewhere and go there.  That's it, I'm done.  See how simple that is?

--Now, in the case where I have to spend a little time finding a more obscure bookmark, I want it to be as fast as possible.  In Powermarks, there was a search box up top that was find-as-you-type (see my review here).  So I'll usually find what I'm looking for in a matter of a couple seconds.  No organization, no tree, nothing.  Just an address and a bunch of keywords and/or descriptions.

--When adding a bookmark, I'd like it to be as easy and fast as possible.  Click a button, and the url and keywords should be automatically generated and added to my list.  That's it.  Shouldn't even take a second in most cases.

That's how I use bookmarks and that's why I think PowerMarks was so great.  You just click and go.  I don't relate to people who need to organize bookmarks like crazy with trees and such (I'm not criticizing, I just don't relate).  I just want to click and go.  Mindlessly.

5107

General Software Discussion / Re: SQLNotes...what is it exactly?

« Last post by superboyac on September 18, 2008, 11:48 AM »

OK, Pierre, I will do the things you say.  I will probably want the Evernote field checked for them all, but I'd like to know what the best way to do this is because I don't want to practice poor habits.

So, please, can you explain why it functions this way?  What's the point of Full Hierarchy?  Why wouldn't I want to enable inheritance?  I just want to make sure I understand it.

5108

General Software Discussion / Re: SQLNotes...what is it exactly?

« Last post by superboyac on September 18, 2008, 10:55 AM »

Actually there is something I don't quite understand.  By the way, this is all happening in the grid labeled 'Evernote".
OK, so some of the items just disappear when I restart SN.  So, I'm looking at the filled fields for the items that work.  Some has "ItemhasHTML" checked, some have "Evernote" checked.  (They all have something in Item).
Now, why they don't all have "Evernote" checked is confusing to me.  They were all entered in the Evernote grid so they should have it checked automatically when the item is created.  Actually, I'm noticing that all the top level items have "Evernote" checked and the lower level items do not.
Now about the 80-something items that keep disappearing.  All except one do NOT have "Evernote" checked.  All these items were created in the Evernote grid.  I would have expected the default behavior is to have the grid name field checked when items are created in that grid.

Again, remember, I don't ever touch the source box or do anything with filters.

5109

General Software Discussion / Re: SQLNotes...what is it exactly?

« Last post by superboyac on September 17, 2008, 04:35 PM »

No, it's checked.

5110

General Software Discussion / Re: SQLNotes...what is it exactly?

« Last post by superboyac on September 17, 2008, 04:07 PM »

Why is ctrl-c copying disabled in the html pane for me?

Also, when I switch from SN to another application, SN starts blinking in the taskbar...why?

5111

General Software Discussion / Re: SQLNotes...what is it exactly?

« Last post by superboyac on September 17, 2008, 04:04 PM »

It keeps hiding those items whenever I restart SN.  Why?  It's not doing it for other items.

5112

General Software Discussion / Re: Similar program to Ps Tray factory that works on Vista 64-bit.

« Last post by superboyac on September 17, 2008, 03:46 PM »

Actually, there is a top secret link to PSTray Factory somewhere in these forums that gives access to the 64-bit version, if I remember correctly.  Hold on, let me find it...
OK, here's the actual link to the file:
http://www.pssoftlab...nload/pstrayf263.exe

And here's the thread where I found it here at DC (thanks Josh!):
PS Tray Vista (DC thread)

PS Tray Factory is my preferred program also.  I used to use SystrayX but I hate their licensing policy (especially compared to PS Tray's licensing policy) and eventually I felt the features in PS Tray were better implemented.  The good thing about SystrayX is that it "feels" powerful, but it came to a point where I thought, well, how much power do I really need for a tray management utility?  And I also remember it not handling certain things as well as PS Tray.

5113

General Software Discussion / Re: SQLNotes...what is it exactly?

« Last post by superboyac on September 17, 2008, 03:35 PM »

Ah!  That's very useful (the Journal grid, that is).  I remember asking for such a thing a long while ago.  Cool!

5114

Announce Your Software/Service/Product / Re: Announcing my new website (superboyac).

« Last post by superboyac on September 17, 2008, 11:25 AM »

OK, I finally got the list up.  The Superior Software List...yes, it's a spoof on Zaine's Great Software List.  However, since he has abandoned Windows, I feel it's my duty to have a place where people can find reliable Windows software like I used to rely on Z's list.  Check it out:
http://aram.dcmember...erior-software-list/

Now, the list is there and that's pretty much it.  There's a lot of work for me to do.  I need to add a picture and blurb for each program in the list.  I need to organize it into categories.  I need to add some kind of logo or banner for the list.

5115

General Software Discussion / Re: SQLNotes...what is it exactly?

« Last post by superboyac on September 17, 2008, 11:19 AM »

you probably know this already,
but either the items, or their parent (or some item higher up the hierarchy) must have the source field ticked/filled in order to show in a grid.

-tomos (September 17, 2008, 02:50 AM)

It's true, I know that (for the most part).  I don't really have an issue with the way the program works.  My problem is that I rarely (if ever) mess around with the filters and sophisticated display options.  All I do is add items to grids and that's it.  So when I come back and it's gone, it's confusing.  So when I get answers like "check the source filter" or something like that, my response is "Why should I?  I never touched it or anything like that in the first place."

I know the information in SN is very flexible and powerful with the way you can display it.  I just want to help keep the simple aspects of the program simple.  I love powerful programs, but I also appropriate simplicity if that makes any sense.

And I love it when authors fix issues with their program in a matter of minutes!  THanks Pierre.

5116

General Software Discussion / Re: Someone MUST make a new PowerMarks program.

« Last post by superboyac on September 16, 2008, 07:16 PM »

Thanks for the very kind words, twinkler, that means a lot to me.

I can usually sort through all of this, but it's just getting so insanely busy.  I'm juggling my job (which is busy itself) with this stat class I'm taking, trying to get my website going, my music, trying to be remotely sociable....argh!  It's really just this preparation for grad school, I think I'd be able to handle everything else normally.

Anytime programming and coding get involved in my life, it adds a level of stress for me.  It's not that I'm not good at it, it's just that it's not something I do, and each code is particular to that application and it has to be so precise, so it's just another thing to learn.  That's what I went through and still going through with Wordpress (with css, php, xml, xhtml, etc.).  I don't really want to do that.  I'm just a software user, I like to click around and figure things out.  That's most of my motivation for even writing software reviews and stuff.  I just want our lives to be easier with this technology we have available and that's always my goal in my ramblings on software.  The more software helps us, the more time we have for doing more things that we love like our work, our music, families, friends, etc.  Right?

OK, sorry about that...long day.

5117

General Software Discussion / Re: Outlook 2007 isn't so bad

« Last post by superboyac on September 16, 2008, 07:07 PM »

sheesh...ok, one thing good about Groupwise was that I could make a distribution list and not show all the freakin email addresses.  Our division here likes to send a lot of emails to everyone in the division, about 100 people, and all the addresses show in the email, and it looks ridiculous.

I'll try this eannouncer.

5118

General Software Discussion / Re: Outlook 2007 isn't so bad

« Last post by superboyac on September 16, 2008, 07:02 PM »

There is no other way that I know. Why not send it to yourself or a no-reply address and BCC the list? That's what a lot of lists do it anyway.

-Carol Haynes (September 16, 2008, 04:26 PM)

but BCCs are often filtered as spam. Email merge is the way to go.

-PPLandry (September 16, 2008, 05:29 PM)

What is email merge?

5119

General Software Discussion / Re: SQLNotes...what is it exactly?

« Last post by superboyac on September 16, 2008, 06:37 PM »

That could be it, but the confusing part is that the little "expand" tick wasn't under the bullet.  So how am I supposed to know it was there?  Sorry, but I'm a little busy right now, or else I'd be attaching screenshots and stuff.

5120

General Software Discussion / Re: SQLNotes...what is it exactly?

« Last post by superboyac on September 16, 2008, 04:55 PM »

Ah!  Great!  The filter criteria thing was not enabled so that wasn't it.  But the right click worked.

So that's great.  THanks.  My only question is why did this happen when I absolutely didn't modify any of these settings.  For the most part, my extent of using SN is just entering items in grids.  I have very rarely even touched any of the buttons and options.  THat's why it's puzzling to me when this stuff happens.  I 'm not really touching all these features.

5121

General Software Discussion / Re: SQLNotes...what is it exactly?

« Last post by superboyac on September 16, 2008, 04:06 PM »

I find them in the live-search.  I seem to have deleted the Journal grid (I tend to do that for the grids I don't use, I know, bad habit from the old days).  The only filled fields is Item.
I see all 81 siblings in the list.  I also see the parent item shown, which is weird because the parent item is showing in the grid, but not the siblings.  But it is saying that it's shown in 0 grids.

Do you have any idea why these items would just disappear?  This disappearing stuff is the only hangup I have with SQL.  Remember in prior versions I had the issue with the HTML pane?  Now this.

5122

General Software Discussion / Re: SQLNotes...what is it exactly?

« Last post by superboyac on September 16, 2008, 03:54 PM »

So how can I recover my lost items?  There are a lot of them.  If possible, I need to search and find all items that are NOT shown in any grids, and then assign the Evernote grid to them all.  Repair didn't work.

5123

General Software Discussion / Re: Outlook 2007 isn't so bad

« Last post by superboyac on September 16, 2008, 03:38 PM »

How can I hide all the addresses from showing up when I use distribution lists in Outlook 2007?  In all other email programs, the distribution list doesn't show all the addresses, just the title of the distribution list.  In Outlook it expands it to all the addresses which is really ugly when you receive the email.

All the solutions I searched for say to use the BCC field.  But that's stupid.  Like I said, in all other programs, you don't have to do that.  Any suggestions?

5124

General Software Discussion / Re: SQLNotes...what is it exactly?

« Last post by superboyac on September 16, 2008, 03:33 PM »

Really?  Is that the best way for that feature to function?  Shouldn't it tell me what grid it's in regardless of the filter?  Wouldn't that be more useful?  That way, when I go to a grid and see something missing, I can search for it and double-check to see if it was really in that grid or not.

-superboyac (September 16, 2008, 01:49 PM)

Remember grids don't contain items, they display them, and if it does not display it, then it isn't there.

I've fixed the properties pane issue. Users may download it

-PPLandry (September 16, 2008, 01:52 PM)

I get that.  The problem I'm running into is this.  I create a bunch of items in a grid.  I come back and those items aren't there anymore.  I didn't do anything with filters or such.  So, how can I "recover" those items into the original grid?  I thought I could use the field for "shown in x grids" to see which grid the items were originally in.  Then I could use that information to figure out what is hiding the item.  Honestly, I don't think I've ever used a filter on a grid yet to purposefully hide items, yet I've had several occasions where items have just disappeared from grids.  This will probably be worked out in future versions, but in the mean time I just wanted to see if there was a way to recover the items when this occurs.

5125

General Software Discussion / Re: SQLNotes...what is it exactly?

« Last post by superboyac on September 16, 2008, 01:49 PM »

That's because -- IIRC -- the "shown in" field tells you where the item is shown *currently*. If it's filtered out of all grids, it's nowhere.

-Armando (September 16, 2008, 12:24 PM)

Really?  Is that the best way for that feature to function?  Shouldn't it tell me what grid it's in regardless of the filter?  Wouldn't that be more useful?  That way, when I go to a grid and see something missing, I can search for it and double-check to see if it was really in that grid or not.