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General brainstorming for Note-taking software
brotherS:
The whole mind mapping/note taking started me thinking about what I really want out of this type of software.
I think I want topic association vs. categories. The difference is subtle.
To me categories are centered around database thinking and the need to make binary (true/false) relationships between an item and a category. While I understand this need, my brain tends to assocate items with a topic (category) on a graduated scale. I'm not sure how you develop an interface that let's you do that easily.
-Rover (February 25, 2006, 12:45 PM)
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When I read this quoted text I immediately had to think about Google Mail! Anyone else?
Not sure if you are a user yet - they dropped the "put everything in its own folder" principle (that had been around for more than a decade) to come up with labels. You could just put several labels on an email, I like it a lot!
Btw, my nick is still brotherS :D
thomthowolf:
The whole mind mapping/note taking started me thinking about what I really want out of this type of software.
I think I want topic association vs. categories. The difference is subtle.
To me categories are centered around database thinking and the need to make binary (true/false) relationships between an item and a category. While I understand this need, my brain tends to assocate items with a topic (category) on a graduated scale. I'm not sure how you develop an interface that let's you do that easily.
-Rover (February 25, 2006, 12:45 PM)
--- End quote ---
When I read this quoted text I immediately had to think about Google Mail! Anyone else?
Not sure if you are a user yet - they dropped the "put everything in its own folder" principle (that had been around for more than a decade) to come up with labels. You could just put several labels on an email, I like it a lot!
-brotherS (February 25, 2006, 12:54 PM)
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By the way, this capability is at the heart of Evernote. What they call categories are actually tags. Any note can have multiple categories associated with it, and they can be manually or automatically assigned. This gives you incredible sorting and finding capabilities. much like google mail.
superboyac:
Yes, BrotherS, I thought of what you said about Google Mail when I read the description about FreeMind. (and I remember your passionate posts on the subject when I was migrating my email to the Bat!) FreeMind is a cool program, I was just playing with it. I don't think it falls into this notetaking category, but it is a nice program.
I think mind mappers and notetaking are distinctly different subjects, and as such, I think we can rule those kind of programs out of the notetaking category. I mean, there's so much gray area as it is about what kind of features should be included in a good notetaking program. Mind mappers like Mind Manager and other programs serve a different purpose, in my opinion. however, I think notetaking programs can benefit from some of the creative ways that mind mappers organize information, just like brotherS and Rover mentioned, about using labels instead of categories. There have been a few programs that have done this and it's interesting to see how it plays out when you amass large amounts of information. For example, EverNote uses labels (or categories) instead of the typical tree/folder heirarchy, and that presents an alternative to notetaking programs.
I wonder if it would be useful or even practical to combine the typical heirarchical system with the labeling system somehow? Or have both options available in the same program? Does anyone think that's even possible, without causing mass confusion, or a breakdown of the organizational system?
(PS thomthowold just mentioned what I said about Evernote while I was typing, so excuse the redundancy)
Rover:
brotherS: so sorrry for the type-o. I enjoy your postings a lot. I would hate to think I havve offended you :)
brotherS:
I wonder if it would be useful or even practical to combine the typical heirarchical system with the labeling system somehow? Or have both options available in the same program? Does anyone think that's even possible, without causing mass confusion, or a breakdown of the organizational system?
-superboyac (February 25, 2006, 10:45 PM)
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Possible? I think so...
Useful? Not sure... but then it's never easy to come up with something that's new *and* working perfectly at the same time :)
brotherS: so sorrry for the type-o. I enjoy your postings a lot. I would hate to think I havve offended you :)
-Rover (February 26, 2006, 12:44 AM)
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No harm done. ;D
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