Main Area and Open Discussion > General Software Discussion
General brainstorming for Note-taking software
superboyac:
jgiebeler, that's quite a first post. I want to address all of your points, but I will start with your perprlexed comments regarding Mybase. First of all, I can totally understand your reasons for asking what's the big deal about Mybase, because sometimes I find myself asking the same thing. Here's what the good thing about mybase is:
1. It's a very clean, FAST, efficient interface. I know you made a point about user interfaces, but Mybase really does have a good interface. It's not too bubbly and bulky, and buttons and the notes themselves don't take up too much space. It runs fast, and the screen is kept very clean. This is obviously subjective, but that's how I feel. I'll talk about this more later, but I find Surfulater to be much more bulky than Mybase and the notes take up way too much space in my opinion. And if you look at the other programs available, Mybase really is one of the very few that keeps their interface slim and efficient. This is also why I think many Keynote users will like Mybase, because Keynote itself was also very slim and efficient.
2. While it is true that Mybase is just a simple, heirarchy notetaker, the password feature is really holding me hostage to it. You can assign a password to individual branches, and you just can't do that with Surfulater. So that's a big plus for me. I'll admit that Surfulater has a more advanced organization options, but the password can only be applied to the entire file, not to individual branches.
3. Mybase has a very simple and effective way to link attachments to the file, it just lists it in a separate pane in the note, in a grid.
4. Mybase also has a clipboard monitor, which I don't use, and it has several little utilities that make the program a little easier to use. It has a utility to sort notes, it also has a special import/export utility. There's a lot of little things under the hood that make it really nice. And they are very practical things, not just fancy doodads. And don't forget Mybase's web capturing utility, which is nice, although you can't edit the captures like in Surfulater.
So I completely understand your comments about Mybase. The bottom line is this: Mybase does simple notetaking very well, that's it. It doesn't have the advanced options of Surfulater nor it's capturing ability, but that is where we might differ in what we need and how we want to use it. When I collect information, it's just simple text, I'm talking minimally formatted (mostly unformatted) notepad-style text. It's just information. I don't capture too many webpages or other things that have pictures and styles to them. I don't even use attachments all that much. So, Mybase is better for me in that respect. Now, like I said before, I am becoming weary of the tree structure because I'm feeling the need for something more progressive like in Surfulater, but until my other needs are satisfied first, I can' switch over yet.
Anyway, I will soon mention some more about Surfulater and my thoughts on it.
superboyac:
OK, since I'm already thinking about it, I will begin to post some of my comments about Surfulater:
--Surfulater--
First of all, I read the blog you (nevf) wrote about Surfulater's future and everything, it was excellent. Now, most of my critique of Surfulater is hinging on the fact that the program will eventually become a full-fledged note-editing program. If not, that most, if not all, of my comments will be out of context and somewhat useless. I say this because I just don't see how I can use one program to capture a whole bunch of information, but then I can't add my personal notes about related items and separate items in the same program. Information is information and I would like it all to be in the same place. Okay, that being said...
Let me first start off by saying that I'm not a big fan of html/xml/java being used in standalone applications as it's core. However, it is done right in Surfulater as in A-book (which I reviewed earlier), so even though I don't prefer it, I'm okay with it when it is used in a creative and useful manner.
Part of what I don't like about Surfulater is that it is not yet ready for taking notes in an efficient manner. Sure it can capture anything from anywhere, but what if I just want to write a little paragraph or list? I am restricted by the handful of templates that are there (clipboard, contact, code snippet, etc...). And the templates are too bulky for me. I don't need all that big title, references, and large borders on the right side. I just want a blank area to type a little bit of text. So, that's one of the reasons why I wouldn't use the program at this point.
Anyway, I'm too tired to write anymore right now. But that is my complaint of Surfulater so far. It's just not a notetaking application yet, and I need that more so than it's spectacular ability to capture content. Let me put it this way, if you need to capture a lot of content without traditional notetaking (like you would in Keynote) than Surfulater is a great program for you, as in the case of jgiebeler, who sounds like he has to collect a whole lot of information from the web and other places. But if you're looking to organize a lot of simple text and little bits of information, you will be frustrated with Surfulater, it's just not meant for that yet.
So to bring this discussion all the way around to basic note-taking software, I will still assert that Mybase is closer to this goal than Surfulater. Capturing is only one part of notetaking, and it is an add-in (a luxury) at that. By that I mean that capturing is not the main goal of notetaking, so that shouldn't be the focus of this software genre. It could be the feature that makes one program better than the other, given that all else is equal, but it shouldn't be the primary focus. I think Surfulater's method of organizing it's articles with the multiple folders and (future) tags, is something that should be mirrored in a notetaking program also. That will bring this genre to the next level.
kfitting:
A quick comment: you and I are on similar pages superboyac. I agree with your primary needs and also your admitting that there are other needs out there. Have you looked at NeoMem (http://www.neomem.org)? I dont use it because it is deficient in some areas but it is an interesting example of an information manager. Like you said before (I think it was you), we want our cake and eat it too. This genre could be so powerful... it's just so hard to fit everything in!
Kevin
nevf:
superboyac, don't let it be said that I'm not up to a challenge.
1) Close Surfulater.
2) Download Surfulater.SurfulaterPatch and unzip the enclosed Surfulater.SurfulaterPatch file into the directory Surfulater is installed in.
3) Start Surfulater.
4) Use Article|New Article|Note
5) Let me know what you think.
Note that I haven't thoroughly tested this template yet and suspect there may be a small problem.
Keep in mind this can be changed to whatever you want. Right now I've just included a single "Note" field which uses the full width of the content window and grows in height as required. Click on the pencil as usual to edit.
You will see one of the benefits of Surfulater's use of HTML and its Article Templates before your very eyes. ;D
The layout of articles and addition of new templates is open ended. Pretty anything you can dream up as a layout for an article can be accomplished. At present you need to write the raw HTML, which is fairly easy, however down the track you'll see the ability to create and layout templates from within Surfulater. Powerful stuff indeed IMHO.
Re. jgiebeler - he has just purchased Surfulater and I mentioned he might be interested in this discussion. I had no idea of the end result, and am pleased to say the least. I've put his post on my blog with his permission. See: http://blog.surfulater.com/2006/03/01/evaluating-software-from-a-users-perspective/
superboyac:
nevf, I tried the patch, and it works! Yes, that is what I was talking about as far as a simple note article.
I think I understand the flexibility and power that the html offers in this program, but I still don't really like the way it "feels". It's such a subjective and stubborn issue with me, I'm embarrassed to even mention it. It's like my reason for not liking the way a Mac feels compared to Windows--it's nothing really functional or practical.
For one thing, I'm not a big fan of clicking the pencil to edit the note, or the fact that if I highlight the text in the note and overshoot the mouse pointer past the border of the note, then I'm out of the "editing" mode of the note, and I have to click the pencil to get back in. It's little things like this that always make it difficult for me to embrace programs using the html/xml/java language instead of C++, or whatever the other language is (I'm not a programmer, so I don't know the details). I know that programs written in C++ "feel" faster to me than programs written in html or java, if that makes any sense whatsoever. I have the same issue with A-book, which uses html templates (similar to Surfulater I believe) to display it's information. In fact, the whole "look" of the program is similar. But , like Surfulater, it does it's job better than the other programs available.
So here's where I stand on the issue. It seems like Surfulater is headed in the right direction as far as becoming a good information collection and notetaking solution. I'd have to decide if I was able to deal with the small, personal annoyances I have with the interface and "feel" of the program, or should I just go with another program that feels better to me, but will probably not offer the progressive features that Surfulater has.
Like I said before, I'm getting tired of the Mybase/Keynote/typical tree heirarchy, but those programs feel very "fast" to me when I use it and combined with a couple of other minor features, I would lean towards using it instead of Surfulater. But I also know it the back of my mind that the future of these programs won't be as dynamic and interesting as Surfulater. But, right now, using Surfulater feels a bit sluggish to me and I can't commit totally to it yet.
What do you think, nevf? Do my statements make sense to you, or do I just sound hard-headed?
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