Main Area and Open Discussion > General Software Discussion
General brainstorming for Note-taking software
superboyac:
a related issue: http://www.opml.org/spec2
opml is an xml markup standard for exchanging "outliner" (hierarchical notes) data.
-mouser (March 02, 2006, 01:34 AM)
--- End quote ---
That looks interesting. I don't understand much (too technical for me) but it sounds good.
nevf:
a related issue: http://www.opml.org/spec2
opml is an xml markup standard for exchanging "outliner" (hierarchical notes) data.
-mouser (March 02, 2006, 01:34 AM)
--- End quote ---
mouser, thanks for that. I wasn't aware there was a V2 spec in the wind. That said I can't see OPML being all that useful and find its design quite strange and limited. For example outline text is stored in an XML attribute, Dates use RFC 822 instead of ISO8601 and aren't stored as attributes. There is no discussion of how binary data such as images should be handled.
OPML may have started life targeted at Outliners, but it seems to be (only?) used for RSS Subscription lists and such these days. Mind you this isn't something I know much about.
I'm currently doing a lot of work with XBEL, which is an XML standard to exchange Bookmarks. This is much more useful than OPML IMO.
nevf:
...
Here's my suggestion: for captured material like html pages, it's good to have an editing mode and a viewing mode like there is now. However, for just plain notes, I'd prefer the editor to just always be in editing mode. As in, you don't have to click in and out whether it's the pencil or double-click or single-click or whatever. For just plain notes, you want to be able to go in and start typing, I don't think you want the user to feel any interruption. Just like this forum's quick reply box--I know if I click inside it, I can just start typing away. That's what I'm talking about.
-superboyac (March 01, 2006, 01:46 PM)
--- End quote ---
Understood. I can see this being usefull for Notes, but not for other article types such as Web clippings. I have a new idea or two I'm going try out shortly.
...
If you really think my suggestions are useful, I'll keep them coming, especially if you think they apply to the general userbase also, and not just myself.
--- End quote ---
yes, please keep them coming.
On a completely different note, am I not capturing from the web correctly? I'm using Firefox, and when I highlight text and capture in Surfulater, it's fine. But when I capture pictures, there are a lot of those broken links (with the red "x"). What are the limits to capturing accurately from the source in the program? (I'd post a screenshot, but I've been having a hard time attaching files lately here).
--- End quote ---
It should be capturing all images, but not Flash stuff. Let me know the URL of the page in question. You could also try the same page with IE, out of interest.
And the final question I wanted to ask is how to make everything in the right content pane smaller? I like things much smaller, compact, minimal than most, and everything in Surfulater on that right side is just too big for me.
--- End quote ---
Not sure what you mean by smaller. Do you mean fonts?
These Surfulater specific support issues would better be handled over on our Support Forums ;)
lifeonmars:
In my view (perhaps different from yours because I am an architect/law student). I want a nice UI and easy access to my information. The information is what it is all about. As far as a text only programs there should be not discussion. There are a ton of text editors that all do the same thing. What is important is a tool that will allow you to gather information from everywhere (the web included) organize it (usually trees) and link it. Obviously the ability to grab information from the internet is important (because there is so much information out there) but you need to also be able to use simple text or import from other sources, docs, pdfs, etc.
....
With this said, I am placing my bet on Surfulater. I down loaded this program with about 20 others and it is still installed. My process for evaluating is as follows:
1. Go to download.com and do a general search so you get as many results as possible (then do it again so you do miss it)
2. Go through the hundreds of results, read the descriptions, look at screenshots, visit homepages, and finally download promising programs.
3. Install all the promising programs (I do it while I am searching)
4. Gather all the new shortcuts on the desktop, and open each of the programs
5. If the UI sucks - uninstall the program
6. Take a closer feature look at each of the remaining programs. Can you import the information you want? Does it work well with other programs? Can you input data easily (i.e. is the structure of the program not so restrictive that it takes to long to input simple date), etc, etc,....
-jgiebeler (February 28, 2006, 02:34 PM)
--- End quote ---
I use a similar, subjective approach - but that's what it's all about, surely? Everyone has different needs and preferences and no one piece of software will please everyone!
I was a little disappointed to find that both Surfulator and Mybase are not freeware! Surfulator sounds great. Oh, well. Personally, I have used EverNote quite extensively, although less so recently, perhaps because there seem to be so many new web-based developments:
* Voo2do - advanced task and priority management
* Spurl - store, share and search all the interesting things you find on the web
* Clipmarks - clip and save pieces of web pages
* Performancing for Firefox - a full featured blog editor
These are some the ones I currently use or am trying out, although I can't say I feel fully satisfied with any of them or in combination. There are pros and cons of using "separates" versus an all-in-one application, too.
nudone:
i use spurl all the time but i'd never heard of voo2do - looks quite nice so i'll give that a try. i think clipmarks is something i had dismissed before but i'll give it another go - there appears to be 'images' missing for quite a few of the things i searched for - i wonder is this common?
i see that the power still lies with the desktop versions in these categories of programs - i wonder how long it will take until we see truly powerful web based versions and would we be happy to trust such things?
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version