Author Topic: NoteFrog Pro (clipboard information manager) - Mini-Review (Read 159787 times)

IainB · « **Reply #75 on:** February 23, 2012, 03:03 PM »

By the way, I am continuing ß-testing on NoteFrog as new updates (versions) come out.
You can keep up with developments in NoteFrog here:

The forum: http://notefrog.com/forum/
The blog: http://notefrogblog.com/

oblivion · « **Reply #76 on:** February 23, 2012, 05:44 PM »

By the way, I am continuing ß-testing on NoteFrog as new updates (versions) come out.
-IainB (February 23, 2012, 03:03 PM)

Aha. Then you've noticed just how blasted irritating I'm being.

IainB · « **Reply #77 on:** February 24, 2012, 02:08 AM »

Aha. Then you've noticed just how blasted irritating I'm being.
-oblivion (February 23, 2012, 05:44 PM)

Well, I did see you had been busy, but I have been equally so - though my feedback has been in email as I initially couldn't get onto that forum and then found it easier to send feedback via email as I needed to attach screenshots. I think I had 10 or so issues, some of which had already been raised by others.

rjbull · « **Reply #78 on:** July 03, 2012, 03:14 PM »

NoteFrog v2.2 released

Post by berry » July 3rd, 2012, 4:19 pm

NoteFrog version 2.2, the production release for version 2, has been released and is available for download.

http://notefrog.com/...s/setup_NoteFrog.exe

The "Customer Preview" sale will continue for two more days, so if you haven't purchased a license yet, you might want to act.

>> NoteFrog home page

IainB · « **Reply #79 on:** July 03, 2012, 09:14 PM »

@rjbull: Thanks for that post.
I had forgotten to update the review with notes on this version. Must do.

rjbull · « **Reply #80 on:** July 07, 2012, 02:05 PM »

I had forgotten to update the review with notes on this version. Must do.
-IainB (July 03, 2012, 09:14 PM)

You might like to review the NoteFrog forum thread NoteFrog v2.2 released, where berry states this of the current production release of NoteFrog:

for performance reasons, the size of any single stack is limited to 25,000 items (we generally see significant degradation between 10-15K on fairly powerful machines.)

He's made the stack size limit user-definable in the latest beta, but I haven't tried that yet.

IainB · « **Reply #81 on:** July 07, 2012, 04:32 PM »

@rjbull: Thanks. I took a look at the forum. I see what you mean. You've been busy!

By the way, you might have noticed that I have posted a request to have them provide an RSS feed for that forum. Would make life much simpler.

rjbull · « **Reply #82 on:** July 11, 2012, 03:14 PM »

I took a look at the forum. I see what you mean. You've been busy!
-IainB (July 07, 2012, 04:32 PM)

I felt like the only beta tester. Almost nobody else is posting in the forum.

I really like NoteFrog's live search, but still have reservations about it as a truly heavy-duty professional tool. Things like the way its "sub-windows" behave as if they belong to separate applications, and numerous niggles about keyboard shortcuts, leave me slightly uneasy. Using the Bible as a test file meant I ran headlong into a formerly unexpected limit and that further undermined my confidence. I must add that though an "electronic bible index" might be a nice thing to have, in practice, if I look back at the current awareness bulletins I used to make for work as a "real world" example, they probably totalled (in about 23 years) the equivalent of some 2000 - 3000 separate "notes." So, realistically, NF could easily have coped. Also, it's still quite a young project, and Berry has been responsive and quick about most of the points raised. It will be nice to see HTML clips, but he hadn't time to get them right before the current release.

I have posted a request to have them provide an RSS feed for that forum. Would make life much simpler.
-IainB (July 07, 2012, 04:32 PM)

I hardly ever use RSS! I have the NoteFrog forum set as a hotsite in WebSite-Watcher, so I see which sections have new postings.

IainB · « **Reply #83 on:** July 11, 2012, 08:10 PM »

I hardly ever use RSS! I have the NoteFrog forum set as a hotsite in WebSite-Watcher, so I see which sections have new postings.
-rjbull (July 11, 2012, 03:14 PM)

I've not used WSW. Being lazy, I just feed everything into the feed aggregator (Google Reader), and that is set to filter out preceding duplicate post titles from the view.
So, instead of seeing all the new comment posts in a forum discussion thread, I just see the latest one.
This gives:
(a) a lot less clutter,
(b) notification that something has changed in that discussion thread, and
(c) the link to follow to the last post, from which you can scroll backwards to review what led to that last post.

IainB · « **Reply #84 on:** January 03, 2013, 08:04 PM »

I have belatedly updated the review in the opening post, to align with the current version 2.3.
Removed out-of-date bits about the earlier ß esting, etc.

IainB · « **Reply #85 on:** February 24, 2013, 11:16 PM »

2013-02-25: I have just updated the review in the Opening Post for v2.4.0.
I have added more to the review notes, including:

The latest version has some interesting and rather nifty features (taken from the Stack menu item):
Select and open a different Stack...
Create a new empty Stack...
Rename the Active Stack...
Edit stack password...
Reload/refresh the Active Stack list from NoteFrog Library.
Export/Save a copy of the Active Stack...
Import/Load contents of an external Stack into the Active Stack...
Save Active Stack contents as a plain text file...
Save Active Stack contents as individual items...
Save Active Stack contents in a publishable browser-search able format...
Save Active Stack contents as a self-decrypting HTML archive-
Import all text items from a directory...
Import text items from a delimited file...
Delete all items in the Active Stack...
Delete an entire Stack and its contents...

rjbull · « **Reply #86 on:** May 22, 2013, 03:49 PM »

NoteFrogBlog.com

NoteWindow Free Personal Information Manager
Posted by berry – May 22, 2013

The NoteFrog mobile stack capability, mentioned in an earlier post NoteFrog goes mobile is now available as a Free Browser based, Personal Information Manager, similar to NoteFrog. It is available here.

Let us know your impressions.

Screenshot shows what the control panel looks like (in Firefox).

wraith808 · « **Reply #87 on:** May 22, 2013, 04:49 PM »

There's a lot of good in Notefrog. But on a completely shallow personal level, the interfaces leave me taken aback with shock as a user and a developer.

Completely shallow, I know... but as someone who loves designing the UX, it's something I have a hard time getting past.

TaoPhoenix · « **Reply #88 on:** May 22, 2013, 04:57 PM »

There's a lot of good in Notefrog. But on a completely shallow personal level, the interfaces leave me taken aback with shock as a user and a developer.

Completely shallow, I know... but as someone who loves designing the UX, it's something I have a hard time getting past.
-wraith808 (May 22, 2013, 04:49 PM)

It reminds me of my "dark colors" phase I went through enthralled by the Matrix, Johnny Mnemonic, some alien tech from various SciFi shows, and so on. That was a time when tech felt "cool", without any of the Big Brother and Shadowrun-Corp tracking themes currently going on today. However, the button placement does look pretty erratic even by the context of those influences.

IainB · « **Reply #89 on:** May 22, 2013, 10:36 PM »

@rjbull: Thanks for spotting that about NoteWindow. I hadn't yet got to it in my Google Reader. It looks rather nifty.
I am experimenting to see if I can use it in some kind of an integrated fashion together with NoteFrog.

allen · « **Reply #90 on:** May 24, 2013, 02:49 PM »

There's a lot of good in Notefrog. But on a completely shallow personal level, the interfaces leave me taken aback with shock as a user and a developer.

Completely shallow, I know... but as someone who loves designing the UX, it's something I have a hard time getting past.
-wraith808 (May 22, 2013, 04:49 PM)

This. I bought a license when Notefrog was really young, despite it being the ugliest software I've ever seen. Bad by Windows 3.1 standards. I figured it was just an awkward early phase but... years later I can only deduce that it is by "design". I can get behind function before form (Love ArsClip), but this is absurd.

rjbull · « **Reply #91 on:** May 24, 2013, 02:50 PM »

Berry, NoteFrog's author, has amended his blog post to include

Please note – NoteWindow is designed to accommodate a mobile, platform independent, browser-based, touch interface. It is not a windows (or any platform specific), desktop program. (and, a black background helps to conserve battery life on portable devices.)

which gives the reason for some of its appearance.

wraith808 · « **Reply #92 on:** May 24, 2013, 03:44 PM »

Well, the color, anyway.

But I've seen platform independent mobile browser-based touch interfaces done well...

...and I'll leave it at that.

superboyac · « **Reply #93 on:** May 24, 2013, 04:03 PM »

There's a lot of good in Notefrog. But on a completely shallow personal level, the interfaces leave me taken aback with shock as a user and a developer.

Completely shallow, I know... but as someone who loves designing the UX, it's something I have a hard time getting past.
-wraith808 (May 22, 2013, 04:49 PM)

This. I bought a license when Notefrog was really young, despite it being the ugliest software I've ever seen. Bad by Windows 3.1 standards. I figured it was just an awkward early phase but... years later I can only deduce that it is by "design". I can get behind function before form (Love ArsClip), but this is absurd.
-allen (May 24, 2013, 02:49 PM)

I agree. I got a license too and tried somewhat committing to it. But it never stuck with me. Still, it has some features i really enjoy. The interface is difficult to get past though. I've used arsclip, clipmate, CHS, notefrog, aceclip. They all have certain features that are unique, but in the end, my current workflow uses CHS and clipmate. CHS for the mouse popup and text cleanup features. Clipmate for hardcore archiving, complicated queries, and complex cut/paste jobs. CHS replaced Arsclip, especially once mouser implemented the icon feature. interface-wise, I liked aceclip the best, I love that program, but too much overlap, and not enough uniqueness with the other two I use.

I think what was initially attractive about notefrog was the find as you type. But eventually, all these programs got that, so now I don't know what is so great about it.

superboyac · « **Reply #94 on:** May 24, 2013, 04:08 PM »

i tell you what though, if notefrog's mobile version works with windows phone 8, I'll definitely be excited about that. Even though I have evernote, and evernote can sync with rightnote (my preferred notetaker), I wouldn't mind another alternative. I'm not a huge fan of evernote anymore, but it still is a good program.

It doesn't look like notefrog mobile can do syncing. It's more like an export to a webpage, which is handy in itself. but I still would prefer some kind of syncing method.

allen · « **Reply #95 on:** May 24, 2013, 08:53 PM »

I'm not a huge fan of evernote anymore, but it still is a good program.
-superboyac (May 24, 2013, 04:08 PM)

They just added reminders to the Web and Windows Phone app. Hook is set so much harder...

superboyac · « **Reply #96 on:** May 24, 2013, 11:07 PM »

I'm not a huge fan of evernote anymore, but it still is a good program.
-superboyac (May 24, 2013, 04:08 PM)

They just added reminders to the Web and Windows Phone app. Hook is set so much harder...
-allen (May 24, 2013, 08:53 PM)

true, the wp8 evernote app is pretty nice.

IainB · « **Reply #97 on:** December 15, 2013, 09:35 PM »

2013-12-16 1436hrs: Current NF v2.5.5beta testing.

An interim release to satisfy a few user requests.
Allows insertion of file links in item panel via holding CTRL key when adding an item via the item menu or via drag and drop.
All stack menu item exports "Save active stack List Items as" (text file, Browser-searchable, self-decrypting) are now based on the active stack list (searched) item content rather than the entire active stack content.
- @berry

I had been trialling NF v2.5.5beta, and posting to the forum at http://notefrog.com/forum/index.php
However, that forum seems to have been down for "Maintainence" (sic) for several days, so I shall notify @berry via email.
Meanwhile, here is a list of the NF v2.5.5beta issues that I have raised:

Major issues:
None to report at this stage.

Minor issues:

1. Persistence of ini/preferences:
The rule is that, if NoteFrog is installed into a location other than where it was previously located, where there is no existing ini/preferences file present, it will default to initial factory settings. It requires the ini (prefs) file in order to set previously defined user preferences correctly. If none is present, it uses defaults.
The ß test indicates that two conditions could cause this rule to be broken:
(a) Upgrade/installation of a new version of NF.
(b) Abnormal termination of NF from flat battery in a laptop.

This will likely only have an adverse effect for users who want NF to be set to "always ON" for capturing from the clipboard.
For example, by nature, and when online, I am an information junkie. That's why I use two clipboard managers simultaneously - Clipstory and CHS. The thing is that, at the point when one belatedly realises that one would like to have captured a lot of the content one has just been churning/recycling in and out of the clipoard, it is too late to recover that "lost" data if your clipboard material has not been saved as you go.
So, I normally use Clipstory (for the detritus) in conjunction with CHS - i.e., in case CHS is not always ON (because it does occasionally occur that the user has to get CHS to re-establish the Clipboard chain).
For the purposes of NF ß testing, I simply add NF into the mix, and if any issues arise with NF, then it is unlikely to adversely affect me.
2.Making the "always collect clips" a default could be a good fix to the above rule being broken: (i.e., lack of persistence of ini/preferences).
Any users who did not want it always ON, would need to disable it one time only.
4. "Skittery" mouse misbehaviour: (issue now resolved)
Playing around with this latest NFß, I had noticed that my mouse cursor was skittering around most annoyingly as I was typing, leading to my typing bits of text in at random different places in the body of text I was working on - e.g., in a discussion forum post. This behaviour was repeatable when NF was running, and ceased when it was not running.
However, this behaviour has since gone away, after several complex Windows updates, so is probably nothing to do with NF per se.

Earlier notes: (On the latter item, I had assumed spellchecker was always on when in edit mode, but it is only on after you enable it)

Notefrog v2.5.5 beta - 01 test notes 2013-11-24.png

Notefrog v2.5.5 beta - 01 test notes 2013-11-24.png

IainB · « **Reply #98 on:** December 15, 2013, 10:22 PM »

Update to opening post 2013-12-16. Minor changes, plus this special note:

Update 2013-12-16 - check out the xTea en/de-cryption:
Go to the Menu | Stack | Save Active Stack contents as a self-decrypting HTML archive.
I had not previously trialled this. It looks like a very handy encryption feature, unique to NF. It employs built-in encryption of clip text into self-decrypting HTML files. You need to try it out to understand what it is doing. It is a very nifty feature, and could be an excellent way of communicating notes in highly secure form.
This feature uses the xTea encryption method - available also from HT Consulting in a FREE standalone program, refer FrogTea.
If you have already downloaded that program from there, download it again as the file has been updated 2013-01-30 (now a smaller size of 133Kb), though it bears the same version number.

dcwul62 · « **Reply #99 on:** May 18, 2014, 12:08 AM »

@IainB

up front - thanks for the review!
just a small tip...

1. the current release seems to be 2.6
2. on http://notefrogblog.com/ it says
"
NoteFrog V3 will be released early next year and will not support Windows XP. XP will have been deprecated by Microsoft by then. One reason for NoteFrog deprecating XP support is the improvement to the clipboard handling available since Vista. No more broken clipboard chains!
"
I have not found v3 yet, so it is still under development I suppose.

3. the link to the forum: there is nothing except 'Maintainence'

=