Best of Both Worlds, Twice - I think this was the missing element to a perfect system: The "one db, one tree" nexus is dead.

Posted by Tom
Jan 30, 2014 at 01:33 AM

I signed up just so that I could respond to this thread. I’ve been actively using FreeMind for a couple months and noticed they added cloning (recursion) in version 1.0.0. Of course it has a bug in the stable release, and I don’t expect a new build anytime soon!

This encouraged me to really evaluate how I was using the tool anyway; and while I think that it can be improved to add the functionality I’m looking for—it’s not even designed to be an outliner… I don’t really care for the visual components (styles), as much as structuring ideas without a lot of duplication. I started looking for another tool that would accomplish what I want, and the only thing that may actually come close is your software (InfoQube).

I can tell you understand a lot of concepts that other software is lacking. I don’t want to discourage you at all, because I know that you’ve spent a lot of personal time on this. I’m very thankful for your contributions!!! From a new user perspective though, it is confusing and virtually useless. It has a ton of awesome features, but the UI is overwhelming. The average user is going to want a simple interface to get started with advanced options hidden in structured menus and dialogs.

I’m not suggesting to trash the idea altogether, but if you’re open to feedback then please listen. I am looking for an easy way to outline data without having to duplicate it. I want simple tagging (and tag groups). I want to be able to see my tags depending on what node(s) I have selected in the sidebar and a simple search and check box to show all of them. When I select a tag, then I want to see all the items that have that tag. Same for tag groups. If I decide to delete a mirrored node, then I want the option to delete all of it’s clones (or just break the clone for that particular instance).

Tag groups will essentially act as a field category, and then the tags themselves will be field values that don’t have to be categorized. This will allow me to structure my data so that I can see relations between items, without having to duplicate it and possibly lose focus of my initial idea. E.g. I want to create a parent node of herbal teas, and tag their health benefits… I also want to list their scientific classification in a different structure to see their relationship to each other, which will help me visualize their benefits based on their classification, but in a separate parent. Then I should be able to create a parent called Herbal Teas and clone (mirror) directly to one of the other child nodes from another parent. Otherwise my data is going to lose value if it isn’t consistent.

I know that I’m spitting a lot of ideas out here, but I was hoping you’d be willing to evaluate them to see if you might be interested in changing your UI strategy. I think we’re on the same page, but without a functional product it isn’t very useful for what I (or other users will probably want to accomplish).