Maps e.g., etc.

Posted by Amontillado
Jun 9, 2022 at 10:27 PM

I’m a little lost. The links 22111 posted don’t work for me. What is “UI”? User interface? Of what?

If my comments about a reader’s experience being sequential where a traditional outline is a hierarchy prompted debate, let me clarify. That’s true in my experience and from my point of view. I’m an unpublished wannabe. If your mileage varies, great.

Regarding a complex technical reference work, I would certainly organize my knowledge of the subject in a hierarchy of notes. That’s the best way I know to organize facts. I like Devonthink for that because inevitably at least some portions of a knowledge base will fit an alternative hierarchy. Since Devonthink’s tags are essentially alternative hierarchies, no problem. My World War II notes could be organized in a hierarchy based on geography at the same time the same notes are in a separate hierarchy of political goals. That’s pretty cool, but it doesn’t tell a story.

The quickest way for my own technical writing to become pedantic and stuffy is to drill too deep. A chapter in a reference should have a deliberate scope. For instance, a section on the user interface to a software system may have no need to discuss developer APIs even thought the two are fundamentally related.

Without any doubt, I would plan the progression of overview through summation in a technical reference as a sequence of ideas, not as a hierarchy. That’‘s what an outline is for, actually, to plan a work from start to finish. There are other needs for the writer, though, such as consistent private notes related to more than one place in your work. You can make those notes lower levels in an outline, but if the same note applies to more than one topic in your work your notes are a little less easy to keep consistent and relevant.

I’m delighted with new features in Curio because I can mock up what events tell the story alongside references for why things are happening, particularly since those references can appear as duplicate instances in multiple places.

I suspect Tinderbox would do a better job if I knew the ins and outs of Tinderbox. Or maybe Obsidian.

And why am I bothering to respond? I think some people who hate outlining (like myself) would be better off if they planned what to write. The challenge is to plan in a way that doesn’t stifle creativity.

If I plan a story in a way that doesn’t tell the story, I’m spinning my wheels.