Looking for PIM / Thesis Writing Software for the PC

Posted by Dr Andus
Oct 24, 2009 at 09:11 PM

Hi Lucas,

Many thanks for describing your work process vis-a-vis ConnectedText, it makes a lot of sense. I was hoping to find a tool that can do something like that. I trialled a whole range of wiki tools but in the end none of them ended up as user-friendly as I wished. In fact I did have a look at CT a couple of years ago but eventually I went for Whizfolders. I don’t quite remember what it was exactly that swayed my mind. I suspect I found Whizfolders just more intuitive to use (not as steep a learning curve).

Funnily there may have been an aesthetic aspect to it as well. I still can’t quite explain it but I get a strange satisfaction out of working with Whizfolders, which seems to be simultaneously an aesthetic and cognitive experience, in the sense that I simply enjoy using it for demanding cognitive work. There is an element of play to it. This is despite the fact that Whizfolders’ interface is really way to busy, with too many different coloured buttons, to the extent that I wish I could just get rid of them with one click and just work with a white interface when writing.

I should have also mentioned regarding my work flow that when I write I use two screens. I have Word open on my laptop, while right above that on a stand I have a 22inch screen where I can display my Natara Bonsai outline (or Whizfolder) alongside my EndNote references (and toggle it with a PDF reader whenever I need to go into a referenced text). So there is an advantage sometimes to working with several software, as one can open them on different screens).

doctorandus