Hello all,

triggered by next weeks' offer of 'Topicscape' at 'bitsdujour', I would like to ask if there are more PIM programs (not primarily Mind Mappers) besides Topicscape and The Brain, who try to visualize their contents. I looked at these both and was not too pleased with the way topics are presented.

Regards,
Peter.

Hi Peter.

Yes, there are...

- ConnectedText (www.connectedtext.com) for Windows
- Tinderbox (www.eastgate.com/tinderbox) and Curio (http://www.zengobi.com/products/curio/ for Mac OS
- and a number of other tools mentioned here: http://eric-blue.com/2009/05/10/15-effective-tools-for-visual-knowledge-management/

Franz

Hello Franz,

thanks for the links. Sadly, Tinderbox and Curio are Mac only. They look really good!

Regards,
Peter.

ConnectedText already allows you to see its contents in the Navigator as a visual representation, sort of like the Brain. You can navigate to any topic or node from any other node, and when you click on any of the nodes and are taken to the corresponding topic.

In the next version?I am a beta-tester?there is a "Graph" command that allows you to embed a static navigator-like graphic in any topic. You can specify the size of the picture and the level of depth in the linked topics desire. This looks very much like a mind map, and clicking on any node will take you to the corresponding topic.

So ConnectedText in addition to a very capable outliner will have a visual outliner that I have not seen as well implemented in any other application.

Manfred

I'd like to offer a few solutions. XMind, MindRaider, and Luminotes. The first two offer mainly a mindmap style visualization, but MindRaider goes even further. While Luminotes is simply a wiki with a client side option that is more robust than TiddlyWiki. IMO

http://www.xmind.net/
http://mindraider.sourceforge.net/
https://luminotes.com/notebooks/b68j9kjb9seusycicaxax5x7s

IMO, Topicspace is a joke, it's the same 2D flat tree looked at not directly from "above", but at some angle ...

OTOH, I quite like TheBrain, did you try different layouts? The basic one might feel a bit unusual at the beginning.

pereh wrote:

Hello all,

triggered by next weeks' offer of 'Topicscape' at 'bitsdujour', I would
like to ask if there are more PIM programs (not primarily Mind Mappers) besides
Topicscape and The Brain, who try to visualize their contents. I looked at these both
and was not too pleased with the way topics are presented.

Regards,
Peter.

Thanks to you all for your replies!

quaint: I checked The Brain, maybe I missed to try different layouts. I think it is good, but highly overpriced. I suggested it to 'bitsdujour', but they had no success in getting it, so far.

Regards,
Peter.

Does anyone out there use Tinderbox routinely? I have been intrigued by it for years but have not been able to figure out how to use it. I tried it out about 5 years ago, and the learning curve was so steep I couldn't quite fit it into a usable place.

Sorry for that, but English is not my first language... The answer was for quant, of course.

pereh wrote:

Thanks to you all for your replies!

quaint: I checked The Brain, maybe I missed to try
different layouts. I think it is good, but highly overpriced. I suggested it to
'bitsdujour', but they had no success in getting it, so far.

Regards,
Peter.

Jim wrote:

Does anyone out there use Tinderbox routinely? I have been intrigued by it for years
but have not been able to figure out how to use it. I tried it out about 5 years ago, and the
learning curve was so steep I couldn't quite fit it into a usable place.

Jim,

Like you, I had been intrigued by Tinderbox for a long time, but the high cost and the steep learning curve kept me from buying a copy. But, when it was on sale a couple of months ago my CRIMP got the better of me and I broke down and bought a license. I've found that it can be a pretty handy application, even if I don't use all (or even most) of its powerful features. For example, I often use it to work through a timeline or schedule. A historic group I'm associated with is publishing a book and I've built a model in Tinderbox to help me get a handle on the process. Working in a map view, and using the feature called "Adornments" I have created columns representing each month for the coming year. (Adornments are simply boxes (or circles, or whatever shape you choose) that reside in the background of your model -- they are useful for collecting related items.) Then I created additional adornments, which serve as rows representing aspects of the project -- i.e. writing, illustration, editing, layout, printing. Then I add notes representing various tasks and steps. Each of these has a field for who is responsible. Additional functions can automatically color-code the note based on the person responsible. Then I dragged each of thes note-tasks to its place on my timeline, and in a glance I can see what steps should be due when and by whom. Of course, you can use any number of project management applications to do this same thing, but I like the fact that it is very tactile. That is, I manually move items around, which helps me think through the process. Notes about the various aspects of the project can also be easily sorted and organized in Tinderbox as well. And most of this doesn't take a lot of skill. Just watching a few of the video tutorials should get you started.

Another example is that I keep a log of the movies I've watched (at least the ones worth noting), and I've begun using Tinderbox for this purpose. I create a note for each movie, and these notes have fields for date viewed, director, stars, and rating, as well as the main text field, where I write a short review. I've set up agents (which are just other notes that have the ability to collect other notes based upon criteria and then do things to them) that gather the film notes based upon my rating and then color code them by rating.

Essentially I tend to use Tinderbox as a white board for index cards, which can be either manipulated manually or automatically.

But there are so many aspects of Tinderbox that I haven't even tried or explored yet, and may never. Tinderbox is far from perfect. In addition to the learning curve, it is also pretty quirky. I don't know if this is more the result of user error or bugs in the program. And Tinderbox does not have the most appealing user interface.

Still, if you are not frightened off by the price, it may be worth the plunge. To appreciate TB, you really have to roll up your sleeves and use it.

Steve Z.

pereh wrote:

Thanks to you all for your replies!

quaint:

LOL

I checked The Brain, maybe I missed to try

different layouts. I think it is good, but highly overpriced. I suggested it to
'bitsdujour', but they had no success in getting it, so far.

Regards,
Peter.