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Putting down text now, connecting it later
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Posted by shatteredmindofbob
Mar 18, 2013 at 12:20 AM
Thanks for the help, everyone.
Though, I’m not quite ‘getting’ the free-floating nodes in Freeplane. Maybe there’s some kind of bug, but they seem to overlap every time I create a new one and I can’t seem to drag one by itself, the rest all follow. Doesn’t help that there’s no keyboard shortcut to create a new free node.
Scrivener, I really need to spend some more time learning. Seems like there’s more to it than just being a really good combination of a word processor and note taker.
As for Brainstorm, looks like we may have a winner. But man, could it use an update. Or some enterprising person who wants to create an updated version…
Or I guess I could go analog and sit on the floor with a pen and a bunch of index cards…
Posted by MadaboutDana
Mar 18, 2013 at 12:14 PM
As a fellow copywriter, I generally use TreeSheets (free), but for certain projects I also use SuperNoteCard (multi-platform, basic version free).
I’ve actually submitted rough drafts/layout concepts to clients by generating PDF files from TreeSheets - once you’re familiar with the keystroke shortcuts, it’s very quick and remarkably powerful.
For other projects I find myself using Programmer’s Notepad (free), which is especially convenient in that it allows you to set up several text files in a ‘project’, then call up the same set of files over and over again, until you’ve finished the project. It’s text-only, but that has its advantages. I suppose you could probably use NoteTab Light in much the same way.
For rich text, I generally use the app Formerly Known as Smereka TreeProjects (now just TreeProjects, I believe?). You can arrange multiple notes across a workspace using drag and drop - great for comparing different approaches/ideas.
On my iPad I tend to use Apple’s own Numbers, which has one of the best whiteboard-like layouts I’ve ever used (but also allows you to use tables, which I tend to use for variants of a particular idea, e.g. a headline or call to action). I’ve set up a whole bunch of varied table templates in Numbers that I copy and paste for certain types of text/project. Again, I’ve generated PDFs from Numbers with ideas for clients - you can make the PDFs look very elegant, if you want to, but without wasting lots of time with complicated formatting (so vastly easier than e.g. Word or any other word processor). Plus the tabs in Numbers mean you can set up ‘pasteboards’ to store stuff that may or may not be useful.
Another useful app is TiddlyWiki (again, free), which is perfect for smaller chunks of text. You can use tags to differentiate stuff, then pull it all together as you zero in on what you actually want.
Just a few more ideas for the pot! I tend to vary my tools depending on the nature of the project.