Re: [Tb] Tinderbox, OmniOutliner, and GTD

Hi all,

I'm a writer, too. And I share Roberto's sentiments. I really like
Tinderbox, and the new features in the latest upgrade are welcome. I
do a little bit of scripting and I still found it frustrating to
learn Tinderbox. When I originally bought it, I fussed with it
because I was procrastinating with my writing, and then dropped it
when I got going on a draft manuscript because I couldn't get it to
work the way I wanted it to without having to go back to the manual.

I've heard all the arguments for not having a more detailed (i.e.
user examples in the) manual -- because it would be limiting. But
sometimes too much freedom and too many choices can be debilitating.
The creative person who can figure out how to do innovative things
won't be limited by examples and instructions. A less technically
inclined user, or someone who just doesn't want to do so much futzing
around to get to a solution, would appreciate an instruction manual
which is just that, instructional and relevant, as opposed to
functional specs, which is what I consider the Tinderbox Manual to
be. (Sorry to sound so harsh, its not meant to be.)

I've come back to Tinderbox in the last six to nine months, and I
still like it a lot, and since I now know how to do more with it,
using it doesn't seem as daunting as when I first purchased it a few
years ago.

For example, I finally grasped the concept of creating a TB World, if
you will, and placing lots of different types of notes in it, instead
of creating a separate document for my journal, another for my
manuscript ideas, and yet another for my research notes.

My biggest fear is getting too dependent on it, and then losing the
document. (Eeek). (And before anyone says it, yes, I do backups.)

Elaine Sims
An evolving Tinberbox fan

On Jul 10, 2006, at 6:07 PM, Roberto Franco Moreira wrote:

> Hi
>
> I agree with Nick. Tinderbox is great but can be terribly
> frustrating. I quit using the program when I was trying to export
> an OPML. Ok, for you guys who can write applescript or use html
> it's easy... but I'm a writer! I was amazed by the possibilities
> but to implement simple agents I always had to go through all the
> documentation. After some time I forgot how I did it and if I
> wanted to change something I had to go through it again!
>
> Now I use Omnioutliner, but I would like to be able to use Tinderbox.
>
> roberto
>
>
> On 26 de jun de 2006, at 04:14, David J Garbutt wrote:
>
>>> An example that might clarify what some people might mean when
>>> they say that Tinderbox is kind of an "island" is just the
>>> issue of text editing.
>> Hi,
>> I agree with much of the drift of this thread, I have at times
>> found TB
>> frustrating. But the text editing is a problem, I think I would be
>> happy
>> with a text format that was at least easy to type and remember...
>>
>> Going back to the original point about GTD I have been using a
>> different
>> solution - Tiddlywiki for about a year now. It has developed very
>> fast and
>> really is grown now into a hypertext environment - but implemented
>> in a
>> single file (that includes the program) useable with any modern
>> browser.
>>
>> Inside the notes it uses wikiwiki text formatting and renders on
>> the fly to
>> the screen using CSS stylesheets. (these are dynamic and
>> customisable, they
>> are stored in tiddlers also).
>>
>> There are currently two GTD implementations d3 and MPTW- GTD.
>>
>> Start from the main web site at www.tiddlywiki.com. Make sure you
>> have a
>> free evening before you visit ;-)
>>
>> This fills an important condition for me - I need to have a system on
>> Windows as well as my home Mac.
>>
>> TiddlyWiki however is not an outliner - it has NO outline
>> structure - it
>> only has notes (called tiddlers), links, and tags. It has plugins
>> and an
>> amazing array of formatting - for example tables in notes, and
>> tools for
>> splitting tiddlers and putting them together into larger pieces.
>>
>> I have planned one day to make a TB export template, but I still
>> haven't got
>> around to that :-(
>>
>> Check it out.
>>
>> I think it is very interesting (as a topic in interface design,
>> etc.) that
>> you can do so much with just a tag box and customisable macros. I
>> know you
>> could make something similar in TB (lets do it!), but having a
>> flexible
>> simple system just there is worth a lot. I do not understand
>> exactly why
>> this should be but perhaps it is to do with marginal costs, the
>> cost of
>> adding that to a TB file is too big to bother with a very simple
>> application, so it doesn't get started, later the amount of info
>> to transfer
>> is too much, so it still doesn't happen.
>> And the more expert you are the lower the perceived cost of TB is,
>> and
>> therefore the more useful.
>>
>> Ciao
>> Dave
>>
>>
>> --
>> Dave Garbutt
>>
>> Ingelsteinweg 4d
>> CH 4143 Dornach
>>
>> +41 79 326 8970 (Home: 061 692 6349)
>> http://www.mybasel.ch/verkehr_regioplan_karte.cfm?ID=Strassen,
>> 14139&ParaZoom
>> &Zoom=3000
>>
>> Dr Donne's verses are like the peace of God; they pass all
>> understanding.
>> James I (1566-1625)
>> King of England. Attrib.
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>
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Received on Tue Jul 11 2006 - 08:16:34 EDT