Paolo,
Could you discuss briefly the new features in NB 3.0 you think are most important.
Many thanks,
Laurence
Laurence,
There are a lot of new, useful small things here and there. Two of my preferred are the two-page view, where you can open a second window on the same file, and the various stickies that can be attached to a page or a single action/topic. I especially like the fact stickies can still be visible when you turn page, as you would with real stickies you put as a bookmark in a paper notebook.
You can even use stickies as free-moving index cards on a blank page, and this might be really fine when planning a story or a project.
I like the new diagramming features, even if they cannot still replace OmniGraffle for pure diagramming. But I guess they will find full use when a tablet Mac is available, and then make NB a really complete scrapbook tool, complete with handwriting recognition. Since I use diagrams a lot when planning, this is a very welcome feature to me.
Also, annotating imported PDF files could be useful, even if I don’t plan to make great use of this feature. But I see its potential for other users, for whom NB is a repository of research materials more than text snippets.
Paolo
Thanks Paolo - I value your thoughts very highly. And your DayBooks are quite extraordinary. I’ll see if I can make NB work for me. In fact, I used NB to run a large monthly newspaper for a few years between 2002 and 2004. It just requires too much thought.
I guess I’m still waiting for a program that on facing pages has a daily list of time slots for appointments and blocking out time for projects and writing, and on the other page a notes page. There’s probably something like that at diyplanner.com but it would not be dynamic.
It’s interesting how the computer paradigm has evolved into a one-page environment (if that’s the correct way of putting it). You can get some idea of this if you try writing in Keith’s MyColumn for a while, although in the end it’s not really practical. (Still, when I am really on deadline, it’s the fastest way I know to write and keep my entire article or review in front of me - without having to read very small type or very wide lines!)
Laurence
Laurence,
I wonder if iCal is not already doing this, and can fit your needs.
Paolo
Sounds like a job for OmniOutliner.
Sorry to come up with the same name over and over again—but you definitely should take a look at the new 2.2 version of Together: http://reinventedsoftware.com/together/.
Lots of new features including the long demanded nested groups.
At least until DevonThink goes public beta you can play around a little with Together.
I’m also a Together fan and early adopter and, believe me, for us the nested smart folder capacity is “showing us the love” by the developer and even more reason to try this great app. But I also use DT Pro extensively and like many aspects of the program and anxiously await 2.0. I will likely continue to use both apps as I do now: DT Pro for larger, more content intensive, databases where the AI is invaluable and Together as a mid-range, sometimes stop-gap database, because of the ease in which it handles quick notes, drag-and-drop Shelf, and the simple way it handles files. But it may well come down to what type of a package DT Pro 2 ends up being.
I have been round and round the houses on this one and have every bought every piece of software mentioned here. Together is excellent as a database. However for my current project I’m using Journler. It is very similar in many ways but feels more like a notepad than a database. I have a folder and sub folders for the project (a novel). The sub folders cover characters, locations, notes, scenes etc, and contain the reference material.
I am also doing something I’ve been promising myself for ages, namely keeping running notes on the project as it progresses, detailing my thoughts, concerns and possibilities for the future. I’ve tried doing this before in MacJournal but it got awkward and Together doesn’t feel right either. Journler very definitely does. The other plus is that in order to sync Journler between my desktop and MacBook all I have to do is drag over the folder in documents. The syncing of Together through MobileMe was problematic to say the least - because of MobileMe, not Together. I got a lot of problems there and some lost or confused material.
The other really useful thing, which I am sure could be achieved through any of these, is to use tags for possibilities and ‘must use’ items which are then collected in a folder so I can remember stuff I once thought was important and would otherwise have let slip.
@bodsham: We must hold many of the same software licenses and logged the same number of bank withdrawals. I, took, tried and liked many of Journier’s features. One thing I found that I miss in Together is the ability to record and audio note. I often did that when something bothered me about a scene and I wanted to talk through it a bit and get thoughts down. I also liked the developer quite a bit; found him to be cordial and responsive on the few occasions I had a question. This during a time when the application carried no price tag per se though a donation did not go amiss.
Together is very good but I think it’s more of a database, like Yojimbo, than a note and thought taking application like Journler. I am NOT buying any more of these things!
Bet you do, though. 
I’m always saying that, and I always succumb eventually…
Having discovered that Journler is no longer under active development and up for sale I have now switched my story organisation to MacJournal and documented exactly how I do this here - http://www.davidhewson.com/blog/2008/12/17/how-to-manage-a-book.html
MacJournal has several advantages over Journler it seems to me. It’s a lot simpler to use. It can create a single dedicated file (in other words one for the book only, stored in the project folder). And it’s nice and easy for producing a running journal about the book where I can record issues, ideas and progress.
I had bought MacJournal already by the way so this does not involve breaking my earlier promise that I ain’t buying any more of this stuff! Storing research in Scrivener itself may well be enough for most people. I’m just a research freak and like developing ideas and themes outside the main manuscript - it seems to provide some kind of extra perspective.
I REST MY CASE 
OMG?! 
From where do you know that? The Journler website is still there, the developer is discussing the next version in the forum, displays screenshots… What has happend? When? Why?
Well to be strictly accurate the developer says he…
http://journler.com/community/forums/viewtopic.php?t=3773
That was back in October and no news since. I’m afraid it doesn’t fill me with confidence when it comes to the future. Also, to be honest when I dug out MacJournal, which I bought ages ago and never used, and tried it, I did find it a lot simpler. Plus it can save a specific single subject database in the project folder, which Journler can’t.
Of course this probably means current Journler uses have absolutely nothing to worry about. But the lack of enthusiasm and uncertainty did make me look around I’m afraid.
As to future development I suggest you take a look here…
journler.com/community/forums/vi … php?t=3726
Sad really but it must be very hard being a solitary software developer - makes me admire Keith’s stalwart support for Scrivener even more.
I did the same thing with my old copy of Circus Ponies Notebook. It was relatively easy to get everything out of Journler and into Notebook. While I like Journler’s interface and philosophy a bit better, Notebook still isn’t bad for a daily diary. I forgot how handy the automatically generated appendix feature is, too.
I’d forgotten I even had a licence. I tried it once years ago and never much cared for it, because at the time I was looking for something different. I wouldn’t use it for any kind of serious document are research archival, but as a place to just type down daily thoughts and ideas—it’s nice.
Guess that wouldn’t work for me. Ideas are such rare commodities, that we celebrate any time they occur to me. We haven’t thrown a party since Eisenhower was President. Or was it Truman?
And thoughts, well. … this post illustrates the entirety of that concept. :mrgreen:
Seriously, I appreciate all the ideas and thoughts presented in this thread. Should last me a lifetime. 
But I do worry. Journler is one of my three most important applications; I practically live in it! And it would not be the first time that an awesome application that I rely upon gets sold and, afterwards, abandoned or miscontinued/maldeveloped.
In the moment, there is no practical reason to worry, OK. Journler 2.5 is close to perfect, if it would go on working as it is the rest of my life I’d had nothing to complain. The problem is, the underlying computers tend to develop away from applications… 
I sympathise. We do place a lot of reliance on these things. But if you’ve got a lot of material in there already I wouldn’t worry too much. It is very easy to export as a last resort after all, and frankly I can’t see it becoming unusable from a simple OS X update. If I was already committed I think I’d stay committed but since I was a beginner, and had MacJournal already, it made sense for me to switch.
I’m quite shocked to hear that about Journler. After I had tested a number of organizing and journaling apps only two candidates stayed in the race, Journler and Together.
It seems I went for the right candidate—Together—but there is certainly no feeling of triumph here. Both programs are quite similar, it appeared to me that they were aiming for same goal but coming from two different directions: Together at first place being an organizer and improving its note taking features more and more, Journler, as its name tells, made for journaling but with amazing storage features.
I do feel very sorry for Phil. He put so much effort in creating a great piece of software and decided to take money for it way too late—why should anyone pay for 2.6 when 2.5 was already amazing?
And it reminds us how fast something can come to an end if it depends on just one single person …
Can it be you are just waiting for the BIG idea? The important one that will be the corner stone to the new best selling novel (or whatever you are writing)?
I use Together like Amber does use her note book software and it is a lot of stuff I put into it. So am I a genius and you are not? No, not at all. I just switched off any kind of filters (like good taste, for example) and just let it flow. There isn’t any plan behind it. It comes from somewhere and might go somewhere. Most of it won’t, though, because it’s just crap. But if you keep collecting it and re-read it after a while some of it might make sense for any of your existing projects or a new one. Type down, maybe tag, wait what happens.
The biggest problem I face is the fact that in my case the old cliché is right and a lot of ideas come while brushing my teeth. The monotonous moving of the brush (not electrical) while being in a distraction free environment seems to have some impact on the brain cells. But no Together or anything around. Paper isn’t a friend of places with water and cleaning products around neither.
(Just to make this clear: This is not the way I write texts. It’s just the first level of collecting little pieces which might be a part of something bigger. The writing itself is craftsmanship and it is done in Scrivener.)