Announcement: My Notes TW 2.0 now available!
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Dave Gifford - http://www.giffmex.org/
Jan 14, 2008, 1:04:36 AM1/14/08
to TiddlyWiki
Hi all
I just completed a major overhaul of My Notes TW, a note-taking
adaptation of TiddlyWiki. I was dissatisfied with the original, so I
fixed what I disliked about it.
Now, if you want to tag a note with a topic or note-type, you just use
the handy dropdown list.
Now, if you want to create a new topic or note-type, you can do so
with one click. Doing this automatically generates the index for that
topic and note-type and adds it to the main menu.
Now, there are several note-types built in.
Also, I have upgraded it to TW version 2.3 and cleaned up a few items.
There are instructions for using, and also for transferring your
current notes from the earlier version of My Notes. I am pleased as
punch to offer this vast improvement of this tool to you all, for free
of course. Link: http://www.giffmex.org/emptynotestw.html
Comments and suggestions are always welcome. Blessings,
Dave Gifford
I just completed a major overhaul of My Notes TW, a note-taking
adaptation of TiddlyWiki. I was dissatisfied with the original, so I
fixed what I disliked about it.
Now, if you want to tag a note with a topic or note-type, you just use
the handy dropdown list.
Now, if you want to create a new topic or note-type, you can do so
with one click. Doing this automatically generates the index for that
topic and note-type and adds it to the main menu.
Now, there are several note-types built in.
Also, I have upgraded it to TW version 2.3 and cleaned up a few items.
There are instructions for using, and also for transferring your
current notes from the earlier version of My Notes. I am pleased as
punch to offer this vast improvement of this tool to you all, for free
of course. Link: http://www.giffmex.org/emptynotestw.html
Comments and suggestions are always welcome. Blessings,
Dave Gifford
mott
Jan 14, 2008, 4:14:19 AM1/14/08
to TiddlyWiki
Wow! I wish I'd seen this earlier. I have been trying to build a
notetaking tiddly myself, but this is awesome.
2 questions:
1. Can I integrate the BibblyTiddly instead of using the simplified
biblio that's included?
2. I have a large Endnote biblio database. Is there anyway to import
that? I don't like the endnote interface, but the idea of handcopying
all the details is not very appealing...
Thanks,
Helga
On Jan 14, 7:04 pm, "Dave Gifford - http://www.giffmex.org/"
notetaking tiddly myself, but this is awesome.
2 questions:
1. Can I integrate the BibblyTiddly instead of using the simplified
biblio that's included?
2. I have a large Endnote biblio database. Is there anyway to import
that? I don't like the endnote interface, but the idea of handcopying
all the details is not very appealing...
Thanks,
Helga
On Jan 14, 7:04 pm, "Dave Gifford - http://www.giffmex.org/"
Dave Gifford - http://www.giffmex.org/
Jan 14, 2008, 6:58:58 AM1/14/08
to TiddlyWiki
> 1. Can I integrate the BibblyTiddly instead of using the simplified
> biblio that's included?
take time I don't have currently, but I will add it to my to-do
list...The main user issue would be filesize. Adding more form fields
could balloon the starting size of My Notes, which starts at 462kb.
Having your BibblyWiki and My Notes info together would make it huge.
> 2. I have a large Endnote biblio database. Is there anyway to import
> that? I don't like the endnote interface, but the idea of handcopying
> all the details is not very appealing...
I don't have Endnote. Are there any features in Endnote that would be
essential for My Notes to make it an attractive alternative?
Dave Gifford
Swampy
Jan 15, 2008, 8:16:14 PM1/15/08
to TiddlyWiki
Helga,
Regarding importing your EndNote library, you can try exporting the
library in a well-known text based format and then write an import
filter to bring it into TW. You might also consider using BibTeX
instead of BibblyTiddly. Paulo Soares has a BibTeX plugin at
http://www.math.ist.utl.pt/~psoares/addons.html.
Personally, I think you might want to avoid dealing with bibliography
data directly in TW altogether. Instead, I would use Firefox with
Zotero. I presume you know where to find Firefox, and you can find
Zotero here: http://www.zotero.org/. You can export from EndNote and
import to Zotero pretty easily, and most things work. The only problem
in your situation (and mine) is that the current incantation of Zotero
bogs down a bit with very large bibliographic databases, but the
developers say they are addressing this. Given the performance hit
with large files in the current version of Zotero, I'd recommend
continuing to use EndNote for your main database and using Zotero+TW
for notes and related references.
For rendering citations in TW, you can then use OpenOffice.org with
the Zotero plugin to create tiddlers in html. Use the <html></html>
tags in the tiddler to surround the text from OOo. You can automate
the linkage between TW and OOo a bit with Pascal Collins'
ExternalizePlugin and set OOo to your external editor. This works
quite well, although the references for a given note are stored in its
tiddler, rather than in a single tiddler for the entire TW.
Ideally we'd have a Zotero plugin much like Paulo's BibTeX plugin. It
would give the user the option of configuring reference lists to (a)
appear in the individual tiddler with the citations, (b) in a single
tiddler for the entire TW (complete with embedded links to references
in the reference list, or (c) to any of a set of reference lists named
by tags in the citing tiddler.
Still, rather than reinvent the wheel, I think this approach is
adequate and practical. In particular, accessing the bibliographic
database through your browser, as Zotero does, seems much more useful
and flexible than housing it in TW. The advantages outweigh the
somewhat clumsy way one currently has to integrate Zotero (or any
other bibliographic software) into TW. Besides, a Zotero plugin might
show up some day.
Swamy
On Jan 14, 6:58 am, "Dave Gifford - http://www.giffmex.org/"
Regarding importing your EndNote library, you can try exporting the
library in a well-known text based format and then write an import
filter to bring it into TW. You might also consider using BibTeX
instead of BibblyTiddly. Paulo Soares has a BibTeX plugin at
http://www.math.ist.utl.pt/~psoares/addons.html.
Personally, I think you might want to avoid dealing with bibliography
data directly in TW altogether. Instead, I would use Firefox with
Zotero. I presume you know where to find Firefox, and you can find
Zotero here: http://www.zotero.org/. You can export from EndNote and
import to Zotero pretty easily, and most things work. The only problem
in your situation (and mine) is that the current incantation of Zotero
bogs down a bit with very large bibliographic databases, but the
developers say they are addressing this. Given the performance hit
with large files in the current version of Zotero, I'd recommend
continuing to use EndNote for your main database and using Zotero+TW
for notes and related references.
For rendering citations in TW, you can then use OpenOffice.org with
the Zotero plugin to create tiddlers in html. Use the <html></html>
tags in the tiddler to surround the text from OOo. You can automate
the linkage between TW and OOo a bit with Pascal Collins'
ExternalizePlugin and set OOo to your external editor. This works
quite well, although the references for a given note are stored in its
tiddler, rather than in a single tiddler for the entire TW.
Ideally we'd have a Zotero plugin much like Paulo's BibTeX plugin. It
would give the user the option of configuring reference lists to (a)
appear in the individual tiddler with the citations, (b) in a single
tiddler for the entire TW (complete with embedded links to references
in the reference list, or (c) to any of a set of reference lists named
by tags in the citing tiddler.
Still, rather than reinvent the wheel, I think this approach is
adequate and practical. In particular, accessing the bibliographic
database through your browser, as Zotero does, seems much more useful
and flexible than housing it in TW. The advantages outweigh the
somewhat clumsy way one currently has to integrate Zotero (or any
other bibliographic software) into TW. Besides, a Zotero plugin might
show up some day.
Swamy
On Jan 14, 6:58 am, "Dave Gifford - http://www.giffmex.org/"
Dave Gifford - http://www.giffmex.org/
Jan 15, 2008, 10:54:06 PM1/15/08
to TiddlyWiki
I agree with what Swampy says if one is talking about major academic
work, although the Zotero extension seems more geared for web research
than for book research. I like Zotero and think it has a lot of
potential. I discovered it only after creating BibblyWiki. I had paid
for the Scholar's Aid software and then discovered TiddlyWiki, and I
think BibblyWiki is better than Scholar's Aid. But there are other
options out there that I have not investigated.
BibblyWiki's function is as a free way for people with small to medium
personal libraries to organize their books, take notes on them in the
same way, and create automatic indexes by title, author, topic or call
number. It also renders bibliographies based on form fields, which may
be helpful for students. Or not. But it is not a substitute for full
academic software. And it is not appropriate for a school library
beyond 2 or 3,000 books. I use it for a library of 3,300 books and the
indexes become too slow.
My Notes TW is, I think, more helpful of the two of my TWs. It is a
helpful and free way for anyone to take notes and quickly see them in
indexes and subindexes. TagglyTagging is an alternate way, which I
have used on occasion, but I think My Notes TW is more intuitive.
If you are just getting started in organizing your notes, I think My
Notes is a very good way of doing so, is free, and can be tweaked in
many TiddlyWiki ways.
If you are already using a major note-taking software, perhaps you
should probably stick with it rather than transfer all your hard
work.
If there are features of other note-taking programs that I can easily
add to make MyNotes more helpful, I will do so. But I don't have the
technical knowledge to make TiddlyWiki compatible with other software
or formats.
As you can see, I am candid about the limitations of what I do. All my
creations were done for personal reasons, and I merely made empty
templates available for others to use or modify if they turn out to be
helpful. I think Giffr and BibblyWiki are less helpful, and My Notes
and TiddlyDu2 are more so. But none of these were created with the
intention of competing with software created by teams of experts with
investment $ trying to make money off their work. I have other work,
and I am also involved in many other side projects.
Dave Gifford
work, although the Zotero extension seems more geared for web research
than for book research. I like Zotero and think it has a lot of
potential. I discovered it only after creating BibblyWiki. I had paid
for the Scholar's Aid software and then discovered TiddlyWiki, and I
think BibblyWiki is better than Scholar's Aid. But there are other
options out there that I have not investigated.
BibblyWiki's function is as a free way for people with small to medium
personal libraries to organize their books, take notes on them in the
same way, and create automatic indexes by title, author, topic or call
number. It also renders bibliographies based on form fields, which may
be helpful for students. Or not. But it is not a substitute for full
academic software. And it is not appropriate for a school library
beyond 2 or 3,000 books. I use it for a library of 3,300 books and the
indexes become too slow.
My Notes TW is, I think, more helpful of the two of my TWs. It is a
helpful and free way for anyone to take notes and quickly see them in
indexes and subindexes. TagglyTagging is an alternate way, which I
have used on occasion, but I think My Notes TW is more intuitive.
If you are just getting started in organizing your notes, I think My
Notes is a very good way of doing so, is free, and can be tweaked in
many TiddlyWiki ways.
If you are already using a major note-taking software, perhaps you
should probably stick with it rather than transfer all your hard
work.
If there are features of other note-taking programs that I can easily
add to make MyNotes more helpful, I will do so. But I don't have the
technical knowledge to make TiddlyWiki compatible with other software
or formats.
As you can see, I am candid about the limitations of what I do. All my
creations were done for personal reasons, and I merely made empty
templates available for others to use or modify if they turn out to be
helpful. I think Giffr and BibblyWiki are less helpful, and My Notes
and TiddlyDu2 are more so. But none of these were created with the
intention of competing with software created by teams of experts with
investment $ trying to make money off their work. I have other work,
and I am also involved in many other side projects.
Dave Gifford
Dave Gifford - http://www.giffmex.org/
Jan 16, 2008, 4:33:47 PM1/16/08
to TiddlyWiki
bump. In case some hadn't seen it...
I posted it at 1am...
I posted it at 1am...
mott
Jan 28, 2008, 5:48:57 AM1/28/08
to TiddlyWiki
Thanks Swampy,
this is the kind of help I needed. I did run across Paulo's BibTeX
plugin, that's nicer than including all individual details as in
BibblyTiddly.
Regarding Endnote, it's what the University pushes on us, and it's
extremely annoying to use. Been looking for an alternative for a long
time. Will check out Zotero - have been using Firefox for years ;-)
> > I don't have Endnote. Are there any features in Endnote that would be
> > essential for My Notes to make it an attractive alternative?
No, none as far as I can see, unless you need to have a zillion
different export formats for some reason. That's all they seem to
focus on. Every new edition, I think they get better, and it's still
basically a DOS-based editing program that's very user-unfriendly.
this is the kind of help I needed. I did run across Paulo's BibTeX
plugin, that's nicer than including all individual details as in
BibblyTiddly.
Regarding Endnote, it's what the University pushes on us, and it's
extremely annoying to use. Been looking for an alternative for a long
time. Will check out Zotero - have been using Firefox for years ;-)
> > I don't have Endnote. Are there any features in Endnote that would be
> > essential for My Notes to make it an attractive alternative?
different export formats for some reason. That's all they seem to
focus on. Every new edition, I think they get better, and it's still
basically a DOS-based editing program that's very user-unfriendly.
mott
Jan 28, 2008, 5:57:33 AM1/28/08
to TiddlyWiki
Oh, wow, THANKS!!! Zotero is EXACLTY what I have been looking for -
for months! I am surprised google never popped it up for me.
for months! I am surprised google never popped it up for me.
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