5 ms·

Does anyone have a good tool for jotting down ideas and rearranging them? I find that word processors are not very good for this, because they are more concern

by russell 17y ago

Does anyone have a good tool for jotting down ideas and rearranging them? I find that word processors are not very good for this, because they are more concerned with formatting than manipulating units of text. Simplicity is paramount.

ScottWhigham 17y ago
*nix, Mac, or Windows? For Windows, I use OneNote.
algorias 17y ago
A plain text editor works for me. Copy to a word processor (or e-mail, etc) only when you get to the formatting phase.
jefffoster 17y ago
I like emacs org-mode. You can create a hierarchy very easy and shuffle items about between the nodes.
- omouse 17y ago
  However some things don't fit nicely into a hierarchy. Remember mode helps with that I think
  - jsrn 17y ago
    how to integrate Remember mode with org-mode: http://orgmode.org/manual/Setting-up-Remember-for-Org.html#Setting-up-Remember-for-Org http://orgmode.org/manual/Setting-up-Remember-for-Org.html#S... and: > However some things don't fit nicely into a hierarchy. sometimes the hyperlink feature of org-mode helps with a non-tree-like structure: http://orgmode.org/manual/Hyperlinks.html#Hyperlinks http://orgmode.org/manual/Hyperlinks.html#Hyperlinks
dstorrs 17y ago
http://orgmode.org/ http://orgmode.org/ Org-mode in Emacs is brilliant for this. Write things as outlines, shift sub-trees around trivially, fold (hide) and un-fold (reveal) subtrees, embed links within your outline, export to text or HTML when needed.
weaksauce 17y ago
If you don't know emacs and you already have Word you could use the outline mode of it. I have used it in the past and it works pretty well. I haven't sat down and learned emacs so I have yet to try org-mode but I hear that works well too. I have yet to find a truly great outlining program yet. (Note: I plan on learning org-mode emacs but I am a vim guy so the initial inertia of learning it is high.)
eas 17y ago
Scrivener (for the Mac) is one you might try. PersonalBrain (multi-platform) might also do the trick.
Emore 17y ago
Apple's iWork Pages has a fairly good outlining mode since version 09.
cpach 17y ago
How about post-it notes or index cards?
ams6110 17y ago
If you use a Mac, Omni Outliner (http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnioutliner/ http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnioutliner/) is pretty good.
wingo 17y ago
I prefer the old-fashioned way, with an actual notebook. A good quality notebook makes things more pleasant. I rearrange things by writing them down again (in the new order). This also helps to refresh the memory.

by russell 17y ago

ScottWhigham 17y ago

*nix, Mac, or Windows? For Windows, I use OneNote.

algorias 17y ago

A plain text editor works for me. Copy to a word processor (or e-mail, etc) only when you get to the formatting phase.

jefffoster 17y ago

I like emacs org-mode. You can create a hierarchy very easy and shuffle items about between the nodes.

omouse 17y ago
However some things don't fit nicely into a hierarchy. Remember mode helps with that I think
- jsrn 17y ago
  how to integrate Remember mode with org-mode: http://orgmode.org/manual/Setting-up-Remember-for-Org.html#Setting-up-Remember-for-Org http://orgmode.org/manual/Setting-up-Remember-for-Org.html#S... and: > However some things don't fit nicely into a hierarchy. sometimes the hyperlink feature of org-mode helps with a non-tree-like structure: http://orgmode.org/manual/Hyperlinks.html#Hyperlinks http://orgmode.org/manual/Hyperlinks.html#Hyperlinks

dstorrs 17y ago

http://orgmode.org/ http://orgmode.org/ Org-mode in Emacs is brilliant for this. Write things as outlines, shift sub-trees around trivially, fold (hide) and un-fold (reveal) subtrees, embed links within your outline, export to text or HTML when needed.

weaksauce 17y ago

If you don't know emacs and you already have Word you could use the outline mode of it. I have used it in the past and it works pretty well. I haven't sat down and learned emacs so I have yet to try org-mode but I hear that works well too. I have yet to find a truly great outlining program yet. (Note: I plan on learning org-mode emacs but I am a vim guy so the initial inertia of learning it is high.)

eas 17y ago

Scrivener (for the Mac) is one you might try. PersonalBrain (multi-platform) might also do the trick.

Emore 17y ago

Apple's iWork Pages has a fairly good outlining mode since version 09.

cpach 17y ago

How about post-it notes or index cards?

ams6110 17y ago

If you use a Mac, Omni Outliner (http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnioutliner/ http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnioutliner/) is pretty good.

wingo 17y ago

I prefer the old-fashioned way, with an actual notebook. A good quality notebook makes things more pleasant. I rearrange things by writing them down again (in the new order). This also helps to refresh the memory.