but she's a girl...

Outliners

p. Given my "continuing obsession":http://www.rousette.org.uk/mt-static/blog/archives/000451.html with finding the perfect note-taking/outliner application, I was very interested to read "this article(About This Particular Macintosh)":http://www.atpm.com/9.10/atpo.shtml covering the features and capabilities of a huge range of outliners. The article was interesting because--rather than exhaustively covering all of the features that the different applications offer--it discussed what you might want an outliner to do, and then briefly mentioned which of the programmes would best fulfil those needs.

p. For me, this addresses one of the most difficult things about choosing an outliner or note-taker; everyone has different priorities and needs from it, so no application is going to be perfect for everyone all of the time. Some people need a digital equivalent of the scraps of paper and backs of envelopes that we all use; in other words, somewhere to quickly capture some vital bit of information and then easily find it later. Others need a more formal place to collect bits of related information together and perhaps form the starting point for a traditional document. Sometimes you want a less linear representation of your ideas--an area in which "Tinderbox":http://eastgate.com/Tinderbox excels.

p. This is the essence of why--despite owning several excellent outliners and note-takers--I'm still trying out new ones. At different times I need different things, and I'm still trying to reach the nirvana that the digital age once offered: the paperless office.