What features would you like to see in StoneNotes 2.0? [http://stonenotes.com/2007/01/08/stonenotes-20-wish-list/]

HTML output is one of the features planned for 2.0 (in addition to some much more exciting ones *wink*). There will be a beta within two months or so where you'll be able to take a peek at the new stuff.

StoneNote 2.0 doesn't exactly have "folders" persay, but something a lot more powerful that feels really similar to folders. Stay tuned, a screen cast will be announcing this functionality within the next month.

First, CG, this is some awesome feedback, just what we're looking for. Let's see what we got here...

>> 1. I would really just like to run the application off the usb drive

I am going to ask spj to chime in on this. She has had 1.x running on a USB stick for a few months.

>> 2. You have a window that appears to be a folder viewer, but a single click on a note there is no change to the interface

This is admittedly a weak point. The sidebar is totally being rewritten to reduce some of this confusion. One thing to keep in mind is that the "folders" themselves are really just notes -- double click one and it goes to the "root" note of that namespace.

>> 3. Deleting - Same problem as clicking - I click on a note, hit the delete key and something else gets deleted - that is nasty.

Delete note always deletes the current note. This indeed somewhat confusing (see next) and came up pretty early in the cycle for 2.0 improvements.

>> 4. Right-clicking - can you put in a right click menu that includes things like 'Add note' or ' Delete note'

Yep, StoneNotes 2.0 has an extensive context menu for the sidebar with commands like these and a few more that make it even more interesting.

>> 5. I'm not sure the left hand menu is helpful, especially when documents/webs become more complex.

The sidebar has undergone already four total rewrites, trying to get closer to an ideal mix of relationship expression and usability. What we've got now in the private beta should be a lot more useful. I agree that the current structure can in some cases be pretty confusing.

>> 6. Window upon window upon window -- sometimes clicking a link spawns a new window, sometimes it doesn't -- this is very inconsistent unless you understand the rule that as long as the current topic is a child of the same parent, then no new window.

Because of the rewrite of how notes are "owned" in a relationship, this is being seriously rethought. We're also looking at a tab interface that may make things a bit more obvious (probably, 1. always open in the current note unless 2. CTRL is held down, then open in a new tab).

>> 7. Hidden controls - I'm not a big fan of the "Edit" and "File" toggled button bars -- because some of the commands that I want to use are on the "File" bar, but all the windows open with the "Edit" bar by default. Maybe combine them into one bar.

Unfortunately there were too many commands to be on a single horizontal bar. One of the driving goals of StoneNotes' interface design is to reduce the amount of screen space used by the application, focusing instead on giving the largest possible area to work in.

Again though, this area is being rethought and reorganized. The current beta uses a hybrid toolbar / menu system that more or less puts everything on one toolbar, with a few single level drop down menus icons. Much more intuitive.

>> 8. Time and date stamping of when pages are created, accessed and updated last.

These added fields and a whole lot more are about to become possible. Expect some screencasts coming up in a few weeks that go into detail on how much more information will be available for individual notes...

>> I guarentee after the first three hours you will have lots of great improvements that once you see them will seem so obvious.

We don't do focus group testing. It didn't work so well the first time through, but in version 2.0 it is working.

>> I know this post is long and it sounds like alot of complaints, but I'm going to try to use this application as it is more simple than any wiki and a product like VooDooPad is only for MacOSX.

We love this kind of feedback! You made some good points and confirmed a few things for me. I will be contacting you (and all registered users) in a few weeks to get in on the public beta program.

doodly doo i have a wish!

it may be unreasonable (but hey isn't that what got this whole ball rlling in the first place? seems you do quite well with my unreasonable wishes) but here it is anyway. i have this windows live writer blog client. it allows me to use ink (you know how i am loving on the tablet pc). anyways there is only one thing wrong which is that for some reason you cannot make links with like, ink images. it has to be done in the gimp or somesuch because it is an imagemap. could these be made in SN? could i then export it to...i guess html to go in the blog? i don't know how this sort of thing works but it would be totally hot if i could like pase an image or whatever with like the whole imagemap deal so that i could maybe write or draw something and have it be a link. just checking. i mean i could just use the gimp but you know how i love SN. :D

<3

I definitely want to see more levels of drill down on the left.

I also cannot make heads or tails of the search notes... Does it actually search all the notes?

If you click on the shortcut and the program is already open, it should open up the current program running not show an error.

If I click a document in the left window I think it should open in the right window automatically, not open up another window.

On the other hand, If I double click on the folder name(Name Space) it should open the new window.

Also If I have the main window open and I double click on a name space, so the name space is in a separate window and I happen to get back to the main window and double click on a note it does not bring the name space window into the active window , I have to go find it on the task bar. I hope that makes sense

-Randy

Here's a list of a few features I would like to see:

1. A couple of automatically generated menus or something. Two examples: - one that would allow you to see a list of recently modified pages
- rather than having to search for tags through the search menu, have them create a folder that will list all files containing that tag

2. The ability to change the way the notes look on the left hand side. Maybe make certain titles bold in the menu, or give them a different colour. For an author it would allow him to more easily locate his current draft of a chapter or scene by marking it one colour while older drafts will have a different colour. For others it will allow them to give things a visible priority setting.

3. Icons. Same reason as number 2. Even if just one of these is implemented, it would be enough.

4. Aliases for pages. If you name a page rock, then in a different page use the word rocks, you should be able to easily make it link to the page called rock if you want.

5. Word completion for link-words. I don't think I need to explain this one.

6. "Tabbed Browsing." Again, self explanatory.

7. A "Jump" box. You type in the name of a page, press enter, it sends you to that page. This way you don't have to go browsing through a long list of titles.

8. More than two layers of tree. I think a lot of people have said this one, but it's important. Right now, because this doesn't exist I'm setting up links to all related pages manually at the top of every file. But navigating that way isn't as convenient as a deeper tree would be. And I wouldn't worry so much about how pages "own" eachother. If a link to a page exists, put it in a sub-tree. Some files will show up several times as a result (In different branches or layers), but I don't think that's a problem if the tree is collapsible. Only thing to prevent is cycling (Page A having B in it's subtree, then page B from this subtree having A in its own subtree, etc.) This kind of loop would be unnecessary, and it might be a good idea to prevent it.

9. The ability to make images into links could be useful, but I don't really think it's necessary. Low priority for me at least.

That's all I have for now. Right now I'm using a demo version only, but having points 4, 6, and 8 implemented would probably be enough to make me buy it. I've use a few other similar programs but most are either far more expensive, or are missing key features (Most commonly namespaces, which are a must).
For now, I'll stick to the demo. At least until a new version comes out.

One last thing:
If you aren't implementing tabs, at least set it up so that when a new window opens you can access notes from other namespaces in the lefthand menu. Right now it limits you to just notes from that namespace.

Good to hear. I'm definitely getting more interested in buying. Practically
guaranteed.

And there's one more feature I thought of. A tiny thing technically, but it would pack a big punch:

A keyboard shortcut or something to go back to the previous page. Especially since a lot of mice (and even keyboards) come with buttons set to act as "back" buttons in web-browsers and windows explorer. If you could set it to the same button, perfect. If not, at least a keyboard shortcut.

I told you it was a small thing. In fact, someone's probably already set it up. Thought I'd mention it just in case it was overlooked.

And thanks for the update. I was worried you'd stopped production since the last comment was in February.

Thanks again,
RafeIxeian

Im liking this product more and more as I use it.
One thing I would like to see is likely something that would make others yell, so maybe this could be a configuration option?

I am too used to MS Word (and all of its evils) and so while formatting individual words I keep trying to double click on them to select the entire word. Of course this creates a new page which I have to delete and then manually select the entire area around the link to remove the link formatting and then start over. Its driving me nuts.
And yet I spend enough time in MS Word that I dont want to "Unlearn" that habit.

I would like to see an option where the "Create new note" functionality is only through a right click menu selection.

Just a thought. I will keep using it regardless.

Thanks,
Josh