Next roadmap...

[Leoram]

When will the next roadmap be publicly available? There are features many have for long awaited; here're some:

1. Html editing inside UR.
2. Support for tables (new, edit) in the RTF editor.
3. Calendar a la Outlook or Lotus Notes.
4. and so on...

Maybe some others may add to the list ;) .

[wordmuse]

Hey - let Santa Rest! Version 3 is a real step forward!

OK Santa, now that you've had that good long rest, time to hop to it. :)

So on my wish list -

1 - Better RTF all around: tables, indents, lists, paragraph spacings, borders, word art, styles - the whole shebang.

2 - Items includes, analogous to SSI. Let me include an item's text within the text of another item simply by calling it. This would make items reusable.

3 - Attribute includes - let me call at least some of the item's attributes as pieces of text.

4 - use of Office spell checker if available. Also, right now, the URP spell checker doesn't recognize contractions as legitimate words.

5 - Another spell checker enhancement: let me optionally tell the checker to not deal with case sensitivity.

Thanks Santa.

Regards,
Bal

(hmmm - guess this really belongs in the UR Suggestions area... - oh well.)

[ashwken]

Regarding the rtf editor enhancements:

I'd be curious to know how many users do NOT have MS-Word on their systems.

With the ability to import a Word doc to a UR Template and view/edit the Word doc via the internal browser (without having to launch Word), can't a lot of this styling be setup in the Word doc?

Granted, it would be nice to have this available without all the rigamarole of Word....

[quant]

hmmm ... I grew up of all the fancy formatting and everything that word offers when I learned latex (I'm coming from math background). The basic message is that you need to concentrate on the context not of the form (you realize that you spend too much time formatting your text rather than thinking about the text itself). So, my suggestions would be to add the "real meat" (especially when all the formatting you can already do inside of word itself):

- better calendar, where you can see your items with begin/due date inside calendar.
- more comprehensive recurrence/reminder possibilities.
- possibility to see all items that the current items has internal wiki links link to
- better support of item notes
- another view of data explorer (not the tree structure)
- another relations, not just the linked items (like the current one where one item can have more that one parent), but where you could create links (real shortcuts, not copies).
- I'd welcome html export. There are some suggestions, where you can modify sth and add xslt whatever, ... edit, ... this should really be automated and the standard export option (please dont neglect item notes when creating export)

There is much more that I'd like the UR be able to do, but I think that's enough for the start ;-)

[Leoram]

Oh! Did I mention integration with Google Desktop Search?

GDS, in combination with Quintura (both can be downloaded free) to be able to perform graphical searches of your desktop content (or the web at the same time if you want).

To have an idea you can see screenshots here:
http://company.quintura.com/quinturasearch/screenshots/

Quintura can be downloaded here:
http://company.quintura.com/download/ (remember to also download the Google desktop plug-in for GDS to work with Quintura under the title "Additional").

What Quintura does basically is that it uses GDS own index to perform searches on steroids with an impressive graphical nice touch. So it would be great to use them with Ultra Recall.

A review here:
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Internet/Search-engine-tools-submiting/Quintura-Search.shtml

Another review that is even more descriptive than the one above here:
http://www.softpedia.com/reviews/windows/Quintura-Search-Review-16408.shtml

Now I feel this has turned into a suggestion thread ;) .

[Daly de Gagne]

Originally posted by Leoram
When will the next roadmap be publicly available? There are features many have for long awaited; here're some:

1. Html editing inside UR.
2. Support for tables (new, edit) in the RTF editor.
3. Calendar a la Outlook or Lotus Notes.
4. and so on...

Maybe some others may add to the list ;) .

Mentioned elsewhere is my wish for highlighted search terms.

I'd like to see the user-defined keyword dialogue a little more elegant and faster to get to (similar to MyInfo).

I'd like to see less reliance of Microsoft products.

I'd like the ability to do a search based on two or more of my user-defined keywords, in the way MDE InfoHandler does.

I'd like a proper ruler and margin/tab capabilities for text.

I'd like there to be the ability to make font, colour and size changes in the tree independent of the computer settings, such that there could be a general format for all tree items, but with the ability to make exceptions for specific tree items or parent/child groupings.

I'd really like to be able to open a text item in another window that could be pinned, so as to facilitate the writing process.

Thanks for considering these possibilities.

Daly

[dasymington]

Originally posted by Daly de Gagne
I'd really like to be able to open a text item in another window that could be pinned, so as to facilitate the writing process.
Daly, do you mean pinned on top, or just visible in a different window from UR? If the latter, using open document on a text item opens it in Wordpad for editing.

[Daly de Gagne]

Originally posted by dasymington
Daly, do you mean pinned on top, or just visible in a different window from UR? If the latter, using open document on a text item opens it in Wordpad for editing.

Thanks for the post. I guess it is possible to do that kind of a work-around.

What I would relaly like is that when I am putting something together to have the option of open windows that could refelect an earlier darf, or a particular portion of the document. That way ones isn't always having to tab back and forth.

And if it is in the same program, one can pin the open windows in ana rrange,ent most appropriate for the job at hand.

As well, as ruler with margin and tab stops is quite handy.

Thanks.

Daly

[Leoram]

Now that this thread has openly turned into a chain of thoughts for the next rodmap after v.3.0, here's something more:

1. Add the capability for the wiki feature to be able to accept drag and drop to any UR text editor from the Jump box (Alt+J) (also pls add the option for the box to remain open in case the user wants to work more than one info item).

2. Add a find as you type field to the Jump and to the Link/Move (Alt+L) boxes so as for the Info Items to be found in an ultra fast way, See:

http://www.kinook.com/Forum/attachment.php?postid=4703.

3. Add an icon to the Jump and to the Link/Move boxes empowered with the capability to collapse the tree in those boxes. This way the user has a better way to do a jump, link, move, copy.

I think the huger the tree, the higher will the above features will be regarded by the user.

[xja]

The one thing I want most:

Filter the Tree.

[janrif]

Originally posted by xja
The one thing I want most: Filter the Tree. How would you use this feature as opposed to hoisting?

[xja]

Hoisting shows only one branch of the tree. Filtering would allow you to see select items (like a Search) but in their appropriate hierarchy rather than as a flat list and since they are displayed in the tree, allows you do all the linking, expanding/collapsing, etc. you can do with the tree view. It is discussed at length here:

http://www.kinook.com/Forum/showthread.php?threadid=721

and here (starting a few posts down):

http://www.kinook.com/Forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=1391

The simplest example to understand is hiding items marked Completed. But there are many other useful ways it can allow you to focus on a subset of your data that doesn't fall under a single branch and without recreating every view that you want with excessive multilinks.

[janrif]

Originally posted by xja
Hoisting shows only one branch of the tree. Filtering would allow you to see select items (like a Search) but in their appropriate hierarchy [snip] OK, now I see what you mean & I read the threads you referenced. There seemed to be some doubt from Kinook about implementing or the value of such an option.

Let me point to another knowledgebase application called ADM. In that program, the user could 'color' filter on any metadata & ADM would identify any item by colorizing it but leaving it in the hiearchy.

Would that do it for you? I found it quite useful.

[xja]

I have used colors (ie flags) a lot to help provide some clarity to the clutter. Would automatic coloring help? Probably somewhat. But nowhere near as much as filtering.

I really liked using the Data Explorer and logical linking early on but over the last couple years, as my databases have inevitably gotten bigger and bigger (whose doesn't?), the hierarchical organization collapses under its own weight. It just takes too long to organize everything with logical links because I have to spend so much time digging through the hierarchy of unrelated stuff to get to what I want. It's POSSIBLE, it's just too inefficient. I end up predominantly using Search instead with the occasional logical link. This is unfortunate since logical linking is what really differentiates UR from something like Google Desktop or the search capabilities in Windows Vista.

I don't think this inefficiency is inevitable, as some tagging proponents might suggest, but it does require better tools for being able to quickly access subsets and different cuts of your hierarchy. I know some people love the hoisting, but for me that is purely a visual thing (so you don't see unrelated items AROUND what your current focus) and doesn't really help my efficiency. What kills my productivity is having unrelated items interspersed with what I need at the moment and, as a result, having to scroll, expand, collapse, etc. constantly to get to what I want. These are like constant hurdles in the way to getting anything done.

As your start adding things to UR, logical linking is great. As it gets bigger, there comes a point where the inevitable complexity and resulting inefficiency more than offsets the benefits. I just wish UR would do something to address this reality that those who commit to using UR for all their information inevitably face... filtering the tree would be a big help, or they could hire a full-time assistant to manage my UR for me ;-)

[janrif]

Originally posted by xja
I have used colors (ie flags) a lot to help provide some clarity to the clutter. Would automatic coloring help? Probably somewhat. But nowhere near as much as filtering.
Flags in UR are manual assignments. ADM's system does nor rely on manual or automatic assignment, not automated coloring.

What happens is if you search on xja, it would color all data items from any & all branches in the DB & then hoist them -- if you wish -- into a new view. Now you have all 'xja' items & their varied connections in one place.

I don't know about you but that would certainly do the trick for me. I'm not against filtering, simply trying to suggest one way URp might implement it. Just my .02