Wednesday, July 06, 2005
Don't get me started on outliners
Because if you do, then I'll start posting entries like this one ...
So, what's the big deal about outliners? And why am I so high on them? For a writer, organizing one's thoughts before putting fingers to keyboard is vital. Free writing is fine in some circumstances, but regardless of whether you're penning an article, a report, or a book, you want to have some idea of the structure of what you're writing.
And outliners are great for that. You can break a piece of writing down section by section, and develop the thrust of each of those sections. You'll find that by taking the time to collect your thoughts and ideas in a coherent form will help make your writing go more smoothly.
But what outlining software is out there? A lot of it. Some people use the outline feature of Word or OpenOffice.org Writer to do the job. Others use dedicated outliners, like these:
Let's start with Linux. I use the Linux version of TreePad. TkOutline is quite good, too, but it can be a bear to get running. You might also want to look at Jreepad, a Java-authored TreePad clone. A couple of outliners that I've heard good things about are TuxCards and KnowIT. If you use the Emacs text editor, check out the Outline mode. Vi and Vim users have TVO at their disposal.
Back in the days when I used Windows, I was partial to TreePad. Another outliner that I liked was KeyNote. Quick Outliner is simple, but it gets the job done. A couple of writers I know swear by Action Outline and Jot+.
On MacOS, the only outliner that I know about is OmniOutliner. If any Mac users out there can post a comment about other Mac outliners, I'd appreciate it.
Of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention a favourite: Breadbox Outliner for Breadbox Ensemble or NewDeal Office.
You can find links to more outliners here.
So, what's the big deal about outliners? And why am I so high on them? For a writer, organizing one's thoughts before putting fingers to keyboard is vital. Free writing is fine in some circumstances, but regardless of whether you're penning an article, a report, or a book, you want to have some idea of the structure of what you're writing.
And outliners are great for that. You can break a piece of writing down section by section, and develop the thrust of each of those sections. You'll find that by taking the time to collect your thoughts and ideas in a coherent form will help make your writing go more smoothly.
But what outlining software is out there? A lot of it. Some people use the outline feature of Word or OpenOffice.org Writer to do the job. Others use dedicated outliners, like these:
Let's start with Linux. I use the Linux version of TreePad. TkOutline is quite good, too, but it can be a bear to get running. You might also want to look at Jreepad, a Java-authored TreePad clone. A couple of outliners that I've heard good things about are TuxCards and KnowIT. If you use the Emacs text editor, check out the Outline mode. Vi and Vim users have TVO at their disposal.
Back in the days when I used Windows, I was partial to TreePad. Another outliner that I liked was KeyNote. Quick Outliner is simple, but it gets the job done. A couple of writers I know swear by Action Outline and Jot+.
On MacOS, the only outliner that I know about is OmniOutliner. If any Mac users out there can post a comment about other Mac outliners, I'd appreciate it.
Of course, I'd be remiss if I didn't mention a favourite: Breadbox Outliner for Breadbox Ensemble or NewDeal Office.
You can find links to more outliners here.
