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phildow
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Joined: 11 Dec 2005
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Location: Berkeley
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 Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 10:53 pm Post subject: Announcing Lex: Project based document management |
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From the same dude that brought you Journler: Lex.
The Journler 2.5 release date is Thursday March 22. That's just a week an a half from today. Oh yeah!
Once I get Journler out I'm going to take a short break (a day,? to recover from the hangover ;) I really don't have anything else to do -- except for have fun! but I do that anyway). After that I'm going to start up a couple other projects before taking a crack at 2.6. Lex is one of those.
What is Lex?
Lex is Journler but document centered and document based instead of entry centered and single database. The tagline is "project based document management." The idea is to organize your documents using the same technologies available in Journler but organize them according to completely independent projects with the documents at the center.
Why Lex?
Because information management is hot right now and I can do a better job than what's available on the market. Ack, I'm full of myself. Lex will also fill a particular niche. You'll create projects instead of dumping everything into a single database. Best it'll keep me from bastardizing Journler. Journler has greatly benefited from info-management like features but it will never be an info-manager without wrecking the basic program. Thus Lex.
Project Based Document Management?
Let's clarifly. You'll create completely independent projects with certain data at the center. Let's say your a scientific researcher and have 30 pdf documents from online journals about a particular concept you want to address. Create a lex project, dump the files in, organize, connect, and note just like you do in Journler, except the pdfs are more important than the notes and the interface reflects that. Got another concept to address? Start a new project, keeping your old one in tact and independent.
Like Journler, but Lex
Lex will look and feel like Journler: subfolders, smart families, filtering, indexing, lexicon, media viewer, etc. So it'll look good and you'll know how to use it. Except instead of entries listed in that table you have your documents (what are called "resources" in journer). Tag, mark, label, categorize, etc those files just like you do your entries in Journler. You'll also be able to add notes to each document as well as create indpendent notes that'll work just like entries do in Journler.
Timeframe
I reckon it won't take me three weeks to get a beta out. The work is already done. I've sketched out the interface, and the code will come from Journler. I'll be switching to core data, so it's a good learning project for me. I'll also be using the plug-in model I have envisioned for 2.6, so that'll knock out two birds with one stone. Journler 2.6 ought to follow shortly.
First it was MacJournal. Then it was Yojimbo, KIT and co. Sorry guys. ;)
Last edited by phildow on Mon Mar 12, 2007 11:53 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Albo
Joined: 26 Nov 2006
Posts: 36
Location: Boston, United States
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| Posted: Mon Mar 12, 2007 11:29 pm Post subject: |
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| Sounds great! Where do I sign up? :) |
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Gideon
Joined: 13 Mar 2007
Posts: 1
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| Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 12:16 am Post subject: |
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Lots of things have claimed to do as good a job as Yojimbo, etc...
Here's the thing... do a better job than Yojimbo (which, I've faith you can do) but make sure (and this is the deal breaker for me) it can sync across .mac. Being able to move my data EASILY between macbook and imac is what keeps me with Yojimbo more than anything else.
Also, the ease of getting things INTO Yojimbo is pretty amazing. A quick button, side dock, services, and bookmarklets.
But, I really hope you manage it. I'd love to have nested folders, etc etc. |
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gilest
Joined: 06 Dec 2006
Posts: 3
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| Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 12:16 am Post subject: Excellent news |
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| Looking forward to seeing it, Phil. |
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phildow
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Joined: 11 Dec 2005
Posts: 3407
Location: Berkeley
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| Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 12:45 am Post subject: doubt syncing is an issue |
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| Gideon wrote: | | Here's the thing... do a better job than Yojimbo (which, I've faith you can do) but make sure (and this is the deal breaker for me) it can sync across .mac. Being able to move my data EASILY between macbook and imac is what keeps me with Yojimbo more than anything else. |
I don't think syncing will be a planned feature at all. Because the application would be based on documents instead of a single database, there wouldn't be any need to have syncing inside the application. Stick a project on a usb stick and go, or drag it to your iDisk and go. Syncing a Lex project would be like syncing a PDF document. You don't really sync documents. You sync databases, and Lex isn't a database.
| Quote: | | Also, the ease of getting things INTO Yojimbo is pretty amazing. A quick button, side dock, services, and bookmarklets. |
This is something I'll be doing with Journler, but again, I don't think it would belong in Lex. For the same reason as the above. Lex is project based (document based vs database).
There's a single, huge difference between Yojimbo and Lex. Yojimbo provides a single repository for all your documents. Lex provides a repository for documents relevant to a well-defined project with well-defined goals and lets you have many projects.
So the two programs will compete but they'll meet different needs. People with just documents will want Yojimbo, but people with projects that have documents to manage will want Lex. I guess it's only half-fair for me to taunt Yojimbo. |
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Albo
Joined: 26 Nov 2006
Posts: 36
Location: Boston, United States
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| Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 1:03 am Post subject: |
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I think Journler is closer to Yojimbo, based on the description of Lex. The latter seems closer to OmniOutliner.
That being said, are there still plans to support .Mac with Journler?
Last edited by Albo on Tue Mar 13, 2007 1:35 am; edited 1 time in total |
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phildow
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Joined: 11 Dec 2005
Posts: 3407
Location: Berkeley
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| Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 1:14 am Post subject: Journler, Yojimbo, Lex |
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| Albo wrote: | | I think Journler is closer to Yojimbo, based on the description of Lex. The latter seems closes to OmniOutliner. |
Yeah, I think that's fair.
| Quote: | | That being said, are there still plans to support .Mac with Journler? |
Absolutely. I won't be doing this for 2.6, but it's one of the big ones for the to-do list.
I'd break down Journler, Yojimbo and Lex like this...
Journler and Yojimbo
Journler and Yojimbo are both databases.
Journler focuses on the written entry, Yojimbo focuses on documents and data.
Lex and Yojimbo
Lex and Yojimbo both focus on documents and data
Lex uses individual projects, Yojimbo uses a single database.
Journler and Lex
Journler and Lex come from the same guy.
Journler is a single database, Lex uses individual projects.
Journler focuses on the written entry, Lex focuses on the document.
That assumes Yojimbo does in fact use a single database. I believe that's the case, right? From my experience Yojimbo is a single database application like Address Book, iTunes, Mail, and Journler. Or? |
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Albo
Joined: 26 Nov 2006
Posts: 36
Location: Boston, United States
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| Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 1:42 am Post subject: |
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Phil - What about database corruption? Can this happen in Journler?
I ask only because my girlfriend is transitioning over to Journler (on my suggestion!), from Soho Notes, a OpenBase driven application. One of my main concerns was database corruption, and the possibility of having everything "trapped" in one single file. |
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supenguin
Joined: 18 Feb 2007
Posts: 44
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| Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 3:57 am Post subject: Getting Things Done with Lex? |
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Phil,
Lex sounds great. Any plans to include principles from "Getting Things Done"? |
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brightorange89
Joined: 07 Jan 2007
Posts: 2
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| Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 4:47 am Post subject: |
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| I'm really excited for this, it sounds great. |
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justG
Joined: 21 Jan 2007
Posts: 542
Location: LI, NY, US
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| Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 8:44 am Post subject: |
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| Brilliant! I don't think I'll really "get it" 'til I use it, but I'm looking forward to using it. =) |
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phildow
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Joined: 11 Dec 2005
Posts: 3407
Location: Berkeley
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| Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 10:31 am Post subject: database corruption in journer and core-data |
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| Albo wrote: | | Phil - What about database corruption? Can this happen in Journler? |
Journler uses an innovative system to avoid database corruption. All the metadata is stored in a single file--the database--and that file is used when Journler launches.
Entry content is stored elsewhere though, so you never have to worry about losing the content of your entries. Attached media is also stored in separate files alongside the entries, so you won't lose your pdfs and audio/video for example if the database gets corrupted.
At the same time, the metadata stored in the database file is also stored in separate files for each folder, entry, blog and resource. Have a look in your App Support/Journler folder and you'll see what a mean. If the database is ever corrupted, you can just delete it and Journler will launch from those individual files. This setup is completely new in 2.5 and hasn't failed me yet.
As for database corruption in coredata, the system handles all the database I/O, and I trust apple has done a fine job here. |
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phildow
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Location: Berkeley
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| Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 10:33 am Post subject: Re: Getting Things Done with Lex? |
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| supenguin wrote: | Phil,
Lex sounds great. Any plans to include principles from "Getting Things Done"? |
I don't think so. "Getting Things Done" is something else, and I honestly don't know enough about it to effectively implement it. Rather than crowding poorly implemented features into Lex I'm going to keep it focused on a single purpose.
Journler can already be used for GTD, albeit it the program is not specifically geared towards it. Ask nanotechmama about it though, as she's using Journler for GTD. |
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philcozz
Joined: 11 Mar 2006
Posts: 19
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| Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 12:36 pm Post subject: |
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| This sounds great to me... And seeing what you've done with Journler I expect it to be quite nice. I look forward to beta testing! |
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SkyWombat
Joined: 09 Feb 2007
Posts: 21
Location: Stuttgart/Tuebingen
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| Posted: Tue Mar 13, 2007 3:18 pm Post subject: Re: Getting Things Done with Lex? |
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| phildow wrote: | | supenguin wrote: | Phil,
Lex sounds great. Any plans to include principles from "Getting Things Done"? |
I don't think so. "Getting Things Done" is something else, and I honestly don't know enough about it to effectively implement it. Rather than crowding poorly implemented features into Lex I'm going to keep it focused on a single purpose.
Journler can already be used for GTD, albeit it the program is not specifically geared towards it. Ask nanotechmama about it though, as she's using Journler for GTD. |
Sounds like a great tool for organising documents, eg. plots and papers for my thesis. Although papers I manage with bibdesk, which is a great app for doing that.
Maybe a bit off-topic, but are there any scripts or anything to get a todo from Journler (well just an entry with a due date) to iCal? |
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