Scapple Beta - New Users Please Read

[ozzy48]

Thanks for this interesting and useful software. I did try dragging and dropping an entry from scapple (my spell checker keeps wanting to "correct" the name) to the latest beta of Scrivener 2.3.5 but the dragged entry keeps bouncing back and not sticking on the corkboard. I'm using a Macbook Pro with 10.8.2 OS X for what it's worth.

[xiamenese]

Freeform corkboard? Apparently it only drags to that.

Mark

[KB]

Great job! Your refinements all make perfect sense. I was up and running with Scapple right away, and (as with Scrivener) I found that when I needed a bit of complexity, it was there waiting for me.

Glad you like it! And I'm sorry it didn't get called BoardStorm...

One little quibble: When you change the font size of a note in the inspector, then apply a Note Style through the contextual menu (like "Red Text"), the font size jumps back to the default 12 pt. Not preserving that font size pretty much obviates the one-touch simplicity of using a contextual menu to make, for example, a bunch of headers in red.

Yes, at the moment note styles affect everything - font size and weight, borders and background, text colour and so on. After thinking about this some more, I've added some extra options to the note style creation panel so that you can choose which elements a note style affects. This way you can set it up only to add red text, or only to make text larger and bold. So this should work the way you want for the next beta.

(Note: The Steve Jobs answer to this issue, of course, is, "We did a lot of research, and we discovered that our users don't need big, red notes." )

Dammit, I really should use that sort of answer more often!

[KB]

Thanks for this interesting and useful software. I did try dragging and dropping an entry from scapple (my spell checker keeps wanting to "correct" the name) to the latest beta of Scrivener 2.3.5 but the dragged entry keeps bouncing back and not sticking on the corkboard. I'm using a Macbook Pro with 10.8.2 OS X for what it's worth.

Yes, as Mark says, you can only drag to the freeform corkboard. I'll be adding support for dragging to the binder, too, though.

All the best,
Keith

[ozzy48]

Thanks for this interesting and useful software. I did try dragging and dropping an entry from scapple (my spell checker keeps wanting to "correct" the name) to the latest beta of Scrivener 2.3.5 but the dragged entry keeps bouncing back and not sticking on the corkboard. I'm using a Macbook Pro with 10.8.2 OS X for what it's worth.

Yes, as Mark says, you can only drag to the freeform corkboard. I'll be adding support for dragging to the binder, too, though.

All the best,
Keith

Thanks for the reply. That works as expected. I'm another person that likes the idea of an environment that's not centered on the one entry (as in Brainstorming software) so I'm probably going to get a lot of use out of this software. The $10 price seems very reasonable and I think you'll have a lot of enthusiastic users.

[matt]

Hi Keith,
I finally had a chance to use Scapple yesterday - I used it at work to nut something out.

To be honest, my first expectation was that it was quite limited, and I wasn't sure I wanted to use it (that has been my reaction to all applications like this that I have ever tried).

But as I kept using it, I quickly realized i was very glad for those limits, because I stopped caring about trying to make the damned thing look attractive and super organized, and could instead use it to dump out my thoughts and sort only sort things out when I really needed it.

The funny thing is - it becomes more attractive as it grows anyway. It is just when it has 2 nodes on a massive canvas that it looks a little bare.

It's kind of like that mentality when you first switch to Scrivener that you don't have to play with fonts. And once that part clicked, it was all pretty easy to use. Not as quick as paper and pen to start with, but a lot more digital and movable once you get past about 8 nodes.

For the first time, I have a mind mapping type app I would actually come back to.

I haven't explored it all yet, so I will wait until I've played a few more times before suggesting any features. There are lots of things you *could* add (like throwing image or videos onto the canals if you can't do that) - but want to make sure it doesn't become another Curio - because I don't use that one either!

Congratulations on the beta release. Looking forward to the final product.

Matt

[KB]

Thanks, Matt!

Incidentally, you can throw images onto the canvas, but not videos (I wanted to keep the file size down and din't want to have to embed QuickTime into it).

All the best,
Keith

[ProfessorTom]

Keith,

To answer your question, the reason I thought I was being a dick is that I was petulant because my Inspector comment wasn't getting response from you. Additionally, I was out of work today with a sinus infection. I'm rough around the edges as it is, but being sick means that what little bit of filter I have is gone.

====
Glory be! I looked in the Console per your response (I don't know why I didn't think to look there intuitively) and low and behold, I found a bunch of entries that read like this:

10/15/12 2:35:43.751 PM Scapple[2911]: -[VLMInspectorControllerWindowController loadWindow]: failed to load window nib file 'Inspector'.

So I'm not crazy and I have the logs to prove it!
====

Damn, boy! What the hell did you do to your Retnia Macbook Pro? Were you drop-testing it or something?

Good luck with the trip to Apple Care. Do you happen to listen to John Siracusa's show on the 5by5 network Hypercritical? He's been banging on lately about when you do and don't get refurbished parts when you go to Apple Care.

[ProfessorTom]

Would it be possible to support video as an after-the-fact download like the way OS X handles Java? This way, you would keep the file size down for the majority of users, but power users that do want the feature can get it, thus satisfying both groups.

[KB]

To answer your question, the reason I thought I was being a dick is that I was petulant because my Inspector comment wasn't getting response from you.

Sorry about that. I've been a flurry of activity trying to get through all the posts, and I think I've lost track of a couple - I had missed that you'd replied to my previous questions.

10/15/12 2:35:43.751 PM Scapple[2911]: -[VLMInspectorControllerWindowController loadWindow]: failed to load window nib file 'Inspector'.

Interesting! Have you tried re-downloading and reinstalling (apologies if you've already established that)? This seems to indicate that the "Inspector" interface file won't load, which suggests a corrupted installation.

Damn, boy! What the hell did you do to your Retnia Macbook Pro? Were you drop-testing it or something?

Nothing at all - in fact, I have barely touched my Retina MacBook since I bought it. I only bought it so that I could test out all of Scrivener's new high-res graphics on it, and only use it for testing that Scrivener and Scapple look good on it. It's just a dodgy connection between the screen and computer, it seems.

Good luck with the trip to Apple Care. Do you happen to listen to John Siracusa's show on the 5by5 network Hypercritical? He's been banging on lately about when you do and don't get refurbished parts when you go to Apple Care.

Huh, no, I haven't listened to that. Refurbished parts from AppleCare? For the money I expect them to replace everything with new parts, dammit.

Would it be possible to support video as an after-the-fact download like the way OS X handles Java?

Not really. I could add video that doesn't get embedded, I suppose - but I won't. That would still entail linking to the QuickTime framework and having QuickTime videos in there, and Scapple isn't intended to be presentational software primarily, but rough note-making software.

All the best,
Keith

[ProfessorTom]

Sorry about that. I've been a flurry of activity trying to get through all the posts, and I think I've lost track of a couple - I had missed that you'd replied to my previous questions.

No worries. I'm an asshole https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o30wacwdoc.

Interesting! Have you tried re-downloading and reinstalling (apologies if you've already established that)? This seems to indicate that the "Inspector" interface file won't load, which suggests a corrupted installation.

Yeah, from that message, it's almost like the nib somehow wasn't in the zip file, but that's just crazy talk! I'm pretty positive I already tried re-downloading. What I will try next is copying the file from the iMac that is working to the MBP that isn't. If that doesn't work, then it's likely some kind of configuration issue on my end, agreed?

Nothing at all - in fact, I have barely touched my Retina MacBook since I bought it. I only bought it so that I could test out all of Scrivener's new high-res graphics on it, and only use it for testing that Scrivener and Scapple look good on it. It's just a dodgy connection between the screen and computer, it seems.

That teh suck. I'd demand not only a new rMBP, but I'd demand a refund for getting a lemon.

Huh, no, I haven't listened to that. Refurbished parts from AppleCare? For the money I expect them to replace everything with new parts, dammit.

No one–not even The Bitten Fruit™–is above saving a dime when they can.

No video?

[ProfessorTom]

That didn't work either. Why would cause a nib to fail to load?

[aurorob]

Two very basic functions that would be great...

1. Keyboard movement of blocks (for fine tuning alignment etc)
2. Shift lock when moving blocks (again for alignment)

This is already something I would buy. Is there eventually going to be some sort of tie into scrivener?

[aurorob]

Two more requests.

3. Recognize links and make them clickable
4. Center type in bubble option

[usee760]

Have been a big user of Mind Mapping software. I like Scapple because it seems to be free from a lot of conventions. Would like to see a Duplicate command, so that you can easily copy a note.