zim-wiki team mailing list archive

[Dotan Cohen <dotancohen@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Tue, Sep 20, 2011 at 05:13, Anthony Thyssen
<A.Thyssen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> On Mon, 19 Sep 2011 09:59:24 -0400
> Brendan Kidwell <snarf@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> | On Mon, Sep 19, 2011 at 1:01 AM, Anthony Thyssen
> | <A.Thyssen@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>wrote:
> |
> | > I have looked at a lot of different 'text note browsers'.
> | >
> | > That is a way of storing simple notes that can be brought up on screen
> | > for making notes, cuting an pasting templates (code and so on), and
> | > storing those notes where I want them.
> | >
> | > Zim does all these things and I am quite happy with it -- mostly.
> | > It certainly beats a lot of other 'note browsers' I have looked at,
> | > including gnote and the newer 'postitnote' programs I checked out.
> | >
> | > The main failing with the others have been there heavy handed behaviour
> | > in text formatting or where or how the files are saved.
> | >
> | > I like and prefer to use PLAIN TEXT whenever posible.
> | >
> |
> | It sounds like you might be better served by an "Orthodox File Managers".
> | http://www.softpanorama.org/OFM/index.shtml
> | http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File_manager#Orthodox_file_managers
> |
> | You want something with hierarchical directory browser and quick view/edit
> | function for text files -- preferably integrated into the main application
> | as a panel that doesn't go away.
> |
> | It's a bit of a long shot, but you -- I assume you're using a Unix -- might
> | want to try out ZTreeWin under WINE if you can run WINE. I can't find a
> | relevant screenshot at this time, but I know it has a mode where after you
> | choose a working directory, you can have a file list panel on the left and a
> | contents viewer on the right, and 'E' transitions to an editor window, or
> | something like that. (Incidentally I'm not sure I'd call ZTreeWin an OFM,
> | but it's in a related genre.)
> |
> | That having been said, I've had good luck pasting text from any source into
> | Zim and having it come out mostly unchanged. As the manual says, Zim
> | currently uses markup that requires at least two repeated characters to open
> | and close markup tags. If what I'm pasting is not semantically or visually
> | marked up to begin with, I'm usually fine.
> |
> | Brendan
>
> I agree with you, its ability to cut and paste cleanly and has been one
> of the major reasons for my use of zim (now 3 years or so).
>
> I just find it annoying that when making edits of plain text, it
> suddenly adds extra unwanted formatting.  Especially to the saved file,
> which I often access from the command line as well as from zim.
>
> I never really liked Orthodox File Managers, though I am much more of a
> command line user than a file manager user, I use both, often in
> conjunction.  As for using a more GUI filemanager (such as gnome
> nautilus), I also found access to these 'notes' less useful than via a
> dedicated program such as zim.
>
> However I'll have a try of ZTreeWin under wine
>
> I should have mentioned, that I am a UNIX user from way way back (late
> '80's) and while most of my editing is done using vim, for cut and paste
> of large block of text (often into a vim editor, email, or web form)
> I found best sourced from some GUI template popup, such as provided by
> zim.
>
>
>
> ASIDE: I use the plain text for many things
> + code blocks,  templates,
> + shell sequences (that need small tweeks for varying situation)
>
> one unusual example I use zim for is the copy-pasting of actual VIM
> keystrokes and
>
> For example....
>
> :" Reformat all paragraphs
> QTgg}gqGgg}
>
> The :" is equivalent to a VIM command comment :-) the next line
> does the task described
>
> The hardest part of that technique is the inability to add an 'escape'
> character to vim sequences.
>
> In fact by creating a copy-paste sequence I can very very quickly
> edit 100's of files with specific or complex edits!  As a bonus
> the 'macro' is saved where I can see and find it again quickly.
>
> Everything from english text file conversions (such as one line
> paragraphs vs blank line end, 72 column paragraphs), to HTMLize
> or de-HTMLise files, to sorting, or even specific data conversions.
>
>
>
> In this type of work, any extra formatting just gets in the
> way. especially if I need to access remotely via ssh (command line)
> too.
>

Actually, you might want to look at these two KDE feature requests.
They request exactly what you are asking for:
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=260773
https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=261081

Please comment in support of those two RFEs!

-- 
Dotan Cohen

http://gibberish.co.il
http://what-is-what.com