Exploring AquaMinds NoteTaker

No Getting Jiggy With the Architect: Assumed Blog Behavior As Weblog Reality

There are levels of survival we are prepared to accept . . .
As you adequately put, the problem is choice.
The Architect
The Matrix Reloaded

The most important thing is the thing most easily forgotten.
Brian Eno / Peter Schmidt
Oblique Strategies Card

And how could it be so wrong
When it was so right?
Lloyd Cole
"I'm Gone"

In the wake of my circumlocutious posting about Miles Davis, jazz authenticity, studio composition and--oh yeah--blogging, I've continued to ponder its implications. Which goes to show that even left-field rambling can trigger logical and argumentative dominoing that end at surprising destinations.

An embarrassing product of a Jesuit education (certain members of the Society are still blushing at the dubious achievement of me), I nevertheless had Big Intellectual Fun in school and am particularly grateful that the concept of Right Questions being more important than Right Answers was driven so deeply into me that it merged with my DNA.

It's a simple and somewhat obvious thing, but also enlightening in a Zen-like way: Perfectly correct answers to Wrong Questions paradoxically result in the self-satisfied adrenaline rush of being Absolutely Right at the same time you are Utterly Wrong. But being a pleasure-seeking species, we rarely look beyond that satisfied high. This goes far in explaining many--if not most--of humanity's screw-ups: Smartly reasoned responses to thoroughly stupid queries.

Confessions of a Utilities Slut:All Hail BlogAssist, King of Workarounds

I'm not a proud man--I freely admit that I'm a slut for utilities that are beautifully crafted, laser-focused one-trick-ponies. The guilty secret of my childless condition is that I gave away my first-, second- and third-born for mission-critical applets like FastScripts, MenuCalendarClock and DragThing.

NoteTaker's integration with Ecto2 and MarsEdit currently does not support on-the-fly HTML conversion of text formatting. In earlier posts, I managed to create multi-component workaround by using Tagging Service in combination with iPaste. It was admittedly kludgy, but it sure beat hand-tagging all the text formatting and hyperlinks. The constituent apps in this solution are excellent and I plan to keep using them as they were originally intended. However, I've been seduced by a more elegant solution to HTML conversion when handing off entries NoteTaker entries to Ecto2 or MarsEdit: All hail Dejal's amazing freeware, BlogAssist.

Blog Content and All That Jazz:NoteTaker and the Mixdown of Meaning

A major benefit of engaging in multiple projects is the instances of cross-pollination between disparate gigs. When not holding forth here, I'm involved in other endeavors both more and less Gonzo. One of these involves jazz titan Miles Davis--and most recently, I've been focusing on his so-called "difficult" 1968-75 period.

Time has been good to this stage of Miles' artistic evolution: What was once incomprehensible to many is now seen as groundbreaking as the other phases of his career. Central to Difficult Miles is his use of the recording studio as a compositional tool (something further built upon by Brian Eno). I explored this over the past weekend, by examining the 18 tape edits that give shape and structure to "Pharaoh's Dance" from Davis' Bitches Brew. (So no, my involvement with other projects is not to imply I actually have a Life.)

Pulling Over For a RSS Stop:In Which the Notions of Info Scrapbooks and Wannabe Wire Services Are Called Into Question

The half-dozen of you who regularly subject yourselves to this idiosyncratic mix of confession, ire, observation, pop cultural critique and--lest we forget--tech tips regarding the use of NoteTaker as a muscular weblog client have come to realize that while I love the concept of blogging, I am less enamored with its usual executions.

For various and sundry reasons--many of them strewn across this site like the debris field of crashed conventional wisdom--my take on blogging is that it has rapidly settled into an an ongoing, online ontological opposition of itself. (Three bonus points for that piece of grandstanding alliteration, plus an additional point for it actually meaning something in addition to going for the cheap laugh.) Translation for those of you awake for less time than me (and with less coffee): Blogs are houses divided, with their rapid techno-evolution juxtaposed to the bizarre fussiness of their seemingly instant, hidebound "traditions."

In the main, the capabilities of weblogs are expanding at an impressive pace, even while the actual act of blogging remains suspended at the point of its initial brainstorm: Hey, we can create online diaries or superseded lists of information with this! It's pretty much as if the concept of websites was still rooted in the online conventions that took shape at inception of the Mosaic browser--even though CSS, XML Java and were available. Okay, not really--but truer than not.

I'd Tell You, But Then I'd Have To Kill You

Honey, I'm home. . . . Now someone much smarter than myself would simply reach for the Dallas Dream Season Stratagem: I could simply pretend that this was indeed September 1st and hack the posting dates to mess with your collective minds. But of course, That Would Be Wrong. Suffice it to say, I can't tell you what I've been up to in the past five weeks because many of my associates would wind up behiind bars or worse. However I can tell you that the seriously bent incident concluded with me waking up in the back of a 1954 Chevy in Rio with no clear idea how I got there. And there is the other small matter of a tattoo that says Res Ipsa Loquitur in the precise Old English typeface of The New York Times. Indeed. If I needed any further evidence that my Speedo days are over, this is certainly it.

And that takes care of that--or will have to until certain statutes of limitations run out. Now, in the immortal words of Pink, "I'm comin' up so you better get this party started . . . "

With Keystrokes, Less Is Indeed More:Another "Helper App" to the Rescue

Okay, I admit it: Keystroke Reduction corrupts--and absolute Keystroke Reduction corrupts absolutely. And if you're feeling uncomfortable about me revealing this Inappropriately Obsessive side of myself, just imagine how I must feel. But let's move beyond the mysterious ways in which I'm seemingly hardwired. Save your pity and instead help yourself to anything that's useful. (Proving that no-strings-attached generosity trumps neurosis--or at least balances the equation.)

As I was bashing out yesterday's post and wielding Tagging Service like the time-saving weapon it is, I found myself getting petulant. Sure Tagging Service is a lifesaver (and if you're using it on my recommendation, I genuinely hope you have deeply thanked the freeware developer)), but, Man, those letter/colon triggers--that's two keystrokes! Surely, I thought, we can do better than that . . . And with a little surfing, indeed we can.

I am now the proud owner of a highly affordable little app called iPaste. Here's the executive summary: It's a multiple entry clipboard which enables you to keep much-used inserts readily on hand. But the best thing about it is that it assigns a keyboard shortcut to each clipping.

Do I need to tell you what I did next? (Mwah-ha-ha! Keystroke Domination is mine!--Why does this come off as much more Dr. Evil than Auric Goldfinger?) Yup: I made each of the Tagging Service triggers a clipping. Now by simply hitting Ctrl-Opt-1 followed by Cmd-Shift-\, I have my beloved overwraught italics.

Can I imagine seamless, WYSIWYG input eventually? Well, yeah. But until then, I'm productively hunkered-down with the one-two combo of Tagging Service and iPaste--sort of Batman and Robin for minicoders like myself. Okay, I admit it, this pretty much has made my day--and in response to the inevitable superior laughter, I can only say, "Cut me some frickin' slack." It's hard being an evil blogging doctor . . .

The following music helped make this post possible: "These Foolish Things ( Remind Me Of You )" from the album Chet Baker In Paris (2000) by Chet Baker

Friday, July 16, 2004 11:50:09 AM

NoteTaker Support of Blog-Based Publication Structure and Workflow (Repeat After Me: The Web Is Publishing, Not Broadcasting)

Hey, wait a minute--yeah, you! The one who glanced at the head and said to yourself, "Jeez, I don't have an online publication; I'll check back tomorrow." Well, you don't want to do that for three reasons. First, your parents always told you to try new things to broaden yourself, right? Second, this posting is an meta-story--a natural convergence of NoteTaker blogging advice and many of the themes running through this site. And most importantly, it features a Full-Color Chart--and at the end of the day, who doesn't like a good full-color chart? So hang around--this posting might be up your alley after all.

But having said this, I also advise you to settle in. We need to take a philosophical side trip on our way to the tips. No, strike that---we don't need to, but we really, really should. It's always bothered me that most tech-tip resources are weirdly context-free. The supposition, brutally valid as it is, seems to be that the Enter key does the same thing whether you're writing the Declaration of Independence or Mein Kampf. Which is unfortunately true.

(In the Immortal Words of Keanu Reeves, "Whoa!") Revised NoteTaker/Ecto Script Now Available

Okay, I may have let you down, but AquaMinds didn't. All I can imagine is that someone over there wearily pulled themselves away from the July 4th festivities and accepted the baton from the programmers: Remarkably, the New, Improved, Seemingly Kevin-Proof NoteTaker/Ecto script is now available for your downloading pleasure. Public thanks to whoever at AquaMinds wiped hot dog mustard from their chin and proceeded to make the world safe from, er, me.

So if you were planning to blow my mail box apart tonight with a cherry bomb, please cease and desist. Oh, and Happy Fourth!

Sunday, July 4, 2004 8:32:34 PM

Bug In Posted Version of NT/Ecto Script

Remember Murphy and his Law? Well, in the US, this is a long holiday weekend, with business not resuming until Tuesday, and--natch--I've just determined there's a bug in the version of the NT/Ecto script currently posted (July 4th) on the AquaMinds site.

The good news is that erstwhile AquaMinds programmers fixed the bug on the Fourth of July. The bad news is that, realistically, the fixed NT/Ecto script won't be available for download until this coming Tuesday, during California business hours.

In the meantime, here's a work-around for those of you planning to blog with NoteTaker during the next two days. For various arcane reasons, the current script works just fine if you only post messages that continue in the manner supported by TypePad. This means--until Tuesday--even if you want to send a simple two-sentence post, use the "continuation" trigger (three right-pointing carrots) and then add anything after the trigger--even "goodbye." By doing this you'll be able to successfully post until Tuesday.

The new script fixes the problem--both integral and continued posts are recognized flawlessly.

One last thing: In case it hasn't been obvious, I've taken pains and pride in making this a not-biz-as-usual site. I'm genetically encoded to question tradition and up-end useless rules. In cases like this buggy script, Conventional Corporate Behavior would be announce an "issue"--in antiseptic terms that cooly avoided taking responsibility for it ("issues" seemingly appear by magic). The other Big Dumb Ploy would be to fob off the problem on users or their computer configurations or onto hardware manufacturers.

I say nonsense to all of this "avoidance marketing." (Actually, I normally use a much more colorful synonym for "nonsense.") I was the primary tester of the flawed NT/Ecto script and I demonstrably screwed up: I tested the support of "continuation" postings, but did not double-back and retest the previously working features. So if you've been frustrated with the NT/Ecto script over the past two days, don't blame AquaMinds, don't blame Ecto--blame me. It's not your hardware, it's not your computer configuration and its not an "issue" that magically appeared. It's a flaw let through by an actual person with an actual name: one K. Sheridan. And what's more--he's promised to do better in the future.

So maybe the silver lining of this little storm cloud is that an example of sorts has been set for the computer industry. No matter how much some companies pretend, there is no such thing as infallibility. However there does exist something called responsiblity. Wouldn't it be cool if actually saying "Oops, sorry!" started a trend that eliminated evasive support people, blank stares and instructions to call The Other Guy, et. al.? Yeah, I know--okay. But I can dream, can't I?

Once again, sorry for the my screw-up. Sit tight with the work-around and check back with the AquaMinds download site after Tuesday.

PS: This post is being sent using the fixed script; I'm purposely not splitting it to demonstrate the problem is licked.

Sunday, July 4, 2004 1:32:48 PM

Enhanced Support for Ecto & TypePad In New Verision of NoteTaker Blogging Script

Stop the Presses! Remake the Front Page! Seriously consider sending genuinely fawning email to the crack development team over at AquaMinds: The company today released a free updated version of the NoteTaker/Ecto AppleScript. Script version 0.8.4 offers enhanced connectivity for Ecto's support of TypePad's Continuation/Summary input field. Continuation/Summary enables a posting to be split into an introductory section which is featured on the main weblog page and a continuation or "spill" of the rest of post on a second blog page.

The benefit of TypePad's Continuation/Summary is the ability to feature more postings on the main blog page without making it overly long and unwieldily for visitors to navigate. TypePad is among the first blog service providers to offer the unique continuation capability, which thus places NoteTaker and Ecto on the cutting edge of weblog development.

When creating an entry in a NoteTaker notebook, the use of three right-pointing carrot symbols signals the NoteTaker/Ecto script that all text that follows the symbols should be moved to the TypePad Continuation/Summary field. The three right-pointing carrots are then automatically removed and do not visually interrupt the posting.

To recap, the NoteTaker/Ecto blogging script now supports the creation of post headlines, introductory text and the continued text of the posting.

Tired of Punctuationless Heads? Try This Ungrammatical Work-Around!

While off the air, I amused myself with massaging the various technologies this blog obsesses about. The results will be popping up in the future. Call them tiplets, if you will; the the tapas of postings--small-plate strategies which can add up to a workflow feast.

If you've been here before, you know that the NoteTaker/Ecto AppleScript uses the first sentence of the entry as the headline of the posting. There is an important proviso: To be transformed into a headline, the first sentence must end in a period: it serves a trigger for all of the headline-making machinations happening below the surface. And, after the first sentence has been made into a headline, the period is dropped, the making the head, well, more head-like.

What I've described is a Good Thing: It allows both NoteTaker entries and the blog postings which they create to share headlines. But, because no system is perfect, it may seem to prevent the use of headlines which end in other kinds of punctuation--and in truth--I also had resigned myself to sedate, non-gonzo heads. At least until I started messing around with the process.

I occurred to me that because the headline-making part of the script it truly fixated on that first period--and because, afterward, that period is dropped--what would happen if it put a period after a terminal exclamation point or question mark in the first sentence? What happens is that it works! While looking slightly odd in the head of the notebook entry, it gives you the flexibility to end your headlines in some other than an implied period.

What's Direct-To-Blog and What's Not (Part Two)

The gratifying number of visitors to this site in its first the three weeks is forcing me to grapple with asethetic/communications issues that will affect its proof-of-concept status. Thus, as my own niggling perfectionism occasionally outpaces the current performance of the NoteTaker/Ecto script, I'll let you know. It's not so much, "Don't try this at home" as it is something along the lines of "Here's how to further tart-up your blog."

In the first installment of this random series of Tell-All, I pointed out that I post everything on this site as direct-to-blog, using the NoteTaker/Ecto AppleScript. And a good thing too: If I breathlessly encouraged you to use the script and yet created this blog in another way, you would be right in acting like angry villagers in a Frankenstein film. So, yes: All posts to this site are first written a entries in a dedicated NoteTaker notebook, the structure of which has been discussed earlier. And using the additional helper applications I've also described, all of the text formatting and links are also created within the NT notebook entry--but as HTML tags.

(NoteTaker does feature WYSIWYG text formatting and HTML conversion, but--currently--only for its highly useful Web notebooks. It also has an elegant link maker that works within notebooks, between notebooks and also functions in Web notebooks--but, again, currently not when sending to copy to Ecto.)

Updated Version of Blogging Script Released

The NoteTaker/Ecto AppleScript that enables blogging from notebooks has just been updated. The new version fixes a bug where the first sentence of the entry did not automatically become the posting's headline when the entry was first sent to Ecto (as opposed to sending it directly to TypePad, using Ecto as a conduit).

The crack team over at AquaMinds have posted the updated AppleScript here. And, while you're visiting their site, don't forget to check out the free NoteTaker Viewer that is also available for download, This viewer played a role in one of the productivity solutions discussed earlier.

In terms of further NoteTaker/Ecto script enhancements, keep checking back here. I'll do my best to ensure visitors to this site will be among the first to know any breaking news.

Tuesday, June 22, 2004 10:20:26 AM

How the Pieces Fit Together: A Visual Review

We've recently covered a lot of ground that has much to do with stitching together meta-applications from the parts of separate ones. Perhaps this is why I've been stifling the urge to scream It's Alive! It's Alive! each time I launch NoteTaker and NoteTaker launches Ecto. The story of my life: I set out to be Cary Grant but somehow became Colin Clive . . . Enough of my paltry problems.

Below is a chart that quickly and efficiently reprises the past few postings. Think of it as Page 2 of the virtual handout that started here. As always, double-clicking (© Microsoft) on the art, opens a larger, more legible version. Depending on your on the speed of your connection, this will happen instantly--or you may have time to begin a book. (I recommend Stranger Than Fiction, Chuck Palahniuk's new collection of essays.)

I'm wondering if a future improvement to these charts--yup, I go back and change things on this blog with impunity--may be to create image maps from the illustrations--but I need to workout the implications of TypePad creating thumbnails of them. Would the links work in miniature, like some sort of Barbie Dream House webpage? So many loopy ideas, so little time.

Sunday, June 20, 2004 2:01:32 PM

AppleScript Shortcuts: Additional Convenience for Notetaker Bloggers

Make no mistake about it: Using NoteTaker as a powerful and flexible blogging client is a newborn capability. So young, in fact, the AppleScript which connects NoteTaker to Ecto has not yet reached the status of a 1.0 release.

This means that the situation is both fraught with possibilities and limitations. Possibilities are prevalent because the circumstances are so fluid. Everyone is still working out (a) what is possible in terms of AppleScript and (2) what is genuinely useful for users. For now at least, the NoteTaker/Ecto combination has created the most powerful and deeply featured blogging client available. Others such applications may be developed, but right now the field belongs to NoteTaker/Ecto.

Because of this, much of the initial exploration is improvisational. Early Adaptors are pretty much pressing buttons and noting what happens. And, increasingly, this experimentation is focusing on the classic (and classically American) Could/Should dichotomy: So great is the power of NoteTaker, there may be things that are now become possible that have no real-world benefit for a weblog--at least not now. It's a matter of not knowing we want something until we work out that it can be done. This improvised exploration will undoubtedly become part of the feedback loop that, in turn, will help refine the NoteTaker/Ecto script.

At the same time, improvisation will also begin to map the current limitations of the NoteTaker/Ecto script. How do you know something won't happen until you try to do it? Note that limitations are not bugs. We aren't talking about malfunctioning or underperforming advertised capabilities. Rather, it's those situations where users have boxed themselves into an operational corner; where the immediate response is "Look, I just need to be able to do that"--whatever that is. And it may be that what's being asked for is eminently doable--in time. But when you really, really, really want to do it now, well, that's just not the answer you want to hear.

Blogging With a Virtual Virtual Notebook

Sometimes being left to one's own devices can be both productive and clarifying. Over the weekend, I had occasion to spend way too much time in environments where wireless Internet access was not allowed. Not being smart enough to have anticipated this little wrinkle, my trusty 12-inch PowerBook was with me--albeit useless for posting purposes. After I finished hyperventilating, I told myself I could handle doing time in an Access Free Zone--even though secretly, I knew these circumstances had broken better geeks than me. However, I had seen The Birdman of Alcatraz more than once and I knew how best to use my time in solitary confinement . . .

And so as I was sitting there, I decided to collide two ideas--just to see what sort of creative fission would be released. The first idea is that not only do weblogs not have to feature reverse chronology (and yes, I do tend to bang that idea like a gong), there is also nothing stopping blogs from treating time as something malleable.

What if I simply decided that the events/statements/jokes/confessions of, say, June 14, werenot carved in temporal stone, simply because the reigning Reverse-Chrono metaphor of online content management encourages such assumptions? What if on June 16, I went back to the June 14th posting and changed it? Not merely touching it up or correcting a typo or fine-tuning a reference. No, what if I put significantly new stuff in the June 14th posting? And what if other things written on June 14 were simply removed--ex cathedra--by me? What if the important thing about the June 14th posting wasn't the date, but the subject matter? Further, what if that subject matter was dynamic, changing from one day to the next?

Ending Radio Silence

I've been out-of-town and, alas, out of dependable Internet access for the past three days. I'm back and so is another slew of tips for blogging with NoteTaker and Ecto.

I productively spent some of the offline time further tweaking my blogging notebook (a report about that is forthcoming) and working on a post about using NT blogging notebooks as staging areas for blog content. It's a cool and eminently workable concept which tested very well yesterday. Here's a taste: What if a blogging notebook was comprised of links to the entries or pages of other notebooks? A blogging notebook comprised of pointers would always reflect the latest changes in the source notebooks. Hold that thought and now couple it with Ecto's ability to repost edited entries. For specific kinds of weblogs, this has major implications . . .

I'll be back later with a proper post.

Sunday, June 13, 2004 5:37:10 PM

A Closer Look at Tagging Service

Yesterday I pointed out that Tagging Service by MonkeyFood provided fast, fast, fast relief for any one flirting with text-tagging-induced repetitive stress injury. Since then, I've had a chance to more fully explore this nifty little applet and I'm pleased to inform users who respond to angle brackets the same way Dracula responds to crucifixes that my new best friend, Tagging Service, also handles the creation of links that convey without a hitch to Ecto and TypePad. TS (yes, our bond is now so strong, I'm on nickname basis with the utility) additionally allows the timesaving creation of image addresses (img) and URL identification (url).

TS works its magic by inserting open and close tags based upon a single-letter trigger that is followed by a colon. This letter-colon trigger is placed directed next to the first word that the tag is to act upon--with no space between the letter-colon and the word. (Explained in prose, the process looks more complicated than it is. It's best to simply download the freeware service and play with it. Complete mastery takes about 30 seconds--I promise.)

Text Formatting Tip: An HTML Tagging Service

The current version of the NoteTaker/Ecto AppleScript does not send the text formatting of NT notebook entries to Ecto. But sterling application that it is, Ecto quite happily reads HTML tags. So here's a very cool work-around:

Go to MonkeyFood. com and download their mind-bendingly useful Tagging Service. (It's freeware, so please, while you're there, drop them a heartfelt thank-you note.) Install Tagging Service in Library>Services and restart your computer. After that, you'll find a Tag Text option in the Services menu--an option that works perfectly with NoteTaker. And--best of all--Tagging Service can be invoked with a keyboard shortcut: Cmd-Shift-\ (note: it's a backslash!).

Now, as you're writing a blog-bound NT notebook entry, simply indicate where you want italics to start by typing i: for italic, b: for bold, etc (all of the triggers are listed in the Tagging Service documentation).Don't put a space between the the colon and the word where the formatting should start. Then simply select the word or phrase or paragraph, trigger included, and press Cmd-Shift-\ Voila! Instant text formatting tags that import into Ecto. The text formatting of this entry was generated by MonkeyFood's great little service. You gotta love small developers!

PS: This system enhancement works with any word processor that supports services. The one proviso is that the keyboard shortcut may already be used by the app and therefore will be unavailable. While the shortcut is modifiable, the default setting works perfectly with NoteTaker, so don't get too ambitious.

Wednesday, June 9, 2004 11:14:23 AM

Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain

Er, Just do your best to ignore any cryptic test postings you may find here. On occasion, as the NoteTaker/Ecto AppleScript is further improved, you may glimpse a little R&D going on. I'll do my best to keep it in the dead of the East Coast night and try to remove any evidence of testing having occurred by morning light--rather like Area 51, but oh-so-much-more banal.

Tuesday, June 8, 2004 11:39:36 PM

Everything You Need to Know and Do to Begin Blogging with NoteTaker and Ecto; Well, Except for the Having-Something-To-Write-About Bit and, Okay, the Finding-Time-to-Post Part and--Look, Just Read This

Beyond the sexy industrial design, apart from the breathtaking innovation, Apple Computer's business model is based on the endless refinement of a single concept: Creating an utterly mediated computer experience for the user. This is why it has become a cult and this is also why, despite its recent embrace of Unix, Apple continues to be bitch slapped by Deep Geeks. As an Apple user who can trace his computing lineage all the way back to Lisa, this has always fascinated me. Two high-water moments in the history of Apple Mediation was the "There Is No Step Three" campaign that launched the original iMac and the beta build of OS X with default prefs set to show no desktop icons and and also to hide the dock (which, of course, proved to be far too much mediation for most user tastes).

I bring up mediated user experiences because I'd love to to tell you in friendly Jeff Goldblum-esque tones that there's No Step Three with regard to blogging with NoteTaker. But, hey, there is. And depending on how you count, maybe a Step Six, too. The good news is that (a) its not rocket science and (b) unless you change blog service providers, it's pretty much one-time-only effort. This also may help: While the process described below is not precisely plug-and-play, it will still earn you the aggressviely arrogant sneers of Deep Geeks--so, really, how hard could it be?

Visual Quick Start Guide To NoteTaker Blogging

Well, I fired-up a drawing program--so be afraid, be very afraid. Actually, the result is a fairly succinct distillation of the major things to keep in mind when you begin blogging with NoteTaker via the NoteTaker/Ecto AppleScript. The next posting will feature a step-by-step overview of what you need to purchase and how you should proceed--basically, all the other important stuff that would have disturbed the quiet Zen of the chart. Of course, there's nothing stopping you from taking a gander at the chart now in preparation for the next post--think of it as homework . . .

And remember: Double-clicking (© Microsoft) on the art will open a larger, more legible version. Be aware, however, that depending on modem speed, this may take a while to load. Sorry about that--I'll be optimizing the size later today.

Monday, June 7, 2004 4:39:33 PM

What's Direct-To-Blog and What's Not

The very satisfying number of visitors to this site has prompted me to make the place a tad more aesthetic. When it was my private playground, the spartan look worked just fine, thank you. But, er, now that a party seems to have broken out, I thought it best to tidy up the house for the guests--even if that means spackling as the canapes are being passed around.

But in doing so, it occurs to me I may be giving the wrong impression of what direct-to-blog via NoteTaker and Ecto really means. Nothing significant has happened since the NoteTaker/Ecto AppleScript was released last week. So any nominal improvement seen in this weblog is me touching things up apres post.

The entries' artwork, hyperlinks and categories have all been added after the fact. Further, only the main posting area is the result of direct-to-blog posting from NoteTaker through Ecto. Adding insult to injury, those damnably inflexible sidebars had to be created within TypePad. And as long as we're discussing the artwork, be aware that in most--but not all--cases, double-clicking (©2004 Microsoft, apparently) creates larger, pop-up versions of the art.

And yeah, I'm ahead of you--you want to know when and if art, links and categories will be supported in the NoteTaker/Ecto AppleScript--to which I merely smile cryptically. As the Caveat Visitor at the right stresses, I am neither an employee of NoteTaker or Ecto, nor their spokesperson--although I do admit I frequently behave like that annoying "unofficial" booster for the Wendy's fast food chain. What happens in terms of further feature support will happen. But speaking strictly as a private citizen, there is nothing making such support technically impossible.

My advice is to see what the script becomes as it evolves from decimal-fraction release. After that, it will be very cool to see what other user-scripters further code into it . . .

Monday, June 7, 2004 12:32:50 PM

Overview: What The Current Script Is Capable of Doing

Before discussing the structuring of dedicated blogging notebooks, it's helpful to understand what the first release of the NoteTaker/Ecto AppleScript can and cannot do.

At this point in its development, the script enables you to chose either a text selection within an entry or the full entry itself for posting to a blog. The script further allows you to chose whether this posting is sent to Ecto for additional work or directly to the blog "as-is," using Ecto as a kind of conduit. (In either case, Ecto is automatically launched if it is not already running.)

The script creates a headline for the blog posting from the first full sentence of the NoteTaker entry. The script bolds the first sentence, drops the period from it and then begins the body of the posting with the second sentence of the NoteTaker entry. Further, the script retains the block paragraphing of the NoteTaker entry when it posts to the blog via Ecto.. Important reminder: That period after the first sentence is critical. The script will make a headline out of anything and everything prior to finding the first instance of a period. If you forget to use one, well, unintended and surreal headlines will result.

Getting Started: The NoteTaker/Ecto AppleScript

Here's what you need to do to get NoteTaker and Ecto talking ot each other:

(1) Download the NoteTaker/Ecto AppleScript here.

(2) Decompress the file. (It's in StuffIt SIT format.)

(3) Open your computer's root Library and then open the Scripts folder. Alternatively, you can open the user Library and then the Scripts folder.

(4) Drag the saved NoteTaker/Ecto Applescript into the NoteTaker folder within the Scripts folder. (If you don't find a NoteTaker folder within the Scripts folder, create one.)

(5) If it's running, close and then restart NoteTaker.

(6) The NoteTaker/Ecto script is now available in NoteTaker's "Scripts" menu (found on the application's Menu Bar).

Everything you want to know about the finer points of AppleScripts can be found here.

Friday, June 4, 2004 11:28:09 AM

Once Upon a Time . . .

This weblog is designed to be proof-of-concept with regard to using AquaMinds' NoteTaker application and Ecto for directly posting entries to TypePad blogs. Additionally, it is intended to be an Index of Possiblities: Tricks, tips, work-arounds and enhancements that can be when working with these three applications.

The concept of blogging has resonated with the general public because, paradoxically, it's seen as the easiest way of creating a website--even though the real revolutionary breakthrough is that a weblog is a cheap and effective content management system.

Blogs have proliferated across the Internet with almost viral speed. But even though they are ubiquitous, there has so far not been a simple, feature-rich and powerful way to blog. At one end of the spectrum, professional blogging clients undermine the idea of blogs as "easy websites" by demanding significant levels of HTML knowledge and experience. At the other end, there are simplistic, WYSIWYG diary-based blogging clients that do little more than put a friendly face on weblog input screens.

But what if blogging could be pursued via a virtual notebook? A notebook that has the power to clip and save items from the Internet? A notebook that allows content searchs of itself? A notebook that can be structured to mirror the organization of the user's weblog? A notebook with entries that are transformed into blog postings with a mouse click?

What if this blogging notebook enabled a user to search the Internet from inside of entries, enabling her to gather information that can then be used in a blog posting? What if this notebook could also clip passages from other documents on the user's hard drive that could similarly be used in entries that are then seamlessly posted to a weblog?

This is what the blogging enhancements of AquaMinds NoteTaker promise to do. These capabilities are now made possible by an AppleScript that allows NoteTaker and Ecto, the premier blogging client, to interact with each other. That sudden draft you feel is the arrival of increased weblog ease and possiblities.