Knowledge management

[binocular222]

Hi,
I'm looking for the best way to manage my digital knowledge.

- Digital knowledge = any file contain good info which should be stored in computer/mobile/tablet AND to be looked up in future. i.e: cooking recipie, IT tips& tricks, economic articles...
- Manage = Store + Search for pieces of info quickly

The problem are:
1) Which file format is the best?
- Requirements are:
+ Allow "search-by-content"
+ Allow instant search (aka indexed search)
+ Interoperability: Can be read/write by PC/Mobile/Tablet AND Can be read/write by multiple softwares
+ Appropriate file format for specific type of knowledge
+ Friendly to XYplorer (i.e: view-able by XYplorer preview panel)
+ Friendly to read on screen but can be printed without terribly modified layout

- Currently I am considering:
+ For plain text data: .txt, Unicode 16-LE with BOM vs UFT-8 with BOM
+ For rich text data: .HTML/MHT/HTM vs .RTF vs .DOCX vs .ODT vs .CHM vs other Ebook format
+ For spreadsheet data: .XLSX
TXT is good for both read and write but page layout sucks when you have to print.
HTML/MHT/HTM are so much easy to read, you can even view in XYplorer preview panel, but too had to edit. I haven't found any decent WYSIWYG HTML editor. Microsoft Word is a good editor but it generate terrible HTML code.
RTF is small, easy to edit but the format is proprietary to Microsoft, thus not many software support content-search and cannot be read by Apple devices (can they?), besides, web browsers cannot display RTF (can they?)
DOCX & XLSX are powerful but bulky and proprietary to Microsoft too.
ODT I have too little experience with this format. Any good?
CHM has good tree-like structure but not view-able by webbrowsers and Microsoft planned to make it obsolete (will they?)
Other Ebook format: Again, I have too little experience with this format. Any good?


2) Which software is the best to read/write?
- Requirements are:
+ Fast
+ Enough features
+ In active development
+ Fully portable
- Currently I am considering:
+ For plain text: Sublime Text vs Edit Pad
+ For rich text: Microsoft Word vs WordPad
I'm out of idea now, any suggestion?

3) Any special structure of data to facilitate searching/reading?
- Requirements are:
+ Allow tag-search (i.e: the last line contain \_:Cooking recipie|Asian Food:_/ to denote 2 tags: Cooking recipie and Asian Food)
+ Allow structured data (i.e in XML)
+ Allow linkage between files

Any suggestion?

[Slavaon]

Hi,
I'm looking for the best way to manage my digital knowledge.

Any suggestion?

Try WizKnowledge - free form database http://www.xyplorer.com/xyfc/viewtopic. ... wiz#p90035
Based on SQLite, files - standard ZIP files with the extension ziw(open database format). An additional viewer-editor WizHtmlEditor
I like version 3.3.25.

[Borut]

Maybe worthwhile considering would be a markdown syntax combined with Pandoc document converter. For text files I generally use UTF-8 without BOM (BOM with UTF-8 has no meaning and can confuse old applications that expect ASCII).

[binocular222]

WizHTML Editor is good.
Wizknowledge saves as .wiz which is not good for interoperability, besides, it's Chinese, our people (VN) always distrust Chinese.
Currently, I'm still using HTML for simple rich text and mht if I want to insert pictures. This practice is inconsistent, thus bad.
UFT-8 without BOM cause confusion for web browsers, non-latin characters are not interpreted.

@Borut: Can you recommend a good editor for markdown/Latext/... language?

[Borut]

Can you recommend a good editor for markdown/Latext/... language?

In principle any text editor will do, but most of them lack even the basic syntax highlighter for markdown (or it is not working very well, or it is hard do define).

An acceptable solution in this respect - for me at least - appears to be SynWrite, which can run in a portable mode (without installation), is free and masters the basic markdown highlighting well (well, good enough for my purposes). It can also start a Pandoc over the opened document, so conversion into other format is easily possible.

BTW, I also have a button/script in XYplorer, so that I can for instance convert all selected markdown text files into a html document easily using Pandoc. (I do not like the fact that Pandoc has to be installed and is not portable instead, but have accepted that, due to its many benefits.)

[FluxTorpedoe]

Well, first let's face it: you'll have a hard time finding a single soft/way that complies to all your requirements...

Finding a decent knowledge management soft has been kind of a grail quest for me, and I've tried everything I've been able to find for more than a decade. There's a lot, and lots of "cuties" but not much is really strong... I had two more requisites though: being able to import (from existing notes/data), and to export each and every note to standard formats (never safe enough!). I've tried an insane amount but only used a few of them, painfully switching from one to the other when something better was coming up.
• The previous contender I'd found that would have matched my criteria was Ultra Recall. Quite powerful but lacking responsiveness, and basically the antithesis of XY: inadequate price tag and nearly inexistent development. A no-go for me then, but I mention it because it has a few interesting features, so it may be worth a try.
• One of the only other strong contenders IMHO (feature-wise) is Aml Pages, which packs a lot and is actively developed, but unfortunately feels a little rough around the edges...
• A few months ago, I finally went with RightNote (which had then reached my "minimum requirements"). There's still a lot of room for improvement, and the development seemed a bit slow (though it accelerated recently). But the price is ok, it can manage Text/RichText/Code/Webpages/Spreadsheet. Among other things, it can import and export (so you know you're safe), it's portable, and the tag system (with custom icons) is really great when you get the hang of it! And as for interoperability, it syncs with Evernote.
(BTW, Evernote and its cohort of clones lack too many features for me, and OneNote is better suited if you only have a manageable number of "pages" rather than several hundreds of notes ranging from pages to haikus!).

So as of now, I can say I'm pretty glad I switched to RightNote!
— But then again, it's not as if I had much choice...

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I must add that for "data/database" management (e.g. movies, movie posters, books, ebooks, recipes, etc.), the softs are even rarer and that's a different approach entirely. But I don't know if that's (also) what you're after.

[binocular222]

@ FluxTorpedoe: I do not expect a single software package can do this. I tries many packages from Evernotes to Onenotes, DiaryOne... and concluded that all these package store data in its own file format, this implies 2 great disadvantages:
- Cannot be read by other softwares while export is always lacking
- Not allow content-search by other software.

My solution is keeping data in as-simple-as-possible format such as .txt, .html, rtf. XYplorer will take care of organizing them, Windows Search and Everything take care of searching, specific softwares are required to edit specific file format, viewing should be done by web-browser (thus allow preview in XYplorer panel).

So, the hardest part would be choosing the right file format.

[FluxTorpedoe]

Yep, I was reluctant to depend on proprietary file format too... That's why import/export was so important to me. But with a huge and diverse dataset, unfortunately the efficiency of a dedicated soft can't be beaten.

But... but... for my database management needs, I also use the alternate approach you're after, that's why I had added my last paragraph.
I'll leave the file format discussion to others, but regarding the management part:
I wasn't satisfied by the few "data management" softs (compared to my requirements), so I decided to turn XY into such a tool by creating a full-featured "Collection Manager".
I must say it's probably become my favorite script...

I've been enhancing and polishing it for a few months now, and thanks to all the possibilities of XYplorer, it's working really well (use it every day ). Basically its concept is threefold:
- The Basics: Manage collections of any kind.
- The Great: Automatically create search "filters".
- The UberGreat: For collections with "covers" (i.e. 1 image per item), browse and search collections through nice thumbnails (rather than uninformative files) AND launch corresponding items by double-clicking on their picture!

e.g. That means that you can easily filter and browse through your "Unseen Adventure Comedy", look at the covers, and run the movie of your choice by just double-clicking on its cover.
Or you can filter your "Time to cook < 30min Cakes", choose your favorite by its picture, and open its Word, hmtl (or whatever) recipe by double-clicking on the pic.
Everything is configurable, even icons (without tweaking).

I didn't have/take the time to create a clear post about it, but if someone's interested that might wake me up...

[totmad1]

@ FluxTorpedoe Most definitely interested.
I've tried a few different pieces of software but every one has always come up short.
I have noticed some of your scripts and have been impressed.

[binocular222]

@Fulx: Your UberGreat can link image to file - really? XYPlorer can do that? I'm curious now.

P.S: regarding file format, I think RTF is almost perfect: small, can store picture inside, easy to edit. Unfortunately, there're 2 drawbacks:
- Lack of interoperability: cannot convert to another format, Apple devices & Web browsers cannot read.
- Not friendly to content-search

[Enternal]

Before I switch to Evernote, I had used The Guide 2.0
http://theguide.sourceforge.net/

Unfortunately it's no longer updated. But, it does do most of what you want and the software itself is open source but use its own data format.
http://theguide.sourceforge.net/features.html

It can export to RTF too if you need. But yeah, it won't work together with XYplorer well. But still take a look and see.

[binocular222]

Now, I'm fairly sure that .docx is the best solution:
- Windows support index search and search-by-content natively
- It's an OpenDocument format, ISO-standardized => good interoperability, besides, it's newer than OpenOffice .odt
- Can be viewed & edited super-fast by Universal Viewer Free, besides, XYplorer's preview panel can decently handle it
- Powerful for storing all kind of text and formats and collaboration
- Size is bigger than rtf and odt but not much
- Store objects (picture, spreadsheet, attachments...) in single file => better than html
- Apple devices can opens it with Mac's Pages
- Not friendly to XYplorer's content search but neither rtf nor odt is. Only html & mht are better


---------------------
If anyone interested, here's my setup for perfect workflow:
- My knowledge database has only 3 kind of files: docx; txt (16-LE BOM); xlsx
- Keyboard "/" in XYplorer triggers openwith UniversalViewer
- Keyboard "Alt+w" trigger Word macro: "WebLayout view" - to utilize screen space
- Keyboard Win+x startup Everything
- Keyboard Win+e startup Windows Explorer Index search (via AHK scipt)
- Universal Viewer is always on top & has no titlebar, menu, statusbar - to utilize screen space (via AHK scipt)
- Emails, contacts, appointments are managed by Microsoft Outlook 2007 (outlook 2010 and 2013 suck)

[FluxTorpedoe]

Good to know your approach. Considering your requirements, docx seems a sensible choice indeed (and reasonably light too)... It will be interesting to have some feedback along the way!
BTW, I'll have to retry UniversalViewer speed-wise, I'm using TextMaker Viewer now.

@ FluxTorpedoe Most definitely interested.

Here's an appetizer in its own Collection Manager thread, the script should follow tomorrow.

Your UberGreat can link image to file - really? XYPlorer can do that? I'm curious now.

Yes, XYplorer is a really a powerful tool (nearly rhymes with amazing toy )! I do that by hijacking PFA with a simple line redirected to the script — with no performance loss btw (another tribute to XY efficiency). More in the thread later (& you'll be able to try)...

[binocular222]

Just tried TextMaker Viewer, here is the comparision:
- good speed but still slightly slower than Universal Viewer
- UI is not customizable (i.e: cannot hide menu/statusbar, cannot disable splash screen)
+ Has 2 better options than Universal Viewer: Fit to window & Continuos display
- Support less much file format than Universal Viewer
- Display Word documents 90% correct (shapes and formulas are not displayed at all). UV Free edition does not decode the document itself, UV let Microsoft Word handle the file, then display like an Iframe (web designer will know what Iframe is), thus UV display Word document 100% correct
- View only. UV allow you to edit directly, like an Iframe
+ Support OpenOffice .odt natively (UV rely on plugin which is iffy at times)

[stanmarsh]

hello all,

i like to suggest abiword's abw format

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.abw

File formats

AbiWord comes with several import and export filters providing a partial support for such formats as HTML, Microsoft Word (.doc), Office Open XML (.docx),[8][9] OpenDocument Text (.odt), Rich Text Format (.rtf), and text documents (.txt). LaTeX is supported for export only. Plug-in filters are available to deal with many other formats, notably WordPerfect documents. The native file format, .abw, uses XML, so as to mitigate vendor lock-in concerns with respect to interoperability and digital archiving.

merci!