Circus Ponies NoteBook - 3.0 (v366)

I have been using Notebook since 1.0. I have relied on it daily for organization, daily journals, and anything that I have needed to encrypt. In all this time it has never let me down. It's one of the very first apps I install on a Mac and one I could not do without.

The inspired simplicity of CPN's design...looking like a simple notebook...belies an ironically confused and epically jumbled practical usability. This application really needs to be re-designed from the ground up.

I too was jacklighted by the "coolness" and good looks and "ponied" up my $50 bucks, and of all the software I've purchased in the last few years that I feel was money wasted, this is a close second to MobileMe.

I never thought I'd do this, but I have to recommend Microsoft Word's notebook feature. It just plain works and is intuitive while CPN is conversely complicated, confusing and non-intuitive.

Sorry folks, but I reached the end of the road.

I really want this application to work for me but unfortunately the overall experience is too non-Mac-like. For example, should I want to quickly create another shape that reflects the same formatting attributes as an existing shape, I can't simply option-click'n drag that shape to create a new one (a Mac staple). Or should I want to easily rotate a shape I can't just command-click'n drag a shape's corner handle. The Inspector isn't implemented quite right either. Not only are most tweaks only available in the Inspector but you can only have one Inspector (or "view" of the inspector) open at a time. This limitation of the presentation of attributes is further handicapped by the lack of the aforementioned "direct adjustments" to items, e.g., option-drag.

Formatting is a real headache; formatting controls are scattered throughout; style management is poor; parameters similar to many elements are scattered and often redundant.

The multidex is pretty cool, but overall NoteBook complicates many important "on-the-fly" tweaks that should be much more simple (fluid) to perform.

Notebook seems like a good idea that has been sold short by either a reluctance to invest in Mac-quality Interaction Design (User Experience?) Professionals or the employment of unskilled interaction personnel.

Ultimately if someone's buying this application then it could be argued that NoteBook is "successful." And from the comments seen here such may be the case. That said, for anyone who places a high value on their time and energy, be aware that NoteBook is more than likely to sap you of unnecessary amounts both.

This is not a rant. Hopefully I come across somewhat balanced in my review.

I paid for and have been trying to use this obviously inspired software for almost a year now. Unfortunately there have been several issues, one critical, which have forced me back to Microsoft Word out of necessity until they are quashed.

1. CRITICAL: Having spent a lot of email time with the techs, I am informed that there is a conflict with Adium, Bonjour and mDNSResponder that causes Notebook to fault out to the ''all licenses are in use'' dialog when mDNSResponder crashes--and then provides no way to save work before it quits out. All I'm given is an ''OK'' button to push. While I'm a bit anal in ''oversaving'' my work in progress--basically when I stop typing, I hit CMD-S to save--one day I lost over a page of work and I realized I just couldn't take this kind of chance anymore. This issue is fairly new and cropped up after the first version of 3.0. I never had this happen before that. Something changed and needs to be reversed--in my humble opinion.

(For the record, Adium is a wonderfully useful and inspired software that puts all IM chat alternatives (MSN, Yahoo, GTalk, AIM/AOL etc.) ''under one roof'' and makes interacting with them simple--without advertisements--and it's free. I will not be forced to sacrifice one good piece of software for another when I have a perfectly good alternative in Microsoft Word.)

2. USABILITY: There are ''glitches'' on CTRL-clicking on tabs to bring up the Tab Inspector. It apparently gets ''stuck'' on the previous tab and wants some sort of ''closure'' before ''moving on'' to the next tab you wish to modify. Only by ''tinkering around'' by selecting various tabs, pages at random to ''make it forget'', will it ''move on.'' This feature is definitely in need of ''therapy.''

3. USABILITY: Overall the preferences and settings are not entirely intuitive--often to the point of confusion in some cases. Things just aren't where you expect to find them. This is a big ''slow-downer'' of an issue that seems to call out for a bit more organization.

I love the presentation and organization of Notebook overall and would love to see a more stable environment--but I just can't take the chance to lose work anymore.

NOTE: I have been told that ''I am the only one having the Adium/mDNSResponder/Bonjour issue. I have a hard time believing this and would love to hear if there are any more of us out there who can perhaps fast-track resolution on this issue.

I've been seeking a replacement for Attain's In Control for years now, and while none of the current outliners really comes close, I'm dumping Curio (which I've used for the past year) for NoteBook. Curio has some great features but the developer has been unresponsive to a few requests that would make it a truly great outliner, and it's got some serious speed issues. Oh well. NoteBook is fast, intuitive and very powerful and flexible. Resizable file attachments is a nice plus missing in many competitors including OmniOutliner and NoteTaker. Super Find (in combination with keywords and "stickers") is a great feature. One thing I'd really really like to see is for "Super Find" results to include the children of topics found by the search. That way I could tag just the main topics I want to retrieve in searches - as it is now I have to tag every single subtopic, which is a royal pain.