Existing users, 
 Circus Ponies NoteBook - 1.2v170note-taking & freeform database |
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Feedback Summary:
| Version 1.2v170: | |||||
| Overall Rating: |  (4.8) |
Features: | (4.5) |
Support: | (4.8) |
| Ease of Use: | (4.8) |
Quality / Stability: | (4.7) |
Price: | (4.9) |
Key to Types of Feedback:
Reviews 
Troubleshooting 
Usage Tips 
Developer Notes 
Commentary 
Featured Reviews
One of the All Time Best - Version: 3.0 (v366), 11/3/2009 05:24PM PST
(0 of 1 users found this comment useful)
smithgregory1_dotmac
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.
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- Grape or raspberry Kool-Aid?
Maybe not back to square one, but maybe square four or five? 
- Version: 3.0 (v366), 11/3/2009 11:21AM PST
(2 of 2 users found this comment useful)
jarlaxle.merc
I agree with much of what the previous post touched on, but we two little people are most certainly not the ambassadors for the masses, hence be sure to give Circus Ponies Notebook a try to see if it fits your own idiosyncratic workflow.
Circus Ponies Notebook looks great on paper, but in reality, many of the features that seem appealing are clumsily woven into an unnecessarily obtuse and complex usability nightmare. Again, Circus Ponies Notebook has many GREAT features and concepts that have the potential to be great were it not for the cumbersome implementation which provides an experience that feels like the results of an iterative process that insidiously went piecemeal somewhere along the line. IMHO there’s definitely no need for the application to retreat entirely to square one. Instead a reweaving of the impressive features and concepts into a tool that offers a more fluid experience might only require a theoretical step back to square four or five.
For lack of my ability to successfully articulate, Circus Ponies Notebook feels to me, akin to the idea of the unrealized assembly of a Porsche (or whatever sort of vehicle you personally deem as high end). Imagine a garage containing all the quality, required parts for building a Porsche. And then while assembling the Porche, something, somewhere along the line unknowingly went askew and the quality of the resultant car is less than the sum of it’s quality parts. In other words the assembling of the parts didn’t results in the Porsche but instead some kind of hampered transportation device. I’m sure my ramblings sound crude, but the fact is I really like the idea of this application and wish I was better at articulating that which I feel significantly undermines that which I perceive to be the goal of the tool.
Nevertheless, so long as gains are sufficiently balanced with investments I’d imagine that there won’t be any drastic revamping of Notebook in the foreseeable future. After all, I’m just one tiny speck on the left cheek of the immensely giant ass of the universe. Personally I think the application has the potential to be great! And would love to see an improved, optimized, and ultimately fluid Circus Ponies Notebook experience available one day!
Circus Ponies Notebook looks great on paper, but in reality, many of the features that seem appealing are clumsily woven into an unnecessarily obtuse and complex usability nightmare. Again, Circus Ponies Notebook has many GREAT features and concepts that have the potential to be great were it not for the cumbersome implementation which provides an experience that feels like the results of an iterative process that insidiously went piecemeal somewhere along the line. IMHO there’s definitely no need for the application to retreat entirely to square one. Instead a reweaving of the impressive features and concepts into a tool that offers a more fluid experience might only require a theoretical step back to square four or five.
For lack of my ability to successfully articulate, Circus Ponies Notebook feels to me, akin to the idea of the unrealized assembly of a Porsche (or whatever sort of vehicle you personally deem as high end). Imagine a garage containing all the quality, required parts for building a Porsche. And then while assembling the Porche, something, somewhere along the line unknowingly went askew and the quality of the resultant car is less than the sum of it’s quality parts. In other words the assembling of the parts didn’t results in the Porsche but instead some kind of hampered transportation device. I’m sure my ramblings sound crude, but the fact is I really like the idea of this application and wish I was better at articulating that which I feel significantly undermines that which I perceive to be the goal of the tool.
Nevertheless, so long as gains are sufficiently balanced with investments I’d imagine that there won’t be any drastic revamping of Notebook in the foreseeable future. After all, I’m just one tiny speck on the left cheek of the immensely giant ass of the universe. Personally I think the application has the potential to be great! And would love to see an improved, optimized, and ultimately fluid Circus Ponies Notebook experience available one day!
Most Recent Replies: View All 1 Replies
The Kool-Aid has worn off unfortunately - Version: 3.0 (v363), 10/6/2009 11:25AM PST
(2 of 3 users found this comment useful)
summerstormpictures
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 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.
