Note Switching
Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2009 7:47 pm
I often find myself switching between the current note that I am writing or editing, and an already existing note that I need for reference. I then began thinking about the easiest and most intuitive way to switch between these 2 notes.
The first thing that came to mind was a hotkey scenario, such as Alt+Right and Alt+Left (or simply a single hotkey to toggle between 2 notes). However, this means having to memorize yet another set of keystrokes. Also, what if you need to reference more than one note at a time? I wanted to come up with a more passive, but effective method. Thus far, I have 2 ideas which involve using something visual:
1) Adding an item to the menu bar, perhaps left / right arrows (<-- -->). This would used as a kind of trace-back stack. In fact you could have two types of trace-back systems:
a) Last Created - Click the arrows to forward and back thru the most recently created notes.
b) Last Referenced - Click the arrows to forward and back thru the most recently referenced (or edited) notes.
2) Grouping the "last referenced" notes in a separate section at the top of the main CN window. The grouped notes could also be flagged (marked or colored) in some manner for easy recognition. The only problem with this method is that it takes up room on the main screen. A possible solution:
Hide selected notes (a method to toggle between "hide" and "show")
This could be done as follows:
Prefix every note with a checkbox. Then use a hotkey to toggle (show / hide) the checked items.
The first thing that came to mind was a hotkey scenario, such as Alt+Right and Alt+Left (or simply a single hotkey to toggle between 2 notes). However, this means having to memorize yet another set of keystrokes. Also, what if you need to reference more than one note at a time? I wanted to come up with a more passive, but effective method. Thus far, I have 2 ideas which involve using something visual:
1) Adding an item to the menu bar, perhaps left / right arrows (<-- -->). This would used as a kind of trace-back stack. In fact you could have two types of trace-back systems:
a) Last Created - Click the arrows to forward and back thru the most recently created notes.
b) Last Referenced - Click the arrows to forward and back thru the most recently referenced (or edited) notes.
2) Grouping the "last referenced" notes in a separate section at the top of the main CN window. The grouped notes could also be flagged (marked or colored) in some manner for easy recognition. The only problem with this method is that it takes up room on the main screen. A possible solution:
Hide selected notes (a method to toggle between "hide" and "show")
This could be done as follows:
Prefix every note with a checkbox. Then use a hotkey to toggle (show / hide) the checked items.