CONTENTS OF THIS READ-ME FILE:

Greetings!
I. Quick Start for HyperNote
II. What's in the HyperNote folder?
III. Concept of HyperNote & HyperNote Features
IV. Registration Form

Print this READ ME file for reference with the Print command in the File menu.

Greetings!

HyperNote is a note-processor; a notetaking environment based on HyperCard.

Much has been written about "paperless" offices; with HyperNote you can have a "paperless research trail" in the library or study. If you use paper notecards for any purpose, then HyperNote might be for you!

HyperNote helps writers and researchers accomplish *ordinary* notetaking tasks with the extraordinary power of a Macintosh computer. HyperNote is not meant for computer experts who want their computers to do something extraordinary that was never done before (even if no one ever wanted to do it). HyperNote will not let you time-travel (except through your imagination, by means of history notetaking). Nor will it transform your Mac into a Holodeck (or you into Data). We developed HyperNote because we found the available word-processing and bibliography programs unsuited for handling the most *everyday* research needs of serious writers.

The many powerful features of HyperNote make it ideal for organizing extensive or long-term projects such as books or dissertations. And if you are familiar with basic Macintosh conventions (such as moving the mouse and entering text into fields), you can begin notetaking in HyperNote immediately. Get started by experimenting around, with the assistance of Balloon Help and practical "hands-on" orientation stacks, and learn about its more powerful features as you need them.

The three of us who have developed HyperNote are (or were) graduate students in the University of Oklahoma History of Science Department who can't live without it! Mike Keas graduated in 1993 after completing his dissertation with HyperNote. Aaron Poffenberger has been helping me since v. 3.1, when he began graduate studies in the department. Aaron completed his Masters Thesis in late medieval intellectual history using HyperNote. And I, Kerry Magruder, a former public school teacher, am now working hard to complete my dissertation (you can see a website created with HyperNote as part of my dissertation research at http://www.earthvisions.net).

Share the latest version of HyperNote with anyone; it is freeware so long as you can use it without bothering us! If you want phone or Email support please send us $20. If you send in moolah so we can buy one more book (have you checked the prices of academic books recently?), then we'll toast your health (and writing success!) over morning coffee and muffins.

We work on HyperNote continuously and incrementally. There is no final, ideal, archetypal version of HyperNote. If you have a suggestion for a helpful feature or custom notecard, write us and we'll try to incorporate it. Or better yet, learn HyperCard scripting, explore HyperNote's scripts for yourself, and send us the improvements so that we can incorporate them in our next release.

Every feature of HyperNote has worked for us at some time. However, it's a complex organism, its features are interrelated, and sometimes when we tweak one part of it to accommodate some new idea, some remote link is lost and a lesser-used function becomes buggy as a consequence (with no danger to your files, however). If you encounter any bugs, let us know (with as specific a description as possible so that we can replicate the problem). We'll promptly fix it and return a sound copy to you. Nevertheless, stability usually triumphs, and we never send out a version until it's been used for a while without major perturbations. Bon chance!

PEACE!
Kerry Magruder

I. Quick Start for HyperNote

1. Make sure you have HyperCard 2.4 and HyperCard Home on your hard drive.

HyperNote requires:

II. What's in the HyperNote folder?

Here's what you should find included with HyperNote:

1. HyperNote Read Me file.
2. HyperNote Intro stack.
3. HyperNote Tutor folder
4. Project stacks folder.
5. HyperNote Resource folder.
6. HyperNote Extras folder (ignore for now).
7. Website folder (for exporting HyperNote stacks as a web site).

1. You are reading the HyperNote READ ME file now.

2. HyperNote Intro stack.
Look at the HyperNote Intro stack first. It explains the concept and overall structure of HyperNote. (It is NOT a functional HyperNote notetaking stack.)

3. HyperNote Tutor folder.
The Tutor stacks compose a detailed reference manual that should explain every remote and obscure feature of the latest HyperNote stacks. This is too much to absorb all at once, but you'll want to keep them handy.
--Click the Help button n on any HyperNote card to go directly to the place in the Tutor where the features of that card are explained. --Browse the Tutor stacks often, using the Contents card of each as a jumping-off point.
--Using the Contents card of the Tutor, or the Help buttons on any HyperNote card, is easier than browsing a written manual, but you can print the Tutor anyway if you prefer (there's a button on the first card to print it with).

4. Project stacks (for latest version).
For your convenience, sample HyperNote ote stacks are already set up and ready for you to begin exploring the features of HyperNote. After viewing the HyperNote Intro, open the "Project B" practice stack and take HyperNote on a test drive!

The three project stacks serve as a "Getting Started" session, an introductory "hands on" orientation to HyperNote (which will take about three or four evenings). Major features are introduced with brief explanations on successive cards, with step-by-step instructions for trying them out in the Project stacks themselves. Open Project B, and press Tab or click the "Comments" button on the Index (the first card you will see) to get started!

(These Project stacks accompany the latest version of HyperNote, and will not work correctly with earlier versions.)


5. HyperNote resources, v. 5.x.
--This folder contains the resource stacks that are essential for running HyperNote, along with HyperNote Home and HyperNote Exemplars.
--HyperNote Home is the command center of HyperNote, and contains all of the control cards and XCMD's essential for HyperNote functions to work properly.
--HyperNote Exemplars contains card templates that are used by HyperNote to construct new notetaking stacks. Normally you will not need to go to the Exemplars stack, and it is not used for notetaking, but it must be present on your hard disk for many HyperNote functions to work properly.
--HyperNote Resources and HyperNote HTML are other resource stacks that must be kept in the HyperNote Resources folder. They contain the scripts for HyperNote functions, so that stacks do not have to replicate the scripts (which would make them larger). Do not take notes in them; until you want to tinker with HyperNote's scripts and customize them yourself, you have no need to open these stacks at all.


TO START HYPERNOTE:

III. Concept of HyperNote

What is the difference between HyperNote and your Word Processor?

Word processors greatly aid us in all kinds of writing projects, giving us the the ability to rearrange paragraphs or sentences, alter formatting according to standardized templates, manage footnotes, etc., all with a few key strokes. Despite the indispensable power and convenience such word-processing functions provide, however, there remain many initial writing tasks that word processors simply can't help us with. We turn to a word processor at a relatively late stage of research, after we have gathered our thoughts and imposed some kind of semi-coherent outline upon our notes.

So how did we juggle our ideas into order in the first place? To take advantage of the Macintosh in the earlier juggling stage, before we have imposed a linear order upon our thoughts and research information, we need something more like a note processor. HyperNote uses HyperCard's built-in functions to create a powerful and flexible note-processor, to assist the researcher in the earliest stages of a writing project, forming a smooth interface with the eventual word-processing stage.

HyperNote includes sophisticated bibliographical, biographical, and general notetaking formats. Combined with special index features and custom menu commands, HyperNotes are paper notecards "cubed." If you use paper notecards for any purpose, HyperNote may be what you're looking for to become more productive on your Macintosh.

Throw away your bundles of index cards: no more reshuffling, retyping, searching for that lost tidbit of information or bibliographic source.... Use the Macintosh and HyperCard 2.1 for serious general notetaking, and take advantage of powerful organizational features (such as sorting, finding, linking, etc.) at the earliest stages of writing. Collect and organize your thoughts in "byte" size pieces, before it's necessary to arrange them in a linear manner, and bring your work to the Mac sooner rather than later (even for large research projects such as dissertations), in a way that complements and merges seamlessly with your word processor.

We developed HyperNote in the course of our own academic research as graduate students in the history of science. To us it meets a need for organizing ideas and notes in the initial stages of writing that other programs have not addressed. Database applications, word processors, outlining programs and specialized HyperCard stacks all exist that provide excellent bibliographic and writing aids. HyperNote differs from these in the way its components interact together to form a complete note-processing environment, integrating notetaking, browsing, writing, and record-keeping functions.

HyperNote Features

Is HyperNote a word processor?

This page is based on a index-format HyperNote notecards exported from a HyperCard stack entitled "."

Kerry Magruder

• Home Page: http://www.earthvisions.net/kerry.htm
• Email: KVMagruder@earthvisions.net
• Page updated 7/5/99
  • Page made with HyperNote.
  • Some icons on this page were obtained from www.elated.com.