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by Charles Wu
Do you ever find
yourself needing somewhere to jot down a quick note or idea while working
on your Mac? Looking for somewhere to keep frequently used images or
verbiage for form letters right at your fingertips? Do you keep a journal
for work or for yourself on your Mac?
If you said yes to any of the questions above, then you should check
out a nifty freeware application by Dan Schimpf called MacJournal. This
elegantly simple application won the Apple Design Awards in the Student
Category in 2002.
MacJournal, as the name implies can be used to create Journals or diaries.
When you start MacJournal there is a center pane, where you can jot
down notes, or copy and paste text, HTML or pictures. This center pane
is a single note or entry that can be tracked by date or topic name.
MacJournal lets you organize these entries into Journals for different
subjects. For instance, if you are a programmer, you might create a
journal for programming notes, and one for documentation notes. If you
are a writer working on many projects, you can create a journal for
each of your projects. How you organize it is up to you.
However, to describe MacJournal as a simple diary application is misleading
since it does so much more, in fact it is an ideal replacement for favorite
Mac Classic applications of the Scrapbook, Notepad and Stickies desk
accessories that hid in the apple menu for keeping notes. MacJournal
is the ultimate desk accessory and I keep it at my fingertips by having
it in my start up folder so I can have it handy whenever necessary.
The simple interface allows one to use MacJournal to capture multiple
clipboards. If you find yourself copy and pasting multiple items between
documents, MacJournal's ease of accessing different entries allows you
to flip between notes as you compose. If you are a writer or programmer
who often is copying and pasting multiple versions back and forth while
composing, you will find MacJournal invaluable.
The other application that I have discovered MacJournal useful is organizing
your thoughts in an outline form. I'll copy and paste notes from the
web into different entries for a writing project I'll store as journal.
When I am ready to start writing, I find myself flipping through the
notes I've taken to help organize my thoughts before I start writing.
What makes MacJournal work for all these applications is that is anembodiment
of the old Einstein quote, "everything should be as simple as it
is, but not simpler." MacJournal's simplicity makes it a fast responding
application but powerful enough to capture your thoughts,That balance
makes sure that nothing gets between you and your ideas.
While MacJournal makes me nostalgic for the little desk applications
that came with the original Macintosh, it also brings back memories
of when it was possible to for one programmer to come up with useful
applications. Dan Schimpf is obviously a talented young programmer and
has a strong sense that an application is not just a collection of features.
I emailed him to find out that he has graduated and later this summer
he will start working working for Apple, so we are sure to see his handiwork
in the future. So if you are a programmer or wannabe programmer, check
out MacJournal to get a sense that it is possible to create worthwhile
applications on your own. I asked Dan how to get started writing your
own Cocoa applications (Cocoa is a technology thatis part of OS X that
makes it easier for people to write applications)and he offered this
wisdom. "Start small. Don't try to write the Cocoa version of Word.
Start with a small application with only a few moving parts and try
to get it right. Then build on it as you learn. Don't be afraid to ask
someone for help, either in person or on a mailing list somewhere. Everyone
starts in the same place, so just take your time and do it right."
With MacJournal, Dan's done it right.
MacJournal is for anyone who needs to jot down quick notes, regardless
if they are for journal purposes or not. It's free and worth a look.
Download at: <http://homepage.mac.com/dschimpf/>.
Requires: Mac OS X
This article was writtenby
Charles Wu for North Coast Mac Users Group in the United States.
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