Printing BrainStorm models

[lilo]

I have a question about enhancing the way I use brainstorm. I teach at a university in New Mexico, USA. I recently starting using brainstorm to create lesson plans. I find it quite useful and handy. It allows me to quickly jot down and organize my ideas, as well as helps me to structure the lecture and in-class activities. I especially like the magic launch feature, as it allows me to quickly (just before I begin my class) open the various files, programs and website that I use during lecture.

I also like to print the lesson plan (Brainstorm model), and use it to guide me during lecture. However, when I print my models the long urls and address of files on my hard drive are printed as well. All this extra material makes it hard to read, especially when I am in front of the class. Here is sample of what I mean:


------
B. Review of conten analysis methods (Tutty) --5 mins.
artcile: C:\Documents and Settings\My Documents\Teach\561\Readings\tutty, et al.pdf
mindmanager review: C:\Documents and Settings\My Documents\My Maps\Content Analysis Processes.mmap

C. Excercise on content analysis of data -- 20 mins.
C:\Documents and Settings\My Documents\Teach\561\Assignments\qualitative research\interview.coding.exercise.doc
------


Is there anyway to have Brainstorm NOT print certain entries? I find that I cannot use the number of levels option in print because there is not set level where I place the file location entries. The only way I found around this problem is to export to text file and edit document to remove unwanted entries. But this is an extrat step that I wish I did not have to do. Can anyone think of an easier way to do this within Brainstorm?

Thanks

[david]

Hmmm. That's a tough one. Your 'levels' remark squashed the first thought that came to mind. I can't think of any way of achieving what you want from within BrainStorm.

We have a collection of improvements we'd like to make to BrainStorm. We call it the WIBNI file. (Wouldn't It Be Nice If.) A checkbox that said 'ignore local and web URLs' would be quite neat. We are near the end of the current development cycle (which means that a new release of BrainStorm should be out before the end of the year) and this, of course, does not contain this capability. It's something we'll review, along with all the other WIBNIs, before we start the next cycle.

In the meantime, I'd Write to the clipboard then paste into a text processor with 'Regular Expression' Search/Replace capabilities. Something like TextPad. This would be able to easily remove the lines containing backslashes or forward slashes.

It would take seconds to do the entire cycle from BrainStorm Write to file tidying to printing.

Thank you for writing and I'm sorry there isn't a simple answer.

[halh]

I must admit, I thought about doing the very same thing but wasn't prompted to try my scheme until I saw your post.

1) Make a "key identifier" above your file reference e.g. "aa". This just serves as a marker
2. Make the text color white for your file reference. Magic Launch still works, even though neither you (nor the printer) will see the text.
3. Make sure there is a "normal" entry (black text) after your white entry because for some reason, the white color doesn't "take" unless it is turned off by a succeeding entry (David, Is this a bug?)

Now when you print, your references will not, and the aa or other "marker" alerts you to the presence of an entry below. Since all the markers can be the same, you can follow the links to the references.

If you want to see the all the references, use the command, Strip all colors, sorry Strip all colours under edit.

[david]

Sorry about the English spelling. I managed to purge it from the website. Hard to do when just writing stuff on the fly like blogs and bulletin board stuff.

The version I have allows me to 'print preview' just fine. No colours, oh all right then - colors, needed afterwards. Can you try print preview? If that works and print doesn't, we'll dig deeper.

If it's inconsistent, we'll need a recipe.

Thanks. And thanks for the 'invisible' tip. Really useful.

[halh]

I tried to reproduce my earlier observation, the fact that "white text" shows up if a succeding entry is blank, without success. I'll assume it was contingent on my machine state, and not a function of Brainstorm.

However, while I was trying all sorts of variations to reproduce my "apparent bug" I "fell-into" a useful extension of the white-out trick.

To introduce colored dividers into the outline:

1) Enter any text, e.g. "this line is orange", change the text color to the desired hue (orange)
2) Change the background color of this entry to the same hue, orange.
3) Copy the text to the clipboard.
4) Repeatedly paste the entry anywhere you would like a visible divider.
5) The Namesake text function is thus extended to segment the model via color.

I use Clipmate, a very enhanced clipboard substitute. Clipmate allows me to search for, and recall this text, thereby allowing me to add separators as I need them, rather than inserting all at once, although the latter technique is useful too.

What is really neat (!!), is the resulting demarcation of the HTML export.
1. As you might expect, the disappearance of the text (assignment of white to the text) is a function of the browser background; in my case, the background is white.
2. I chose a series of dots (.......) as text for my separator. The dots are orange, and the text background for the dots in the Brainstorm entry is orange.
3. HTML export (non-Java) yields a separator of orange dots
4. HTML export (Java) yields an orange line, with the thickness determined by the font size, just as in the model.

[david]

Brilliant.

Thank you.

[xpjim]

Seems like the URL display problem (wish) described earlier could be solved much like hyperlinks in a word doc or other widely used tool: A Word hyperlink has two components 1) the label, which is what you see when you read on the screen or print it out, and 2) the URL itself, which is hidden from view. Perhaps I don't understand the restrictions of the BrainStorm user interface, but this would be a desireable solution.

Example:

On the screen or printed report I see this -> The New York Times

When I click on it, it launches www.nytimes.com

[xpjim]

Would be nice to be able to insert a page break.... but I suppose you would have to know what program I'm going to use to print it.... I'd settle for MS Word

Would be nice to number the outline levels..... it gets confusing in the middle of a multipage document to see to find a major heading for an entry that is several levels junior and on a different page.... I'd settle for 1, A, 1, b, i etc...

[xpjim]

Ok, I've got it... expand the "mark" concept to include a family of marks. My suggested family is as follows:

Standard Mark - this is the one we have now; and there can be only one in a model.

Don't Print Mark - this is for Lilo's wish; there can be many in a model.

Page Break Mark - More on this one later; there can be many in a model.

Ok, now you have some coding to do:

For the Don't Print Mark, use the code that currently handles the "Write Text File" , add a Don't Only OUtput Entries Containing a Don't Print Mark" by copying and modifying the "Only OUtput Entries Containing the Text".

For the Page Break Mark, you'll have to ask us what our preferred Word Processor is, and do a lookup to embed the appropriate code into the output file. Probably harder than I think it is.

[david]

Page breaks: as the program stands, it would be easiest to tip the BrainStorm model into the word processor via Write command and the clipboard.

You're right about programming it for another program (series of programs) - not a nice prospect.

Excluding entries from print sounds like a good idea. Another for the WIBNI?

Marks: we have a six-mark system in the works, but it's not to do what you're asking. I think you want infinite Marks. That's an issue we'd have to look into.

Hyperlinks: we know what's ideal and we're getting there. Other priorities keep getting in the way. We've paved the way for rich text which is a prerequisite. We still have to reduce the entity size from 'entry' to 'character'. That's to be worked on after the next release.

Level numbering/pages. We never think of BrainStorm in page terms. It's an intertwingled mass of entries which only assume material form when printing to screen or paper. If you use namesakes at all then these material manifestations are a poor substitute for the BrainStorm viewing mechanism (and the HTML publish). This is why printing is a poor cousin to the capture and organise aspects of BrainStorm.

I think one or two others have asked for level numbering and I know it's in the WIBNI, it just doesn't find its way to the surface. We'll have to re-investigate demand. If anyone reading this wants to pitch in it would be good to hear from you.

[halh]

I for one am AGAINST those features. I agree with David, export the model to a word processor for those page oriented issues.

The beauty of Brainstorm, the reason I've shifted a good deal of my "exploration" and preparation to the program, is the lack of constraint on my thinking. I can just enter thoughts, URLs, pieces of text and re-arrange them at any time to fit my current thought process. And I don't worry about level or indent format--it just happens.

As an example of "reverse indexing" I imported (Magic Paste) an entire set of numerically indexed standards into Brainstorm. These happen to be education curriculum standards; some of the topics are continued across grades. It made much more sense to me, to focus on the content, grouping the standards by subject into a subheading, and filling out the heading with pertinent references. Now, I could demonstrate continuity of subject matter to the staff, and those teaching lower grades have an interest in the subject matter and references for the upper grades. The numeric index is retained with each entry, albeit in different order, so the primary familiarity with the grade standard and its place in the curriculum is retained.

I've used the HTML output that Brainstorm provides and also exported segments to the clipboard for pasting into a word processor (WordPerfect).

I prefer to focus on input to Brainstorm, and those features which make navigation easier, internal links would be high on my list. My output needs are so varied (screen display, word processor, presentation format) that I'd prefer a flexible generic approach as input to that stage.