Curio for Mac

User Reviews

• I use this program in my daily work.

  paulcormDecember 27, 2010

  Pros

  It has multiple function, mindmapping, typing, pen-drawing

  Cons

  It has a few of brush in pen-drawing.

  Summary

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• Excellent update

  blizzasterAugust 14, 2008

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  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />Curio has long been an innovative product, and version 5 continues to expand its capabilities as a creative organization tool. The new web views, and cross project linking are something I've wanted for a long time. The new project organization functions and iCal syncing are items I had even thought would make it in to the product any time soon, yet here they are. This is a great product which is open on my desktop all day every day, and is an excellent example of great Mac software. It isn't OmniOutliner, or OmniGraffle, or Yojimbo, or Microsoft Project, but it is an elegant combination of many of their features, and more. I'm definitely a satisfied user. Can't wait to see where they go with Curio 6.

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• Great Application Keeps Getting Better

  ruMacAugust 13, 2008

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  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />This is a great application, and one really oriented towards the visual person (about 80% of us in the USA). For best practices, use a tablet with it. I have used it in meetings, on conference calls, for presentations. It just works! I am using the Pro edition, and the upgrade to 5.0 is free! I love the support the company gives, and a free full-version upgrade is a rare and beautiful thing these days. I highly recommend this software.

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• Works well for me ... always has

  dj_macJune 2, 2008

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  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />This is a review of Curio ... all versions. I just downloaded the 4.2.4 release, and I will be using it. Claiming that an application is worthless because you loose some data is pointless ... unless it happens ALL THE TIME. Not saying it didn't hurt ... it always does unless you back up your data regularly. I run Apple Backup every day on my curio files every day. I have never had to use any of those backups. I have used Curio for quite awhile, and I find it very useful for what I do. It does have a lot of features that I do not use, yet. I wish I had more time to play with it and get really comfortable with all the things it does ... but I work, and for that work, Curio is very helpful. BTW, I'm a graphic designer (30 yrs worth), and I have been using Macs since the Mac Classic. I do know a good useful application when I find it. I give it 5 stars ... because I KNOW it works.

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• Curio is great for organizing data and ideas

  MBKennedySeptember 11, 2007

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  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />I have tried several notebook programs and found them too confining for my style of work, in which I like to move around pictures, tables, text blocks, etc. to put together information that I need in different ways. The flexibility of Curio's layout is perfect for my purposes. And I like the way I can create different "color blocks" to highlight different pieces of information. I give the product only four stars because the text editor is annoying to use. I wish that the programmers had fixed that issue before adding mind-mapping and project-planning. (I use a different, dedicated project planner for time lines, etc.) For example, I am a scientist, and need superscripts and subscripts often. There is no button to click to format a superscript. I need to migrate through several layers of menu bar choices EACH TIME I need to create a superscript. I would truly love to have the option of creating a keyboard shortcut for superscript and subscript - as well as other specialized formatting that I use a lot. I have to agree with another reviewer that the formatting of the List function is disappointingly rigid. I do go back and forth to Omnioutliner a lot. But the two programs are linked, so that isn't actually a terrible nuisance. The free form and aesthetically pleasing layout of each idea space is worth the trouble for me!

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• Curio continues to rock

  blizzasterJuly 1, 2007

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  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />Curio 4 continues to prove that the guys at Zengobi are willing to "think different". They re-think the whole concept of diagramming by combining it with really cool project organization functions. This has been going on in Curio for a long time now, but the new version has a refined interface, great new tagging and search functionality, new GTD style tools, a great new take on snippets for capturing data from all of your other apps, and really cool new mind-mapping functionality. All that and the diagramming has gained some nice improvements too. The line drawing and support for connecting drawn objects via lines has some great new thinking in it too. Overall this app is one of the most useful I own, and I use it every day... in fact I'm constantly finding new ways that it can fit into my workflow and general organization. Kudos for Curio 4!

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• Such a great idea! yet Such a horrendous execution.

  Huh?1October 18, 2006

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  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />While you can drop images, movie clips, pdfs, and other files into the scrapbook (basically a snippet library spanning curio documents), but you can't throw anythng you draw with the basic shape tools and so forth into the scrapbook. In other words, you have to either redraw objects every time you want them (styling them, etc), or you can go to somewhere else in your document where you remember having created a similar graphic and copy and paste it (time waster). What's more, the ability to group objects and other items is terrible indeed. There is no cropping or compositing functionality eiither, basic functionalities that are offered by Apple's Development Framework Kit. Speaking of which, Curio also misses the mark big time by not utilizing the simple elegance of Apple's system wide Font Window and Color Palette exclusively. They try and add some of their own control over certain attributes in their own exceptionally lame and lacking inspector. Try using OmniGraffle's inspectors which offer precision control over formatting and so forth, along with integrating it all with the well-known system wide font and color interface standard; then jump over to Curio and you'll feel like a right footed punter kicking with your left. The graphics are terrible, lists are bulky and aesthetically old and tired, the overall experience has the blocky, 2D feel of a Windows 95 application. Not alot of thought was put into workflow either. I also tried turnnig on mini-mode in order to quickly drag and drop images into a project from Safari while surfing (because the integrated Sleuth search utility is very, very lame and borderline worthless), and while it was nice to be able to quickly drag and drop urls and images to the little boxed window which I placed over on my second monitor, like most apps, I maximized it expecting it to enlarge back to the position I had it before on the main display, but instead it clumsily enlarged itself to my smaller, second monitor, where the mini-mode had been positioned. It can't even remember window preferences. This application is FILLED with little nagging disappointments like that, and they add up fast! I knew it was time to dump this clunker as soon as I found myself going back and forth between OmniGraffle and Curio waaaay too often. I'd head to OmniGraffle to throw together a list and/or some outlines, and other object/chart type graphics, because Curio's are so awful. Do yourself a favor, pass on this one and never look back. Ever!

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• And the customer service puts everyone else to shame

  cab10October 9, 2006

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  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />Perhaps it is a lost art but the folks at Curio answer e-mails, provide articulate solutions and help you figure out how to use their product. Unimaginable and they they set the bar above everyone else. I now use Curio to lecture since it provides a nice canvas to lay out ideas and is not encumbered like Powerpoint and the constant flashing of slide after slide. It is like a big black board that you layout your ideas and then work through them. It basically spoils a user and demands similar higher quality and the most excellent customer service that the Curio developers provide.

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• Within a month of use, has completely changed the...

  mr snifflesAugust 9, 2006

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  Summary

  ...way I work (for the better)<br />This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />I wrote a review on this site for the disappointing Yojimbo, describing what I thought it would do, but didn't. Someone suggested I try out Curio, as they thought it was what I was looking for, and they were absolutely correct. I'm often working on projects with lots of separate components (image files, sound files, quicktimes, pdfs, word docs, emails, kitchen sinks) filed all over the place. Curio allows me to gather everything I need together in one place. Beyond that, it allows me to freely add/subtract notes, instructions, doodles, and other markings to help me remember what I'm supposed to be doing with all these odds and ends. And beyond that (and here's where it gets really good) Curio allows me to publish all of my odds and ends, notes, and whatever else to the web in one click. So co-workers can know what I know, and have the same files that I have, simply by pasting a link into a browser. In the past month, I've use Curio through three separate projects, with stellar results. And, it's quickly changed the way things are done around here, for the better. The program seems to run solidly for me, although, I have a co-worker that has been complaining of bugs when attempting to alter text. So in all fairness, I thought I should report that, even though I personally hadn't had a problem. Hopefully, with updates (or preference trashing) that should rectify itself. This co-worker is in a different state, so I haven't had a hands-on look at the problem. But, despite some technical problems some co-workers may be having. There are zero operational problems, because Curio is extremely easy to use, and even the least tech savvy folks can figure it out within a few minutes of playing around with it. Drag, drop, draw, type. Not much of a learning curve. And, with the aforementioned web publishing, I can share my progress with anyone who can operate a browser, i.e. everyone. So, Curio proves to be a very powerful way of getting everything (and everyone) together. And, it's amazingly free form and un-rigid way of operating, means that everyone can use that power however they may like, and without manuals and tutorials. It's worked for me, and if you've read this far, I'm pretty sure it will work for you too.

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• Works like my brain works

  Colonel PanikJuly 1, 2006

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  Summary

  This review was originally posted on VersionTracker.com.<br />I tried out Curio with their demo for a short time and then took the bait and purchased the Pro version. I've been using it for a over 2 months now and I find that it functions in an analog fashion. By that I mean it works the way my brain works. I want to scribble and add things and connect them and disconnect them and add more things and delete things and throw in some images and mark things and circle things, etc. That's the way my mind operates --constantly jumping around. I used to use Circus Ponies Notebook and DevonThink. I still use the excellent DevonThink as my storage bin but stopped using Notebook and replaced it with Curio. Notebook is great but in my case it worked well only with already structured ideas and projects. Curio is a free-for-all idea and brainstorming manager. It's worth every penny for me.

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