Organize research papers, articles, books and whatever related to writing.
Text Block Writer is a virtual index card program for writers. It can be used to organize research papers, articles, fiction, non-fiction, books and whatever related to writing. It is intended for people like me who use paper index cards to write all the notes and pieces of an essay, and then arrange the pieces and then use that to type them into the computer. Organized notes can be exported to RTF when finished.
Still getting used to the application, but it seems like a good tool to organize my many notes and get myself organized.
Cons
I hate software that always has to include malware with it and it is very disappointing that CNET now commonly allows this to happen. I almost never install stuff from here anymore because it has become so prevalent. This software is no different. Installed malware without my consent (and I watch the small print closely) and started running it immediately without any prompting from me. The wrong malware can cause a person to spend hours cleaning up their pc. Not good.
Summary
Including malware with your software is enough to make your software suspect with me. And for CNET to allow it has significantly reduced the integrity of their site and their endorsements for me. Malware can be a nightmare and it's a shame people knowingly put people at risk.
needs to provide bigger blocks
ejahn3141
Pros
The concept is great. I really like the ability to arrange and re-arrange blocks while keeping them in view. Simplicity is good, too. I like a tool that does one thing well, without getting overloaded with "features".
Cons
I found the blocks too small to hold an amount of text that would be useful to me. I'd like to see a widget to stretch them.
Summary
My writing style may not be a fit for this tool. Others may work well with small blocks, but I don't.
"THE QUINTESSENTIAL MUST HAVE PROGRAM FOR WRITERS!!"
madam_elysee
Pros
This program is perfect for arranging notes, book chapters and creating time lines. The ease of moving index cards around is perfect. I have been looking fro a program for months that would do this and this is the best I have found.
Cons
There are a couple of editing preferences I would like to have, but the program is still great the way it is.
Summary
I am not the most organized person, there are post it notes all over the house, notes books cluttering my desk and all through the house. My desk top is covered with diary, notebook and notes programs. This program has allowed me to organize of my time lines, notes, book chapters and index them with ease. It is like having a bulletin board and index cards to move around with ease.. I encourage any writer to give it a try. It is basically user friendly and once you start using it you will wonder how you managed before.
Good stuff
Trevor 42
Pros
Very easy to use, and with good help files for anything that wasn't intuitive. I've found it the most useful method so far to organise my notes for stories I'm writing. The capacity to export to a word processor saves on cutting an pasting too.
Cons
Nothing not to like here. There are a few extra features that could be useful, but nothing that was an actual problem.
Summary
It's saving me a lot of time I used to spend searching through different files for bits and pieces I'd jotted down somewhere. I've only used it for pre-writing so far, but I can see it will help with editing too. In effect using this one program I can do all my book planning, write the book, take a lot of work out of editing it by easily rearranging sections, then export to my word processor to do the final edit. I would recommend trying this to any writer of fiction, non-fiction, or assignments, who wants a way of organising information. And it's free!
Fantastic!
pwrone
Pros
Easy to use. Full featured.
Cons
None I can think of
Summary
So much easier to manage then the other block-editor. Very intuitive interface. Everything you need, nothing you don't.