Quote:
Originally Posted by Mono
I do not say, I would not use it. I would like it, but we should stand on the earth.  |
Well, I was only piling on the skycastles of others before me;-)
But, seriously, it is no biggie if the links in the note document go stale when moving things around. What I imagine would really borrow the Pocketbook idea of storing snapshots of the marked content and an associated text/scribble along with a link to the original that degrades to file path and page number if the file is not found anymore. The link being active and serving as shortcut to opening the concerned document is added sugar on top. If you mess around with files, you loose the sugar coating, no big deal. It is still at least as useful as the paper variant of such notes. No need to solve this tangled problem of keeping links in sync. Just do the simple thing.
What would be exportet to the PC would be a PDF with the collected snippets and notes, with information about file / page / author / title / ... of the regarding documents. Having the links still working order would just be a bonus but only provided if you keep a fixed file system layout. On the other hand, if it's research articles: When the DOI is noted, you got your link to the resource right there.
Actual text passages in those snippets should be preserved as searchable text ... helping to keep track of where you got which idea from (this seems to be something German politicians have trouble with regarding their dissertations).
But anyhow, this was only a tangent to begin with. My concern is multitasking, which also shines through in your suggestion:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mono
If one would like to process multiple documents with notes, he could join them to a single document first and then do the work.  |
This would be a prime example of offering multiple simulatenous views into the same document. You sometimes need things side-by-side. Even in normal single documents, you might want to have that feature (an index of math symbols with their meaning along with a page full of formulae using them).
In fact, this is something in that eReaders have a hard time competing with printed paper: You can have tens of sheets of paper distributed on a desk, all viewable side-by-side. The expensive electronic gadget has only one screen (or perhaps two) ... this is a distinct disadvante that needs to be tackled with some genuine UI ideas. This is no impossibility, you just have to get on with it and do it _right_.