To: [email removed] (Goldman of Chaos -- postmaster CRI-US)
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Criss-crossing Traveller
(and just about anything else)
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Dear Matt:
You posted the following on TML:
>I'm beginning to cross reference all of my Traveller matrial.
What did you mean by this statement? ARE YOU INDEXING YOUR COLLECTION?
>Does anyone have suggestions about software tools to make this
>task easier?
The programs MaxThink and Transtext, used in conjunction, can
cross-reference just about anything. Not only that, MaxThink can
hold all of your custom campaign material as well, in an
organizational structure that is easy to understand and easy to
navigate. MaxThink is a hierarchical outliner/editor with
EXTENSIVE interactive sorting, moving, and hypertext linking
capabilities. MaxThink is the best hypertext AND text editing
product I've ever found, and I've been using it (through each of
its upgrades) fanatically on a daily basis since 1987. I rely on
it much more heavily than upon word processors (it subsumes the
most crucial functions of word processors, and adds many power
commands).
MaxThink allows you to manipulate text both directly AND by
paragraph, rather than merely by the cludgy block/move method
available in most word processors. This makes it a VERY POWERFUL
text editing tool, much better suited for the tasks of writing
books, screenplays, speeches, articles, letters, designing game
products, organizing campaign materials, organizing literary
research, recording and developing ideas, task lists, projects,
plans of action, diaries, schedules, etc. It lets you process
text as pieces of knowledge rather than as a mere conglomeration
of letters and words.
I'm a hypertext freak (I even ran a hypertext computer group)
and I have looked over most of the hypertext products out
there. The problem with other hypertext systems is that they
are displaying-oriented rather than editing-oriented. Not
these two programs. They rely exclusively on ASCII text, and
are designed specifically for the EDITING and MANIPULATING of
text rather than the fancy formatting of it, hence making
text and reference development a breeze. Give a MaxThinker
and a WordPerfect user a list of a several thousand pieces of
information to organize, and the MaxThink user will have the
list reorganized six ways 'til Sunday before the person using
WordPerfect has gotten halfway down the list! I estimate
MaxThink and Transtext cut my literary chores (writing and
referring to computer files) at least in HALF. For complex
research and writing projects, and anything to do with
brainstorming/idea generation, the time savings is much
greater.
MaxThink works on paragraphs.
Each paragraph can have as much or as little text in it
as you want (even zero). You can use a paragraph to
contain one or more bonifide paragraphs, or to hold a
single letter, word, phrase, sentence, idea, task, line
of data, an item from a list, a string of hyphens, or
just about anything else. You can move using the "topic
pointer" which hops from paragraph to paragraph, or you
can enter EDIT mode and move the edit cursor through the
text as in any word processor.
You can SPLIT paragraphs at will, LOCK onto and drag a
paragraph or a marked range of them to wherever you want
in the document, GATHER paragraphs from here or there to
a buffer from where you can juggle, move, or copy them.
You can interactively BINSORT paragraphs into categories,
sending each paragraph one-at-a-time to the bin of your
choice, where each "bin" is also a paragraph of your
choosing and becomes the parent of each paragraph you
decide to assign to it. You can RANDOMIZE the order of
paragraphs, or SORT them alphabetically from any
specified column across the screen. Thus, just about any
kind of textual information can be manipulated to great
effect, whether it be lists, lines of data, source code,
file names, or prose, or any combination of these.
You can arrange paragraphs vertically or in
subcategorical levels (like the tree-structure of an
outline). Subcategories are basically nothing more than
further indented paragraphs like the one below. You can
drag entire sections of your knowledge tree at will to
anywhere else in the tree, and you can collapse or
uncollapse any part of your outline (tree) into and out
of linear form (a single list as opposed to a tree of
sub-lists), and display as many or as few levels at a
time as you like.
THIS "paragraph" is a "subtopic" of the one above
(its "parent" topic), because this one is further
indented. You may or may not view this level from the
parent's level as you so choose (with a simple
display toggle). If you were to move or copy its
parent (or the parent's parent), then this paragraph
(and all of its offspring) would go along with it...
Child. \
Grandchild. \
Grandchild. \
Great grandchild. \ All these offspring would
Child. / follow too.
Child. /
Grandchild /
Etc. /
You can write, print, or view your outlines in a variety
of formats, with or without indentation, and with margins
and spacing between paragraphs set by you.
Furthermore, you can DIVIDE paragraphs by line, sentence,
word, or paragraph! You can also JOIN them together,
with the option to have the words wrapped, or you can
leave the linefeeds in place. You can INSERT, DELETE,
COPY, MOVE, GET, and PUT paragraphs at the push of a
button, to anywhere in the outline you want. And you can
GATHER them automatically based on their content -- for
instance, if you want to copy or move all the paragraphs
with the name "Marc Miller" anywhere in them. For added
power, most commands work in conjunction with the
program's range MARKing feature.
To traverse your knowledge-base, the paragraphs are
optionally displayed with numbers for ease of reference.
There is the text cursor and the topic pointer, the Jump
command, a list of user-defined short-cut jumps (the "X"
marks the spot command), search (and replace) keys, and
hypertext link-outs (to move to other files). And you
can truncate the display of paragraphs to show only the
first line of each one, thereby allowing you to skim
rapidly through your documents. As mentioned earlier,
you may also adjust the display to show a single level of
your paragraph tree, or multiple levels, so you don't
have to scroll through intervening subtopics, or even
look at them.
APPLYING MAXTHINK TO TRAVELLER
Here is an example of how I've used this program to
organize my Traveller campaign: I read in all of the
sector listings from sunbane as subtopics to a list of
those sectors' names (which I copied using the macro
command). Each world entry in the sector data was
treated as a seperate paragraph, and became the
repository for any custom development I've done on that
particular world. E.g., all of my notes on Regina are
placed as subtopic paragraphs created beneath the Regina
entry in the Spinward Marches data listings. To get to
that custom material, I simply go down the list of worlds
in the Spinward Marches using the Down Arrow cursor key
(or by pushing the JUMP command and entering the
paragraph number), then use the right arrow key to move
to the level (indented) beneath it -- note that the next
level down isn't seen until you go there, though you can
toggle this feature at will. The material beneath a
paragraph can be contained in another file, in which
case the right arrow key facilitates the jump to that
file; hence you can have vast networks of interconnected
files.
One branch of my Traveller tree is devoted to the design
of new adventures. Each scenario under development is
a subcategory in the outline. The ideal Traveller
outline would have all adventures ever published, but
unfortunately, they are not available in magnetic media,
for hooking files into an outline is quite easy...
Paragraphs can contain DOS commands or the names of
programs or files. Such files can be jumped to with a
single key, or they can be read in from or written back
to disk with the push of an alt-key-combo, individually
or as a marked range. Commands or programs contained in
paragraphs can also be executed with a single keystroke.
Thus, you can use any document as a menu for other
documents, or as a menu of programs or commands, or just
for text, or any combination thereof. Task lists take on
a new meaning when the listed tasks double as buttons to
start the programs needed to complete each task! Add to
this MaxThink's macro capability, and your paragraphs can
fly across the screen and rapidly transform right before
your eyes.
By the way, the author of MaxThink refers to the
paragraph-containing nodes as "topics" rather than as
"paragraphs" as I have done. I find the word "paragraph"
easier for beginners to relate to.
The thing I like best about MaxThink is the ease by which it is
learned. I find that even sixth-graders take to it like fish to
water, since it is an intuitive extension of their training with
writing outlines in class. So far, I've also introduced two
veteran Dungeon Masters to the program, and now they both develop
their AD&D campaign material exclusively in MaxThink. One of
them is running Greyhawk, and has outline branches dealing with
every political entity, monster type, and major character on the
world, while the other has all the planned events for his
Dragonlance campaign spelled out in great detail. My own AD&D
hypernet includes a huge compilation of custom spells
(categorized by level and type) and items, and the timelines and
character "sheets" from my Greyhawk campaign.
My largest outline is several megs in size, includes a great many
linked outlines, and includes hypertext links to still other
files, commands, and programs. All my outlines are connected to
a master outline from which I can access everything.
I run my Traveller campaign sessions with MaxThink running in 5
windows right next to me. MaxThink contains two windows of its
own, giving me a total of 10 outlines to work with. I use one to
display my custom designed adventure and or adventure notes,
another to show the list of topics under development (my
Traveller menu), another to record the timeline as the game is
played, and still others to: To display the stats and
backgrounds on each of the player characters and NPC's, to look
up info on particular worlds, refer to library data entries, ship
stats, encounter charts, alien lists and briefs, and my player
questionaire (for finding out what kind of scenario they're in
the mood to play), technology lists, equipment lists, my
Traveller bibliography, and my Traveller subject index.
I'm currently building a library of .gif files of sci-fi, urban,
and wilderness settings to link out to from the appropriate
locations in the adventures I plan to create around them -- I'll
simply turn the computer screen and let the players feast their
eyes. In addition to the link-outs to .gif files, I'll also
imbed page references to particular illustrations in my Traveller
collection. My Traveller hypernet has grown to include several
hundred files, all linked together via MaxThink, and accessible
from any of the 10 windows I use.
If I had to describe Maxthink in a single phrase, that phrase
would be "raw editing and accessing power". Can you tell I'm
addicted?
Transtext is a quick-and-dirty hypertext word processor, which
works quite well with MaxThink, and can execute the same jump
outs as MaxThink can.
My hypernet of outlines and files contains all my written
projects and hobbies, including all the material for my Traveller
campaign, with links to all the magnetic media (TML buns, Sunbane
files, and HIWG Docs) I've collected relating to Traveller. All
without messing up the source files themselves.
Now back to you, Matt...
>I have started with the Amber Zones from the JoTAS and I'll be
>going from there.
STOP!
I'm already working on a comprehensive index, which contains
everything you've mentioned above (try and guess what program I'm
using to build it). I've found this necessary because of the
immensity of my Traveller collection (now containing 500+ items),
and the incredible difficulty I've had in finding bits of
information within its 15,000+ pages. Too bad it isn't all
available in MaxThink format. My guidebook currently has:
1) The most comprehensive product and periodical listings of
Traveller-related materials ever compiled.
2) A growing bibilography currently listing over 950
articles written for Traveller.
3) A growing index currently spanning more than 50
Traveller-containing publications, divided by major
subject category, for quickly locating the page reference
of all significant information on any piece of equipment,
any career, starship, animal, alien, sector, subsector,
world, company, NPC, news item, etc. covered in the
included publications.
4) A chapter of tips for Traveller collectors.
Perhaps we can combine our efforts. If I get it finished during
my lifetime (doesn't SEEM likely), I plan to publish it. Anyone
who assists me will receive the latest prepublication version of
the guide. Lets talk.
Cheers,
Rodge.