In other words, I want to be able to have multiple self-contained
library databases.
You might want to try Eagle Filer: http://c-command.com/eaglefiler/
It is similar to Yojimbo but supports multiple libraries and nested
folders. It also stores its data as regular files in the filesystem
so you could easily copy all the files you want and give to a friend
per the use case you outlined or browse your data with the Finder.
Now, some comments on the recent discussions on this list... First,
I'm not a Yojimbo-hater -- I've used Yojimbo since it was released
and have a library with thousands of records. However, I've gotten
very tired of the lack of nested folders (makes the drop dock too
big), lack of true Smart Collections, lack of a "read only" flag, and
the monolithic database as well as lack of Time Machine support. At
the time that I bought Yojimbo, I extensively evaluated every
"digital junk drawer" application for the Mac and settled on Yojimbo
because of ease of use, exportability, Applescriptability, and most
importantly, .Mac syncing.
The only reason I've stuck with Yojimbo so far is .Mac syncing. I
want my data available on multiple computers and none of Yojimbo's
competitors support seamless .Mac syncing the way Yojimbo does.
However, if the next paid upgrade from Yojimbo doesn't address some
of those issues I mentioned (and have been mentioned by many others
on this list), then I'll buy one of the competing products, most
likely Eagle Filer and work around the lack of .Mac syncing (Eagle
Filer can store it's library on iDisk for example). Since I use
Yojimbo more than any other app on my Mac, that's not idle talk --
switching would be a big investment of time. I've got a lot of data
in Yojimbo and a lot of time invested in scripts to make Yojimbo fit
into my workflow.
Contrary to some of the other posts on this list in the last few
days, I do think Yojimbo needs some improvement and I think this list
is a good place to discuss it. It's rather disheartening to see the
Yojimbo fans shoot down any feature request because "I like Yojimbo
the way it is" -- there's always room for improvement and honest
dialogue by Yojimbo power-users (probably the majority of people on
this list) is a good way for the developers to get feedback on what
their *paying* users want. Unfortunately, what usually happens on
this list is that a Yojimbo fan will tell the feature-requester to go
away because Yojimbo is great the way it is and the developer won't
say anything. If someone from BareBones does pipe in, it's usually
to say "We're never going to add that feature. See previous
post..." This compares poorly to several other indie-Mac software
lists I'm on (such as the forum for Leap and Yep, both excellent
applications: http://www.ironicsoftware.com/) where the developer is
happy to get feedback on what users actually want and participates in
the dialogue.
Of course, not every feature can or should be added -- as someone
who's written a lot of software, I hate feature bloat as much as the
next guy. But I'd rather give my money to a company that listens to
its users and tries to provide a product the users want instead of
what the developer thinks the users *should* want.
Several of my friends and colleagues use Yojimbo based on my
recommendation. I think it's a useful application and a great value
but I'm not sure I can continue to recommend it, for the reasons
given above. I really like the application and it's simplified my
life but I still find that I'm doing too much bending of my workflow
to suit Yojimbo. Software is a tool that should work for me, not the
other way around.
Cheers,
Rhet
On Apr 30, 2008, at 11:04 PM, Jerry Weldon wrote:
I'm glad there are people who like Yojimbo the way it is. I want
people to buy it, because I think Bare Bones is a good company and
I want it to continue to exist. However, Yojimbo is not quite
adequate for my needs.
I tried Yojimbo for the 30-day trial period last summer, using it
to collect information for a vacation. I found it to be very
useful, and a pleasure to use. It was handy to be able to store
PDFs and web archives of information I wanted to come back to
easily, as well as my own notes. Yojimbo was my first experience
with tagging, and I found that to be useful as well.
When the trial period was over, however, I did not purchase the
program. Why not? Our vacation was over. I no longer needed the
information immediately at hand, but neither did I want to delete
it. What I really wanted was to set that library aside and start a
new one for the next project or trip. I'd like to use Yojimbo to
collect everything related to a particular project, and be able to
store that collection with other project materials, be it on a CD
in a box with other items or on a computer at a different location.
Perhaps a friend would like to take a vacation to the same place;
I'd like to be able to give them a copy of that library.
In other words, I want to be able to have multiple self-contained
library databases. This would not add any complexity whatsoever for
those who like Yojimbo the way it is--they can simply continue
using one monolithic library--but it would add an order of
magnitude of usefulness for me, and I suspect for others as well.
I sent this feature request to Bare Bones' support address, and
received a prompt and honest reply. Unfortunately, the reply was
that "the chances of Yojimbo supporting multiple databases at any
point in the future are very slim, as doing so would require
changes to a whole slew of design and implementation choices;
overall, we think the drawbacks considerably outweigh any potential
benefit." Which, sadly, makes it so close and yet so far from what
I need.
It's too bad, because I haven't really liked any of the
alternatives I've looked at so far. Either they're more complex
than I want, or they just don't look as nice as Yojimbo. So for
now, I'm still using the Finder and traditional hierarchical
organization.
I'm still monitoring this list though, in case anything changes! :-)
- Jerry
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