Quick Reference/Resource Window

DEVONthink Feedback
1

I’ve been playing with “Findings” a bit lately (lab experiment notebook software) and is has a nice feature I thought might be worth mentioning here. They have a menu item called “Resources” which is intended to bring up a window containing commonly used reference material for the user’s specific area of research. In their case, an example is a periodic table of the elements, but it can also bring up java script applets to implement things like research specific calculators (batch calculations is an example). I liked this feature so much I prototyped a similar feature using Xmenu and a free image viewer. Fundamentally, and this is no great software achievement on my part, I put all my “resource files” into a folder and point Xmenu to it. I then have the default application for each of the resource images set to the free viewer (which has a feature supporting a near borderless window). In a Better Touch Tool, I programmed the touch bar to show a “key” to kill the viewer with one press.

This all works, but it’s kinda kludgy. Having something like this built in (and faster loading) would be a nice addition to DT. I think any user of DT would find a quick “resource” viewer handy.

2

It would be interesting to see the setup in action, yours and Findings.

3

OK, here is a Dropbox link to two videos I made showing the Findings “resource” menu, and how I’m simulating it with Xmenu.

dropbox.com/sh/6oa2y9q48s24 … fGhba?dl=0

4

Thanks for the videos!
It would be possible to write an AppleScript, save it in DEVONthink’s Scripts.noindex/Toolbar folder in the Finder, and add it as a Toolbar button. However, many more questions would need to be answered about how it would be configured. Also, it’s best to consider this in light of how generically useful it would be to other Users.

5

“Also, it’s best to consider this in light of how generically useful it would be to other Users.”

While it’s true that there are few things in this world as important as Meccano, others, such as cancer researchers, rocket scientists, etc. might also find a configurable “quick reference” worthwhile. :slight_smile:

6

What about my mom? Or a small business owner? Students? :smiley:

7

“What about my mom?”

Good point. Your mom says “Do it!”

8

Actually, my mom says, “Jimmy, what’s a space bar? Is that a place where people drink? I don’t want you hanging out in those kinds of places.” :mrgreen: