This is the parent node. I am going to shift + enter to make my next note.

Here is the final card in this example since I’ve gone on long enough.

And here is a third top-level parent despite not typing anything in the first child column after the last card in the second child column above...

Being able to back up to the parent level and parent connector, in the opposite direction Shift + Enter and additional Enters work today.

Some of this is hard to describe so I’m trying to show all the potential scenarios and what they’d look like, but essentially it’s about...

More text to show the outline working as described above.

Backing up a level or two (or as many as I want) at a time, depending where something should fall in the outline.

And more children.

Continuing to work the outline.

And do the same things I was doing above to create children of children.

But I can continue to build this tree as a separate section in my outline.

And more children.

Once at this point, I obviously can’t get back to the connected chain above anymore.

From here, at the first child level, if I use our key combination, it should create a new card, not connected to anything, in line with the original parent, below this on the y-axis:

Now I want to think about creating a new card at the top-parent level

I’m sure this isn’t easy, but it would be magical to make a outline map of free flowing notes while maintaining relationships easily throughout a note-taking session and never having to bother with a mouse to tinker, create, and maintain relationships in a hurry.

Extending it further and further.

I don’t think I can...

Next Card lines up here......

And then backing up again, it uses the same previous parent and parent connector.

But anytime a card becomes a parent for the first time, it has a new connector.

0----1/3----1/2---2/3-----1

I think the fact I’m on my iPad with a smaller screen is probably a reason for why I like to have things a little closer vs the more spread out behavior.

And every time it recognizes the previous parent.

Then back it up a bit to here.

Then add more context.

I’m thinking if the card created from Shift + ENTER had it’s left side align ~2/3 through the previous card (see ruler example below)

I like to have a little bit of overlap when creating connections through the rhythm of typing, rather than forcing it all the way to the side...

Current Behavior

This looks a lot worse with small cards, but the thinking is...

I can continue to build off again here.

End up here back here again so I can continue to build off the original parent.

I’m done at this level, but I’m also not interested at taking notes at the previous level before this either. So I’d use the magical key combination twice in order to...

Another Enter for good luck.

I’ll show you what I mean.

I wouldn’t look at the outline structure it spits out as a final product, but more an organizing element to be fiddled with later, so if you get bumped out occasionally, it’s okay, but being able to Shift + Tab (or whatever) to be able to back up in the hierarchy would be huge (for me)

This is one card back and we want to keep this one.

One thing that would be cool is, if you are in a card with no text, you can bounce back, and then bounce back again if you want to get farther back in the relationship before continuing on.

Yeah, that’s being used to bounce around so many objects was why I originally tried to keep with the Shift + Enter paradigm and build off of that.

And the key combination should work as many levels deep as needed always bouncing back one level.

Fiddling comes when you are done and want to space things out. But being able to introduce this extra structure upfront, would, I believe, give extra context when you go back and work through cards to organize.

The idea is really to provide a little more structure for live notes, like meetings, lectures, etc. to allow you to not have to tinker // fiddle with card positions.

This would give you a way to really be free flowing with notes, have a basic outline structure, while still being visually spaced cards in a Kinopio style.

Yeah, I think once you exit a card, it’s game over. And I’m okay with that. Maybe a feature down the line to improve if it has traction, but I’d treat it the same way Shift + Enter works today in that respect.

Then another Enter from there would continue on being connected to the parent. (I had to manually move the above card and connect both of them to the parent with the original connector myself here.)

So some magical key combination with Enter (Cmd Enter?) would pop this card back here and back to the previous connector as well.

What I’d really love here is a way to jump back to the first child column and have the connectors work the same way they previously would.

(Or whatever other Key combo...)

Here is the Shift + Enter to go into the third level.

This should be enough.

We will do a couple Enter’s here to create more children.

Shift Enter for the first child as always.

So Cmd + Enter should move down the y-axis and back to the left on the x-axis, jumping back to the previous parent and parent connector.

Here is a new parent card.

Enter after Shift Enter Moves down the y-axis with the same connector to the same parent as the above.

But as always I have ideas...

Shift Enter moves down the y-axis and over the x-axis to the right with a connector.

Enter moves down the y-axis

How I’d Love This To Work

The point is, this flow isn’t really great for free flowing notes.

This would 100% be the ideal and preferred flow.

Going back and fourth on what the ideal connection changing behavior should be here. I think I like the idea anytime you outdent, a new color is created and used continually for infinite indents until you outdent again and then get a new color.

Now here is a Shift + Enter to break out into a third level again. (The extra gap may be because I left and moused around.)

I don’t think I can...

a) yellow for the first three children, as it currently does b) color two, for the second two card grouping currently connected to the parent c) color three, for the last card connected to the parent (if there were additional enters here, they’d share color three and still be connected to parent

Now this is where it gets tricky... how do I get back on track to the second level in the same free flowing, wheeling and dealing feeling?

But if connector colors change, the original parent in scenario three would have three colors coming out:

I know I’m not doing a great job of explaining, but the way I laid out scenario three is how I’m thinking...

This all accepts the fact that once you click out, you’ve ended outliner mode and would have to start over like scenario two.

Bam! Wonderful again. Now lets add some more children at this level with a simple Enter.

This is another basic Enter to create additional children of the parent.

This card was created by going back to the original parent in edit mode and hitting Shift + Enter.

But I might want to branch a child off from here. So another Shift + Enter is in store.

When backing up, the connector color doesn’t really matter. But it should be connected to the previous parent and additional enters should then continue to use whatever color the back up card was using to connect and continue to connect to the parent.

I can keep doing this and build these child nodes from the original parent with a simple enter.

The keyboard combo to back up doesn’t matter. I used Cmd + Enter becusae it doesn’t do anything on my iPad (Ctrl or Opt with Enter both do line breaks in cards for me, but that might be different on Mac/Windows)

Here is the first child. A simple enter from here adds another child to the parent.

Now this is where it gets tricky... how do I get back on track to the second level in the same free flowing, wheeling and dealing feeling?

This is the parent node. I am going to shift + enter to make my next note.

Once you get through all of that and have a gist of the idea, here are some loose thoughts around it.

Bam! Wonderful again. Now lets add some more children at this level with a simple Enter.

Current Best Scenario For Backing Up And Adding:

But I might want to branch a child off from here. So another Shift + Enter is in store.

I can keep doing this and build these child nodes from the original parent with a simple enter.

Here is the first child. A simple enter from here adds another child to the parent.

Three scenarios are laid out below: a) a quick display how shift + enter works b) the best way to go back and add notes to a note tree c) how I’d love this to work with an additional keyboard shortcut to have these types of notes flow like an outline

Original Scenario:

i.e. how I’d love an “Outliner” mode to work in Kinopio (not really a mode, but a new keyboard shortcut to keep some structure in freeflowing notes).