Notalon Helps You Take Cornell-Style Notes
Windows/Mac/Linux: If our talk about Cornell-style note taking caught your eye and you wished there was an easy to use application for taking them, you’ll want to check out Notalon.
Notalon is divided into two columns. In the left hand column are headers and in the right hand column are notes that correspond with the headers. Formatting is purposely limited to bold and italics, to keep the focus on note taking instead of tinkering with the text.
Notalon has keyboard shortcuts for all the its functions, you can quickly create new headers and notes without having to take your hands off the keyboard. Your notes can be saved in the Notalon’s native format or exported as PDF files.
Love the idea but still an analogue note-taker at heart? Check out this PDF generator to make your own printable Cornell templates. Notalon is open source and available for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
Notalon [via Freeware Home]
- Next Post: Overcoming The “Candle Problem” And Rethinking Motivation »
- « Previous Post: iGoogle Working With Secure Gmail Connections
Comments (AU Comments | US Comments)
I'm a cloud guy myself. Although it requires an active Internet connection, I use Checkvist for things like this (www.checkvist.com). As long as you're plugged in, Checkvist is easy to use. (Note: I have nothing to do with the company except I am a fan of their service.)
willisja
@DeloresPompeii: Yes you could do that, but someone has beaten you to it:
Word 2007
Cornell Notes B&W
Cornell Note Paper
Cornell Notes
I don't know if they'd work in Office 2003 or not.
Plus there's a whole category of Note templates at Microsoft's Office template site
Not sure I see the difference between this and using any other two-pane outliner like Keynote...
shatteredmindofbob
@zephyrkey: A quick glance and it seems pretty obvious that the difference is huge. Starting with hierachy and image support in teh guide. It looks like Notalon could be what the Guide started life as (not suggesting the Guide is a fork).
jupiterthunder
@icecreamman: There was an article where they talked about the improvements (over the Comments 2.0 that everyone hated) in that article, they posted links which would allow you to pick the order (mine is newest first, so I see older comments at the bottom). The links work across all related sites. They are working on putting the setting in the account preferences.
[lifehacker.com]
@prochobo: Thanks, this might be useful if I decide to do the Cornell method in college.
@DeloresPompeii: If you happen to stumble across it or something similar do share.
JLobo
I've seen more of this 'villain' stuff. Perhaps lifehacker is secretly preparing for world domination.
Btw, thx for the app.
nbgangsta
@DeloresPompeii: don't know why you couldn't create some sort of template
Runnin-Ute
Any Ubuntu help for the novice(s)? Bunch of python stuff I'm not sure what to do with. Did a search and it seems the author had posted help making a deb file--sadly no one got back to him. Anyone have this working in Jaunty?
JLobo
Couldn't something similar be achieved in Word or OOo Writer, by creating two columns. Left column get's 1/3 or 1/4 of the page width, Right column gets the rest of the page. Save it as Cornell Note Blank or something, and then just make sure to save-as to create your actual note pages?
DeloresPompeii
It looks like a very workable note-taking tool for text only notes, but I wouldn't say it's a Cornell Methods too. That narrow column needs to allow you more control than just giving your notes a header if it's going to be a CM tool. Taking full advantage of CM means you need to be able to jot down whatever pops into your head in that margin, right next to the section of your notes you doodle, question, etc. pertains to.
jupiterthunder
Hmmm... Since I'm wanting to get an asus eee pc 1000he for the sole purpose of note taking this might come in handy, thanks LH! I used to put taps of my spiral notebook using sticky notes, but everyone made fun of me for being too organized -.-' But then come test day everyone come to me lol. Was planning on using OneNote because I was always fond of the idea how closely it resembled a physical notebook and how you can draw pictures if need be. Does anyone know how this compares in terms of usability? Also there is a program called Jarnal (java) that I considered using. Its not anything like this of course, just a spiral notebook background that you can type and draw text in. Will have to give this a go.
lbrtdy
@icecreamman: I don't even understand what's happening anymore, but the thumbs-up sign is back, hopefully this means I can actually, y'know, approve good comments instead of seeing them fall the the bottom, me being powerless :\
What's going on with the comments? They seem to be in chronological order, but to see the new comments I have to scroll all the way to the bottom and click on "Newer threads" repeatedly. That's the worst system yet.
icecreamman
Interesting program. I think I'm going to stick with my rather large text files with tab-indentation for note taking. Fun part about text files is how easy it is to find the topic you're looking for in a whole bunch of files.