Links

A link is a connection between one note and another. Links allow you to make connections between ideas, and to move quickly between linked notes.

TYPES OF LINKS

Tinderbox has two types of links:

• basic links — links that connect an entire note to something. When you create a link by using the link tool to click between notes in a view, you are creating a basic link.
• text links — links that connect a section of text within a note to something.

Most text links are links to other locations in the Tinderbox document. A text link can also link to a URL—an external document on the Internet. Following the link will open that location in your Web browser.

To create a link

In any view window or list of notes,

• select the source note
  • Click the link tool on the toolbar, or
  • Choose Create Link... from the Note menu, or
  • Choose Make a Link from the Links popup menu in the text window sidebar, or
  • Press cmd-ctrl-L, or
  • Drag from the link widget on the note

then

• Click the destination note
• Choose a type for the link, if desired
• Click OK to dismiss the dialog

Or, in any view window,

• Right-click, ctrl-click or click-and-hold on the source note with the arrow tool
• Choose Create Link... from the contextual menu
• Choose a type for the link, if desired
• Click OK to dismiss the dialog

If you start to make a link and then you change your mind, just click the link tool again to cancel linking.

Using the link widget, in an outline window:

To create a link using a parking space

Using a parking space allows you to link two notes that are not visible at the same time and create links to and from text. When you click a parking space in the middle of making a link, it holds on to the link for you until you're ready to complete the link. You don't need to clear old parking spaces, just put a new link in the parking space to replace the old one.

The Locate view (Edit menu: Locate...) is often useful for rapidly locating link destinations.

In any view window,

• Select the source note with the arrow tool
• Click the link tool on the toolbar (or press Ctrl-L or otherwise start the link) click a parking space on the toolbar
• While the parking space is holding on to the link for you, do whatever you need to make the destination note visible.
• Click the parking space again, to "pick up" the link
• Click the destination note
• Choose a type for the link, if desired
• Click OK to dismiss the dialog

To create a link from text

In a text window,

• Select the text that should be the source of the link
  • Click the start link button at the bottom of the text window

or

• Click the link tool on the toolbar (or press Cmd-option-L or otherwise start the link)

if

• The destination of the link is visible, click the destination note

if not

• Click a parking space on the toolbar
• Do whatever you need to make the destination note visible.
• Click the parking space again
• Click the destination note

then,

• Choose a type for the link, if desired
• Click OK to dismiss the dialog

INTERNET LINKS

A text link can link to an external Internet resource. When an Internet link is followed, the destination will be opened in a Web browser (if it is a Web page), in an email program (if it is an email address) and so on.

In a text window,

• Select the text that should be the source of the link
• Choose Create web link button from the Note file menu
• In the URL field of the dialog box, enter the URL for the link. (For example: http://www.eastgate.com or mailto:info@eastgate.com) There will also be fields where you can enter a Title, Target, or CSS Class for the link.
• Click OK to dismiss the dialog

LINK TYPES

You can assign each link a type, to express the purpose or category of the link. For instance, if your Tinderbox document is mapping a logical argument, you might want links of types thesis, support, conclusion, exception, and so on, to indicate the types of connections between parts of the argument.

A link does not need to have a type. If you do not assign it a type to a link, it will not have one.

To assign a type to a new link:

• Create the link
• In the create link dialog box, enter a link type: either choose a type from the pulldown menu of all the link types you have created so far in the document, or create a new link type by typing in the text field.
• To dismiss a Links window, use its close box, or press Cmd+W
• Click OK to dismiss the dialog

To assign a type to an existing link:

• Locate the link, for instance, by choosing Browse Links from the Note menu and clicking the link
• Enter a value in the Type field or choose one from the drop-down menu next to the field
• Click the Apply button

To modify a link type's attributes:

• Select Attributes from the Window menu or press Cmd-2
• Click the Link Types tab
• Click the link type you wish to modify

From there, you can type a new value in the Name or Color field. (Click Change to save your changes.)

To delete the selected link type for the current document, click the Delete button.

You can also make a link type invisible in the map view:

• select a link type, such as prototype, by clicking it
• uncheck the checkbox labelled visible
• click the Change button

CHANGING THE TEXT IN A TEXT LINK

If you change the text that is the source of a text link, add more text to the source of the link, or remove some text from the source of the link, the link remains anchored to the modified text.

If you delete all of the text that is the source of a link, but no other text, the link remains: it is linked to no text, but is at the place in the text where the linked text used to be. If you start typing at that point in the text, the new text will become part of the text link.

If you add more text to the end of a text link, the added text also becomes part of the text link.

Remember that you can type the special character option-space so that the text you type after the option-space is not part of the preceding text link.

In a text window, press and hold cmd-option to highlight all text links.

To view links in the Links window

The Links window lets you see all the links originating from the selected note, and edit them if you want.

For every link originating from the selected note, the Links window shows:

• type — the type of the link (if it has one)
• destination — the name of the note the link connects.

In the far right of the list, a T indicates that the link is a text link.

From anywhere,

• choose Browse Links... from the Note menu, or press Cmd-\. (If you are in a view window, first select the correct note with the arrow tool.)

From any view window

• Ctrl-click (or click-and-hold) on the note
• choose Browse links... from the contextual menu

To dismiss a Links window, use its close box, or press Cmd-W

Note that you can have many Links windows open at once— each showing the links leading from a different note.

To view links with the Roadmap

The Roadmap lets you see all of the links leading to or from a selected space -- the local area of a complex hypertext.

To open a roadmap,

• Click the note
• Choose Roadmap from the Note window

or

• Right-click on the note
• choose Roadmap from the contextual menu

The selected note will be shown at the top center of the view, with a thumbnail view of its text below it. The left column lists all notes that are linked to this note. The right column lists all notes that this note links to.

You can have many roadmap windows open at once - each showing the links leading to and from a different note.

To change the focus of a roadmap

Double-click any note in either column. The roadmap will change to show it as the central note, with links leading in and out of it in the two columns. Any open view windows will also change to make that note the selected note.

To delete a link

In a map window,

• Ctrl-click or click-and-hold on the arrowhead of the links arriving at or departing from one of the notes on the link
• Choose the desired link from the contextual menu of links
• Click Delete in the dialog

From anywhere,

• choose Browse Links... from the Note menu, or press Cmd-\. (If you are in a view window, first select the correct note with the arrow tool.)
• in the Links window, select the desired link in the scrolling list
• press the Delete key to delete the selected link
• use its close box to dismiss that Links window

From a note's text window

• choose Browse Links from the Links menu in the sidebar
• click the note of your choice and select Delete

To change a link's type

From anywhere,

• In a view window, first select the source note with the arrow tool (unnecessary from a text window);
• Choose Browse Links from the Note menu; or use another method of opening the Links window for that note
• In the Links window, select the desired link in the scrolling list
• Type or choose a new type in the type field (near the lower left of the window), then click the Apply button

Or, in a map window,

• Ctrl-click or click-and-hold on the arrowhead of the links arriving at or departing from one of the notes on the link
• Choose the desired link from the contextual menu of links
• Change the link type in the dialog
• Click OK to dismiss the dialog

Or, from a note's text window

• Choose Browse Links from the Links menu in the sidebar of the text window
• Choose the desired link from the list
• Change the link type in the dialog
• Click OK to dismiss the dialog