Following up on the enthusiasm for the idea of Fargo and Evernote having a long-term relationship, we're still not there. I'm really resisting rolling up my sleeves and working on the Evernote side of things. It means writing a server app that basically synchs up Evernote with OPML. Fargo is real good at producing it, and the feeling is that it would be a nice way to edit Evernote notebooks.
The idea is pretty simple at least at a conceptual level.
Here's an OPML file.
Here's an Evernote notebook.
When a change happens in the OPML file, make the necessary changes in the Evernote notebook to reflect those changes.
There are people with expertise in Evernote, and I'd be happy to help them navigate the world of OPML, but I have no room in my head for another operating environment. I have to try to hook up with some Evernote expertise.
So if anyone is out there who is interested, please have a go at this, and let me know if you have any questions.
PS: Also the same idea applies to blogging platforms such as WordPress, Tumblr and the exciting new Ghost platform.
On Twitter, Ramond Yee, who has worked with the Evernote API, asks what I want Evernote to do with the OPML.
The answer depends on what I've written in my outline.
Let's say I create an outline with 27 top level heads and underneath each head, a series of paragraphs. That would translate into a notebook with 27 items, each with a bunch of text in them. The text that's under the headlines. Nicely indented, if there was any structure beneath the headlines.
Why? So the notes can be indexed alongside everything else I enter into Evernote, using all the different ways they have of getting ideas in there.
That's my understanding of how people use Evernote. I want to remember something. So I create a note. Or I have a note for all ideas relating to a certain topic. It's fairly free-form. Outlines are nicely structured. Just shoot the structured stuff over to the Evernote, while it remains resident in Fargo, editable as an outline.
Another way of saying the same thing -- both paradigms are good for notebooks, but the notebooks are useful in complementary ways. I can make lists and easily reorganize them in an outliner. I can search all my notes in Evernote and find all notes relating to a certain topic.
I want the same text to be useful in both contexts.
Make sense?