Today I will be reviewing another note taking application to further my quest to better integrate touch screen computing in the classroom. The program reviewed today, Tabnotes, is very similar to Freenote. Let me lay out the things I loved about Tabnote first, then I will talk about the items that annoyed me and finally I will finish up with the similarties between Freenote/Tabnotes and decide a winner! Let's begin!
One great thing I love about Tabnotes is the ability to organize your notes into actual notebooks. This allows you to neatly seperate out your classes from one another and makes it difficult to mix up or lose your notes. You can pick from a variety of covers for each notebook and can write on the front of them as well. (see image 1) Another great aspect is being able to create an unlimited number of pages in each notebook. You don't have to worry about writing too big or taking up too much room because you can always create a new page. There are also a variety of page templates to choose from! There is a wide ruled notebook page for handwriting, a few different types of graph paper, to-do lists, sticky notes and a whole lot more! (see image 2)
The writing tools Tabnotes provides are a pencil, pen, eraser, shape drawer, and a color/thickness selector too. (Top of image 3)
Dislikes: Compared to Freenote, there are lots of limitations. You cannot insert pictures, sound files, you cannot take pictures directly....the list goes on and on. Neither of them allow opacity control over the marker function. This would be handy if you want to highlight something in your notes. Both of the programs output your notes in .jpeg or .png which is understandable but a little inconvenient.
Similarities between Tabnotes/Freenote: You can easily control the writing area so you never have to worry about obscuring your view. Similar concept to Freenote except that there is no time limit for writing so you can pause whenever you want for as long as you want and not have to worry about the program putting down an unfished word. It also records each character individually instead of in bulk like in Freenote.
And the Winner is................Freenote!
I really like the fact that in Tabnotes you can create notebooks, easily control the writing area and edit individual characters, but you can work around these issues and have more features in Freenote. Also the stylus is more responsive in Freenote than in Tabnotes (although my finger worked better in Tabnotes). This is just my opinion and would love to hear other reviews or thoughts!
One great thing I love about Tabnotes is the ability to organize your notes into actual notebooks. This allows you to neatly seperate out your classes from one another and makes it difficult to mix up or lose your notes. You can pick from a variety of covers for each notebook and can write on the front of them as well. (see image 1) Another great aspect is being able to create an unlimited number of pages in each notebook. You don't have to worry about writing too big or taking up too much room because you can always create a new page. There are also a variety of page templates to choose from! There is a wide ruled notebook page for handwriting, a few different types of graph paper, to-do lists, sticky notes and a whole lot more! (see image 2)
The writing tools Tabnotes provides are a pencil, pen, eraser, shape drawer, and a color/thickness selector too. (Top of image 3)
Dislikes: Compared to Freenote, there are lots of limitations. You cannot insert pictures, sound files, you cannot take pictures directly....the list goes on and on. Neither of them allow opacity control over the marker function. This would be handy if you want to highlight something in your notes. Both of the programs output your notes in .jpeg or .png which is understandable but a little inconvenient.
Similarities between Tabnotes/Freenote: You can easily control the writing area so you never have to worry about obscuring your view. Similar concept to Freenote except that there is no time limit for writing so you can pause whenever you want for as long as you want and not have to worry about the program putting down an unfished word. It also records each character individually instead of in bulk like in Freenote.
And the Winner is................Freenote!
I really like the fact that in Tabnotes you can create notebooks, easily control the writing area and edit individual characters, but you can work around these issues and have more features in Freenote. Also the stylus is more responsive in Freenote than in Tabnotes (although my finger worked better in Tabnotes). This is just my opinion and would love to hear other reviews or thoughts!
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| Writing area before deletion |
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| Character Deletion |
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