http://blogs.opml.org/ambimb/ en-us Copyleft 2005 ambimb. Wed, 10 Aug 2005 04:00:00 GMT Wed, 10 Aug 2005 19:42:11 GMT http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss OPML Editor version 0.59 http://blogs.opml.org/ambimb/2005/08/10#opmlOnline <p>Yesterday I posted the <a href="http://hosting.opml.org/ambimb/Constitution.opml">U.S. Constitution in OPML</a>. If you don't want to download the file to view it in the OPML Editor, <a href="http://blogs.opml.org/casdra/">CasdraBlog</a> has a <a href="http://blogs.opml.org/casdra/2005/08/09#weThePeople">nice screenshot</a> for you. I created that document months ago in <a href="http://aquaminds.com/product.jsp">NoteTaker</a>, the outliner I use daily for a zillion things, including taking notes in law school. I got the <a href="http://www.acslaw.org/misc/iPoddl.htm">original text file </a>from the <a href="http://www.acsblog.org/">ACS</a>, then just added outline breaks in the appropriate places to make it an outline in NoteTaker. </p> <p>Now compare the OPML file to <a href="http://mowabb.com/ai/stuff/Constitution/Constitution.ntweb/?3">this version</a>, created by NoteTaker for web use. See how the online version mimics the functionality of the OPML version? Wouldn't it be great if there was a Safari plugin or something to allow that to happen natively in the browser? You could just load up any OPML file and expand and collapse things at will. Until that happens, how about we make some way to do what NoteTaker does -- convert OPML files to functioning web files? Now is when I wish I knew how to code.</p> Wed, 10 Aug 2005 19:18:06 GMT http://blogs.opml.org/ambimb/2005/08/10#opmlOnline http://blogs.opml.org/ambimb/2005/08/10#lawInOpml <p>By the way, I think this OPML version of the Constitution provides a good example of how well the law and outlines work together. Almost all legal writing -- from memos, to briefs, to motions, to appeals, to judicial opinions, to statutes -- is in outline form already, but until now we haven't really had any other option but to represent those outlines in a flat, linear, way. OPML gives us a way to make those documents much more functional and efficient to use. Imagine a Lexis or Westlaw-type research service that was just a bunch of interlinked outlines. Someday. Maybe.</p> Wed, 10 Aug 2005 19:41:49 GMT http://blogs.opml.org/ambimb/2005/08/10#lawInOpml