14 DAY TRIAL // Keeping data in a clean, organized way is quite a challenge for most of us. Hardware developers have given us the possibility of slicing and dicing the hard disk any way we want. The directories, folders and subfolders are considered a secondary level of organizing our data. And with all this strict organization we still get lost when it comes to finding a certain document.
Also, for educational purposes there wasn't too much to do. All we could do was read the digital books, visit the websites and absorb the information. That was until the online encyclopedias began to appear. Wikipedia is the dome of knowledge and there are few things beyond its reach.
Well, it is now time to take the matter into hands and create our own knowledge database, be it for business, educational purposes or simply for personal use. Put your imagination to test with Pagico and see what comes out.
Pagico is a hybrid between a PIM (Personal Information Manager) and a knowledge base software designed to help you keep tabs on all the events. It provides an environment to save the information you feed which will be displayed in a very nifty manner.
The price for getting your data organized with Pagico is $29.95 and you get to put it to a test before deciding on acquiring its capabilities. The 15 days trial are more than sufficient to take the tour of the software and make an idea on what it offers.
The only requirement it asks is to have Internet Explorer 6 or above as the application is web based. Other than this, a perfectly normal "computer" is appropriate. I tested it on a Sempron 3000+ and there was absolutely no trouble and no waiting.
The interface does not fit well the Vista environment, as there are no skins or themes available. The blank spaces on the sides are not making a good impression in the beginning but as you start building your database the page is filled with titles all organized in a very comfortable manner.
In order to begin using the trial version you will have to give your email to the developer which is a pretty nasty thing to do, considering that no one wants to have personal data appended to a database. But hey, comply with this requirement and give it a try.
The menus are available in the top left hand corner of the application window. These include the "Stickies" (similar to paper sticky notes) to quickly add some information and later append it to one of the topics and the Data tab which practically contains all the information: topics and folders.
The "Stickies" come in eight different colors and can be used for quickly noting a meeting or as scrap paper to temporarily write something down. As all the editing is responsive to mouse hovering over the item, by holding the mouse over them you can enable their menu. The menu is nothing complicated and simply allows you to cross out all the content, change the color of the note (you can create a color code based on their importance this way) and you can add them to a topic in Data section.
Data tab is where the fun begins. The display options here include viewing all the topics or just the folders. Each topic can have its own tags so that finding the desired subject is made faster. The trouble with topic view is that the tags are also displayed as topics and this is a little confusing. Clicking on one of the tags will show you the corresponding subject(s), but it would be better if you only saw the topics and the tags would be in lower case or differentiated in some way.
Anyway, there is a solution for this minor nag and that is enabling TagExplore function which will display the topics and the tags in a clear way: topics standing out and tags in smaller font right under them. Additional information like the time and date of creating a certain article is also available. This way you can keep track of your activity and becomes extremely important if you are employing the application for business purposes.
New topics are created at a press of a key as all you need to do is type in the desired title and press Enter. The next step is automatically displayed and it allows you to add files or media content. By content I mean everything included in Files and Images categories (PDF, TXT, DOC, XLS or PPT files, videos, or text paragraphs and lists).
There is no limit to the amount of content you can add to a topic and if you put your back into it the result can be amazing: a combination of all the elements, easy access to information and fast editing of every element. If you have something important and do not want others to mess your work up you can protect each topic with a password.
For the nicest impression and for a nifty display of your work Pagico makes possible playing all the elements in a slideshow. The file opens in your default browser and you can move from one element to another by using the arrow controls of the keyboard.
The Good
The effort is laudable and the application is highly stable. The editing is made nice and easy, the user having the possibility of modifying a topic just by hovering the mouse over the element and choosing the Edit option.
A master password protects the access to all the topics and folders thus thwarting unauthorized persons from tampering with your database.
Creating links between the various subjects appended to the database comes in extremely handy as you can see everything that is related to a certain topic at a simple glance.
The Bad
Restricting the access to the topics with a password is good protection, but I think it would have been better to protect the editing from unauthorized users.
Working with the application is not as smooth as one would think and the elements are not explained thoroughly neither in the Quick Start file installed on the computer nor on the website. At least I found it a bit difficult to catch the drift of how to work with the application.
I could not find a way to create multiple users for the database in order to grant access to more than just one person. This feature would be great for educational purposes. Also, making administrator accounts with full access to all the areas and limited access accounts would also add to its value.
Resizing the application window is just not possible and you will be able to see all the options (including Preferences and Log Out button) only if you keep it maximized.
The Truth
For $29.95 there is a lot you can do with this software. However, the Standard version is much better equipped and is more flexible.
Running on both Windows and Mac is flexible enough, but the features in the Basic version simply do not justify the price.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
