Conzilla - The Concept Browser

Conzilla FAQ

General questions

Editing questions - the tool

Editing questions - modeling issues

  • Whats the difference between generalization and classification?
  • Why can't I use association instead of aggregation?
  • Can everything be modeled?
  • My model doesn't look like my friends model... what's wrong?
  • Is there some conventions on layout I need to consider?

Advanced issues

  • I've seen some curved lines here and there, how do I do that?
  • How do the resolver table work and what the heck is a urn?
  • I think I discovered a bug, how do I report it?

What can I do?

The best way to get started is to play around for a while. To see the possibilities, check out the instructions on how to navigate.

Contexts, concepts, concept relations and content how do they relate?

Conzilla displays contextsmaps containing concepts and concept relations. A contextmap without graphical layout is just a context, i.e. an abstract set of concepts and concept relations. On top of this there might be content in the form of homepages, movies, physical books, etc. referred to from concepts and concept relations. Such content acting as examples, illustrations, descriptions etc. can be of any kind whatsoever, the only restriction is that the content need to be addressable. If content is in digital form it may be retrievable and can probably be viewed in a browser, hence Conzilla remote-controls your browser whenever you want to see web-content. For more information see separate page on content.

What is metadata?

Metadata is data about data. Hence a document's metadata is typically a couple of attribute-value pairs such as <author, Matthias Palmer>, <Title, Conzilla FAQ>, <keyword, conceptual modeling> etc. In Conzilla we try to use standards for which attributes and values to use, e.g. metadata elements. Typically we try to adhere to standards when possible, se the page on Metadata for a longer discussion.

How do I control popups, how do I get them to stay up and expand?

Just like popups in other application they show up after a few seconds and disappear when you move your mouse. The popup contains metadata about the object you are over. If the object contains no metadata, no popup will be shown. Popups can occur over concepts, concept relations, content and the map itself (in the background). If you move the mouse over something that has a popup and press space bar without waiting for the timeout the popup is displayed immediately and locked (it stays when you move your mousepointer away). In this way several popups can be displayed at once. We call this procedure 'metadata fishing'. When you wan't to get rid of a popup you have to either move your mouse ower it's source and hit spacebar once more or you can press esc to get rid of all locked popups at once.

What is UML and why do we want to use it?

Is conzilla a UML-tool?

How do I bookmark?

The bookmark feature is currently disabled by default since it is somewhat outdated.

What is the difference between hyperlinks to other maps and contextual neighbourhoods?

A hyperlink is (just like in html) a link from an object in a map to another map. It has no controlled meaning other than a good place to go to from this concept or concept relation. A concept (or concept relation) can have different hyperlinks in different maps. The contextual neighbourhood of a concept (or concept relation) is the collection of contextmaps it occurs in. The neighbourhood is hencefort the same in all maps however when displaying a neighbourhood of a given concept in a certain context(map), this context is excluded from the collection.

I get the message "Cannot create ViewManager" when I try to start Conzilla

You most probably have an old version of Conzilla installed. To be able to start Conzilla, you have to remove or rename the old configuration directory. The folder is called "Conzilla2" and can be found in your home directory.


How do I edit an existing map?

See the editing page.

If I wan't to create a new map how do I do that?

See the editing page.

Ok, I have a blank map with the grid in the background, how do I start?

See the editing page.

Boxes are easy, but how do I create arrows (relations)?

See the editing page.

Which types are the most common ones?

See the types page.

I've noticed that there are popups in browse mode, how do I create/edit them?

The text in the popups are metadata that can be edited via choosing edit in the popup menu over the concept/concept-relation/context-map.


Whats the difference between generalization and classification?

Why can't I use association instead of aggregation?

Can everything be modeled?

My model doesn't look like my friends model... what's wrong?

Is there some conventions on layout I need to consider?