Using kanbanpad (free) for novel planning?

Ever since I ran into and used the now-abandonware papel for a novel, I’ve been thinking of finding or writing a better novel planning tool. I really like the idea of using 3×5 index cards for this, but in a software tool. I’ve tried celtx and read about Scrivener but I would like a free solution like XMind (which is very good for some parts of planning).

Today I discovered kanbanpad, a free, online service with an API for exporting/importing data. I haven’t played a lot with this yet, but the tool seems to ooze potential usefulness for novelists.

Carrie Cuin and johnremy write about using it to organize their writing projects; but I think it might be very useful for planning out the key scenes within a novel. One could use the swimlanes/columns for tracking the main plot/subplots; colors could be used for characters (or you could assign scenes to the principle character and then use colors for tension or mood).

At this point, the API is the only way to get data exported from the application; and it comes out in JSON or XML format. So while the tool looks like it could be used for novel plotting, for safety of data, one would need to have some technical expertise to export the data.

Anyone else encountered kanbanpad or used it in their novel planning? Anyone interested by the prospects of this and wanting to help spec-out or develop some supporting tools?

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