5 ms·

I never liked all the multitude of list making apps - Evernote, Todoist, Omnifocus, etc. I prefer org-mode[1] on emacs. It's simple, flexible, distraction free

by otalp 10y ago

I never liked all the multitude of list making apps - Evernote, Todoist, Omnifocus, etc. I prefer org-mode[1] on emacs. It's simple, flexible, distraction free and for some reason reminds me of writing on paper. You get the simplicity, while also making it as powerful as you want. 1- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJTwQvgfgMM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJTwQvgfgMM

chj 10y ago
They all feel like work including orgmode, while writing and sketching on paper is playful.
TorKlingberg 10y ago
Do you have a good solution for reading and editing on mobile?
- julian55 10y ago
  I use Orgzly http://www.orgzly.com/ http://www.orgzly.com/
eddieroger 10y ago
org-mode has been my 2017 resolution, and in the 23 days I've been using it, I'm sold. I love prose and writing, and this scratches that itch pretty effectively while also giving me really powerful things that I need to be organized, like structure to my notes and tag searches. It's also as in or out of the way as I want it to be, which is great - I get to define the structure of how it works, and have largely through my emacs config. My last remaining hangup is capture when not in front of a full computer, but I'm sure that's a problem just in need of some time and automation, and admittedly my life would be easier if I'd give in and store my orgfiles in Dropbox, but being less dependent on cloud services I don't control is my sub-resolution, so I'm resisting this one as long as I can.
- peatmoss 10y ago
  I capture on paper. If I'm at a meeting or something, I simply write to paper, then transcribe my daily notes to org-mode at the end of the day. I don't particularly worry about structure when spooling to paper. Sometimes I'll capture to paper even if I'm sitting in front of my computer. If I've got something complex to reason through, I like the free-form nature of paper. I pretend it's an auxiliary scratch buffer whose contents I will reason about later. My paper notebook, therefore becomes pretty nonsensical, because it isn't the system of record. I carry it as a notebook because I can always go back a day or two if I got lazy and didn't transcribe the previous day. Also a paper notebook puts on a better show for society as compared to just having a few sheets of printer paper along for the ride at meetings (though that works too). Periodically, I rip previous pages out (if spiral bound--they tear cleanly) and shred them just to restore that fresh notebook feeling.
  - peatmoss 10y ago
    I'll add that I've used Mobile-org and even tried Evernote on mobile. I cannot for the life of me figure out how people use mobile note-taking apps. Even with a bluetooth keyboard the UX is so slow / inflexible compared to paper. I've seen people apparently use them to reasonable effect though, so I'm going to assume that people capable of note-taking on mobile are just a more evolved kind of human than I am :-)
    - ddingus 10y ago
      This is why I've got a Samsung note. It's response is sufficient to capture in paper like fashion. I still prefer paper, but the little note app that ships with the phone works very well.
    - abakker 10y ago
      As someone who writes for a living, I can appreciate mobile note taking. Flexibility of the app is not really the important part - I frequently use apple's notes app. But, in those cases what I'm really doing is "pre-writing" not note taking. I'm not capturing ideas, I'm already interpreting them before I write them down, adding structure as I go. In paper, I tend to really note-take. I like note-taking on paper for things I don't really understand yet. I prefer pre-writing in an app for situations where my understanding of the topic is good, and I want to skip steps (e.g. writing a blog post about a presentation, where the topic is already familiar) Now, in fairness, I have recently started using SimpleMind for mind-mapping real-time. I find it does a good job at doing both things. It helps me build a narrative structure in one branch, while capturing notes in others. It also gives me a lot of nice flexibility on-screen to rearrange branches, relocate topics and do other general house-keeping.
criddell 10y ago
I like Evernote as a place to store my notebook pages that I want to search for. It's easy to take a picture with my phone and upload it as a PDF to Evernote which does a shockingly good job of finding text in the images and indexing them. I also get some metadata related to the time, date, and place where I generated the PDF. It's nice having important parts of my notebook available at all times. I'm also surprised the article didn't mention mind mapping. Does nobody do that anymore?
- Starwatcher2001 10y ago
  I do mind mapping extensively, both on paper, and using Mindjet's "mind manager". I use mind mapping to brain dump everything relevant about a project. The free-form approach helps me get stuff down in whatever order my brain decides to bring it to memory. They then get hacked into a logical order, maybe split into separate maps, and get used as an "at a glance" overview, which is great for making sure nothing gets missed during development. Paper is handy for the first cut, or on a bus, in a meeting etc., but the electronic version is better for editing and showing to colleagues and customers.
creativityland 10y ago
That is the same problem I have with most of the list making apps, but for web, at least Taskcade (https://www.taskcade.com https://www.taskcade.com) does the job for me, while feeling somewhat natural typing on it.
- reitanqild 10y ago
  I like workflowy a lot although I rarely use it. (Used to use it on a weekly basis on my previous workplace.)
chrisdone 10y ago
I'd agree. I've been trying to think of why I like orgmode and todoist and toggl aren't the same, it's that I can manipulate it freely as text without being blocked by the structure or hitting a use-case unanticipated by the authors of the app. I can also extend it easily and have done so. In that way its benefits are similar to pen and paper.

by otalp 10y ago

chj 10y ago

They all feel like work including orgmode, while writing and sketching on paper is playful.

TorKlingberg 10y ago

Do you have a good solution for reading and editing on mobile?

julian55 10y ago
I use Orgzly http://www.orgzly.com/ http://www.orgzly.com/

eddieroger 10y ago

org-mode has been my 2017 resolution, and in the 23 days I've been using it, I'm sold. I love prose and writing, and this scratches that itch pretty effectively while also giving me really powerful things that I need to be organized, like structure to my notes and tag searches. It's also as in or out of the way as I want it to be, which is great - I get to define the structure of how it works, and have largely through my emacs config. My last remaining hangup is capture when not in front of a full computer, but I'm sure that's a problem just in need of some time and automation, and admittedly my life would be easier if I'd give in and store my orgfiles in Dropbox, but being less dependent on cloud services I don't control is my sub-resolution, so I'm resisting this one as long as I can.

peatmoss 10y ago
I capture on paper. If I'm at a meeting or something, I simply write to paper, then transcribe my daily notes to org-mode at the end of the day. I don't particularly worry about structure when spooling to paper. Sometimes I'll capture to paper even if I'm sitting in front of my computer. If I've got something complex to reason through, I like the free-form nature of paper. I pretend it's an auxiliary scratch buffer whose contents I will reason about later. My paper notebook, therefore becomes pretty nonsensical, because it isn't the system of record. I carry it as a notebook because I can always go back a day or two if I got lazy and didn't transcribe the previous day. Also a paper notebook puts on a better show for society as compared to just having a few sheets of printer paper along for the ride at meetings (though that works too). Periodically, I rip previous pages out (if spiral bound--they tear cleanly) and shred them just to restore that fresh notebook feeling.
- peatmoss 10y ago
  I'll add that I've used Mobile-org and even tried Evernote on mobile. I cannot for the life of me figure out how people use mobile note-taking apps. Even with a bluetooth keyboard the UX is so slow / inflexible compared to paper. I've seen people apparently use them to reasonable effect though, so I'm going to assume that people capable of note-taking on mobile are just a more evolved kind of human than I am :-)
  - ddingus 10y ago
    This is why I've got a Samsung note. It's response is sufficient to capture in paper like fashion. I still prefer paper, but the little note app that ships with the phone works very well.
  - abakker 10y ago
    As someone who writes for a living, I can appreciate mobile note taking. Flexibility of the app is not really the important part - I frequently use apple's notes app. But, in those cases what I'm really doing is "pre-writing" not note taking. I'm not capturing ideas, I'm already interpreting them before I write them down, adding structure as I go. In paper, I tend to really note-take. I like note-taking on paper for things I don't really understand yet. I prefer pre-writing in an app for situations where my understanding of the topic is good, and I want to skip steps (e.g. writing a blog post about a presentation, where the topic is already familiar) Now, in fairness, I have recently started using SimpleMind for mind-mapping real-time. I find it does a good job at doing both things. It helps me build a narrative structure in one branch, while capturing notes in others. It also gives me a lot of nice flexibility on-screen to rearrange branches, relocate topics and do other general house-keeping.

criddell 10y ago

I like Evernote as a place to store my notebook pages that I want to search for. It's easy to take a picture with my phone and upload it as a PDF to Evernote which does a shockingly good job of finding text in the images and indexing them. I also get some metadata related to the time, date, and place where I generated the PDF. It's nice having important parts of my notebook available at all times. I'm also surprised the article didn't mention mind mapping. Does nobody do that anymore?

Starwatcher2001 10y ago
I do mind mapping extensively, both on paper, and using Mindjet's "mind manager". I use mind mapping to brain dump everything relevant about a project. The free-form approach helps me get stuff down in whatever order my brain decides to bring it to memory. They then get hacked into a logical order, maybe split into separate maps, and get used as an "at a glance" overview, which is great for making sure nothing gets missed during development. Paper is handy for the first cut, or on a bus, in a meeting etc., but the electronic version is better for editing and showing to colleagues and customers.

creativityland 10y ago

That is the same problem I have with most of the list making apps, but for web, at least Taskcade (https://www.taskcade.com https://www.taskcade.com) does the job for me, while feeling somewhat natural typing on it.

reitanqild 10y ago
I like workflowy a lot although I rarely use it. (Used to use it on a weekly basis on my previous workplace.)

chrisdone 10y ago

I'd agree. I've been trying to think of why I like orgmode and todoist and toggl aren't the same, it's that I can manipulate it freely as text without being blocked by the structure or hitting a use-case unanticipated by the authors of the app. I can also extend it easily and have done so. In that way its benefits are similar to pen and paper.