5 ms·

I keep trying new tools when they come out, but find myself always snapping back to Notational Velocity. Workflowy reminds me of OmniOutliner, they share a ver

by moe 16y ago

I keep trying new tools when they come out, but find myself always snapping back to Notational Velocity. Workflowy reminds me of OmniOutliner, they share a very similar, hierarchical approach. Sadly they also share similar problems; a GUI that's too slow for my fingers and too complex for my little brain. The GUI-complexity stems from the enforced hierarchy. Indenting stuff seems nice at first, and makes it look tidy. But after a while I'd find myself constantly futzing with the indentation in the futile attempt to structure what doesn't want to be structured. And finally workflowy has the added drawback of living inside the browser - which is not nearly as close to my fingertips as a native app. For me NV is ultimately the better approach. I can not praise it highly enough. Think: "full-text search for your brain". Try it out if you haven't yet.

pavs 16y ago
I have used Notational Velocity, I like it, but I absolutely love Taskpaper. I have used almost every single task-manager you could possible think of, but taskpaper for mac is the only one I found to be no-nonsense and intuitive. Mac only. if you haven't tried it yet, you should try it. You will love it. http://www.hogbaysoftware.com/products/taskpaper http://www.hogbaysoftware.com/products/taskpaper
- Myrth 16y ago
  TodoPaper is the Windows equivalent: http://widefido.com/products/todopaper/ http://widefido.com/products/todopaper/
astrofinch 16y ago
When I switched to Linux, I found that Zim http://zim-wiki.org/ http://zim-wiki.org/ came close enough to Notational Velocity for my purposes. The key feature both share is giving me the ability to very quickly jump to a note by typing its name in. (With Zim you do this by typing cntrl-j.) I'm reluctant to try any note manager that doesn't have that feature.
- abalashov 16y ago
  Does it allow for easy syncing between multiple machines?
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
  - astrofinch 16y ago
    It works on formatted text files. So you could use Dropbox, version control, rsync, etc.
    - abalashov 16y ago
      Sweet!
melling 16y ago
I also use Notational Velocity on the Mac. I sync with the iPad/iPhone app SimpleNote. The great thing is that sync'ing is automatic in each app. Now all of my ideas and notes are always on whatever device I have at hand. I tried EverNote for a while but it got in the way for quickly updating existing notes, IMHO.
travism 16y ago
Project Hedgehog (http://projecthedgehog.com http://projecthedgehog.com) was designed to address many of these complaints. The UI is almost completely keyboard-driven and fast, and stripped down to bare bones. It's a desktop app that runs on OS X and Windows. It has fast search dialog accessible with one keystroke. Like OmniOutliner/Workflowy, though, it also is hierarchy-oriented, which I think is most natural for ordered tasks. It has a slight learning curve and the UI is very utilitarian, but it has drastically reduced the amount of stuff I have to keep in my head as I'm working.
richardw 16y ago
I think it comes down to how a given user works and thinks. Personally, I agree with you about hierarchy (my app doesn't have it and the issue comes up periodically) but I know some that need it. I'm often amazed at how such a simple problem (managing tasks) is solved in such different ways, each which suits one subset of the population! Sometimes the tool is irrelevant. I have one friend who used a directory structure and text editor (pretty simple) to create an enormous cluster of tasks he'd never get to. Many thousands, like the Windows registry after a couple years of random software installs. His issue was just needing a mechanism to periodically clean it out, so a change in approach rather than a different tool.
awa 16y ago
I really like using Onenote with notebook saved on skydrive, I have been able to have the native app on my windows machines and the webapp when I am on the go. Also, there is a really good looking WP7 app now (though I have used it yet)
zhyder 16y ago
Wow NV is exactly what I was planning to build as a webapp to scratch my itch. Single text box for both search-as-you-type and for creating a new note. Registered boxuno.com for it. But I never expected to be able to monetize it; it'd always be a little side project. Such apps are a dime a dozen. The problem with these apps is that simpler is better, but it's hard to differentiate your app from others (or even differentiate between free and premium versions) once it's too simple. I'll be pleasantly surprised if Workflowy can crack this nut.
deleted 16y ago
[deleted]
abalashov 16y ago
What do you recommend for those of us that run Linux on the desktop, not MacOS?
- moe 16y ago
  On linux and before discovering NV I was always snapping back to plain old vim (one big text-file). It's been years since I switched to OSX, though. Perhaps there are worthwhile dedicated apps on linux now (back then I didn't find any).
  - abalashov 16y ago
    I'm hearing that 'zim' is the thing, but am trying to figure out how it can be made to easily sync across machines.
    - tremendo 16y ago
      Haven't used Zim, but looks at least a little like Tomboy, which has several options for synchronization, using a local folder (Dropbox?), SSH, WebDAV and something they call Tomboy Web. I don't love Tomboy, but it's easy and functional enough that I actually use it.
wahnfrieden 16y ago
Thanks for the Notational Velocity suggestion, it looks nice (link: http://notational.net/ http://notational.net/). The extraneous Japanese writing on their page is unbelievably tacky though. I can't figure out what they were thinking. Was it supposed to look cool? It just says mundane things like "Download" or "How to use the program." Not a good impression...
scotth 16y ago
Have you tried Evernote? How does it compare? I've been using Evernote for the past few weeks, and it's becoming a regular part of my day. I can read, write and search notes through both my computers and my phone (Nexus). Aside from some UI strangeness/ugliness I'm very happy with it.

by moe 16y ago

pavs 16y ago

I have used Notational Velocity, I like it, but I absolutely love Taskpaper. I have used almost every single task-manager you could possible think of, but taskpaper for mac is the only one I found to be no-nonsense and intuitive. Mac only. if you haven't tried it yet, you should try it. You will love it. http://www.hogbaysoftware.com/products/taskpaper http://www.hogbaysoftware.com/products/taskpaper

Myrth 16y ago
TodoPaper is the Windows equivalent: http://widefido.com/products/todopaper/ http://widefido.com/products/todopaper/

astrofinch 16y ago

When I switched to Linux, I found that Zim http://zim-wiki.org/ http://zim-wiki.org/ came close enough to Notational Velocity for my purposes. The key feature both share is giving me the ability to very quickly jump to a note by typing its name in. (With Zim you do this by typing cntrl-j.) I'm reluctant to try any note manager that doesn't have that feature.

abalashov 16y ago
Does it allow for easy syncing between multiple machines?
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
- astrofinch 16y ago
  It works on formatted text files. So you could use Dropbox, version control, rsync, etc.
  - abalashov 16y ago
    Sweet!

melling 16y ago

I also use Notational Velocity on the Mac. I sync with the iPad/iPhone app SimpleNote. The great thing is that sync'ing is automatic in each app. Now all of my ideas and notes are always on whatever device I have at hand. I tried EverNote for a while but it got in the way for quickly updating existing notes, IMHO.

travism 16y ago

Project Hedgehog (http://projecthedgehog.com http://projecthedgehog.com) was designed to address many of these complaints. The UI is almost completely keyboard-driven and fast, and stripped down to bare bones. It's a desktop app that runs on OS X and Windows. It has fast search dialog accessible with one keystroke. Like OmniOutliner/Workflowy, though, it also is hierarchy-oriented, which I think is most natural for ordered tasks. It has a slight learning curve and the UI is very utilitarian, but it has drastically reduced the amount of stuff I have to keep in my head as I'm working.

richardw 16y ago

I think it comes down to how a given user works and thinks. Personally, I agree with you about hierarchy (my app doesn't have it and the issue comes up periodically) but I know some that need it. I'm often amazed at how such a simple problem (managing tasks) is solved in such different ways, each which suits one subset of the population! Sometimes the tool is irrelevant. I have one friend who used a directory structure and text editor (pretty simple) to create an enormous cluster of tasks he'd never get to. Many thousands, like the Windows registry after a couple years of random software installs. His issue was just needing a mechanism to periodically clean it out, so a change in approach rather than a different tool.

awa 16y ago

I really like using Onenote with notebook saved on skydrive, I have been able to have the native app on my windows machines and the webapp when I am on the go. Also, there is a really good looking WP7 app now (though I have used it yet)

zhyder 16y ago

Wow NV is exactly what I was planning to build as a webapp to scratch my itch. Single text box for both search-as-you-type and for creating a new note. Registered boxuno.com for it. But I never expected to be able to monetize it; it'd always be a little side project. Such apps are a dime a dozen. The problem with these apps is that simpler is better, but it's hard to differentiate your app from others (or even differentiate between free and premium versions) once it's too simple. I'll be pleasantly surprised if Workflowy can crack this nut.

deleted 16y ago

[deleted]

abalashov 16y ago

What do you recommend for those of us that run Linux on the desktop, not MacOS?

moe 16y ago
On linux and before discovering NV I was always snapping back to plain old vim (one big text-file). It's been years since I switched to OSX, though. Perhaps there are worthwhile dedicated apps on linux now (back then I didn't find any).
- abalashov 16y ago
  I'm hearing that 'zim' is the thing, but am trying to figure out how it can be made to easily sync across machines.
  - tremendo 16y ago
    Haven't used Zim, but looks at least a little like Tomboy, which has several options for synchronization, using a local folder (Dropbox?), SSH, WebDAV and something they call Tomboy Web. I don't love Tomboy, but it's easy and functional enough that I actually use it.

wahnfrieden 16y ago

Thanks for the Notational Velocity suggestion, it looks nice (link: http://notational.net/ http://notational.net/). The extraneous Japanese writing on their page is unbelievably tacky though. I can't figure out what they were thinking. Was it supposed to look cool? It just says mundane things like "Download" or "How to use the program." Not a good impression...

scotth 16y ago

Have you tried Evernote? How does it compare? I've been using Evernote for the past few weeks, and it's becoming a regular part of my day. I can read, write and search notes through both my computers and my phone (Nexus). Aside from some UI strangeness/ugliness I'm very happy with it.