4 ms·

I don't think or note about anything important or complicated enough to need a tool like this, but I love this approach for those who want it. Notes are really

I don't think or note about anything important or complicated enough to need a tool like this, but I love this approach for those who want it. Notes are really just text to edit, so why not use a text editor for notes, especially if it's something you already have open? For my much more simple notes, mostly lists for things like todos and music to check out, I switched to using a folder of text files in a separate VS Code window, and I couldn't be happier. I used to use Notational Velocity on Mac and then Zim on Linux, but I realized I might as well have a full editor for things like sorting, (un)capitalizing and block selections. I find rich text features and even markdown distracting for my notes, but I could use the latter if I ever wanted. Line folding is great for decluttering, and it lets me stick to under ten topical files. I thought I wanted wiki linking, but really just clickable web links plus multi-file search. Finally, autosave of existing and new, unnamed files is what let me to ditch a notes-specific app.

Heliosmaster 6y ago
Org mode in emacs seems to fit your description pretty well (for Emacs users, at least)
- abrowne 6y ago
  I've thought about it, but it seems overkill for what I'd really use, and I have Mac/Gnome keybindings burned into my fingers, so Emacs feels really alien. (I know about CUA-mode and other options, but it feels like fighting against the current to change everything from Emacs defaults style keys.)
  - Heliosmaster 6y ago
    I use Mac and emacs keybinding all the time. C-a, C-e, C-k, C-y.. not sure what you mean.
    - abrowne 6y ago
      To choose one of your examples, when I want to paste, my fingers know C{md/trl}-v, so C-y is not familiar. But it's not just copy and paste, I want keys for things like find, find again and replace to work about the same in all the apps I use, notably browsers, where I spend more than half of my time. Keys like these are used by most Mac, Linux and cross-platform apps. I know the Emacs commands aren't exactly the same — they're often more powerful, with more options for different types of find — but editors like VS Code and Sublime Text also have more powerful find than a browser, for example, but their keybindings are much more similar.

Heliosmaster 6y ago

Org mode in emacs seems to fit your description pretty well (for Emacs users, at least)

abrowne 6y ago
I've thought about it, but it seems overkill for what I'd really use, and I have Mac/Gnome keybindings burned into my fingers, so Emacs feels really alien. (I know about CUA-mode and other options, but it feels like fighting against the current to change everything from Emacs defaults style keys.)
- Heliosmaster 6y ago
  I use Mac and emacs keybinding all the time. C-a, C-e, C-k, C-y.. not sure what you mean.
  - abrowne 6y ago
    To choose one of your examples, when I want to paste, my fingers know C{md/trl}-v, so C-y is not familiar. But it's not just copy and paste, I want keys for things like find, find again and replace to work about the same in all the apps I use, notably browsers, where I spend more than half of my time. Keys like these are used by most Mac, Linux and cross-platform apps. I know the Emacs commands aren't exactly the same — they're often more powerful, with more options for different types of find — but editors like VS Code and Sublime Text also have more powerful find than a browser, for example, but their keybindings are much more similar.