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> This means our tool has to be fast, and can’t burden you with questions like “In what folder should I put this?” that aren’t relevant in the moment. This is

> This means our tool has to be fast, and can’t burden you with questions like “In what folder should I put this?” that aren’t relevant in the moment. This is so important. I feel most note taking apps approach note taking the wrong way: organization first, ideas later. Most of our notes are random and the only real organization they can fit into is time. I have recently launched a note taking app [0] that keeps this in focus. In my opinion, "organizing notes" is often done after "writing notes" and that is how the app is built. 1. Note taking is a fast activity - you can take notes from any where in your phone, opening the app is fast, the steps to actually writing a note are frew, the note editor is uncluttered and stays out of the way, and the app works anywhere you have a browser & an internet connection. 2. Time is a first class citizen: all notes are sorted by date created, grouped by modifiers like year, week, month & alphabetical. 3. The app doesn't force you to organize your notes i.e., there's no special distinction between organized and unorganized notes. Some apps put unorganized notes in a specific folder or tag. Not so with my app. The focus is on writing notes; organization comes later. 4. Recalling notes is currently not the most amazing thing. There is full text search, however I feel like that's not enough. Things like similarity search (based on tags) or advanced filtering are yet to be implemented. I think all these fit well into the incremental note taking system. However, that's a coincidence really. [0] https://notesnook.com/ https://notesnook.com/

bebna 5y ago
That is why the Samsung Note series was the only thing that I see as a possible alternative to paper. (Paper is still king in my everyday life.) Steps you need to take to write down a note with a Samsung Note: 0. Have it and screen off is fine. 1. Pull out the pen. 2. Don't press any buttons, just start writing on the display, the UI will awake when you go near the display with the pen tip. 3. Put the pen away. Note will be saved and screen will shut off.
- thecodrr 5y ago
  Sounds convenient but not everyone has a Samsung Note device.
jmiskovic 5y ago
I took interest and downloaded the app for testing. It looks slick and well polished. Great that it is available for so many devices and that you run sync service with such respect for privacy. Couple of points though: It wasn't clear to me where the notes are actually stored. If I'm relying on your tool to collect my private thoughts, I would require raw access to files. Sure, there is backup & restore features, but I'd still require full content access without going through the client. The info wasn't in any FAQ. It seems to be a SQLite db inside ~/.config/Notesnook/. Ideally the note taking system would have open and documented format so others can build tools to insert and query notes, provide CLI interface, show dated notes on calendar, and so on. I understand this is not necessary the direction you want to take this product. When importing a .md document, the first line "# heading" was set to be paragraph type with 24pt size instead of Header 1 type, and Header 1 seems to be generally missing from the pull-down menu. Other types of headings were correctly transformed. As I type in a new heading using the markdown syntax "## subheader" and press Enter, the text is correctly converted to Header 2 type, but Pro version popup is triggered. I would call this a bug. Either don't convert to header, or don't show the nag screen. The splash screen that advertised the Monograph feature could not be dismissed without pressing "Start publishing" button. Maybe that button should be changed to some less misleading text (it doesn't actually lead to any publishing feature). I like the business model and I would gladly subscribe at this price. I also love that I can already run it and try everything out without even having an account. The thing is, right now the text formatting buttons are a minefield of PRO-only features. I just dislike when applications include buttons for pro features that open nag screen. If you want to keep the client slightly crippled for free users, you could at least disable (gray out) pro features. It would be much cleaner cut if only syncing service is paid, but I don't know enough about your target users and business model. In general I would love to be able to restrict formatting UI to just markdown features. I don't want to accidentally change font size or mess with text alignment. All included options for text formatting are just noise to me and I prefer simplicity in note taking. Just few thoughts from trying it for 20 minutes. I'm still thinking about using it seriously.
- thecodrr 5y ago
  Wow. Very detailed feedback and very helpful as well. About storage: since the app is electron based, it stores everything in IndexedDB. I didn't want to use something separate because it'll add extra stress. However, your point about mentioning where things are getting stored is important. I'll make those changes ASAP. > Ideally the note taking system would have open and documented format. It's really just HTML. It's not stored in local files but the content of notes is actually just plain, normal HTML. > When importing a .md document, the first line "# heading" was set to be paragraph type. Hmm. That's probably because I turned of H1 since there's already a title at the top. Should the title be separate? > but Pro version popup is triggered. This can be annoying. It has been on my backlog to fix this and make it less annoying but I haven't gotten to it so far. > It would be much cleaner cut if only syncing service is paid. I took the opposite route with Notesnook. App functionality is limited but you get unlimited syncing to unlimited devices. > In general I would love to be able to restrict formatting UI to just markdown features. I don't want to accidentally change font size or mess with text alignment. All included options for text formatting are just noise to me and I prefer simplicity in note taking. Or in other words, a way to hide the toolbar. I noted it down for later. Thank you so much for taking the time to point all these small things out. Means a lot.

bebna 5y ago

That is why the Samsung Note series was the only thing that I see as a possible alternative to paper. (Paper is still king in my everyday life.) Steps you need to take to write down a note with a Samsung Note: 0. Have it and screen off is fine. 1. Pull out the pen. 2. Don't press any buttons, just start writing on the display, the UI will awake when you go near the display with the pen tip. 3. Put the pen away. Note will be saved and screen will shut off.

thecodrr 5y ago
Sounds convenient but not everyone has a Samsung Note device.

jmiskovic 5y ago

I took interest and downloaded the app for testing. It looks slick and well polished. Great that it is available for so many devices and that you run sync service with such respect for privacy. Couple of points though: It wasn't clear to me where the notes are actually stored. If I'm relying on your tool to collect my private thoughts, I would require raw access to files. Sure, there is backup & restore features, but I'd still require full content access without going through the client. The info wasn't in any FAQ. It seems to be a SQLite db inside ~/.config/Notesnook/. Ideally the note taking system would have open and documented format so others can build tools to insert and query notes, provide CLI interface, show dated notes on calendar, and so on. I understand this is not necessary the direction you want to take this product. When importing a .md document, the first line "# heading" was set to be paragraph type with 24pt size instead of Header 1 type, and Header 1 seems to be generally missing from the pull-down menu. Other types of headings were correctly transformed. As I type in a new heading using the markdown syntax "## subheader" and press Enter, the text is correctly converted to Header 2 type, but Pro version popup is triggered. I would call this a bug. Either don't convert to header, or don't show the nag screen. The splash screen that advertised the Monograph feature could not be dismissed without pressing "Start publishing" button. Maybe that button should be changed to some less misleading text (it doesn't actually lead to any publishing feature). I like the business model and I would gladly subscribe at this price. I also love that I can already run it and try everything out without even having an account. The thing is, right now the text formatting buttons are a minefield of PRO-only features. I just dislike when applications include buttons for pro features that open nag screen. If you want to keep the client slightly crippled for free users, you could at least disable (gray out) pro features. It would be much cleaner cut if only syncing service is paid, but I don't know enough about your target users and business model. In general I would love to be able to restrict formatting UI to just markdown features. I don't want to accidentally change font size or mess with text alignment. All included options for text formatting are just noise to me and I prefer simplicity in note taking. Just few thoughts from trying it for 20 minutes. I'm still thinking about using it seriously.

thecodrr 5y ago
Wow. Very detailed feedback and very helpful as well. About storage: since the app is electron based, it stores everything in IndexedDB. I didn't want to use something separate because it'll add extra stress. However, your point about mentioning where things are getting stored is important. I'll make those changes ASAP. > Ideally the note taking system would have open and documented format. It's really just HTML. It's not stored in local files but the content of notes is actually just plain, normal HTML. > When importing a .md document, the first line "# heading" was set to be paragraph type. Hmm. That's probably because I turned of H1 since there's already a title at the top. Should the title be separate? > but Pro version popup is triggered. This can be annoying. It has been on my backlog to fix this and make it less annoying but I haven't gotten to it so far. > It would be much cleaner cut if only syncing service is paid. I took the opposite route with Notesnook. App functionality is limited but you get unlimited syncing to unlimited devices. > In general I would love to be able to restrict formatting UI to just markdown features. I don't want to accidentally change font size or mess with text alignment. All included options for text formatting are just noise to me and I prefer simplicity in note taking. Or in other words, a way to hide the toolbar. I noted it down for later. Thank you so much for taking the time to point all these small things out. Means a lot.