8 ms·

Show HN: Notes.cx – A simple, anonymous online notepad \w Markdown support

80 points by hxii 5y ago

hxii 5y ago
As a demonstration, here is a sample note: https://notes.cx/TWuAaH9p https://notes.cx/TWuAaH9p
usrme 5y ago
Is there something similar that is offline? All I'm interested in is just opening up a bookmark without an internet connection and being able to jot down stuff with Markdown support; it being able to save state is even not necessarily required.
- tyingq 5y ago
  Stackedit works offline if you install the Chrome app. I assume there's also some way to coax it into working as a file:// uri. Chrome app: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/stackedit/iiooodelglhkcpgbajoejffhijaclcdg/related%5D https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/stackedit/iiooodel... Live demo of stackedit: https://stackedit.io/app# https://stackedit.io/app#
- Whiteshadow12 5y ago
  You could try something like this, though it might not have the markdown support you want. https://github.com/zserge/awfice https://github.com/zserge/awfice
- ghosty141 5y ago
  Markdown and offline is always a bit problematic. It's a format that needs to be rendered with a browser, so it's just not very suitable for offline/non-browser use.
  - dewey 5y ago
    > Markdown and offline is always a bit problematic. That is not true. Markdown has nothing to do with being online.
- honie 5y ago
  I was bored, here you go! A completely offline browser-based markdown editor! https://notes.cx/ZkZNL9vFr https://notes.cx/ZkZNL9vFr Edit: Updated styles. Clarified what it is.
  - a9h74j 5y ago
    Excellent. Useful for being on a chromebook, offline and not logged in, so only opening local html files for tools is an option (no Chrome extensions). Will add file saving to my copy.
  - sharikone 5y ago
    Not to pressure but having open/save buttons (implementable either as upload/download Javascript shims) would be interesting. They can also be quine-like (I.e. you save the HTML and Javascript of the editor itself together with the content). I did once that for Suneditor but did not publish it, alas.
    - sitkack 5y ago
      I love having the document and the app being the same file. No app to find or version skew between app and data.
    - honie 5y ago
      No pressure at all! I could just... not think about it if I didn't want to. :p I took another stab at it and this is what I ended up with: https://gist.github.com/honmanyau/5680d1c7b823d454122a0275ba3fe60a https://gist.github.com/honmanyau/5680d1c7b823d454122a0275ba... It's now a Gist because I only realised later that the original note will be deleted after 24 hours. There are now two mechanisms that persist data between sessions: 1. Auto-saving to localStorage every 5000 ms (adjustable as per the instructions). 2. Manual data saving/download implemented using an anchor element that triggers a download. We can now restore markdown by loading a downloaded file (in principle this should work for any plain text file). One important thing to note here is that localStorage doesn't work in private browsing mode and its behaviour is not entirely consistent between browsers. So I wouldn't rely too much on it!
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
quaintdev 5y ago
http://telegra.ph http://telegra.ph
- ghosty141 5y ago
  this is oddly similar.
- hxii 5y ago
  Telegraph was actually one of the inspirations I used for Notes.cx. However, I didn't use a JavaScript editor (Quill) in my case and I have no idea what the privacy and retention policies are like on Telegra.ph.
debarshri 5y ago
It would be cool if it has notion like "/" commands to inject codeblocks and other assets. Nice project!
- hxii 5y ago
  Thanks! A Notion-like editor is possible (using something like Editor.js - https://editorjs.io/ https://editorjs.io/) but would require much more development which would make this project quite a bit more complex :)
  - debarshri 5y ago
    I think what would be also cool is this editor in different flavors. For instance, we notion style memo page creator. But with the same editor you can have blog publishing. I always found notion to be very complicated for the simple thing it is supposed to do. I really the interface and experience of this project.
gabipurcaru 5y ago
this looks nice and clean. Generally, the problem with these services is that they can easily be used for malicious purposes -- fronts for data exfiltration, scamming etc., so there will be some cost attached to responding to various queries and takedown requests https://mediasonar.com/2019/07/11/pastebins-data-breach/ https://mediasonar.com/2019/07/11/pastebins-data-breach/
- john-doe 5y ago
  From the help page: “every note you create (anonymously) lives for 24 hours”
benrbray 5y ago
Needs $inline$ and $$block$$ math!
- a9h74j 5y ago
  There is a tool out there to combine markup-interpretation and mathjax (IIRC) for $ $ and $$ $$, applying them to the same <textarea> for translation onLoad(). I don't have a name for you right now to search for.
  - a9h74j 5y ago
    Try looking at this: https://github.com/susam/texme https://github.com/susam/texme Discussed here if not more recently: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18307747 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18307747
- hxii 5y ago
  Should be fairly easy to add since Parsedown offers support for LaTeX. The thing is - I'd need to add KaTeX. I'll look into it!
philshem 5y ago
You can use your browser as an offline (temporary) text editor, which I find useful with screen sharing. Enter this into your browser’s address bar: data:text/html, <html contenteditable> https://twitter.com/philshem/status/1420282427969318916?s=20 https://twitter.com/philshem/status/1420282427969318916?s=20 and with focus data:text/html, <html style=" max-width: 64ch;margin: auto;font-size: calc(1rem + 1vw);line-height: 1.4;font-family: monospace;padding: calc(1rem + 4vw);"><body contenteditable><script>document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => {document.body.focus()})</script> https://twitter.com/getflourish/status/1420308275422285830?s=20 https://twitter.com/getflourish/status/1420308275422285830?s...
- spijdar 5y ago
  That's odd. I assumed it would act like, well, an input box akin to the one I'm typing this comment in, but it's not. At the very least, Ctrl + Backspace doesn't work (on Firefox on Linux) to delete entire words, which works everywhere else.
- dugmartin 5y ago
  I have this as a bookmarklet and I use it frequently when pairing for ephemeral notes: data:text/html, <html contenteditable><head><title>ScratchPad</title><style>body{font-family:monospace}</style></head> I like having the title so I can see it in the tab and the font setting makes cutting/pasting code look better.
- mattowen_uk 5y ago
  I'm going to get torched for this, but surely Notepad.exe or your-distros-default-text-editor would be easier ?
  - philshem 5y ago
    When screen sharing on a video call, I prefer to only share a private browsing window, rather than the entire desktop.
    - gompertz 5y ago
jack_riminton 5y ago
I find these super quick note taking tools incredibly handy. I love dillinger.io but I always find myself using docs.new because I can create a note within a second Feature request: a keyboard shortcut to save or "create", because I'm lazy and scrolling down and clicking create is just too much :)
- hxii 5y ago
  Keyboard shortcuts are actually something I thought about! I'll have to experiment with this a little bit to see how it can be implemented in a non-obtrusive and useful way.
dugmartin 5y ago
I'm wondering for other folks that have created tools like this how do you do moderation of anonymous content as I can see this quickly devolving into a cesspool. The thought of that has held me back from a couple of ideas I've had that allowed for public anonymous text. (btw, I don't want to get into a discussion about if moderation is needed)
- hxii 5y ago
  I think that due to the retention policy (24 hours) that I implemented as well as lack of any "social-like" features (likes, upvotes, comments, indexing, visibility), the tool is pretty self-moderating. That said, I'd love to hear what others think on this subject as well.
rkalla 5y ago
This is slick. 1 suggestion - make a Created (published) note optionally editable... so when the note is originally being edited there is a checkbox to allow it to be editable or not, so once it's published, it's fixed in space and time... The viewer of an uneditable note can have a button to "Edit a Copy" of the note to create their own version of it and publish it under their own URL, but they can't edit the content of the original one. NOW you've got yourself a forever tool here.
riffic 5y ago
there's only one thing that comes to mind when I see the .cx top-level domain.
- dinkleberg 5y ago
  Christmas Island?
amitmerchant 5y ago
Shameless plug: If you just need a dead simeple notepad that also works offline, check out https://notepad.js.org https://notepad.js.org

80 points by hxii 5y ago

hxii 5y ago

As a demonstration, here is a sample note: https://notes.cx/TWuAaH9p https://notes.cx/TWuAaH9p

Is there something similar that is offline? All I'm interested in is just opening up a bookmark without an internet connection and being able to jot down stuff with Markdown support; it being able to save state is even not necessarily required.

tyingq 5y ago
Stackedit works offline if you install the Chrome app. I assume there's also some way to coax it into working as a file:// uri. Chrome app: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/stackedit/iiooodelglhkcpgbajoejffhijaclcdg/related%5D https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/stackedit/iiooodel... Live demo of stackedit: https://stackedit.io/app# https://stackedit.io/app#
Whiteshadow12 5y ago
You could try something like this, though it might not have the markdown support you want. https://github.com/zserge/awfice https://github.com/zserge/awfice
ghosty141 5y ago
Markdown and offline is always a bit problematic. It's a format that needs to be rendered with a browser, so it's just not very suitable for offline/non-browser use.
- dewey 5y ago
  > Markdown and offline is always a bit problematic. That is not true. Markdown has nothing to do with being online.
honie 5y ago
I was bored, here you go! A completely offline browser-based markdown editor! https://notes.cx/ZkZNL9vFr https://notes.cx/ZkZNL9vFr Edit: Updated styles. Clarified what it is.
- a9h74j 5y ago
  Excellent. Useful for being on a chromebook, offline and not logged in, so only opening local html files for tools is an option (no Chrome extensions). Will add file saving to my copy.
- sharikone 5y ago
  Not to pressure but having open/save buttons (implementable either as upload/download Javascript shims) would be interesting. They can also be quine-like (I.e. you save the HTML and Javascript of the editor itself together with the content). I did once that for Suneditor but did not publish it, alas.
  - sitkack 5y ago
    I love having the document and the app being the same file. No app to find or version skew between app and data.
  - honie 5y ago
    No pressure at all! I could just... not think about it if I didn't want to. :p I took another stab at it and this is what I ended up with: https://gist.github.com/honmanyau/5680d1c7b823d454122a0275ba3fe60a https://gist.github.com/honmanyau/5680d1c7b823d454122a0275ba... It's now a Gist because I only realised later that the original note will be deleted after 24 hours. There are now two mechanisms that persist data between sessions: 1. Auto-saving to localStorage every 5000 ms (adjustable as per the instructions). 2. Manual data saving/download implemented using an anchor element that triggers a download. We can now restore markdown by loading a downloaded file (in principle this should work for any plain text file). One important thing to note here is that localStorage doesn't work in private browsing mode and its behaviour is not entirely consistent between browsers. So I wouldn't rely too much on it!
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]

quaintdev 5y ago

http://telegra.ph http://telegra.ph

ghosty141 5y ago
this is oddly similar.
hxii 5y ago
Telegraph was actually one of the inspirations I used for Notes.cx. However, I didn't use a JavaScript editor (Quill) in my case and I have no idea what the privacy and retention policies are like on Telegra.ph.

debarshri 5y ago

It would be cool if it has notion like "/" commands to inject codeblocks and other assets. Nice project!

hxii 5y ago
Thanks! A Notion-like editor is possible (using something like Editor.js - https://editorjs.io/ https://editorjs.io/) but would require much more development which would make this project quite a bit more complex :)
- debarshri 5y ago
  I think what would be also cool is this editor in different flavors. For instance, we notion style memo page creator. But with the same editor you can have blog publishing. I always found notion to be very complicated for the simple thing it is supposed to do. I really the interface and experience of this project.

gabipurcaru 5y ago

this looks nice and clean. Generally, the problem with these services is that they can easily be used for malicious purposes -- fronts for data exfiltration, scamming etc., so there will be some cost attached to responding to various queries and takedown requests https://mediasonar.com/2019/07/11/pastebins-data-breach/ https://mediasonar.com/2019/07/11/pastebins-data-breach/

john-doe 5y ago
From the help page: “every note you create (anonymously) lives for 24 hours”

benrbray 5y ago

Needs $inline$ and $$block$$ math!

a9h74j 5y ago
There is a tool out there to combine markup-interpretation and mathjax (IIRC) for $ $ and $$ $$, applying them to the same <textarea> for translation onLoad(). I don't have a name for you right now to search for.
- a9h74j 5y ago
  Try looking at this: https://github.com/susam/texme https://github.com/susam/texme Discussed here if not more recently: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18307747 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18307747
hxii 5y ago
Should be fairly easy to add since Parsedown offers support for LaTeX. The thing is - I'd need to add KaTeX. I'll look into it!

philshem 5y ago

You can use your browser as an offline (temporary) text editor, which I find useful with screen sharing. Enter this into your browser’s address bar: data:text/html, <html contenteditable> https://twitter.com/philshem/status/1420282427969318916?s=20 https://twitter.com/philshem/status/1420282427969318916?s=20 and with focus data:text/html, <html style=" max-width: 64ch;margin: auto;font-size: calc(1rem + 1vw);line-height: 1.4;font-family: monospace;padding: calc(1rem + 4vw);"><body contenteditable><script>document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => {document.body.focus()})</script> https://twitter.com/getflourish/status/1420308275422285830?s=20 https://twitter.com/getflourish/status/1420308275422285830?s...

spijdar 5y ago
That's odd. I assumed it would act like, well, an input box akin to the one I'm typing this comment in, but it's not. At the very least, Ctrl + Backspace doesn't work (on Firefox on Linux) to delete entire words, which works everywhere else.
dugmartin 5y ago
I have this as a bookmarklet and I use it frequently when pairing for ephemeral notes: data:text/html, <html contenteditable><head><title>ScratchPad</title><style>body{font-family:monospace}</style></head> I like having the title so I can see it in the tab and the font setting makes cutting/pasting code look better.
mattowen_uk 5y ago
I'm going to get torched for this, but surely Notepad.exe or your-distros-default-text-editor would be easier ?
- philshem 5y ago
  When screen sharing on a video call, I prefer to only share a private browsing window, rather than the entire desktop.
  - gompertz 5y ago

jack_riminton 5y ago

I find these super quick note taking tools incredibly handy. I love dillinger.io but I always find myself using docs.new because I can create a note within a second Feature request: a keyboard shortcut to save or "create", because I'm lazy and scrolling down and clicking create is just too much :)

hxii 5y ago
Keyboard shortcuts are actually something I thought about! I'll have to experiment with this a little bit to see how it can be implemented in a non-obtrusive and useful way.

dugmartin 5y ago

I'm wondering for other folks that have created tools like this how do you do moderation of anonymous content as I can see this quickly devolving into a cesspool. The thought of that has held me back from a couple of ideas I've had that allowed for public anonymous text. (btw, I don't want to get into a discussion about if moderation is needed)

hxii 5y ago
I think that due to the retention policy (24 hours) that I implemented as well as lack of any "social-like" features (likes, upvotes, comments, indexing, visibility), the tool is pretty self-moderating. That said, I'd love to hear what others think on this subject as well.

rkalla 5y ago

This is slick. 1 suggestion - make a Created (published) note optionally editable... so when the note is originally being edited there is a checkbox to allow it to be editable or not, so once it's published, it's fixed in space and time... The viewer of an uneditable note can have a button to "Edit a Copy" of the note to create their own version of it and publish it under their own URL, but they can't edit the content of the original one. NOW you've got yourself a forever tool here.

riffic 5y ago

there's only one thing that comes to mind when I see the .cx top-level domain.

dinkleberg 5y ago
Christmas Island?

amitmerchant 5y ago

Shameless plug: If you just need a dead simeple notepad that also works offline, check out https://notepad.js.org https://notepad.js.org