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I don't know when this Notion thing took off but after recently being forced to use it at $DAY_JOB I don't get the hype. It feels like GDocs but with the direct

by jpgvm 5y ago

I don't know when this Notion thing took off but after recently being forced to use it at $DAY_JOB I don't get the hype. It feels like GDocs but with the directory embedded in the sidebar. Given how many people are rushing to clone it I must clearly be missing something. Also their implementation of OT or CRDTs is horseshit, it failed miserably when there was ~6-7 of us updating a bulleted list at the same time.

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
PhoenixReborn 5y ago
Rather than seeing Notion as a Google Docs alternative, it might be better to see it as an alternative to Atlassian Confluence or other wiki softwares. I can certainly say that Notion was a much better fit for us than something like Confluence was for use as a team wiki.
rkangel 5y ago
OneNote or Confluence is the better comparison, for just writing text in but Notion has a more powerful data model. You can link a set of pages together through their attributes and view them through a table, kanban, calendar etc. It's basically a simple relational DB, which allows you to build information tools on top of it. At our (now defunct) startup we used it to do all our initial CRM and ticket management. We had all our customers in one table, and a different table of ongoing tickets linked to the first. We had similar setups for other things. As things started to scale we moved out to dedicated tools but having that capability meant that the initial version was much more accessible and useful.
real-dino 5y ago
The power is in the edit and view being the same view. It's also wonderfully minimal, much faster loading, and follows basic markdown as opposed to forcing you to use BBCode or Jira specific syntax. Previously wiki like Confluence software used to force you to go to 'edit' mode to switch between the two. This also fails when multiple people are editing the same document. You can have a phone call with someone, and see each others cursors, edit simultaneously in real time. You say this fell down, but in Confluence this would be impossible. It's also super easy to share pages with external vendors using the GUID based URL. They can even comment inline if they register.
- michaelmior 5y ago
  > It feels like GDocs but with the directory embedded in the sidebar. > The power is in the edit and view being the same view. This doesn't seem to be a distinguishing factor from Google Docs which also doesn't have a separate view. The other advantages you listed are nice, but also don't seem unique.
- dangoor 5y ago
  > Previously wiki like Confluence software used to force you to go to 'edit' mode to switch between the two. This is actually a feature. Readers of a page/doc are seeing a consistent view until the next time "Publish" is pressed. > You can have a phone call with someone, and see each others cursors, edit simultaneously in real time. You say this fell down, but in Confluence this would be impossible. No longer true! Confluence (Cloud, at least) does this right now. If two (or more) people are in edit mode, those people get an experience much like Google Docs.
bobbylarrybobby 5y ago
The main difference between Notion and gdocs is that Notion is a wiki; you can easily navigate up and down the page hierarchy without leaving the current tab. Gdocs keeps docs separate, so you’re constantly bouncing back and forth between folder and docs, or more likely just keeping one massive, poorly organized doc with everything you might ever need in it
billconan 5y ago
as I remember they use the “last win “ strategy, instead of crdt
- jpgvm 5y ago
  Whatever their implementation is it's bad and they should change it.
o_____________o 5y ago
I'll jump to whatever project has an API with features like custom link unfurling and off-site embedding. Notion doesn't let you embed its pages in other sites, and doesn't provide a programmatic way to display proprietary content. This means it's black boxed and limited insofar as integration with enterprise tooling is concerned.

by jpgvm 5y ago

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

PhoenixReborn 5y ago

Rather than seeing Notion as a Google Docs alternative, it might be better to see it as an alternative to Atlassian Confluence or other wiki softwares. I can certainly say that Notion was a much better fit for us than something like Confluence was for use as a team wiki.

rkangel 5y ago

OneNote or Confluence is the better comparison, for just writing text in but Notion has a more powerful data model. You can link a set of pages together through their attributes and view them through a table, kanban, calendar etc. It's basically a simple relational DB, which allows you to build information tools on top of it. At our (now defunct) startup we used it to do all our initial CRM and ticket management. We had all our customers in one table, and a different table of ongoing tickets linked to the first. We had similar setups for other things. As things started to scale we moved out to dedicated tools but having that capability meant that the initial version was much more accessible and useful.

real-dino 5y ago

The power is in the edit and view being the same view. It's also wonderfully minimal, much faster loading, and follows basic markdown as opposed to forcing you to use BBCode or Jira specific syntax. Previously wiki like Confluence software used to force you to go to 'edit' mode to switch between the two. This also fails when multiple people are editing the same document. You can have a phone call with someone, and see each others cursors, edit simultaneously in real time. You say this fell down, but in Confluence this would be impossible. It's also super easy to share pages with external vendors using the GUID based URL. They can even comment inline if they register.

michaelmior 5y ago
> It feels like GDocs but with the directory embedded in the sidebar. > The power is in the edit and view being the same view. This doesn't seem to be a distinguishing factor from Google Docs which also doesn't have a separate view. The other advantages you listed are nice, but also don't seem unique.
dangoor 5y ago
> Previously wiki like Confluence software used to force you to go to 'edit' mode to switch between the two. This is actually a feature. Readers of a page/doc are seeing a consistent view until the next time "Publish" is pressed. > You can have a phone call with someone, and see each others cursors, edit simultaneously in real time. You say this fell down, but in Confluence this would be impossible. No longer true! Confluence (Cloud, at least) does this right now. If two (or more) people are in edit mode, those people get an experience much like Google Docs.

bobbylarrybobby 5y ago

The main difference between Notion and gdocs is that Notion is a wiki; you can easily navigate up and down the page hierarchy without leaving the current tab. Gdocs keeps docs separate, so you’re constantly bouncing back and forth between folder and docs, or more likely just keeping one massive, poorly organized doc with everything you might ever need in it

billconan 5y ago

as I remember they use the “last win “ strategy, instead of crdt

jpgvm 5y ago
Whatever their implementation is it's bad and they should change it.

o_____________o 5y ago

I'll jump to whatever project has an API with features like custom link unfurling and off-site embedding. Notion doesn't let you embed its pages in other sites, and doesn't provide a programmatic way to display proprietary content. This means it's black boxed and limited insofar as integration with enterprise tooling is concerned.