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And yet, I keep using TextEditor (macOS default text editor) in plain text and, when syncing is needed, Simplenote. Sometimes people overcomplicate things that

by rpgbr 3y ago

And yet, I keep using TextEditor (macOS default text editor) in plain text and, when syncing is needed, Simplenote. Sometimes people overcomplicate things that are, in essence, pretty simple.

bemusedthrow75 3y ago
And overcomplicating is inevitably why they stop using the tool, losing its value. I used Simplenote for a good while and only switched to Apple Notes when my setup went all-Apple (because Simplenote’s sync could be glitchy). It is becoming less homogeneous now so I may switch back.
qwerty456127 3y ago
A fundamental problem of using simple text editors for note taking is you can't easily click-jump from one note to another. If only TextEditor, Notepad, GEdit etc could make clickable hyperlinks whenever they encounter a string which is a name of a file existing in the same directory - then yes, they would be enough. And people who want a graph could just have it as a separate simple app in that case.
- bemusedthrow75 3y ago
  I used to think this was quite important and I still like the idea of interlinking notes, particularly for when I am using my phone. But it is ultimately just more gardening. I tried all sorts of systems like that and they all disappointed. What really matters is absolutely instantaneous search. Edit to add: Apple Notes has finally added note-to-note linking, but at the moment I don't have all my Apple devices sufficiently up to date so I haven't tried it. Notes also has tagging support which is another one of those things I was sure I'd use a lot more than I actually do.
  - eternityforest 3y ago
    It seems like such a useful feature but in reality I have a few pinned notes for to-do and shopping lists and ideas, and otherwise just make completely unstructured random notes, never using anything but tagging and setting the colors for pinned notes. I have Calendar for reminders, and markdown files for things anyone else will see. I just need it to work, open really fast, search, and that's mostly it.
- rpgbr 3y ago
  Never used nor needed linked notes, but ymmv.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- qwerty456127 3y ago
  By the way, an obvious idea just hit me, taking 2 days like obvious ideas usually do: perhaps a slightly less basic text editor like Notepad++ or Sublime can do a great lightweight yet powerful note taking app if you write an extension for it (or if somebody already has done just that). But these have another problem Notepad hasn't: they apparently don't support Windows' auto completion. I use Windows at work where I am to type in languages I am not perfectly fluent in so I make heavy use of autocompletion to prevent spelling mistakes.

by rpgbr 3y ago

And yet, I keep using TextEditor (macOS default text editor) in plain text and, when syncing is needed, Simplenote. Sometimes people overcomplicate things that are, in essence, pretty simple.

bemusedthrow75 3y ago

And overcomplicating is inevitably why they stop using the tool, losing its value. I used Simplenote for a good while and only switched to Apple Notes when my setup went all-Apple (because Simplenote’s sync could be glitchy). It is becoming less homogeneous now so I may switch back.

qwerty456127 3y ago

A fundamental problem of using simple text editors for note taking is you can't easily click-jump from one note to another. If only TextEditor, Notepad, GEdit etc could make clickable hyperlinks whenever they encounter a string which is a name of a file existing in the same directory - then yes, they would be enough. And people who want a graph could just have it as a separate simple app in that case.

bemusedthrow75 3y ago
I used to think this was quite important and I still like the idea of interlinking notes, particularly for when I am using my phone. But it is ultimately just more gardening. I tried all sorts of systems like that and they all disappointed. What really matters is absolutely instantaneous search. Edit to add: Apple Notes has finally added note-to-note linking, but at the moment I don't have all my Apple devices sufficiently up to date so I haven't tried it. Notes also has tagging support which is another one of those things I was sure I'd use a lot more than I actually do.
- eternityforest 3y ago
  It seems like such a useful feature but in reality I have a few pinned notes for to-do and shopping lists and ideas, and otherwise just make completely unstructured random notes, never using anything but tagging and setting the colors for pinned notes. I have Calendar for reminders, and markdown files for things anyone else will see. I just need it to work, open really fast, search, and that's mostly it.
rpgbr 3y ago
Never used nor needed linked notes, but ymmv.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
qwerty456127 3y ago
By the way, an obvious idea just hit me, taking 2 days like obvious ideas usually do: perhaps a slightly less basic text editor like Notepad++ or Sublime can do a great lightweight yet powerful note taking app if you write an extension for it (or if somebody already has done just that). But these have another problem Notepad hasn't: they apparently don't support Windows' auto completion. I use Windows at work where I am to type in languages I am not perfectly fluent in so I make heavy use of autocompletion to prevent spelling mistakes.