I think you nailed it. Notes apps that aren't developed with some strong UI guidelines tend to look ugly. It's a bit like web 1.0 in terms of UI - good develope

I think you nailed it. Notes apps that aren't developed with some strong UI guidelines tend to look ugly. It's a bit like web 1.0 in terms of UI - good developers can make neat and useful applications with it, but most of the stuff just looks bad since useful guidelines weren't there yet when the tools have first been developed.