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Ask HN: Favorite note-taking software?

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Re: Ask HN: Favorite note-taking software?

#282

Post by TeMPOraL »

kungtotte wrote: post #246
TeMPOraL wrote: post #215

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are. Org format is kind of a better and more powerful Markdown. As plaintext, it looks cleaner to me. The thing is, Org format is defined by the way Org-mode in Emacs handles it. Beyond Markdown-like features (which are rather easy to parse out; the format is similar), you get things in the data format that to date are handled only by Emacs. Think of Emacs + org mode as a better Jupyter notebooks than just edito…

Oh I don't doubt the usefulness of Org-Mode, but I guess the point is the one you bring up: if you want to use Org-Mode it's Emacs or the highway. With Markdown I can use any editor from a full-featured IDE all the way down to `cat` or `ed` and all I'm giving up are some quality of life features. It's the same format at the bottom, and it has the added benefit of being ubiquitous in that nearly every editor has some…

To be clear: Org format is just plaintext, and you can use it mostly in the same way you use Markdown. It's nowhere near as popular, but if all you want is Markdown feature parity, then there is growing support in other editors and places. It's only when you want to go beyond Markdown that this becomes "Emacs or the highway".

Re: Ask HN: Favorite note-taking software?

#283

Post by falcolas »

MuhammedAbiola wrote: post #229
Dolores12 wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is wrong with org-mode? It is plain text file. I see no major differences compared to markdown.

People are much too afraid of Emacs to ever use it.

> afraid

That's quite the value judgement. Emacs, when compared with Atom and Sublime Text, has a tremendous learning curve for little payback. It's extensible? So are they, and with programming languages that are useful outside the editor, no less. It's powerful? So are they.

And more, they implement something resembling a common UI to the rest of the applications on your system. Sure, you can emulate that with the proper installation of modes into Emacs, but at that point you're already down the rabbit hole.

Emacs may still be the king of the hill, but it's a really nasty hill to climb. And with Atom and Sublime text sitting just a little below the summit with a nice, paved road to them it's going to take more than just being a bit better than them to justify that final hill climb.

So, no, people aren't afraid. Emacs is just not worth most people's time.

Sincerely, a VIM and emacs user.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite note-taking software?

#284

Post by fsloth »

For general notes not directly linked to some project with it's own document hierarchy and so on I use a paper notebook with hard covers. Seriously - it's so much more convenient than any digital alternative. The only discipline I need is to write the date before any new entry so I can backtrack on what I wrote.

For projects I use plain txt files unless I really, really, really need something more complex

Re: Ask HN: Favorite note-taking software?

#286

Post by gingerlime »

romseb wrote: post #264
kissgyorgy wrote: post #117

Typora! I just found it recently, but maan, I was searching for something like this for a long time! It is basically a Markdown editor but with an unique touch and extra features like outline, sidebar browser, built-in image viewer and stuff. It's very beautiful. https://typora.io/

It does look like a very polished Markdown editor and is available for Mac, Win and Linux. Unfortunately it is neither open source, nor will it be free after the Beta.

... paid software certainly has its place, but with no clear pricing info, nor any concrete info about who's behind it, it makes me hesitate to jump on board. It does look really good though.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite note-taking software?

#288

Post by wrcwill »

kmisiunas wrote: post #147
tvural wrote: post #59

Dropbox Paper has worked quite well for me.

I have been using Dropbox Paper for about two years now. I highly recommend it for cloud note taking app, because: (1) Can easily collaborate and share (2) Markdown syntax with LaTeX support (3) Embed images, youtube, PDF and lots of other stuff straight into the note. (4) Visually clean and elegant The downsides are: (a) No offline editing (only limited support on mobile) (b) Dependent on Dropbox Inc

+1 for Paper, but how are you embedding PDF? I can only add it if it's already in my Dropbox, and it is not editable (notes, highlighting, etc..) Only thing missing for me to make it go from good to great.

Re: Ask HN: Favorite note-taking software?

#289

Post by Boulth »

zachlatta wrote: post #53

I've given up on using any sort of branded app for notetaking. At best it's open source and the maintainers will lose interest in a few years. When you write things down, you're investing in your future. It's silly to use software that isn't making that same investment. After trying Evernote, Workflowy, Notion, wikis, org-mode, and essentially everything else I could find, I gave up and tried building my own system f…

> I've given up on using any sort of branded app for notetaking. At best it's open source and the maintainers will lose interest in a few years. When you write things down, you're investing in your future. It's silly to use software that isn't making that same investment.

I strongly agree with this. Actually I'm surprised that creating one's own tools is not more widespread in our industry as I consider this a quite unique trait of our profession.

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