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Show HN: AlephNote – A Simplenote/Standardnote client

mikescher.github.io

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Re: Show HN: AlephNote – A Simplenote/Standardnote client

#11

Post by allisterb »

Mikescher wrote: post #3

Hello HN, For the last few weeks I made my own notes client (mainly for [simplenote]( https://simplenote.com/) ) because the standard Electrum client felt pretty ... heavy. Multiple backends are supported via plugins. Currently you can use it to access your notes on simplenote, Standard Note, Nectcloud/owncloud or no remote (aka local only). I plan on adding Evernote support (only for plain, unformatted notes) and a…

I think you could add a UI project using Xamarin without much trouble and make the whole thing cross-platform with Linux, Mac and potentially Android/iOS support. From what I've seen the WPF-specific code is restricted to the AlephNote.App project in the WPF namespace. It should not be difficult to reuse the non-WPF code in a separate UI project.

I've been dying for an open-source replacement for Evernote and I've been looking for an opportunity to learn Xamarin so I'm willing to contribute this if you're interested.

Re: Show HN: AlephNote – A Simplenote/Standardnote client

#12

Post by loudandskittish »

Mikescher wrote: post #3

Hello HN, For the last few weeks I made my own notes client (mainly for [simplenote]( https://simplenote.com/) ) because the standard Electrum client felt pretty ... heavy. Multiple backends are supported via plugins. Currently you can use it to access your notes on simplenote, Standard Note, Nectcloud/owncloud or no remote (aka local only). I plan on adding Evernote support (only for plain, unformatted notes) and a…

How many notes have you tested this with?

Similar apps choke pretty hard on large collections of notes (1,000+)

Re: Show HN: AlephNote – A Simplenote/Standardnote client

#14

Post by wjdp »

Mikescher wrote: post #7
andmalc wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might want to indicate somewhere that this is for Windows only. I downloaded the source on my Linux machine and took a while figuring out that it's a MS Visual Studio project.

Hmm good point, I will add it to the landing page

Ran into same issue. Noted you put (Windows) on the download button, just assumed Linux had to be built from source.

Re: Show HN: AlephNote – A Simplenote/Standardnote client

#15

Post by jamesgeck0 »

joshstrange wrote: post #10

Just wanted to throw out there for any macOS users I use nvALT [0] as a client for simple note on my macbook and love using it as a scratch pad for holding data while working on a problem or just a general "I need to make a quick list on the fly here and then copy it into something else later". I have mine set to a hotkey so I can hide/show it quickly and it's great. [0] http://brettterpstra.com/projects/nvalt/

nvALT is great. It's lack of synchronization with Standard Notes is the only reason I haven't used that service yet.

Re: Show HN: AlephNote – A Simplenote/Standardnote client

#16

Post by Mikescher »

loudandskittish wrote: post #12
Mikescher wrote: post #3

Hello HN, For the last few weeks I made my own notes client (mainly for [simplenote]( https://simplenote.com/) ) because the standard Electrum client felt pretty ... heavy. Multiple backends are supported via plugins. Currently you can use it to access your notes on simplenote, Standard Note, Nectcloud/owncloud or no remote (aka local only). I plan on adding Evernote support (only for plain, unformatted notes) and a…

How many notes have you tested this with? Similar apps choke pretty hard on large collections of notes (1,000+)

Wow, 1000+ notes o.O

My max. test case is around 100 notes. I honestly don't know how that many notes would perform, because all notes are always loaded.

If there is demand I could look into only lazy loading the actual note content and probabl other tweaks for big collections.

Re: Show HN: AlephNote – A Simplenote/Standardnote client

#17

Post by Mikescher »

allisterb wrote: post #11
Mikescher wrote: post #3

Hello HN, For the last few weeks I made my own notes client (mainly for [simplenote]( https://simplenote.com/) ) because the standard Electrum client felt pretty ... heavy. Multiple backends are supported via plugins. Currently you can use it to access your notes on simplenote, Standard Note, Nectcloud/owncloud or no remote (aka local only). I plan on adding Evernote support (only for plain, unformatted notes) and a…

I think you could add a UI project using Xamarin without much trouble and make the whole thing cross-platform with Linux, Mac and potentially Android/iOS support. From what I've seen the WPF-specific code is restricted to the AlephNote.App project in the WPF namespace. It should not be difficult to reuse the non-WPF code in a separate UI project. I've been dying for an open-source replacement for Evernote and I've be…

That sounds - actually - pretty interesting.

But isn't Xamarin.Forms only for mobile platforms? I can't find any information about building desktop apps with it (but also my only experience with Xamarin is currently MonoGame).

Re: Show HN: AlephNote – A Simplenote/Standardnote client

#18

Post by joshstrange »

jamesgeck0 wrote: post #15
joshstrange wrote: post #10

Just wanted to throw out there for any macOS users I use nvALT [0] as a client for simple note on my macbook and love using it as a scratch pad for holding data while working on a problem or just a general "I need to make a quick list on the fly here and then copy it into something else later". I have mine set to a hotkey so I can hide/show it quickly and it's great. [0] http://brettterpstra.com/projects/nvalt/

nvALT is great. It's lack of synchronization with Standard Notes is the only reason I haven't used that service yet.

Huh, I had never heard of Standard Notes before this thread (I saw it mentioned in the OP but ignored it as I am happy with Simple Note) but it looks pretty neat. Yeah, if they had a client that was as fast/easy as nvALT I'd switch.

Re: Show HN: AlephNote – A Simplenote/Standardnote client

#19

Post by allisterb »

Mikescher wrote: post #17
allisterb wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you could add a UI project using Xamarin without much trouble and make the whole thing cross-platform with Linux, Mac and potentially Android/iOS support. From what I've seen the WPF-specific code is restricted to the AlephNote.App project in the WPF namespace. It should not be difficult to reuse the non-WPF code in a separate UI project. I've been dying for an open-source replacement for Evernote and I've be…

That sounds - actually - pretty interesting. But isn't Xamarin.Forms only for mobile platforms? I can't find any information about building desktop apps with it (but also my only experience with Xamarin is currently MonoGame).

Yes you're right, Xamarin Forms seems to be targeted at Windows/iOS/Android portability with a common XAML codebase. For cross-platform desktop apps the best choice seems to be something like [Gtk#](http://www.mono-project.com/docs/gui/gtksharp/] But I think the same principles would apply: the UI projects would utilize the non-platform specific code in AlephNote.App and the plugin framework etc. It would probably be necessary to have a separate Mobile UI project anyway, but it still would reuse a lot of the existing C# code.

I'm totally a beginner with Xamarin and Gtk# but I'd be willing to give this a shot. I really like how multiple backends are supported via plugins in AlephNote.

Re: Show HN: AlephNote – A Simplenote/Standardnote client

#20

Post by geoelectric »

Mikescher wrote: post #16
loudandskittish wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How many notes have you tested this with? Similar apps choke pretty hard on large collections of notes (1,000+)

Wow, 1000+ notes o.O My max. test case is around 100 notes. I honestly don't know how that many notes would perform, because all notes are always loaded. If there is demand I could look into only lazy loading the actual note content and probabl other tweaks for big collections.

As an example, I use these apps for daily journaling, so I'll generate at least 365 notes a year. In practice, it's quite a few more.
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