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Ask HN: What do you use to take notes?

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Re: Ask HN: What do you use to take notes?

#101

Post by unnikked »

t27 wrote: post #65

I've started using Laverna( http://Laverna.cc ) recently. Its a note management app built completely in Javascript and is serverless(except for storage, which is via your own dropbox), so I can host it on github pages/ AWS S3. It has a convenient Markdown editor with live previews, sorting notes by notebooks, and has web and mobile versions. The notes are stored in dropbox and your browser's local storage, also they…

I tried laverna some years ago (early development stage) but it was very unstable.

What about now ? It is reliable ?

Re: Ask HN: What do you use to take notes?

#102

Post by throwanem »

magwa101 wrote: post #84
throwanem wrote: post #14

Somebody's going to mention org-mode and it may as well be me. HTML export with syntax highlighting is a nice thing to have, and images linked to the document work like they should. Having code blocks be executable is a bonus, especially for showing technically minded clients or higher-ups exactly how their intentions were translated into reality. Evernote it is not: The sharing story is pretty BYOB, in that what you…

Org mode enables you to "program" a document which is really amazing. It's closer to python notebooks than a note taking device. You need real discipline to keep it readable. Long term Org mode needs a rethink to more fully realized programming + writing. Short term it needs some work on document sharing, mobile editing, all that. I use Org mode for large docs, google docs for quick notes, google sheets for TODOs, pa…

> It's closer to python notebooks than a note taking device.

It's both, and not limited to Python. What mix of capabilities you use in a given document is up to you.

Re: Ask HN: What do you use to take notes?

#103

Post by Chris2048 »

illuminated wrote: post #50
jnbiche wrote: post #15

I use Google Keep. It's simple and has an acceptable Android app and web interface. It also accomodates image notes. I don't think you'll find a notes application that has code highlighting, but perhaps I'm wrong...

Google Keep user here as well. It has few things that makes it perfectly fit into what I need: - simple to do lists - create notes with the phone's camera (I usually do this when taking a photo of a whiteboard) - audio recording and transcribing: I can just say my note and Google Keep will make a text out of it with an attached audio recording - sharing: this makes my life sooo much easier. I have one note taking app…

I'd recommend ZimWiki http://www.zim-wiki.org/ - a desktop app. Keep can't keep up with lots of notes :-)

ZW is speedy, portable, and extendable.

Re: Ask HN: What do you use to take notes?

#104

Post by gglitch »

jnbiche wrote: post #15

I use Google Keep. It's simple and has an acceptable Android app and web interface. It also accomodates image notes. I don't think you'll find a notes application that has code highlighting, but perhaps I'm wrong...

Quiver, Paper (Dropbox), Tiddlywiki all have syntax highlighting; of them Quiver, which uses the Ace code editor, has highlighting for by far the most languages--even Elixir.

Re: Ask HN: What do you use to take notes?

#105

Post by Chris2048 »

While I use zimWiki for personal notes, there are some things it lacks, like interactivity.

I started a blog, using Nikola. Not perfect, but it can support markdown, rst, ipy etc, plus pretty much anything else the web can.

Not exactly a TODO list, but for publishable things, it's pretty flexible if the thought isn't private.

Re: Ask HN: What do you use to take notes?

#106

Post by vidarh »

baldfat wrote: post #85
vidarh wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't. I transfer long-lasting notes to a wiki or relevant documentation. I on purpose try to integrate notes into something existing, and/or archive them regularly

I reverted to just taking pictures of my notes. I then put them into Google Docs for storage and put on tags if I need them for storage. (I use to use Evernote for storing my pictures of my notes but ...)

I have a scanner with a feeder, so I use that sometimes, but or anything that's meant to last, like documentation for a project, I tend to type it in.

More ephemeral things like todo lists, I only scan if I have a reason to want to keept it.

Re: Ask HN: What do you use to take notes?

#107

Post by vidarh »

davidhunter wrote: post #8

Workflowy. It's the lowest-friction tool I have used for notes and ideas. Using tags, it can be used as a great hierarchical project/task management system. I still use Evernote for quick storage and access of images, pdfs and long-form notes as the search is great. However, their tag/notebook organisation system has annoying redundencies and is clunky in places. I would love to bin it but can't find a suitable alter…

It looks great, but what inevitably drives me away from solutions like that is that sooner or later I want to do something they don't support or are too inefficient at, feel constrained, use something else and suddenly I have notes split across multiple applications.

Re: Ask HN: What do you use to take notes?

#108

Post by Jtsummers »

falcolas wrote: post #75
proaralyst wrote: post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do all my thinking on paper, but I have a large blocker at the moment: indexing my notes. Have you found a good solution for this?

My non-novel solution - number every other page, and keep a few pages up in the front as an index. Topic on the left, and a list of page numbers on the right. Requires some effort to maintain, but it seems to work pretty well for me. Familiarity with the index pages counters the need for any sorting.

Rather than leaving pages blank up front (a guestimate), I fill my index up from the back. Literally the last page is the first page of the index and I work towards the front from there. No risk of running out of room in the index, or finding that I didn't need 5 pages when 2 would have done.
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