Show HN: Open source non-linear notepad app

Is it the Snap version? I think that does some decompression on load.

Ah, yeah. I'll have a look into that.

I really like the instant-text suggestion. I might be able to make it so when you have the "insert" menu open it'll automatically insert a markdown element if you just start typing. I'm a little busy with uni right now so I'm not sure how quickly I can get through anything, although I am open to pull requests.

I was clicking around for a minute, not figuring out how to get started. You have to click "Notepads" and "New" first. I didn't see "New" because when I click a dropdown, I expect all menu items to be BELOW the initial button, so I skipped "New" and thought "Import" was the first menu-item. I must be an idiot.

Then I have to give my note a title... I don't know?? I just want to create a note, not title it... so I enter no title and press "OK" and... nothing!

So I press "New" again, enter random keystrokes as a title, and... now what? I continue pressing random buttons, now I try "+ Section" (whatever that means). I got a collapsable section and 2 new buttons. Great.

Now I press "+ Note" and I finally get a "Hey, you can do stuff now!" message.

Is it so hard to just initially create a note without having to create a "Notepad" and a "Section" first? And you have to name both things before you can do anything.

So I insert a text with markdown, enter some random text... now I want to save it. I see a big huge blue button: That must be SAVE! Oh, it isn't. It's "bibliography", whatever that means. The big red button? Oh that's delete... I haven't created anything, but at least I know how to delete it just in case.

I also like how the label for the text-area is "formatting help" and is actually a link to "formatting help" and not the label for the text-area.

Anyways, I found out you "save" by just clicking wherever. Fine. So I now wanted to actually name my thing. I'm clicking the title in the header. Double-clicking. Nope, that doesn't work. Looking for a rename button here... Oh maybe the sidebar. So I see that cog icon and I think: There, that's where you must be able to rename it, right?

And yes, a modal! With a RENAME button! Cool. So I press the RENAME button and POOF modal gone. Wtf??? Since the blue button I saw earlier wasn't a confirm/save button but a "open a modal" button, I assumed it opened another modal, but no: Now it just closes the modal. Whatever.

So I open the modal again and notice the name is actually an input field (gotta love Google Material Design). So I change the name and click the modal away, assuming it is saved automatically just like with notes. My changes aren't saved. Fuck.

So I open the modal AGAIN and assume the "RENAME" button is a SAVE button. Finally...

This whole thing is a neat idea, but there is much room for improvement on the GUI.

Sorry to hear that you got frustrated. I did try to make little help videos (and I have a note about structure in the help notepad) but I understand that it should be intuitive without having to watch that or view the help notepad.

The bibliography list lets you attach URLs to elements on your note, which is helpful for when you go back for essay-writing and stuff. The formatting-help thing isn't actually a label but I understand the confusion there, I'll look into ways to improve that.

I'd love if you would take the time to formalise some of your criticism in a github issue: https://github.com/MicroPad/Web/issues

Awesome. Thanks. Some for of versioning and visual diff would totally kill any other app.