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Show HN: Open source non-linear notepad app

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61–70 of 102 posts

Re: Show HN: Open source non-linear notepad app

#61
Is there is a guide to help setup a self-hosted version fo this app? I'd assume there would be a server which does the actual parsing and syncing, along with a web app which is used to render onto a web page?

I absolutely love the idea by the way, can't wait to try it!

Re: Show HN: Open source non-linear notepad app

#62
post #56

Cool! I like this. A couple suggestions: - Instead of asking "Are you sure" to delete an element, just go ahead and delete it, but make it undoable. This allows for quicker workflow. - If I double-click an empty space, I would like to immediately insert a Text element and start typing, without having to aim the mouse again and click Text. I'll probably be coming back to this when I need some note taking. Thanks for s…

Thanks for the feedback! I like the undo concept, that should be do-able. On the quick-typing thing I was thinking that I could make it so that if you just start typing with the insert thing open, it'll automatically put you in a text element. What do you think about that?

I believe Raskins mentions this, and other ideas, in https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Humane_Interface

An interesting read none the less

Re: Show HN: Open source non-linear notepad app

#63
post #28
post #22

This is a wonderful looking project, thanks for making it open source! I am thinking of forking it for my own side-project and contributing to the development if possible. As other commenters already noted, the UI/UX of the app will need some work. Just some initial thoughts: - Organisation of the notes is cumbersome: it wasn't clear to me what is meant with a note and a section, and how to actually start writing (I…

Here's vekker's list without the formatting: * Organisation of the notes is cumbersome: it wasn't clear to me what is meant with a note and a section, and how to actually start writing (I would expect to be able to start writing right away rather than first creating a notebook/section/note, choosing a title, etc...) * I would like to tag my notes à la Evernote, and filter notes based on this. * Speaking of searching/…

Ha! Thanks for that, I'm mostly a lurker here so I was surprised to learn HN puts everything on one line, I thought indenting it was the only way to have a bulleted list.

Re: Show HN: Open source non-linear notepad app

#64
Hey do you mind if I ask you you handled code signing for your Windows and Mac apps?

Mac seems relatively straightforward, but Windows seems like an absolute cluster.

I'm releasing my own free open-source desktop app built with Electron soon, and it seems like the biggest pain in the butt that no one seems to talk about.

Overall though I love the idea, upvoted! Might even give it a go. Solves some big problems I have with note-taking...I've resorted to Zotero + Cryptomator + Dropbox for my own setup.

Re: Show HN: Open source non-linear notepad app

#65
post #63
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's vekker's list without the formatting: * Organisation of the notes is cumbersome: it wasn't clear to me what is meant with a note and a section, and how to actually start writing (I would expect to be able to start writing right away rather than first creating a notebook/section/note, choosing a title, etc...) * I would like to tag my notes à la Evernote, and filter notes based on this. * Speaking of searching/…

Ha! Thanks for that, I'm mostly a lurker here so I was surprised to learn HN puts everything on one line, I thought indenting it was the only way to have a bulleted list.

Text indented with two or more spaces is reproduced verbatim, which is intended for code.

https://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc

There is no bulleted list format; just start the line with a bullet (such as a hyphen) and put a blank line between list items.

Re: Show HN: Open source non-linear notepad app

#68
Interesting, though I'm not sure (yet) what I'd use it for. Here are my notes:

  - I was a bit lost in the empty state after dismissing the help.
    (perhaps not immediately entering full screen mode would be good)
  - Took me a second to realize the sticky-looking text isn't a note but rather the page.
    (I may have been thrown off by the word 'notepad' in the HN post title)
  - The '+ Note' and '+ Section' interleaved in what would be a nice outline is a little distracting.
    It also creates the note/section at the end of the list whereas the action labels are at the start.
    (maybe even better is if you can iconify them and place beside the parent container's text)

Re: Show HN: Open source non-linear notepad app

#69
post #56

Cool! I like this. A couple suggestions: - Instead of asking "Are you sure" to delete an element, just go ahead and delete it, but make it undoable. This allows for quicker workflow. - If I double-click an empty space, I would like to immediately insert a Text element and start typing, without having to aim the mouse again and click Text. I'll probably be coming back to this when I need some note taking. Thanks for s…

Thanks for the feedback! I like the undo concept, that should be do-able. On the quick-typing thing I was thinking that I could make it so that if you just start typing with the insert thing open, it'll automatically put you in a text element. What do you think about that?

Generally for usability I'd suggest to take a good look at OneNote, which in my eyes gets the "type and draw everywhere, with minimal friction" concept very right. And while the underlying data model of such an application may necessitate a collection of objects being scattered on a canvas, that doesn't mean that the interaction model has to follow that directly. So indeed, just let me type anywhere.

Another thing that adds friction in my eyes is that when editing text your first click changes the interface into text editing mode where the text neither stays at the position you've seen it before, nor can you actually interact with it with that first click. So when I see a word that I'd like to change and I click there, that will only spawn the edit window for that text object, instead of just placing a cursor there so I can directly edit it.

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