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I've been building a Markdown note-taking app for 3 years

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Re: I've been building a Markdown note-taking app for 3 years

#141

Post by brodsky »

throwmex wrote: post #112
craftzdog wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The author here. > A much smaller (5-10MB) quota with no time limit That's interesting and I basically agree with your opinion. You will be more comfortable to try it. But I suspect that many free riders will come eat the server resources. This is not a startup. I would rather like to be small.

> free riders will come eat the server resources that's not the way to address a user whether paid or "free rider" as you call them.

is there a more appropriate verbiage the author should be using?

Re: I've been building a Markdown note-taking app for 3 years

#142

Post by pwinnski »

Quanttek wrote: post #138

I really like the project but I struggle with the fact that almost all Markdown editors, even note-taking applications, only offer you a rendered view separately from the file you edit. When I am taking notes, they should be rendered where I type them down in order to be easily digestible. Even later on, I will probably make a few smaller edits, so I can't solely rely on the rendered review. So far, I've only discove…

This seems like an intrinsic part of the nature of Markdown editors. Typora lets you input in Markdown, but seems to immediately hide Markdown markup in favor of a WYSIWYG-like view, making it arguably not a Markdown editor at all.

For most people, and I think I include myself in this group, the point of Markdown is that the raw source is readable even without being rendered.

Re: I've been building a Markdown note-taking app for 3 years

#143

Post by czr »

Quanttek wrote: post #138

I really like the project but I struggle with the fact that almost all Markdown editors, even note-taking applications, only offer you a rendered view separately from the file you edit. When I am taking notes, they should be rendered where I type them down in order to be easily digestible. Even later on, I will probably make a few smaller edits, so I can't solely rely on the rendered review. So far, I've only discove…

iirc Notion, Bear, and Ulysses all support single-pane markdown (although I'm a happy Typora user, so I can't speak to their relative merits)

Re: I've been building a Markdown note-taking app for 3 years

#144

Post by mixmastamyk »

program_whiz wrote: post #106

Basically all the comments here are just critiques. My 2 cents: excellent work, its extremely hard to stick with something for 3 years, especially with people's constant criticism and worries it isn't "big enough". The attitude of the developer seems quite wise and seasoned. Hearing things like "I'm making tools I use" and "I'd rather be small and opinionated" or "I'll take paying customers over droves of free users"…

I'll agree, however even rude critiques can often be useful if you can disengage your emotion chip.

Re: I've been building a Markdown note-taking app for 3 years

#145

Post by ken »

EForEndeavour wrote: post #102
Pepe1vo wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I get the sentiment against Electron, there are horribly bloated applications out there which are a direct consequence of how (badly) Electron was built and designed. However, this particular application appears to work exactly as intended and uses all of 150MB of RAM and 0.1% CPU on my (admittedly quite beefy) laptop. Maybe, just maybe, this is actually a pretty well-built application? I understand if someone won't…

Your comment snapped me out of the RAM-obliviousness in which I usually live and work. I know memory is plentiful on modern PCs, but 150 MB of RAM for a note-taking app!?

The built-in Notes.app takes over 100 MB here. Yes, that's apparently what apps take these days.

Re: I've been building a Markdown note-taking app for 3 years

#146

Post by toss1 »

throwmex wrote: post #112
craftzdog wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The author here. > A much smaller (5-10MB) quota with no time limit That's interesting and I basically agree with your opinion. You will be more comfortable to try it. But I suspect that many free riders will come eat the server resources. This is not a startup. I would rather like to be small.

> free riders will come eat the server resources that's not the way to address a user whether paid or "free rider" as you call them.

Actually, "free riders" is an excellent thinking model, and the likely most useful way to analyze it.

He needs to create a sustainable app/service, and does not have a lot of external VC resources to burn while doing so. Thus, it must be sustainable in real time.

Server loads are apparently one of his biggest expenses, so he must optimize to minimize those resources.

OTOH, allowing people to take substantial 'free rides' to test the product in their situation is an excellent way to get new paying users, and often an essential gateway to conversion. I'll hardly sign up for anything without a real test drive.

So, letting potential customers get some 'free riding' is good, but too much will sink the ship.

It looks like he has a limited time 60-day demo and also a no server unlimited time demo. Both seem like good ways to limit the resources given away for free, while providing enough 'free rides' to entice them to pay for the journey.

I'm already heading over check it out after just browsing the main page & comments.

Now, if you are trying to say that mentioning the "free rider" term in public is somehow insulting to the potential users. I don't think so. He's not calling them "freeloaders" which has a more derogatory connotation. the "free rider" term carries a connotation a little bit like I've won a free ride, but it isn't a permanet free pass. I wouldn't find "hey, you get a free ride for two months" at all insulting.

Re: I've been building a Markdown note-taking app for 3 years

#149

Post by dgellow »

craftzdog wrote: post #89
dgellow wrote: post #46

Is there a way to not have the cloud features and use dropbox/icloud for syncing instead?

Nope, because I don't like file-based sync. It's slow, unstable and hard to implement. People will say "how about Google Drive/OneDrive/Box support?" Hell awaits you.

> Hell awaits you.

From a developer point of view, maybe. From a user point of view it’s a quite reliable and well known mechanism to sync between platforms. Dropbox is already what I personally use to manage my documents between all my devices, it’s part of my various workflows. I personally don’t want to add other syncing mechanisms if I can avoid as that forces me to create/manage an additional account and give my trust to an additional platform.

Of course I may be an outlier but I don’t think that’s the case, Dropbox is well established. Inkdrop looks really, really nice and I might be a user of such a tool, but only for the editing and categorizing part but if I cannot disable the syncing using your backend that’s a blocker for me.

Anyway, congrats for the work that you’ve done, I hope you will change your mind at some point :)

Re: I've been building a Markdown note-taking app for 3 years

#150

Post by sriram_malhar »

program_whiz wrote: post #106

Basically all the comments here are just critiques. My 2 cents: excellent work, its extremely hard to stick with something for 3 years, especially with people's constant criticism and worries it isn't "big enough". The attitude of the developer seems quite wise and seasoned. Hearing things like "I'm making tools I use" and "I'd rather be small and opinionated" or "I'll take paying customers over droves of free users"…

Your note made me confront my own self-doubt. Time to dust off that old code-base
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