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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

#221

Post by sam0x17 »

So I think this is a really cool idea, some feedback:

1. would love to be able to toggle whether the markdown syntax is shown vs a polished/rendered view of the markdown without the # symbols showing etc. For me the whole point of writing markdown is that moment when you get to see it rendered all nicely on github, and this hybrid mode doesn't quite do it for me

2. tags are cool, but a folder hierarchy would be more appropriate for notes imo. I immediately wanted to right click on the side bar and create folders, but that's not a thing.

3. Accessibility via web browser, as other people have mentioned, would be nice

4. ability to export any note to PDF or a single HTML file with inline styling

5. option to use github's exact markdown stylesheet

6. The whole note "status" thing I think is a bit niche. I wouldn't use it at all as I have project management software for that sort of thing. I would use this for storing random bits of knowledge, how-to-type stuff, research/project ideas, that sort of thing. It's a cool feature, I just wish it was optional and there were more options for how to organize the notes.

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

#222

Post by Quanttek »

pwinnski wrote: post #142
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.

Arguably, tables or pictures are not readable in raw Markdown. While Markdown is already readable, such rendering makes it much more readable.

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

#223

Post by nathan-io »

scarface74 wrote: post #140

Should I be as impressed as I am that one guy has an app that works on 5 different operating systems even if he is using a cross platform framework or has cross platform front end development become that easy? Whichever it is, great job! I don’t need something like this right now, but I am favoriting it just in case I do later.

I certainly am.

The only thing I disagree with is the lack of a web client.

It just seems like you could save a ton of work by starting with the web client, then create desktop versions via something like todesktop.com.

Then you're spending less time on updates - it's just one desktop version, and the iOS + Android versions are just consuming data from your API anyway.

Love the BYO CouchDB feature - very interesting!

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

#224

Post by Quanttek »

czr wrote: post #143
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)

Unfortunately, I have a Windows computer and, as a student, find such monthly subscriptions quite financially unbearable

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

#225

Post by Quanttek »

zeppelin101 wrote: post #165
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…

What are the "interoperability" issues you're referring to? I'm a very happy user of Typora and I've, thankfully, not experienced any data losses. The only thing that keeps me from using it more is that it's not the most smooth experience. When I take notes in Notepad++, for example, it's instantaneous. Which makes for a much more enjoyable experience.

Agreed on the lack of a smooth experience. Re interopabiltiy: This mainly relates to the usual fact of markdown flavors/extensions and there, for example, being no mobile app with the same exact flavor of markdown

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

#226

Post by Quanttek »

arkades wrote: post #187
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…

I don’t know about rich, but: I use NotePlan on my phone for WYSIWYM notes and calendar entries, with GTD support. It used the same (Dropbox) directory as my Kiwi app, which is a personal wiki with WYSIWYM. On my desktop I have Sublime text with a (free) markdown plug-in for WYSIWYM note creation, and I keep the open “project” my NotePlan/Kiwi folder. The result is a sprawling set of notes, documents, calendar data,…

That sounds like a nice setup! I unfortunately have an Android but would you mind telling me the name of the plugin?

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

#227

Post by scarejunba »

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.

This is a startup forum, dude. He’s talking more to fellow creators than users. We prefer this.

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

#228

Post by scarejunba »

prepend wrote: post #4

I like these apps because I’ve been trying note taking for 30 years and have had many false starts of solo projects over the years. So when someone releases it makes me a little happy. I like markdown because the interoperability is high. I’d like a command line way to just create a new note in one line that gets stuck somewhere that can be added on or moved around later (eg, “note Inkdrop should be investigated and…

A friend uses a paper notebook in a pocket.

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

#230

Post by dangus »

jamesgeck0 wrote: post #218
dangus wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone can be an armchair quarterback, but this solo developer has made seemingly a great product that people really like. I don't think it matters very much what underlying frameworks are being used, especially to the end user. If it's so easy to implement this natively on five platforms (Mac, Windows, Linux, iOS, and Android), please send us your link to your native cloud-syncing markdown note taking app, I'd reall…

> I don't think it matters very much what underlying frameworks are being used, especially to the end user. Every Electron text editing app I've used has noticeable input latency and hitching compared to native on my system. > If it's so easy... It's practically part of the human experience to have opinions about technology you haven't personally developed. The author can build their software however they want. I jus…

If you have no plans to try this product I wonder why you claim it has performance issues or should have been architected in a different way, and why you're wasting all of our time by vocalising assumptions about an application based on its underlying technology.

I haven't been able to find any other five-platform markdown based note taking app with plugin support and cloud sync, so I'm still awaiting your link to a superior native alternative. It seems like Electron itself specifically enabled this application to exist.

If you can detect the input lag in Visual Studio Code I should commend your superior reflexes and genetic makeup.

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