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Ask HN: How to take notes?

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31–40 of 80 posts

Re: Ask HN: How to take notes?

#31
Try my https://histre.com/ to take notes on things you read online. I use it extensively of course.

- It suggests appropriate tags you. #python etc. This lets you review things by topic.

- Tags are inlined in your notes. You don't have to create them first

- If you want to publish some of these notes, you just add #pub

- You can also publish notebooks (collections of notes). You can think of it as lightweight super fast blogging. This will help you get a following on a subject, without having to spend a lot of time doing it.

Examples: SaaS Pricing https://histre.com/notebooks/03lt8gml/saas-pricing/ ; New Project https://histre.com/pub/notebooks/x6rfhtd5/links-for-starting...

- Highlight sections in the web page you like to review later

Re: Ask HN: How to take notes?

#32
I take notes in Markdown as [gists](https://gist.github.com/) on GitHub. The web editor for GitHub is pretty good, does excellent code formatting, and has some other web niceties. Plus all my stuff stays in one place.

I'm a little biased with this workflow because I wrote an iOS client that lets you manage notes as GitHub gists. If this flow sounds attractive you can check OctoNote out here: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/octonote/id1433164731

Re: Ask HN: How to take notes?

#33

I take notes in Markdown as [gists]( https://gist.github.com/ ) on GitHub. The web editor for GitHub is pretty good, does excellent code formatting, and has some other web niceties. Plus all my stuff stays in one place. I'm a little biased with this workflow because I wrote an iOS client that lets you manage notes as GitHub gists. If this flow sounds attractive you can check OctoNote out here: https://apps.apple.com/…

joplin is similar.

Re: Ask HN: How to take notes?

#34
post #14

A paper notebook is severely underrated. I tried replacing it with onenote, chery tree and others. It's just not the same. Things I write down by hand seem to be burned in my brain much easier than when I mindlessly type them on the keyboard.

I feel the same. But,i think taking notes in software is faster.

And you can't "grep dead trees" (search paper notes).

Re: Ask HN: How to take notes?

#35
post #19

I have a bind (3+n) to open notes.md file in Sublime Text I can drop things into. Although I don't use it much as often I can write notes directly under some topic in my wiki. It usually fits under some of the 840+ topics I have https://github.com/nikitavoloboev/knowledge/blob/master/SUMM... On mobile, I take quick notes with Telegram's Saved Messages. This kind of question has been asked many times before on HN and…

> On mobile, I take quick notes with Telegram's Saved Messages.

This is a great idea. I use it all the time. I use the Histre integration to push these Telegram notes automatically to https://histre.com/ (disclaimer: mine) for a full proper notes with tags, searchability, sharing etc: https://histre.com/blog/take-notes-with-telegram/

Re: Ask HN: How to take notes?

#36

If learning is the goal, I highly recommend taking notes into a flash card system (I use and recommend Anki). Then review your flash cards daily. You can always refer to the flash cards like regular notes, but by memorizing the information instead of just jotting it down you greatly increase the speed at which you learn new things.

I make photocopies of all my notes: the original gets filed by title, and the copy goes into a Leitner box after having key details redacted.

Re: Ask HN: How to take notes?

#37

A paper notebook is severely underrated. I tried replacing it with onenote, chery tree and others. It's just not the same. Things I write down by hand seem to be burned in my brain much easier than when I mindlessly type them on the keyboard.

Ted Nelson disagrees with you. No hyperlinks, no real connections, no networks. Too many limitations.

Re: Ask HN: How to take notes?

#38
I use 2 systems. For online note writing the key thing is low friction, so use a real editor you're very familiar with and make the system as simple as possible. I personally use neovim with vimwiki and a plugin called notational-fzf-vim. This makes it very fast to search and very fast to start new notes. A lot of people have a similar system using org-mode in emacs. The main thing is that it works well for you and doesn't introduce friction and slow you down.

The vast majority of my note-taking is in paper notebooks. I personally use a leuchterm notebook, zebra sarasta pens and a system of my own design that is similar to the "bullet journal" system but modified a bit to suit my needs a little better. I personally find if I'm attending a meeting, taking notes in a paper journal makes me more 'present' and able to concentrate than using a laptop (even though I've been using computers for ever, can touchtype fluently etc). I also find a paper system helps me with recall compared with typing. Obviously a lot of people prefer a digital format. I use a completely standard pen and notebook so all my notes and notebooks look exactly the same, and put every note on a separate page (eg if I have several meetings the notes each start on a separate page). I have also find this combination works well for ocr when I need to, so it's very easy for me to just take a snapshot of a page in my notebook if I need to send it to someone, put it in something like evernote or OneNote or whatever.

I second the comments a few people have made around retyping/rewriting notes etc. I find "curation" activities of this kind incredibly helpful as they are a forcing function to think again about things, helping me with recall and conceptual clarity. So would strongly recommend you try this.

//Couple of updates about process

Re: Ask HN: How to take notes?

#40
post #21
post #16

You should try http://roamresearch.com/ and follow #RoamCult on Twitter - they are way ahead on note taking.

Looks nice but that is paid service. Unfortunately i can't afford.

If you use macOS and/or iOS check FSNotes out: https://fsnot.es/

It's really powerful if you go through all of it's capabilities, but can be used quite simply too.

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