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Show HN: Bike – macOS Native Outliner

hogbaysoftware.com

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Re: Show HN: Bike – macOS Native Outliner

#21

Post by phlyingpenguin »

jessegrosjean wrote: post #9
phlyingpenguin wrote: post #5

First, I use and love TaskPaper so I'm interested in what you've got going on. But on its surface, I don't see the differentiation between the two products right now other than Bike having slicker rendering and TaskPaper having more utility. It seems like TaskPaper is a competent outliner that supports focus and other features just fine. Can you comment to what the goals are that separate them?

I've written about Bike's relationship to TaskPaper here: https://support.hogbaysoftware.com/t/how-does-bike-relate-to... I think core summary is: 1. Wanted to control own text editor. Building off NSTextView was limiting 2. Wanted to use structured document format. Plain text was limiting

Interesting, thanks. It does sound like there's a lot to build on there so I'll be interested in seeing where it goes. Some of my best "productivity" memories are with the "free" copy of OmniOutliner that came on my first Macs, and I think you have the bones to bring that to the 2020s.

Re: Show HN: Bike – macOS Native Outliner

#22

Post by jessegrosjean »

kacy wrote: post #12

Very cool and congrats on what you’ve built! This is something I’ve been looking for. Any plans to do iCloud syncing and maybe a mobile app?

I think basic iCloud syncing between Macs should already work, just as part of the fact that Bike saves your outlines to some Mac OS file (not database). I know I need to do iOS support, as long as I stay financially viable I will do iOS support. But I still need to work on a few more basics in the macOS app first.

Bike will also read/write .opml files. You should be able to share with iOS outliner that way I think.

Re: Show HN: Bike – macOS Native Outliner

#23

Post by jessegrosjean »

ryanianian wrote: post #20

This is great. It feels very fast, focused, native, and lightweight like all of HogBay's offerings. Is there any way to change the font? As a developer, non-monospace fonts feel foreign for composing text.

Thanks, sorry not yet font option. I expect to add TaskPaper like stylesheets in the medium future, then there will be many style options.

Re: Show HN: Bike – macOS Native Outliner

#26

Post by jessegrosjean »

WillAdams wrote: post #8

Nice! Do you think you could add support for pandoc to export to other formats and import things? Another option --- possible to set it up so that each node is a text file (or other file format, see pandoc above) and they are grouped using file directories? The nifty Tombo notepad worked thus, and I found it really nice for keeping notes --- for bonus points, multiple files in a directory which have the same name wou…

> Do you think you could add support for pandoc to export to other formats and import things?

Maybe, but not likely soon. Bike does already provide read/write support for .bike (html subset), .opml, and .txt. I think best route is to work from those file formats.

> Another option --- possible to set it up so that each node is a text file (or other file format, see pandoc above) and they are grouped using file directories?

I've long wanted to try something like that. It would be very fun, but I don't expect Bike will do this.

Re: Show HN: Bike – macOS Native Outliner

#30

Post by jessegrosjean »

ilrwbwrkhv wrote: post #18
vvillena wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As the post title says, it's a macOS native app, focusing on fluidity.

Mac native I get. But what is "fluidity"? The other two are just as "fluid".

"fluidity" is a made up marketing term (by me) to mean animation.

But I think this animation is important. Bike is a "tool for thought". I think the way that it "feels/animation" is important. Bike's build built from the ground up to support this. Check out the movie or better yet try the download. Typing feels a bit smoother, text slides into place.

And yes it can be turned off. And no it doesn't slow you down, animations are canceled if you type again before they finish.

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