Forum Posts Feed
A ramble about various note-taking applications
< Next Topic | Back to topic list | Previous Topic >
Pages: < 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 > Last ›
Posted by Daly de Gagne
Jun 13, 2023 at 03:17 AM
Thanks Stephen
Stephen Zeoli wrote:
I meant to say, but forgot, that I didn’t include Logseq because I
>haven’t tried it.
>
>Daly de Gagne wrote:
>I appreciate your list, but am curious why you did not mention Logseq -
>>which is often referenced in the same breath as Obsidian or Roam.
>>Thanks.
>>
>>Daly
Posted by Daly de Gagne
Jun 13, 2023 at 03:32 AM
WSP - thanks for noting “the weak tagging system” of OneNote. It is absolutely mind boggling that an app with the pretensions of OneNote and created by the mighty Microsoft has coasted along for years with such a bad tagging system. Also mind boggling is how some of the seemingly independent YouTube channels refer so uncritically to OneNotes’ tagging capability. Surely, if they have any knowledge of note-taking software beyond OneNote, they should know that far better tagging systems are on offer. OneNote’s tagging system is the main reason I don’t use the app. - Daly
WSP wrote:
I still use OneNote as my main note-taking app. It’s very annoying at
>times (occasionally the slow updating between my computer and my phone,
>and the weak tagging sytem), but it’s reliable on the whole and probably
>will not disappear in the future.
>
>I also depend on UpNote: very elegant and speedy. Outstanding in many
>ways; its main weaknesses are that you cannot search the text of
>attached PDFs and a certain uneasiness about its long-term prospects.
>
>WSP
Posted by MadaboutDana
Jun 13, 2023 at 08:26 AM
Totally agree about Curio – extraordinary app (although the absolutely free Growly Notes is an entertaining alternative, albeit nowhere near as powerful).
I have tried TheArchive, but abandoned it after some experimentation. It’s a perfectly good app, but is being very slow to actualise its roadmap, and the current functionality can be duplicated in any number of more powerful note taking apps (including e.g. Simplenote, which hasn’t yet been mentioned).
An app I’ve been looking forward to for a couple of years is nvUltra, ostensibly an alternative turbocharged nvAlt currently under development by Brett Terpstra. But there’s been little sign of movement in recent months, and I’ve started to think it isn’t going anywhere.
I too am impressed by UpNote – the developer is extremely responsive, and I still use it quite a lot. But increasingly, I use Bear, version 2.0 of which is due out imminently, because it has such a good web capture extension (UpNote’s is pretty good, too, and works across multiple browsers), and is such a pleasure to use. The new version is clearly intended to compete with Obsidian, Roam etc., and I’m looking forward to seeing it.
Other cross-platform apps worth mentioning include Craft, which is going from strength to strength (and produces astonishingly good-looking e-mails, albeit only if you use Apple Mail), and of course Notebooks, which runs on Windows as well as all the Apple OSes. Notebooks has seen some elegant improvements lately, and is still one of my favourites for writing.
Finally, I have given way to temptation and acquired a reMarkable 2 tablet, which is truly impressive. Not least because the desktop/mobile app does allow you to use it as part of a seamless workflow. The number of third-party enhancements out there is pretty cool, as well, allowing you to load your own templates (although I’ve found you can easily use a PDF file as a template without doing any complicated SSH tunnelling or using expensive third-party apps). There is indeed something very satisfying about keeping track of daily tasks simply by writing them down – the nice thing about the reMarkable is that you can copy and paste unfinished tasks (or anything else, for that matter) to subsequent daily pages. The graphic capabilities are understated but very powerful. Yes, I should probably have opted for a Kindle Scribe instead, but I got a referrer’s discount (€40!) and in any case don’t wish to put my entire writing/reading life in the hands of Amazon. I didn’t get a reMarkable stylus, incidentally – I opted for the Staedtler Noris Jumbo pencil-alike, which works very well and is about a third of the price.
Amontillado wrote:
>I remain a fan of Curio, too. It takes very low effort to produce notes
>and thoughts in a polished format. Whatever it costs in a few extra
>mouse clicks it rewards with a pleasant arrangement of thoughts.
>
>Has anyone tried TheArchive?
>https://zettelkasten.de/posts/overview/#the-archive
Posted by MadaboutDana
Jun 13, 2023 at 08:35 AM
Ah, I would also mention NotePlan, which is, like Agenda, an impressive mixture of journal, task manager and notetaker. It’s also very expensive, but under constant development.
And would also agree that MWeb Pro is an amazing markdown editor for a very reasonable price, with steadily developer support.
Finally, don’t forget the very elegant Typora, one of the nicest markdown editors out there (and very reasonably priced).
Posted by Stephen Zeoli
Jun 13, 2023 at 09:52 AM
I have been a fan of Curio, but it is only available as a Mac app, which puts it out of the running for me. The same is true of Agenda and Noteplan, either of which, if it had a browser version, would be on my list.
I should have mentioned UpNote and OneNote in my original list. I actually use OneNote a lot at work. It is where we store our team knowledge, accessible for my colleagues. I have been reluctant to use it for my own information management needs because—in the past—the Mac version was so much more limited than the PC version. And it felt like Microsoft was driving users to rely its cloud storage, which I was not fond of. But the Mac version has gotten better, so maybe it’s time to give it another go. I still have some pages in OneNote I created almost 20 years ago, when it first was introduced.
Steve