Sometimes you come across apps that do their job exceptionally well without any fuss or fanfare.

Two of these are PureWrite and PureOpen, both available for Mac/iOS only. They are free.

You'll find PureWrite at https://puretext.bdtech.app/purewrite – it's a markdown writing app, albeit so minimalist that it's more like a markdown editor, albeit one that focuses on a specific workspace. It's also on the Mac App Store and the iOS App Store. The search function is excellent – workspace search is separate from in-file search, but highlights hits in the found files. The interface is, frankly, gorgeous (if you're into super-minimalism). The markdown is immediately turned into WYSIWYG text. You can also safely use it with an Obsidian or other vault/repository – it doesn't disrupt anything or add its own hidden files. It's also (perhaps unusually) right-left compatible.

You'll find PureOpen at https://puretext.bdtech.app/quickmd/

It's very similar to PureWrite, but can be used as a default markdown editor (it doesn't need workspaces): files are opened in tabs by default. Otherwise more or less identical to PureWrite, with the same minimalist, gorgeous interface and fluid handling of markdown.

Honestly very impressive apps, especially given that they're free.

For the curious, there's also PureKanban, which is slightly more complex and compatible with the well-known Kanban plugin for Obsidian. It's a bit fiddlier to set up, especially from scratch, but very neat, in that it has a dashboard that keeps track of multiple kanbans simultaneously, so it's ideal for project management. It's available at https://puretext.bdtech.app/purekanban/

All the above are written in Rust, so the footprint is minimal. They've replaced Typora for me, at least on the Mac. Writers who like unfussy / distraction-free screens will love them!

The developer has a number of other really interesting apps on his main website, https://www.bdtech.app/apps – well worth a visit.

Thank you for this, Bill.

There is also available on PureOpen PureCodex

https://puretext.bdtech.app/purecodex/

I'm a bit confused how this one is supposed to work, but it's a puzzle worth digging into.

Yes, I've had a quick look and conclude that the OKF approach (also used by Plainva) is interesting but somewhat confusing. I've used PureCodex to triage one of my Obsidian vaults, but frankly, find Obsidian's approach (or rather, approaches, depending on which particular set of plugins you have installed) somewhat friendlier!

But it was only a quick look – I shall devote some more time to it.

Paul Korm wrote:

Thank you for this, Bill.
There is also available on PureOpen PureCodex
https://puretext.bdtech.app/purecodex/
I'm a bit confused how this one is supposed to work, but it's a puzzle worth digging into.

I am wondering if we make a distinction between markdown writing apps -- like these two -- and markdown note apps, like Bear. I think there is a distinction, but acknowledge there can be a lot of gray area in between. I would use a "writing" app for longer-form writing, but not for notes, because it may not have the tools to properly manage those notes. Maybe this is an obvious distinction for most people.

Recognizing that there are infinite shades of gray, maybe the distinction is between software that is purely an editor, and software that includes and editor and also manages a "database" of notes.

(I recall being screamed on forums in the '90s by more than one uber-geek who decided to educate me on my criminal mis-use of the term "database" because "you have no idea what you're talking about". Frankly, all these decades later, I still have no idea.)

That's very interesting, Paul. Think about programs like InfoQube, UltraRecall, Scrivener, and FileMaker. Different programs for different purposes. You can have a large Memo field and associate fields for Creation Date, Modification Date, User, etc. With free standing word processor files, you would call these fields metadata. But with the programs I mentioned, the notes with their metadata are collections and can be readily sorted, isolated and manipulated.

Just my view.

Jon

Agreed. With Notion, AnyType and Obsidian, the metadata in notes (front matter, YAML) have essentially become the fields in a database -- very sophisticated applications have been and are being built on this basis, and it's great to see, because they extend beyond the traditional "relational" database into something much more exciting; a kind of fusion of full-text with relational with whatever Elastic calls itself nowadays. Apps like Plainva and Tolaria use the same techniques based on the new OKF principle -- as does PureCodex. It can be quite difficult to get one's head around, but relational databases were also a source of constant headaches...

Jon Polish wrote:

That's very interesting, Paul. Think about programs like InfoQube, UltraRecall, Scrivener, and FileMaker. Different programs for different purposes. You can have a large Memo field and associate fields for Creation Date, Modification Date, User, etc. With free standing word processor files, you would call these fields metadata. But with the programs I mentioned, the notes with their metadata are collections and can be readily sorted, isolated and manipulated.

Just my view.

Jon