So far, I haven't been able to find a note-taking program that does bullet-outlines better than Word, and that's a shame.
I use Evernote, but even there often the bullet points get out of sync and you have to manually realign everything. Evernote is fantastic, but there are certain things I don't understand why it lacks (LaTeX support and superscript/subscript would be another).
In the Evernote Mac app, simply go to Format > Style > Superscript or Subscript.
There are even keyboard shortcuts: ctrl cmd + for superscript ctrl cmd - for subscript
https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/workflowy/id551139514?mt=8
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=cz.karelklima....
The Android app looks like an embedded web application. The iOS client looks the same.
Disclaimer: I haven't used either mobile application yet, so I don't know what the experiences are actually like. I use Workflowy from the desktop in a browser.
I predict of of these lots services that are popping out everywhere will eventually achieve just the right features/simplicity balance, becoming a killer app through network effects a la Facebook and wiping out all the competition. Evernote is close, but not quite there.
so simple, so smooth... gets me tingly
Ctrl-M moves in a bullet level. Ctrl-Shift-M moves back.
My advice: fine-tune this for different verticals. I'd really love to use a tool like this for taking notes for law school classes. Wire up the search engine with cool parsers (e.g. a legal citation parser[1]) or something that pulls the decision[2] of a case from Wikipedia just by writing the case name.
[1] https://github.com/unitedstates/citation
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Citizens_United_v._Federal_Elec...
* export to LaTex
* export to an electronic academic paper format that supports bibliography (paper writing meets 'blogging')
* creation of an academic journal platform that is entirely electronic. License it out to universities and other academic bodies.
* gather those university/body-specific channels into a user platform where users can subscribe to channels and topics.
* integrate the peer review process through solid user authentication. Think reddit-like voting system, but taking credentials into consideration. There are basically three levels: Standard user, User with credentials in the field endorsed by at least one academic body, User that has been chosen as a peer reviewer by the academic body for that specific paper.
* Enable annotations that can be filtered using these levels.
* have iPad, Android Tablet and Kindle reader apps where users can subscribe
Imagine how fearsome this would be to established journals once it gets traction through some universities. Imagine how much more universities could engage their students in the academic process right from the get go.
Maybe move the cursor back to the text area.
As I said, i think it's a good idea. I just think you should do some due diligence when using buzz words like "ridiculously fast" or "semantic search". A lot of people are allergic to buzzwords
The search feature is a total miss for me however. What problem is it solving? I already have Google, I don't need subpar search built into my notes app.
And searching automatically on highlighted text seems particularly confusing. I quite often highlight text while writing, not intending to make searches in the sidebar. It also took me too long to realize search results were being appended at the end of the list, not at the top.
The search text is also confusing. "All loaded, keep going." Say what now?
On the business model, $9 a month seems too steep as compared to the value prop of, say, Netflix. But I'm a cheap curmudgeon, so you should probably raise prices for all I know!
"Making lists, remembering good ideas or writing drafts mostly includes a lot of research. So you normally sit there with a ton of tabs open, copy and paste things etc. What if those tabs, that are normally lost, can be pinned right next to your notes? Or you can look up and replace a word with a synonym with a single click."
In short (especially with the Chrome plugin) it's saving (re)search next to your note instead of tabs that vanish.
9 bucks: Thought about it rather binary, either you'd pay nothing (you can a lot with the free plan) or you see a ton value/don't care that much.
+1 on the cryptic buddy'ing status responses.
You do not have Google. Google has Google, and currently allows you to use it, with certain conditions, caveats, and fine print.
Some people might not like the uncertainty and/or the tradeoffs required. Please do not act as if everyone should accept them as a fact of life.
Besides, it makes more sense for an application to implement its own search, since the application has both the domain knowledge and direct access to all its own data.
In general, and with notes especially, focus is important. You are essentially doing the opposite by bombarding the writer with distractions as they write.
I'm afraid your search would have to get shockingly smart for it to provide any real value to the writing process. Then again, I am only 1 potential customer and perhaps I'm just not your demographic so good luck!
I agree, and I don't think it's just that we're no in target demographic. Being bombarded with the search links is simply a bad way for just about anyone to write. Writing requires focus and discipline. Clicking on search links that pop up in your writing tool is almost certain to be counter-productive.
I understand the search link frame can be turned off. Not sure what in the product is supposed to be especially useful other than that. As others have said, it does appear to be slick. I'm just not sure how that helps when basic premise is misdirected. Maybe makes things worse; seduces someone into wasting time with counter-productive tool. God knows there've been plenty of nice-looking but counterproductive software tools in the past and will be more in the future. People at beginning say "Looks cool!" and then scrap it after trying to actually use it.
Beautiful UI by the way. Nice job!
Hiro meets all my expectations. Great work. Thanks!
Looks sharp. Why is it offering me Wikipedia links in the right column? OK, at least I can make it go away.
Whoa, why does the page keep moving right-and-left every time I'm about to type. Oh, it's when I mouse over the left column. I tend to move the mouse cursor out of the way of my text area when I'm typing, and if I stow it to the left it triggers the slide-over as it passes over the left column.
Figure out that the 3-stacked-horizontal lines can close the slider. Click again to re-open --- that makes sense. But if I click to close, then move the mouse cursor off the page to the left it reopens. Repeat a few times, give up, leave it open.
Start typing. Nothing happens. Scan the screen for a typing cursor. Can't find one. Tab? Nope. Type again, don't see anything changing. OK, I guess they want me to click somewhere. Another couple dizzying screen slides, and I can type.
Ok, let's change the silly title I put in to start with. Up-arrow, up-arrow, nothing is happening. There seems to be no way to get there from here. Tab, shift-tab? Nope. Guess I've got to click. But I really appreciated that both Tab and Return took be back to the text from the title.
Type a bit, looks clean. But not sure what I'm supposed to be doing. I'll try creating a new 'note'. For the first time, open the slider on the left intentionally. Click 'new note'. Eeeeek! I'm greated with a giant multi-colored blocker in the middle of the screen. And it's wobbling a few pixels back and forth at about 2 Hz, making me nauseous.
Escape doesn't work. Back button doesn't work. Must get out of here. Click to close.
Maybe there is something I can read on the home page that would explain this better. Wait, the back button still doesn't work? Wait, they've broken reload as well? Maybe the unlabeled button on the bottom left. No --- that brings the wiggling nausea back! Fingers reflexively close the whole window with Ctrl-W.
Take deep breaths, write quick first impressions on HN.
I like the simplicity of the overall look. Design is very clean. But I wish things would't keep happening when I move the mouse, and didn't feel like I was able to test any of the features before being forced to sign up.
Will definitely add very brief timeout on the sidebar and investigate where the Mac/Chrome wobbling is coming from, and also add more autofocus/keyboard shortcut functions.
- Strong (technical) security so that the server is a knowledge free environment (no staff, governments whatever can read my notes). Ideally through client-side encryption (perhaps the search would grab some tokens and send them to the server for processing, rather than having the plaintext document on the server). Perhaps the encryption should be optional and encrypted notes wouldn't be sent at all? As a non-American, I _really_ don't like being forced to put my data on American servers where I essentially have no rights. The alternative to this is having a way to specify that the note should remain offline (in localstorage or somesuch) and never touch the server.
- Ability to take the app offline and have it work mostly the same (without search of course)/
- Web clipping (see the Evernote web clipper) with image rehosting
- Markdown support
- Desktop client
- Client side plugins (these make the rest of the above much easier), ideally written in something like JS or Python.
- Full-featured API
I really just want something where I can feel like I'm in control. When I use most services it feels like I'm surrendering something (security, convenience, privacy, ownership of my data).
If different users can plug in different search-backends, many hypertext-writing domains could be accelerated, including Wikipedia, legal, blogging, etc. Maybe even you could have an image-suggesting mode for finding quick (and perhaps liberally-licensed) supporting images?
(I'd add Pinboard/archiving-support as well... so everything pinned gets snapshot against link rot.)
Your links/refs column is also a bit reminiscent of https://gingkoapp.com/ – your two projects can probably draw inspiration from each other.
Good luck!
I'm talking about both the privacy of cloud notes, and of the explicit searches when terms are selected with the mouse for a narrow search.
People often take notes about things that are private or personal, and this is explicitly creating a historical association between your thoughts and (public) web searches on those thoughts.
You normally think of notes as a self-contained thing (even if the container is in the cloud), while this is broadcasting your note terms to third parties as you compose them.
I can't find a privacy policy link. So I'd like to know more.
Currently we encrypt the notes and store them within appengine, while the search results are saved/cached as plaintext. No formal privacy policy atm, but we don't give your notes and neither does one of the third parties (GA as the content comes after GA, intercom and sentry).
Some samples which illustrate the value of the semantic search would be helpful. The screenshot shows a virtually empty note with links on the right. What amount and type of content is best suited to the semantic search?
Is this a web-based version of Notational Velocity with a sidebar that does a websearch on certain elements of what I'm writing?
Draftin.com already serves me well as a web-based note-taking thingy, plus great collaboration tools.
I guess here's the question: what's the use case for the sidebar?
The thinking is really in the details, fast in terms of as few clicks and taps as possible. Having to click 3 times to open the last google doc or similar just to paste in an idea or copy something over didn't cut it for us.
- the text cursor seems oddly tall to me...
- shift-tab should dedent, not indent
- the searching google thing.. is weird. I don't get it.
- not having bullets is =(
- not having indents maintained on newlines is =(
( notes are often hierarchical)
- doesn't work offline (can keep typing, but nothing saved). check out localstorage and appcache.
(2) can this be exported?
(3) is this publically searchable?
(4) how is this better than org-mode?
This fills a niche similar to Microsoft OneNote's, but with the complexity scaled down admirably. Great job.
Good job, well done!
Nitpick: The Read More section on the right seems a bit of a misfit for a product that seems to take away distraction. I found it irrelevant and distracting.
