The biggest problem with Notion IMO is the overuse of Emojis in written documentation. It serves little purpose unlike in conversations to convey emotions; here they’re primarily used as a decorative element. It’s the same in a lot of Javascript library docs on GitHub. Is it fine for a scrap book? Sure. I strongly believe it has no place in professional documentation or pretty much anywhere else.
Notion is perpetuating this idea that it’s cute to put distracting colorful symbols in text.
Actually, I disagree with your idea that emojis are distracting or not useful in documentation/page titles. I actually really like them, because if you use them well, they can be helpful for visually parsing through a bunch of pages quickly. You can use them as kind of "categories" (e.g.: :ladybug: for pages/database items that are about bugs) or to delineate which pages in a set of them are for different things while having to look at the least amount of information. (e.g.: :tear-off calendar: for calendar/todos/meetings, :desktop computer: for technical articles maybe, etc.)
Emojis that are more for adding flavor to conversations would be more stuff like: :shrug:, :thumbs up:, or :D. Though even there the thumbs up could potentially be used as a quick signal of approval in some way in tickets or documentation or whatever else. Visual aids are honestly great! I think they should be embraced more, though not going too far because little aids are helpful but tons and tons of stuff all over the place can get messy. As with pretty much everything, moderation is extremely helpful.
EDIT: HN seems to have eaten my emojis? Adding in text bits to the original post to indicate what I was trying to use.
I find them useful. On this page, for example, they are the equivalent of SVG icons.
This allowed me to rapidly scroll to the bottom of the page and parse the topics instantly in my head. Especially since they had a "legend" at the beginning in the overview section.
It's not as if they add :) and :P everywhere. They simply made the choice to skip custom icons that every single sites out there use and instead use a common set of icons (emojis).
As more and more apps and service use those, this make parsing those page very quick. I know that if I see a "globe with meridians" emoji, it's going to be about the internet, etc. That way, you don't have to learn a new set of icons for every site you go to.
A counterpoint: what if emojis are an evolution of our written language? It used to be time-consuming to draw complex, colorful characters onto paper, so our written language evolved away from them (although, some pictogram-based languages did emerge, 日本語, 中文). But with computer text, suddenly emojis are much cheaper to write, and are given consistent definitions. On top of that they can convey information in a way text can't. Am I crazy to expect them to take a bigger part in 'standard' digital communication?
My biggest gripe with Notion is how much is hidden behind hover states and how easy it is to change something without knowing. Seems to be a trend with productivity apps these days.
Well, when reading running text they are a distraction. They aren't parsed by the same part of your brain that parses text, and they require interpretation (and embody ambiguity). They are like the junk photo required by Medium for each post, only scattered through the text.
I happily use emojis when sending texts, making FB posts and the like, but I wouldn't put one in a comment here even if HN supported them.
I don't care about the "professional" aspect the OP mentioned, simply that they are cognitive junk that get in the way of reading a document.
That said, I also agree with the comment by camdez parallel to yours: "If that's the biggest problem, things must be going pretty well."
For a basic company wiki Nuclino is another option. It doesn't have all the features Notion does, but I loved the incredibly fast page loads and search. Notion feels pretty sluggish by comparison.
I know Notebag and Obsidian - both are more open-source, Obsidian is almost like a layer on top of your Markdown content you can leave in the file storage
Yes you can! And the best thing is you can draw data from your Notion workspace. If you're an active Notion user that means a different dimension compared to usual websites, which you need to update separately. This can just work as a set of public-facing pages for your own company or personal workspace.
Notion is perpetuating this idea that it’s cute to put distracting colorful symbols in text.