
Show HN: Braindump, a simple note platform to organize your life - levlaz
https://github.com/levlaz/braindump
======
coleifer
This looks very similar to the app I blogged about in a series of "Saturday
morning hacks" posts. That app did notes, tags, to do lists, email reminders,
and used sqlites full text search extension to provide high quality search.
Also used markdown and oembed for rich media magic!

[http://charlesleifer.com/blog/saturday-morning-hack-a-
little...](http://charlesleifer.com/blog/saturday-morning-hack-a-little-note-
taking-app-with-flask/)

~~~
meesterdude
what happened to said app? are you still using it or developing for it; or was
it just a side project for a few weekends?

~~~
coleifer
I use it all the time, something like 3000 notes now! I integrated a
bookmarking app with it (search for bookmarking on my blog if you're curious)
so it's a mix of bookmarked pages, notes, to do lists, reminders, and recently
I've been tracking my dreams with it. Fun stuff!

------
ninjakeyboard
Some feedback.

If the first word is eg:
<seeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee>
Lines are not broken but run over. should have the appropriate markup in the
preview imo. Lists show up on a single line of text. Not sure if there is a
better way to present that though.

Is standard Markdown used? I noticed that a new line can show up as a list
item if a hanging '*' exists

Hitting enter multiple times keeps the editor indented. Not sure if that's
what I expect to see.

The link to the article should exist on the text in the overview imo - I don't
want to have to click the title to see the note.

~~~
auvrw
incidentally, and in a maybe interesting analogy, the comment a/b line-break
behaviour itself just demonstrated that the same behavior occurs in hn
comments on mobile: have to side scroll to read all comments on this entry

~~~
johnchristopher
Well. It also happens on Firefox Desktop.

------
threatofrain
I think that you should put the pictures you've placed in Github on your front
page. I feel hesitant to sign up for something when I don't see any pictures.

~~~
levlaz
I made a demo account if you want to check it out:

test@example.com/demo

~~~
avk
you misspelled "test" as "tets" on the sign in page

~~~
levlaz
Thanks! Fixing now :)

------
georgeoliver
levlaz, could you say a little bit about what makes this different from other
note apps? What are the pros/cons?

~~~
levlaz
Right now not much, just basic functionality.

But I have this vision in my mind of what a note platform is supposed to be
and unfortunately I have not found it yet. My favorite note tool was emacs
org-mode so a lot of the things that I working on now draw from that.

Mainly:

1\. Full Markdown Support 2\. Easy way to make TODOS (and track them across
notes) 3\. Easy way to take meeting nots from a calendar invite. 4\. Native
Clients that actually work and sync, you should be able to see, edit, and make
notes anywhere you are. 5\. Open Source :)

# 2 -- will be implemented soon. # 3 -- will be implemented soon and should
work with ANY calendar provider.

Right now Braindump is just a basic framework that I hope to use to accomplish
all of those goals.

~~~
shiz
What did you miss in org-mode that your tool is going to have? I can't think
of anything, so I don't really know what benefits your tool provides compared
to org-mode.

~~~
levlaz
Great point, org-mode is perfect. But a lot of the world is missing out of
org-mode because they dont know about emacs and don't want to learn. :)

~~~
NoGravitas
I love org-mode, but I've just declared org-mode bankruptcy for my personal
to-do lists and life projects. With my life being as busy as it is, I'm now
rarely in front of a full computer with a keyboard when I'm at home, so
keeping my home projects in emacs is not as appealing as it was 10 years ago.

I've tried running emacs on android -- too much friction for simple tasks that
should be quick.

I've tried mobile-org; the workflow is painful.

I've tried orgzly. It's almost workable. Maybe when it gets folding, and I can
simplify my syncing scenario.

For the time being, I've dumped stuff into Mirakel and ownCloud Notes...will
see how it goes.

------
bobbles
Is there a way to try it without registration?

~~~
levlaz
I think the best way would be to run it locally. :/

I _should_ set up a demo site. Thanks for the feedback.

------
djhn
I look forward to replacing Evernote with something, and I find the idea of
Emacs org-mode for dummies great.

~~~
levlaz
Awesome, glad I am not the only one :D

------
meesterdude
Great work! keep it up.

The screenshot in the git repo would look better with real usage instead of
test posts. And notebooks should show how many are inside without having to
click through first.

~~~
levlaz
Thanks so much for the feedback, noted!

------
yazriel
Can you please comment on the UX ? Which libraries / frameworks u r using ?

The design looks slick and professional

~~~
levlaz
Wow, thanks for the compliment -- the Ui is still very much a work in
progress.

There is nothing too special going on right now, its basic bootstrap with a
little bit of customization thrown in here:

[https://github.com/levlaz/braindump/tree/master/app/static/c...](https://github.com/levlaz/braindump/tree/master/app/static/css)

Some JS libraries of note are:

Ace - the Editor Marked - for Markdown Rendering Bootstrap-Tagsinput - for the
tags

UPDATE:

Most importantly :) -- all of the icons are Glyphicons that can be found here:
[http://getbootstrap.com/components/#glyphicons](http://getbootstrap.com/components/#glyphicons)

------
kapv89
Anyone looking for a decent note platform, just use google keep, it works like
a charm :)

~~~
levlaz
I like google keep, but Markdown is a must for me.

------
xixixao
Don't set up a demo site. Make it so that I can use the app with data backed
by LocalStorage until I decide to sign up.

~~~
nothrabannosir
Dangerous idea; you lower the motivation for users to register, and when one
accidentally clears their history they may become so disappointed they won't
restart using your app.

Doesn't matter who's to blame--they're still sad.

Everything has its pros and cons, this idea is not self-evidently better.

~~~
xixixao
Yep, I agree. You can elevate that risk but making it clear in the UI that
your data is not being saved on the server.

If you are the kind of person who clears their LocalStorage often, I think you
know what the risks are.

------
mrbtie
Trello, anyone?

~~~
blowski
I'm not really sure what you mean by that. The interface is very different
from Trello, as is the UX, and this is open source self-hosted.

Sure, Trello is great for organising yourself, but it's not the be all and end
all.

------
JonoBB
Not sure if I am missing something here, but this is the kind of thing that
could be created in a few hours from scratch. There are multiple UX
bugs/errors and the UI is nothing to write home about either.

Not trying to be snarky or bitchy; honestly wondering why this is on first
page HN?

~~~
meesterdude
> this is the kind of thing that could be created in a few hours from scratch

Yes and no. There is opinion that needs to drive the design and feature set;
if this was using stock bootstrap I would be much more inclined to agree with
you, but there is definitely some thought and care put into whats there and
why. I don't agree with all of it, but it's not haphazard or careless, and is
not something i found myself scoffing at for being overly simple or boring.

Second, it was submitted for feedback and the author has been receptive to it;
not everything on HN needs to be a major news headline. The author also
started a development blog for it, and as a project it can hit close to home
in one way or another for many HN'ers. Building things is hard, and I think we
do well as a community to support people who share what they're up to.

As someone who's not afraid to flag, I didn't find this unreasonable or
unworthy of HN. But, you are welcome to feel differently.

~~~
levlaz
This made my day, thank you for the awesome comment. :)

