
Show HN: Make notes, mindmaps, diagrams online – for studying or brainstorming - cher14
http://breakdown-notes.com
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dandare
Very nice job! Just one advice if you don't mind - CANVAS is way much faster
for this purpose than SVG, check out
[https://www.wikibudgets.org/w/svk/hlohovec/2016/](https://www.wikibudgets.org/w/svk/hlohovec/2016/)
(and Drag&Drop editor
[https://www.wikibudgets.org/sankey/](https://www.wikibudgets.org/sankey/))

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cher14
those are some cool looking diagrams... Something to aim for I have been
thinking about using canvas because like you point out, its faster. However I
had not worked at all with the canvas and new something about d3.js and svg.
d3.js allowed me to use some dragging / events, which I could not have build
myself when i started out with this project. That was simply what tipped me in
to going with svg. To late to change now...And although there are times when
speed is an issue when using the map, its got more to do with some inefficient
programming from me.

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Moter8
Hello, you might want to work on the Call to Action button/link. For me there
was no clear indication where I should click to try it out.

Also, the text and logo at the left don't seem to be centered in the left
"region". It seems too close to the screenshot to me.

In the program itself, this
[http://i.imgur.com/I6oHv7c.png](http://i.imgur.com/I6oHv7c.png) seems really
confusing. The pointer makes it look like I can actually drag it, but that's
not possible.

~~~
cher14
great feedback, I get now how the pointer can be confusing, will change that
very soon. I will also take a look at a clearer 'to the map!' I have had more
feedback about this, and made some changes, but apparently not good enough.
Thanks!

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bbotond
I have been using yEd
([https://www.yworks.com/products/yed](https://www.yworks.com/products/yed))
for many years on the desktop and I've been looking for a decent online
alternative for almost as long.

This looks very promising, the only thing I miss is the ability to export as
an image.

Excellent work!

~~~
cher14
Thanks a lot! I am working on selecting a print region to export a map as pdf.
Will look into adding a feature to export as an image. What for you would be
the benefit of of exporting as image instead of as pdf ?

~~~
bbotond
PDF is great if you want to print but nothing beats the simplicity of a PNG
for displaying on a web page or inserting into a Word document.

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0x54MUR41
Cool project!

I usually use Draw.io [1] for making a flowchart and diagramming. Before that,
I used Microsoft Visio. But, online tools help me more because we can
synchronize our works in the cloud.

[1]: [https://www.draw.io](https://www.draw.io)

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jlgaddis
I was just looking for something exactly like this a few days ago -- to help
me plan out a large new project. I ultimately ended up doing everything on
paper, but I'm going to try it out anyways. Hoping for the best!

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jquip
This is great! I believe encryption is a must have if you want people to
ideate. Both group level and personal. Personal can be free and Group can be
monetized maybe?

~~~
cher14
Thanks for the feedback! What kind of encryption are you thinking about (don't
really know much about the topic). Do you mean secure online storage of notes
and maps you make ? Or actual encoding of stored maps or https ?

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parr0t
Definitely going to be trying this. It's almost exam time for me and I always
make mind-maps to help visualize and drive concepts home.

Good job!

~~~
cher14
Thanks! hope it helps and good luck with the exams.

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jmickey
Nice project! Is there a snap to grid functionality? Being able to easily
align a diagram is a must have for me.

~~~
cher14
Thanks. In the development-version there is snap to grid! Hopefully this will
be online someday next week. It will let you choose the delta for the grid.

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arc_of_descent
Great job! My current project involves a whole lot of SVG and I'm quite happy
with the performance. I'm using the Snap svg library and some hard coded SVG.
Perhaps d3.js is causing the dragging to slowdown? Have a look at SNAP.svg

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rajanchandi
Cool stuff. I'd have liked to see a signup box to leave my email.

~~~
cher14
Thanks for taking a look. can I ask what you expect after leaving your email ?
Would you expect a newsletter about more features, new examples etc ?

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TobalJackson
Multiplayer support planned? Being able to collaborate with a tool like this
is something I've looked for for a while.

~~~
cher14
Collaboration by saving and sharing maps / notes using github gist is
something I plan to make pretty soon.

Collaboration as in simultaneously working on the same map in some form or the
other is something I have been thinking about, but really have little idea
about implementing yet.

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mxuribe
So is this a sort of online alternative to MS Visio?

~~~
cher14
Well not exactly. It would be best described as a mix between MS one-note and
MS Visio and Powerpoint (coming soon).

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56k
I don't get the logo :-/

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cher14
Well, It's a buffalo breaking down your notes into manageable pieces.

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56k
Mmm... I'm not sure it works.

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yojex
What would you suggest instead? I think it looks well designed and clean, and
just as acceptable as any of the other myriad animal-based logos.

~~~
56k
I'm not a graphic designer, so I can't tell you what would work, but as a
potential customer I can tell you that one doesn't.

