

My first Mac App - a distraction-free note taking app - nocomp
http://www.lesen.co

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seferphier
Congrats on your first mac app!

Rather than spelling out features (or the lack of features), it is much better
to show them the features through screenshots on the page.

A link to a page dedicated to screenshots creates friction and the lack of
description can be confusing.

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nocomp
Good point. Do you know any good screenshots tool on Mac? I used the built-in
Grab on Mac.

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ra88it
SnapNDrag. Looks like they've got an app in the mac app store now, but they
also still have a free downloadable dmg, and it's totally worth taking a look.

BTW, did you mean "Rediscover the joy..." It says "Rediscovery the joy..."

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nocomp
Will give it a try. Is rediscovery a noun?

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jamestanderson
Yes.

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smb8282
This looks very similar to iA Writer: <http://www.iawriter.com/mac/>

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nocomp
Probably because of the light interface and the blue cursor. I still use iA
writer, but just for different purpose.

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plg
Looks like a nice app, congrats. Q: What are your thoughts about how similar
it looks to iaWriter? (<http://www.iawriter.com/mac/>) e.g. right down to the
blue color of the cursor bar ... and not to mention the website itself (load
the two side by side and have a look)

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epo
So, out of interest. What bit of this is original design or conception? It all
looks like a blatant plagiarism of iA Writer to me. "Different shade of blue",
FFS!

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mrjbq7
Congratulations! I love the idea and your execution is pretty great too, some
feedback below...

Bug reports:

\- If you create a new notebook, and then rename it using Right-click
"Rename", the drop down still shows the old name.

\- The app is called "Lenote" in the App Store, but "lenote" when you download
it (lowercase), these should be the same.

\- When you have no note selected, the "three bar" icon in the upper right can
still be activated but does nothing. Either don't show it, or don't make it
bold when you mouse over it.

Feature requests:

\- Can you make it work with a directory of text files? That way I don't have
to change my workflow, it becomes a better way to view and edit notes that
I've accumulated over time. Alternatively, could provide import/export
functionality.

\- Full-screen support.

\- When you have no note selected, it shows "No Selection" as the title, it
would be nice to allow a user to make a new note by changing the title, or
typing into the text area. Having to click "Notes" then "New Note" or Right-
Click "New Note" is awkward. Alternatively, a simple "New Note" button would
be nice.

Other comments:

\- Notes can have the same name as other notes, which is both nice and
confusing.

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nocomp
Thanks for the bug reports, will be solved in the next release.

Feature requests: 1\. it's on the feature list 2\. the main window support
full-screen, the note window doesn't 3\. Or you can simple press Command+N :)

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navs
Love it. I don't know if its any better than Byword, iA Writer, Mou or
Notational Velocity (Still my absolute favorite). But I do like the interface
and reminders feature. When I write, I like to keep my fingers on the keyboard
so it would be nice to have a keyboard shortcut for displaying the note's
details instead of clicking on the top right of the app. Also, how about an
alternative dark interface for those of us that prefer writing during the
night?

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nocomp
No one compare it with Evernote on Mac or the built-in notes? I made a few
dark themes actually, but dark color doesn't match the default popoever color.

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navs
My problem with both of those apps is the slow startup time. Notes.app startup
is annoyingly slow when iCloud is enabled and there's a large number of notes.
Evernote doesn't truly feel minimalist either. There's certainly a lot more
chrome.

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runawaybottle
I like your app. You're going to get some criticism for it looking a lot like
iawriter, but I think that's ok. A lot of people want a minimal note taking
app that has some modicum of sophistication (e.g searching notes).

Idea: Can we hide, or collapse the left side bar? That way we'll be able to
have a narrow window off to the right/left edges of the screen, much like the
notification pane in Mountain Lion.

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nocomp
Thanks, very encouraging :)

I was trying to implement that way, but instead I decided to let people open a
note in a separate window (Double click a note on the side bar) so there won't
be another button in the typing area.

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akhilravidas
Great app! I use everything from textmate to vim for taking notes on mac.

Looking forward to the sync feature. It will be helpful if the app allows for
creation of protected notes (I currently use encrypted text files `vim -x` to
create/store things like card info etc)

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nocomp
Thanks:) I used to use textmate for taking notes. A question, why do you want
a encrypted note? Is it because you also work on public computer?

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akhilravidas
No, i work on my own laptop. I encrypt these notes because: \- I dont want to
store them in plain text. It feels unsafe :) \- I want to copy paste my
card/account info easily so I still need them around on my laptop

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inglondon
Congratulations! The app is great and I have been using it for the last couple
of days.

One thing I would love to see is an option for strikethrough in addition to
bold, italic and underline. I'm using the app as my todo list and it would be
a great addition.

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sejordan
I stared at the landing page for a few seconds, waiting for it to do
something. Then, I clicked around furiously trying to figure out what I was
supposed to do. Then I accidentally scrolled down and found the content.

The landing page is a little confusing...

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nocomp
Probably because of bad network connection, try reload it.

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sejordan
It's because I can't see any content. My viewport is arguably smaller than
most since I don't auto-hide my dock...

Here is what I see: <http://i.imgur.com/HeProLG.png>

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oulipo
Very good app, you should get inspired by nvALT, for instance:

\- real-time filter as you search \- sync with Simplenote \- ability to show /
hide the sidebar \- show notes as a list above the note rather than on the
side \- show markdown as HTML \- bookmarks

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nocomp
Seems many people use simplenote, what's the differences between simplenote
and evernote? I haven't used simplenote.

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oulipo
It is text only, and there is a synchronization API

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notjustanymike
Nice app, I look forward to seeing it grow. Like some others have mentioned
here, I was left to hunt for screenshots. With something like note taking,
which has been reinvented hundreds of times, showing off your take on the UI
is very important.

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chaixiaoyin
I've been using your app for last few days, pretty awesome! Like the
simplicity. Good Job!

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lostfocus
I like it - is there a way to find the notes as (if possible text-) files or
maybe even set the directory where they are served? Would be awesome if I
could set it to the same Dropbox directory as NValt.

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nocomp
Notes are automatically stored in a database at /Users/{Your-
username}/Library/Application Support/Lesen.lenote/lenote.sqlite. I am working
on the cloud feature:)

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verandaguy
Very nice, minimalist, design. Just throwing this out there, but having you
considered adding syntax highlight modes, like emacs? This could be a great,
non-threatening text editor for new programmers.

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nocomp
Thanks. I did consider syntax highlight so we can put some code there. But
with this feature I don't know what Lenote is.

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tylerconscious
Very nice app here. Always have been interested in distraction-free writing
apps. And this compares well to the other senior ones.

Does it save documents automatically?

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nocomp
It does.

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unfletch
First thought: The screenshots could easily be mistaken for FoldingText
(<http://www.foldingtext.com>).

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wingerlang
That was my first thought too. Almost went looking too see if it was the same
creators, a "rebrand" or something like that.

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rohall
This looks great! Is it possible to backup or export notes? That's the only
thing stopping me from using it right now.

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nocomp
Will be available in the next release:)

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shane_mcd
Wow, I really like this. I'd pay $15 if it had the ability to write in /
import / export markdown.

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nocomp
I actually removed the feature, I wasn't sure people would want it.

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oneiros
This looks awesome but I'm too broke to run it. I only have a 32 bit mac.

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znake
Cool! I'd pay for markdown and simplenote sync support ;)

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nocomp
Yeah, many people asking for Cloud feature. I am working on that:)

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yoster
iCloud is a must for any note app. I definitely like putting something on my
iPhone then checking my iPad/iMac later in the day to read/edit it later on a
bigger screen. Congratulations on your app!

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jkrems
How does it compare to something like iA Writer?

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nocomp
why don't compare it to the built-in Notes or Evernote :)

