
Show HN: A Markdown Notepad App - kenforthewin
https://github.com/kenforthewin/noted
======
Sendotsh
I've recently switched to using VSCode with these[0] two[1] extensions for all
my markdown notes (I completely live off extensive note-taking and have gone
through every single possible Markdown editor), and I couldn't be happier.

For the few devices where I don't have it installed, I use Mark Text[2] which
is free, open source, cross platform, and lets me edit the same notes (stored
locally, and synced to my NAS and OneDrive).

I truly don't understand why so many people are using centralised cloud sync
notes, giving up file system access to your files and any reliability that
you'll still have access to your notes in the future. People who are serious
enough about note taking to require a markdown editor in the first place
should be the same people who'd like to make sure their notes will still be
available a few years from now. Not to mention the handiness of having your
local filesystem when handling notes, eg being able to create a shortcut file
in a project directory to link to relevant notes in your notes folder, and do
that from multiple different project folders. Or being able to reorganise in
bulk, rename in bulk, search/replace, all that stuff OSes have been working on
for decades that <Insert Note App Startup> has listed in the TODO section of
their readme.

[0] [https://github.com/yzhang-gh/vscode-markdown](https://github.com/yzhang-
gh/vscode-markdown) [1] [https://github.com/mushanshitiancai/vscode-paste-
image](https://github.com/mushanshitiancai/vscode-paste-image) [2]
[https://github.com/marktext/marktext](https://github.com/marktext/marktext)

~~~
MattRix
I used centralized cloud sync notes (Notion) because it works well across all
my devices and I have to spend zero time maintaining it or otherwise managing
it, it just works (and improves over time without me doing anything!). I am
not worried about if the service ever shuts down, because I always have
exports/backups of my notes and can always roll my own service if needed.
There's really no downside to it.

~~~
darkkindness
I've been trying to get into Notion, but the biggest downside is that I can't
edit the markdown source of my documents nor can I use my own editor to edit
their documents. I'm not happy with Notion's editor -- for instance,
unindenting item 2 out of 5 of a bulleted list will move it down to item 5 for
some reason. I guess I could export documents to markdown, edit, and reupload,
but at that point I'm just using Notion as cloud data storage.

edit: Didn't mean to criticize so much! I've found Notion is great for taking
nice plain text notes on the go that I can instantly access on my other
devices. In the past I achieved this with Syncthing, but Notion's syncing is
much less finicky, and fast -- it takes less than a second to sync! Plus
there's a share menu.

------
pgcj_poster
There seem to be about a million markdown writing apps, but I don't really
understand why they're useful. Granted, I'm someone who writes Java in Vim,
but Markdown seems like the one language that's most suited to a simple text
editor. It's is already so ergonomic and transparent that I can't really think
of anything that would make it easier to write barring an AGI that could
decide the words to put down for me. I don't often find myself needing to
preview markdown while I'm writing it. I don't think I even really get much
out of syntax highlighting. Are there actually a lot of people who get value
out of this sort of app?

~~~
qwerty456127
> There seem to be about a million markdown writing apps

And every single one is built on Electron, takes hundreds of megabytes to
install, some gigabytes to build while claiming to be "minimal".

> I don't really understand why they're useful

The rendered view usually looks eye-candy which is a factor of inspiration.
E.g. I experience immediate emotional reward as soon as I write something in
Typora, it feels like calligraphy while is effortless. It's a dopamine trigger
which can encourage you to structure and write the stuff down which is good
for productivity.

This also means you can produce pretty-looking structured documents while
storing them in a concise format which is trivial to both read and to process
on almost every machine. You can also use a script to turn an markdown it into
a beautiful print-ready PDF by means of LaTeX.

I've even switched to Typora from MS Word.

Needless to say it is particularly convenient to publish Markdown on GitHub
pages.

> Markdown seems like the one language that's most suited to a simple text
> editor

It is, by design, yet rendered view is more pleasure to write and to read.

~~~
robbya
[https://typora.io/](https://typora.io/)

------
pault
These apps all seem really similar, but the app that has finally solved all of
my needs is inkdrop[0]. It supports all the major desktop platforms, and has
iOS and Android apps as well (although fairly basic and not as slick as more
established mobile note taking apps). Automatic note syncing (self hosted or
as a paid subscription), great notebook and tagging support, in-editor type
styling based on markdown tokens (I love that changing a headline level
changes the font size, which you don't get in an IDE), and plugin support
which includes a pretty decent vim emulation. It has worked flawlessly from
the start for me and I always have it open on all of my machines. It's an
electron app, so it's not as snappy as a native editor, but I think it's a
good trade for the speed of development and cross platform feature set. I'm
not affiliated with the project, just a very happy customer.

[0] [https://inkdrop.app/](https://inkdrop.app/)

~~~
bachmeier
Costs more than Notion - is there something that justifies that price? This is
getting to be a competitive space (Evernote, Workflowy, and Dynalist are some
of the others).

------
doomrobo
If you're looking for something like this with vim bindings and functionality,
I really like VimR

[https://github.com/qvacua/vimr](https://github.com/qvacua/vimr)

~~~
hyperpallium
There's a couple of md syntax highlighters for vim, that show rendered version
(e.g. this _) and hide the markdown syntax, unless your cursor 's on it (e.g.
_ this *). Esp neat for links, showing text without url.

TBH I haven't used it as an editor, just to read md offline (e.g. curl a
github readme.md).

------
Razengan
For those who avoid Electron, there's MacDown:

[https://github.com/MacDownApp/macdown](https://github.com/MacDownApp/macdown)

~~~
mjcohen
I really like MacDown except that, every so often, it freezes and shows the
spinning beach ball for ten seconds to a minute, and then proceeds.

I primarily use it for MathJax for math.stackexchange.com.

An alternative is moeditor.

------
maxbaines
Not to forget VsCode, which has markdown support and preview.

~~~
runjake
More info, if you're curious, like I was:

[https://code.visualstudio.com/Docs/languages/markdown](https://code.visualstudio.com/Docs/languages/markdown)

Neat.

------
maksim-m
I can recommend Joplin app. [https://joplinapp.org/](https://joplinapp.org/)

It's:

\- Free and open-source

\- Cross-platform

\- Support end-to-end encryption

\- Synchronization via NextCloud or Dropbox

\- Allows you to import notes from EverNote

\- Has a web clipper

~~~
jszymborski
You can also sync to the filesystem. I do this so I can use syncthing to
synchronize my notes w/o the cloud and duplicati to back them up :)

------
mStreamTeam
How does this compare to Joplin?

[https://joplinapp.org/](https://joplinapp.org/)

------
innocentoldguy
I've tried a bunch of markdown editors and writing tools (Ulysses, Ia Writer,
Byword, etc.). I keep coming back to Vim for writing and Marked 2 for
previewing and converting to PDFs, HTML, Word, etc. Is Noted just another
markdown editor written in Electron or does it bring something truly unique to
an already crowded field?

------
awill
Right now I use Ulysses on my work Mac, JotterPad on Android and Typora/Caret
on Linux. All sync'd on Google Drive. Ulysses is far and away better. I wish
there was some equivalent on Android or Linux. I.e., native, fast, pretty,
let's you just use a regular folder enabling syncing with any service/app.

------
tracer4201
I appreciate apps like this, but each time I’ve tried a simple editor like
this, especially for the markdown support, I end up not using it more than a
few times because organization becomes messy.

~~~
sgallant
I had the same problem but started using
[https://bear.app/](https://bear.app/) because the search is so good. I add
new notes multiple times per day (mostly meeting notes) and don't worry about
organization since the search is so great. I love it and even pay a few bucks
per month for it. It's kinda like my digital brain.

~~~
tracer4201
This app seems really nice, but I certainly can’t use it for work (at least
without written approval).

I’d love something of this caliber that is open source. Maybe I should write
one myself :)

------
haasted
If you’re searching for functionality like this, I recommend you also check
out Boostnote. ([https://boostnote.io/](https://boostnote.io/))

~~~
Meph504
Seems lame that to download an open source app, I need to provide them my
email address?

~~~
threatofrain
It is a bit irksome but you can just type a nonsense email address to get the
download link right away.

[https://boostnote.io/?email_registered=true#download](https://boostnote.io/?email_registered=true#download)

------
shishy
So many markdown apps but the basic Apple Notes has been doing the trick.

I recently discovered Bear App, which was a nice alternative to Apple Notes,
but just wish it was offered on Linux :(

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Cub3
Have been using fsnotes for a while (MacOS / iOS) for this, syncing it with
iCloud

[https://fsnot.es](https://fsnot.es)

------
mfro
if you guys want a MD editor that's not a bloated electron mess as most are
try out ghostwriter (
[https://github.com/wereturtle/ghostwriter](https://github.com/wereturtle/ghostwriter)
) i've tried pretty much every single choice and this is what i'm using now

------
prakis
A free online editor [https://markdown.site/](https://markdown.site/)

------
dlystyr
Great work. I use a few paid for IDE's. But I think I just found my new
Markdown editor. Thank you!

edit: I love electron btw

------
dogweather
Nice idea, using the vim-like "i" and Esc to switch between modes.

