A Simple Note Taking Software - Which One? 79
pxlpushr asks: "I am a EE major turned CS major who never got over the habit of maintaining a log book. Lately I have been obsessing over the idea of moving all my log books (yes, I have many of them: one for each Computer at home and work, and a couple for my work) to electronic form. I have searched and searched and found nothing interesting. My needs are simple: I would like HTML format so that when I am viewing I can use a browser. It it is available for both Windows and Linux systems, that would be great. I am definitely not looking for something real heavy duty like 'Go Live'. It is too heavy for quick, frequent use of jotting down notes. It should be WYSIWYG software, should allow reasonable formatting options for the text and figures (gif/jpg) I include in the notes, and should provide facility to load up a template for the log and fill in the details into the template. The closest I came across was the freeware Keynote . But two problems: it supports only the RTF, no HTML support and no Linux counterpart. So my question to Slashdot denizens is, which note taking software do you use?"
Wiki (Score:3, Interesting)
I run a Wiki on a personal web site. So long as there is a netorked computer nearby I'm in business.
Our lab has been experimenting with a log-wiki too (Score:1)
We happen to be using plain phpwiki, because it's easy to deal with and including images in pages is simple, but any wiki backend should work.
One problem, though - if you anticipate needing the dated material in your logbook for some official reason (patent claims, oversight by a funding agency or supervisor, etc), then going electronic might be
Re:Our lab has been experimenting with a log-wiki (Score:2)
try wordpress (requires internet & browser) (Score:2, Informative)
Re:try wordpress (requires internet & browser) (Score:2)
http://www.greenparrots.com/ [greenparrots.com]
or
http://www.actionoutline.com/ [actionoutline.com]
I've used it for years, and have found competing products to be a little too disorganized. I like outlines, and this product does EXACTLY one thing well--outlines. This is how software should be.
Tuxcards (Score:2)
See here [tuxcards.de]
Personal Wiki (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Personal Wiki (Score:2)
It's a Ruby application that includes a webserver. It's fairly lightweight, SUPER-EASY to install, and runs on anything Ruby runs on.
http://instiki.org/ [instiki.org]
OTOH: My biggest problem with using a webapp for notetaking is a lack of control with the editor. You know, plain text can be viewed in a browser, so I suppose you could just use Emacs or vim or notepad. But then you don't get fancy formatting options...
Re:Personal Wiki (Score:5, Informative)
It's just a web page with java script. Nothing more. Variations on TiddlyWiki can be found all over the place. [google.com]
nvu (Score:5, Informative)
As for templates, I see the word in one of the menus, but in 10 seconds I couldn't get it to do what you're talking about. Maybe it does, or you can simply create your own blank log file which you then open and save for your various needs.
HTH
pffft... (Score:2, Funny)
just remember to say ">>notes
at the end of class
You know, like everyone else.
Re:pffft... (Score:2)
Re:pffft... (Score:1)
HTML Editor (Score:2)
Got a Mac? (Score:5, Informative)
Perhaps it's due to the high use of Macs in education, but other platforms really seem to lag behind in this area. WikidPad [jhorman.org] is a Windows application that's similar in design to VoodooPad, while Tomboy [beatniksoftware.com] is a very light-weight equivalent app for Linux. Unfortunately I have yet to discover an equivalent cross-platform note-taking tool.
GPL? (Score:2)
These don't seem to be gpl based software. Do you have any software suggestions with this kind of license?
I guess i am to cheap (still a student) to fork out money for software, but to honest to pirate it.
Re:GPL? (Score:1)
Vim (Score:2)
Re:Vim (Score:1)
ftp://ftp.vim.org/pub/vim/pc/gvim63.exe [vim.org]
Re:Vim (Score:2)
Thanks!
Re:Vim (Score:1)
http://cream.sourceforge.net/ [sourceforge.net]
is don, is good.
Re:Vim (Score:2)
PmWiki . . . (Score:3, Interesting)
* HTML format to view in web browser
Well, PmWiki is wiki software that relies upon a browser. The output will be HTML. The individual pages are in flat-files, and there are ways to retrieve the text without converting it into HTML.
* Available for both Windows and Linux systems
Works on IIS and Linux. Since it works in a browser, it should be cross-platform compatible. I have a script that tars up the source files so you can have off-server backups.
* Not heavy duty like 'Go Live'. It is too heavy for quick, frequent use of jotting down notes.
Wikis are ideal for writing. There are recipes in the PmWiki Cookbook that allow for a 'blog' type approach.
* WYSIWYG software
Hmm, almost. There is a "preview" tool. But, after you write wiki markup, it gets pretty close to WYSIWYG
* Reasonable formatting options for the text and figures (gif/jpg) I include in the notes.
Yep, and yep. You also have the ability to upload files, so you can archive documents and provide a link to said document on a page.
* Able to provide template (for log).
PmWiki allows for templates. PmWiki is different than other wikis in that it allows pages to be freely organized in groups. You can create a different template for each group. So, you can have "Logs" group that has a specific template. If you have standard reports, then you can have a similar group for them.
* Which note taking software do you use?
Depends. I use PmWiki when I want universal access (i.e., access from more than one computer). I use vi when I want quick writing for only one computer (I also use it to write up PmWiki pages).
I'm a law student, so right now I write a lot of notes. I tend to use PmWiki for them.
Re:PmWiki . . . web space (Score:2)
MS OneNote (Score:3, Informative)
Daniel
Re:MS OneNote (Score:2)
For those who haven't tried it, if you just scratch the surface (as I did), it's basically Word, but it has organization optimized for notetaking, and it doesn't fuss when you want to move your text somewhere else (just use the mouse), and you can just plop a drawing anywhere by just using the drawing tool. It lends itself well to doing on a computer what people do in notebooks.
Maybe there is one and I don't know about it, but one feature I was dying for was some toolbar or sidebar
Re:MS OneNote (Score:1)
Re:MS OneNote (Score:2)
It's really too bad it only seems to be available with the purchase of Tablet PC, though.
Re:MS OneNote (Score:2)
FWIW, I admit that I use one of the Office 2003 AIO CDs that are floating around the BT sites. They've got O2K3 Pro, OneNote, FrontPage, Visio, and Project Pro (all corporate, all working
pen & paper (Score:4, Insightful)
In my experience, having an additional layer between brain and note (the syntax of an electronic journal program, whether it's HTML or not) shorts out this process. (I'm reminded of the time I tried to use a tape recorder to record notes: I would just come up speechless.) Oh, and having your own clever electronic notetaking system really gets in the way when you meet your advisor and he wants to scribble herself.
But, if you don't want the benefit of my experience, here are the things I tried:
LaTeX. Easy, good looking output with simple math syntax (actually, I do something use LaTeX when I'm writing out complicated maths, instead of doing it by hand. Makes it easier to edit mistakes in a long formula.) My old college roommate does EVERYTHING in LaTeX (he's a mathematician now) -- all his notes, everything. He is also a little weird.
NoteTaker [macworld.com]. Cute "metaphors" that seem to get in the way of actually doing anything.
omnigraffle [omnigroup.com]. I thought I would use this to diagram various systems I was looking at. No go, too complicated to figure out.
In the end, I went with this [artstuff.net]. It's open source!
NVU (Score:1)
hnb (Score:2)
http://hnb.sourceforge.net/ [sourceforge.net]
It's by far above and beyond all notebook software I've ever used. It runs in the terminal and is curses based. So you can do cool stuff like run it in screen to share it with others. It stores text information in a simple heirarchy, just like when you take notes. It saves notes in a simple, straightforward XML format and it is extremely easy to export to HTML or anything else. If you want to export to something new, writing an XSLT or such to tra
Re:hnb (Score:2)
wiki running on localhost (Score:2)
Use ooffice quickstart (Score:2)
#!/bin/bash
while true
do
ooffice -quickstart
done
On Windows, enable the quick-start panel icon. I'm not sure about Mac OSX; it probably will work with the above script.
Re:Use ooffice quickstart (Score:2)
I'm willing to trade a 4-5M of memory to have OO.org start that much faster. As it's loading the 4-5M from disk to RAM that causes the most disruption. Between the splash screen
Re:Use ooffice quickstart (Score:2)
I personally use Leo (Score:2)
The reason I use it instead of folders to organize my notes is that I can "clone" a node (CTRL-`). This will duplicate a node and you can drag it into another part of your Leo document. The reason cloning is b
Re:I personally use Leo (Score:2)
While I was surfing for a better alternative to Leo I found there was no better alternative to Leo.
I also found out from this page [charter.net] that you CAN, sort of, put pictures and other kinds of files in Leo documents by naming a node:
@url [URL]
can be a http,mailto,ftp,file,etc.
I'm going to put my Leo files in a directory which also has an "images" folder. That way I can put images into my notes and still keep that wonderful cloning feature.
I'm also going to switch my bookmarks organizing ov
Text is simple... (Score:1)
Another angle (Score:3, Informative)
Another good option is EverNote [evernote.com] a more linear product. Quite snappy at what it does.
OneNote is worth a try, I have it but never use it, when weighed against the above two.
Hope it helps!
Tomboy (Score:2)
Re:Tomboy (Score:3, Informative)
A quick google search has found the following file, however (NOTE: I have not tested and cannot endorse use of this file):
http://www.polystimulus.com/UNSTABLE-tomboy-WIN32- 0.2.2-.tar.gz [polystimulus.com]
deviate from prompt (Score:2)
Re:deviate from prompt (Score:4, Insightful)
Yes.
I've run into this a few times, and while it doesn't piss me off the way it used to, I still find it frustrating.
While I agree that HTML isn't hard to learn, especially for what the poster was asking for (maybe 3 tags, total), it's not what he wants. He wants something like a notebook, where he can scribble down his thoughts as they come to mind, or jot down what he just did in case he needs to know later.
I tend to write my term papers in HTML, usually using vim, because my profs can't seem to agree on a format, and at least they can all read that. But, even now that I'm used to it, it breaks the flow of my thoughts to have to add a paragraph tag, or figure out how to make the thing insert a tab. Those few extra characters force you to switch your frame of reference from "written english" to "HTML code," which can slow you down and make a quick note kind of a hassle.
Re:deviate from prompt (Score:1)
<html><title>My Paper</title><body><pre>
And end with:
</pre></body></html>
But that kind of defeats the purpose.
SubEthaEdit (Score:1)
http://www.codingmonkeys.de/subethaedit/ [codingmonkeys.de]
would mindmaping work? (Score:1)
Livejournal. (Score:1)
They'll even timestamp, HTML format, and get it all straight.
-Hey, I have a great log, it's called my livejournal.
Personal Journal Software (Score:2)
Legal Pad (Score:1)
Really, though. Why?
Re:Legal Pad (Score:1)
To paraphrase Mark Renton^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H Obi-Wan Kenobi, it's an elegant tool for a more civilized time.
Re:Legal Pad (Score:2)
Emacs and MarkDown (Score:2)
I find that outline Mode in GNU Emacs works great. If you are wedded to the HTML output, consider Markdown [daringfireball.net]: the syntax is easy to learn, you can write raw text and get decently formatted output on the other side. And, if you decide to move to a wiki later, some (like WordPress [wordpress.org]) can support Markdown syntax, so no reformatting is needed.
Re:Emacs and MarkDown (Score:1)
The default keybindings kinda suck, but they can be easily changed.
Single panel outliners rule! (Score:3, Interesting)
OSX:
Omni Outliner
- Awesome Programmers at Omni
- Nice Outliner with very good config
NoteTaker
- Very good program full of many good features including:
-- XML file saves
-- HTML viewer (free)
-- Cross browser version expected hopefully this year.
Windoze:
Ecco
- Free PIM with excellent outlining UI
- No HTML support as it was written over a decade ago
- Has ton's of features but I only use it for my brainstorming, pseudocoding, requirements gathering todo lists, shopping lists
Linux:
There are quite a few *nix outliners but all that I've seen are very early in the development cycle and are best avoided for now.
For the time being, it would be best to just run Ecco over wine.
Rule - Avoid multi panel outliners as they are generally ugly abstracted interfaces. From a UI perspective, single panel outliners are the best way to go
JsD
TiddlyWiki (Score:1)
Very easy to use, though not WYSIWYG, the markup is easy enough to pick up.
abiword possibly (Score:2)
Unfortunately, Windows only (Score:2, Informative)
Got wi-fi? (Score:3, Interesting)
Behold, the power of G's.
Re:Got wi-fi? (Score:2)
VIM (Score:2)
Obviously it doesn't fit your criteria, (no WYSIWYG, etc.)
I tried a number of things and it came down to having a decent text editor. Organization is more important than the other fancy features in my situation, and being able to grep a years worth of notes to find something in seconds more than made up for the sacrifice of being text-only.
Have you tried a text editor? (Score:1)
If it must be WYSIWYG-html, give Mozilla's composer mode a try and type away.
If you need portability, try using a Slashdot Journal or equivalent. Plus, it's instant groupware when you need it.
My personal favorite journaling tool is still Ye Olde Graffite Writing Styck and a few leaves of wood-based papyrus substitute.
notes-mode (Score:1)
notes-mode for emacs (or xemacs) was designed for research log applications. Its real strength is automatic indexing, so when you have 10 years of notes, you can find what you care about.
See http://www.isi.edu/~johnh/SOFTWARE/NOTES_MODE/ [isi.edu]
Logitech io Digital Pen (Score:2)
I use JSPWiki (Score:1)
Knowit (Score:2)