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Communications Software

A Simple Note Taking Software - Which One? 79

Posted by Cliff from the they-have-to-go-somewhere dept.
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?"
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A Simple Note Taking Software - Which One? More

A Simple Note Taking Software - Which One?

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  • Wiki (Score:3, Interesting)

    by the eric conspiracy ( 20178 ) on Tuesday June 21, 2005 @06:33PM (#12876615)

    I run a Wiki on a personal web site. So long as there is a netorked computer nearby I'm in business.

    • We've got some multi-user equipment with a shared log book which many people need to access, and a wiki on an internal password protected site seems to work fine.

      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
  • www.wordpress.org
  • Tuxcards? Works well on KDE, I'm sure you could compile it on Windows if you really had to. Exports to html.

    See here [tuxcards.de]

  • Personal Wiki (Score:4, Informative)

    by XCorvis ( 517027 ) on Tuesday June 21, 2005 @06:38PM (#12876653)
    Sounds like you're looking for a personal wiki. WikidPad [jhorman.org] is Windows only, but I've seen others that are multi-platform.

  • nvu (Score:5, Informative)

    by reznet ( 191440 ) on Tuesday June 21, 2005 @06:42PM (#12876681)
    sounds like you're looking for a lightweight html editor. I recommend nvu [nvu.com] which is a cross-platform wysiwyg html editor that's based on mozilla's rendering engine. I've used it for writing documentation as I code; I'll return later and clean it up. It supports gif/jpegs, css, and all the html goodies you'd expect from mozilla.

    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)

    by Lord Bitman ( 95493 )
    just open bash at the begining of class and start typing: $ echo "The history of roman macaroni art originated with the rise of phillial nostalgics within those things in which amongst themselves were forever between the scrawled text of a man who should probably be saying 'foo' instead of all this...
    just remember to say ">>notes
    at the end of class

    You know, like everyone else.
  • I mean, you want it to output properly formatted HTML, right? Why not just use a WYSIWYG HTML editor? There are tons to choose from on whatever platform you care to use.

  • Got a Mac? (Score:5, Informative)

    by delete ( 514365 ) on Tuesday June 21, 2005 @06:51PM (#12876746)
    Probably not the answer you're looking for, but I've found that OSX has an abundance of high-quality low-cost note-taking software.
    • VoodooPad [flyingmeat.com]: An excellent WYSWIG Wiki-like notebook
    • Circus Ponies NoteBook [circusponies.com]: A visually impressive note-taking app that looks like a real lab notebook.
    • Hog Bay Notebook [hogbaysoftware.com]: Similar to the above, but lightweight and with IMHO superior outlining facilities.
    • PersonalWiki [scheirich.info] : A desktop interface to the web-based ZWiki.
    • Devonthink [devon-technologies.com]: A note/snippet/document management system, which includes semi-supervised classification algorithms.

    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.
    • I have a mac, and I looked at your links.
      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.
      • I'd recommend Voodoopad Lite [flyingmeat.com]. It's not open-source, but it is free as in beer. You can always upgrade to the professional version of Voodoopad for $25 later on.
  • Or notepad.exe if you are in front of a windows machine.

  • PmWiki . . . (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Dausha ( 546002 ) on Tuesday June 21, 2005 @06:53PM (#12876761) Homepage
    I highly recommend PmWiki if you have a web-server. It is both Apache (Linux) and IIS friendly. Responding to your requirements:

    * 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.

  • MS OneNote (Score:3, Informative)

    by KDan ( 90353 ) on Tuesday June 21, 2005 @06:58PM (#12876805) Homepage
    Have to go with MS on this one, though I wouldn't normally. OneNote is solid, feature-packed, quick to use, and allows you to organise those notes so that you can find them again.

    Daniel
    • I'll drink to that.

      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
    • i agree onenote is very versatile scratchpad--but it lacks outlining features. i wouldn't call it an outliner.
    • Concur! I didn't have any trouble using the outlining features, and I particularly liked the audio recording functionality. If you type notes as you record the audio, then when you play the audio back, your notes are highlighted at the same time relative to the audio track that you typed them. Really, really handy.

      It's really too bad it only seems to be available with the purchase of Tablet PC, though.

      • OneNote is available without a TPC, FWIW. Just go to http://www.microsoft.com/office/onenote/howtobuy/ d efault.mspx [microsoft.com], and it'll give you an order link. $100 for non-academic, though. It's certainly more useful on a TPC, but it works on an ordinary laptop as well (not very useful on a desktop, but it could be used on one).

        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)

    by sdedeo ( 683762 ) on Tuesday June 21, 2005 @07:01PM (#12876832) Homepage Journal
    I tried, multiple times, to go electronic with my notebooks (I'm a grad student in astronomy.) It never panned out, mainly because paper and pen are just way more convenient and have that "scribble" factor: you can get things down without being quite sure what you're trying to say. Later, you can write things up in "proper" form (which for me is LaTeX.)

    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 is avaiable for win32 and linux, and should be sufficient for your task..

  • hnb (Score:2)

    by Apreche ( 239272 )
    hnb, the heirarchical notebook.
    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
    • I used hnb for a while, then realized I could do everything hnb does and more using TVO, the vim outliner, and not have to learn a new set of key bindings.
  • Others have mentioned various web-based things like wikis and wordpress, etc. If you don't want to have to worry about a wired connection, then you could run a lightweight webserver on your laptop, with the wiki or whatever running locally. And you'd still probably be using less system resources than MS Word or whatever. :)
  • Why compromise? Use OpenOffice with the quick starter; you can be jotting a note (or using any of the OO applications) in 2-3 seconds. Just run this little script as a background process when you start your session on Linux:

    #!/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.
    • That's a pretty good trick. They really should write a better version (ooffice --stayResident, ooffice --restartResident, and a ooffice --killResident) or something. As your script consumes a bunch of CPU and memory when you close the last of the OO.org window. Then possibly incorporate that into a toolbar icon for Gnome/KDE.

      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

      • I think they plan on providing a panel icon for linux (Gnome/KDE), but it isn't done yet. The quickstart keeps the OO common code resident (which is what is really consuming the resource). The script is stopped between idle periods - it only gets control when you close the last OO window to reload the common code. If you use OO frequently, and can afford a few MB of RAM overhead (there's no CPU overhead), it save a lot of time.
  • Leo [charter.net] is an "outliner" for programmers but it doesn't have to be used like that. On your screen it just looks like a Windows or Mac folder browser, only they're not called folders but outlines or nodes. Every outline has text inside of it, or you can "hang" other outlines under it for more organization.

    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
    • Oh, another thing.

      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
  • ...and you can read it in a web browser if you like. :) I use the most basic text editors (nano, ee, etc depending on which system I'm using) for quick jots saved as text files. Super simple, quick and easy.

  • Another angle (Score:3, Informative)

    by MadChicken ( 36468 ) on Tuesday June 21, 2005 @08:03PM (#12877283) Homepage Journal
    I like FreeMind [sourceforge.net] for taking phone notes. It lets me put things down immediately even though I don't yet know the full context, then drag and drop later. It's Java, so it's portable, and the .jar is pretty small, if that's an issue.

    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!
  • Maybe Tomboy http://www.beatniksoftware.com/tomboy/ [beatniksoftware.com] would fit the bill... Its written in mono, so maybe it would be portable to windows, and it serves as a wiki-like note organizer. I'm not sure if it stores its files in html, but it looks like it could.
  • Really, why WYSIWYG? True, that's what the poster is asking for, but there are easier ways to do things. For example, one can write HTML. Perhaps the author is just spoiled, but it's a really easy language to master; he's a CS major and should have no trouble with that. Also, there's always TeX. Am I simply misunderstanding what he's asking for?

    • Re:deviate from prompt (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Carik ( 205890 ) on Wednesday June 22, 2005 @09:30AM (#12880222)
      Am I simply misunderstanding what he's asking for?

      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.
      • Well, you could Just start each paper with:

        <html><title>My Paper</title><body><pre>

        And end with:

        </pre></body></html>

        But that kind of defeats the purpose.
  • SubEthaEdit is good (if you have a mac). The best part about it is the ability to take notes in a group via bonjour.

    http://www.codingmonkeys.de/subethaedit/ [codingmonkeys.de]
  • freemind [sourceforge.net] is a good peice of mindmapping software I use. It exports HTML, and you can enter your notes in HTML if you start the first line with <html>
  • get a www.livejournal.com account and just post there.

    They'll even timestamp, HTML format, and get it all straight.
    -Hey, I have a great log, it's called my livejournal.
  • I'm not sure if it's been said already, but this [slashdot.org] works pretty well.
  • What's wrong with using a regular old legal pad? I don't understand why notes have to be "digitized", or displayed in HTML. Every other student I know writes notes in notebooks or legal pads...

    Really, though. Why?

    • Man, I wish I didn't blow all my mod points on the earlier Batman discussion, because you certainly deserve some. If I went to visit a client (or even a sales prosect for that matter) and whipped out a laptop while we were talking, the first thing I'd here is, "what the fuck are you doing?!?!" A pad of paper is unobtrusive.

      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.
    • I use an "upgraded" version of the above, namely notepad.exe - while I use Crimson Editor for my other tasks which require a good text editor nothing beats notepad.exe (or similar depending on your OS) for quick and easy note taking.

  • 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.

    • I second outline mode in emacs. I've used it quite well in classes. Doesn't let you jot down drawings, but that's ok.

      The default keybindings kinda suck, but they can be easily changed.

  • Single panel outliners rule! (Score:3, Interesting)

    by JPyObjC Dude ( 772176 ) on Wednesday June 22, 2005 @12:33AM (#12878616)
    The best outliners to user are:

    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 ... although some people do like windoze interfaces ... :]

    JsD
  • I would certainly reccomendd TiddlyWiki, I've been using it here at work for the past month or so. It is an excellent way of keeping track of meetings and other pieces of information, and the fact that its a Wiki is ace (wiki words between documents...great).

    Very easy to use, though not WYSIWYG, the markup is easy enough to pick up.
  • when i was in grad school (MA Education), I had to take copious notes and since my handwriting is awful, I ended up using my ibook (plus the wifi was nice to surf in boring classes!!). I tried appleworks but it is really bad. I don't like word and OO.org is too large, so I ended up using abiword (abisource.com). It runs on os x, linux, and windows, has great file compatibility, is small and runs fast, plus exports to html nicely. plus, the outline features are nice. it is open source too.
  • If you want a WYSIWYG Wiki try Perspective [high-beyond.com] - which is Open Source (GPL). Note: I am the author, I do use my own private instance for personal note taking.

  • Got wi-fi? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Wolfger ( 96957 ) on Wednesday June 22, 2005 @08:09AM (#12879755)
    If you can access the net, take your notes in Gmail. Gmail is pretty nifty for that. Simply type up an e-mail (HTML formatting) and save it as a draft. One-click note-taking. Or, with a bit more effort, send it to yourself, and set up labels and filters to categorize your notes.
    Behold, the power of G's. :-)
    • It's always nice to hear from the "Everything Google has ever made is automatically the greatest thing since its sliced bread euivalent" camp.... (Don't get me wrong, Google's search engines and maps are great, and while I've never used Gmail, I'm sure it works great FOR USING EMAIL) I don't see the point of using an email system for storing notes. If you only need access from one computer, just use text or html files. If you need a web-based system, why not use something like Yahoo Notepad, which is design
  • You asked what software we used... so I use vim.
    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.
  • I'm not joking.

    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.
  • Although it doesn't not support HTML or images,
    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]
  • I've been using a Logitech Digital Pen for a while now. I'm pretty happy with the compromise between a real pad and having a digital copy of what I wrote. The recording made by the pen is of excellent quality. Feel free to check it out [logitech.com].
  • I run two copies of JSPWiki (jspwiki.org), one on my laptop and one on the server. When I'm offline, I put the notes in the local JSPWiki instance. When I get plugged back into a network, Unison syncs the two file systems up and I'm good to go. A wiki is the way to go. Easy formatting, search, page linking, etc. I think I've become about 50% more productive because I can find things.
  • Knowit is one of those small, yet well designed and enormously useful applications- I've used it for taking notes on new subject matter. You can get it here [sourceforge.net]. Once you have all your notes organized, it can export them to HTML.

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