Notes: Fast note-taking app, open-source, without Electron, built in Qt C++ | Hacker News Reader

Notes: Fast note-taking app, open-source, without Electron, built in Qt C++

github.com

144 pointsrubymamis51 comments

The window control buttons are on the wrong side on Windows. They're supposed to be on the right, but can be oddly found on the left.

Screenshot: https://jasper.monster/sharex/Notes_uQqYruhyFp.png

Developer here. You are right, we'll change this. In the meantime you can go to View -> Use native window frame, which will replace the custom window frame with Window's native one.

Aha, thanks! That looks a lot more native. I also noted some odd font size issues on Windows. See screenshot: https://jasper.monster/sharex/Notes_nHKYEEiHdW.png

The italics and bold are not the same font size as plain text?

Good catch! That seems to be a problem with a library we're using. I'll create an issue on Github and will try to fix that. Thanks!

I'm always on the looking for writing apps. Im hoping to someday to replace the editorial app on the IOS since it's no longer being maintained.

I was wondering about how the notes are stored. It looks database driven. Im really interested in keeping my notes in flat files because its easier to handle over the years. My question is are you using a database to store the notes instead of flat files? And thats great you have markdown support. Do you support YMAL headers?

I was curious about that too. Though if it’s a well organized SQLite database it wouldn’t be too bad.

I second this. I sync my md files via Nextcloud and want to be able to use various editors depending on the work I'm doing. Not fan of a db-based solution.

Hi! We are currently using a database. But since the request to work with flat files came up so many times I'll have to consider it. And yes, seems like QMarkdownTextEdit which we're using supports YMAL headers[1]

[1] https://github.com/pbek/qmarkdowntextedit/pull/58

Pros/cons vs. QOwnNotes[1]?

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QOwnNotes

Developer here. The most obvious thing is the attention to aesthetics and user experience. The entire point of Notes was to create an application that invites people to write.

This is why:

- As you type, unnecessary widgets disappear so you can focus on your text.

- The app doesn't allow you to customize much; there is a pre-defined selection of fonts.

- But at the same time, Notes is still powerful enough. The website demonstrate most of the features well: https://www.get-notes.com

I think this type of opinionated design makes people more focused.

"The more things you can do instead of writing, the more tempted you will be to do those things instead of putting words on the page."

You can also check my ideas for the future of Notes here: https://github.com/nuttyartist/notes/wiki/Vision.

Possible to import from Qownnotes for those who may want to switch?

Not yet, but we're going to implement importing from .txt files.

https://github.com/nuttyartist/notes/issues/316

"Microsoft Defender SmartScreen prevented an unrecognized app from starting. Running this app might put your PC at risk."

Yes. As open source developers we have to now pay Microsoft for the privilege of giving our software away for free.

Any cheap code signing certificate is sufficient.

Even then the software is still often flagged incorrectly.

That's weird. The app should have already gained enough popularity to be trusted by Microsoft Defender. I guess it needs more time. I will try to code sign it ASAP.

Looks cool.

First released in 2015?? Long time.

Are there any automations for, say, checkboxes/tasks/things to do?

I've been using Typora, which is good, fine-ish, but I don't like how it auto-expands the URLs of pasted images, and I wish there was some automation for a Task List -- I want to be able to check off a task, and have some cool animation/happy dance thing happen, then show that the task has been completed, tell me how smart and good looking i am, then either move it to the bottom of my list, or retire it to some 'completed tasks' list.

I'm back to using Windows Notepad for now on my new windows laptop. for now. it's not super-interesting, but it's blazing fast.

Yes, I started Notes in 2014 as a way for me to experiment with Qt and create an elegant-looking note-taking app for Linux.

No automation for tasks yet. There is an idea to create a revamp editor [1] that will make this easier. I get what you mean tho, it will be very satisfying to have an animation that shows a task has been completed.

[1] https://github.com/nuttyartist/notes/issues/317

Simplenote devotee here. This looks very similar so I'm intrigued. I like that you are adding folders as well as tags.

Only thing I really lack for in Simplenote is:

- Ability to find notes that have a certain combination of tags.

- Command palette type search with cmd+o/cmd+p/cmd+k

- Ability to open multiple windows in Mac

- More keyboard shortcuts

- Images is nice, but I'm afraid they make frequent backups larger and larger and syncs slower and slower, unless they are just a reference to a CDN maybe? This was my experience with Ulysses and I had to delete my photo notes.

I loved Simplenote, however from I could see the notes were not encrypted on the server.

I have moved to Standard Notes, which looks VERY similar to OP notes app.

Just this this: https://simplenote.com/help/#sync-encryption

> "I like that you are adding folders as well as tags."

I too appreciate this as well. I personally use folders as top-level categories, and tags to ensure easy search, so each has their valid use case for me.

I'm intrigued with your "fastness" claim. Can we objectively compare two note-taking app and see who's the fastest?

I made my own note-taking app here [1] (Autosaved to indexedDB, image paste support, markdown live preview support). Now, how can we objectively compare which one is the fastest?

[1] https://md.altilunium.my.id/

Hi! I was about to do an objective test against other note-taking apps but didn't have the time. I'll open an issue on Github and hope to get to it soon.

It reminds me of Bear on Mac.

Very nicely done, Qt is a great framework!

Thanks! Qt is great.

I use NoteKit[0], one of the nicest things about it is that a can paste an image and draw on it, simple yet useful. Does "Notes" offer the same functionality? And what about spell check?

Anyway, great project, I'll give it a try! :)

[0]: https://github.com/blackhole89/notekit/

Thanks! I just installed and checked NoteKit out. While the interface didn't look right (on ElementaryOS), I think the developer did a very good job in creating the editor. The clickable todo lists, the Markdown that disappears automatically, the drawings, image integration, etc. All things I want to implement in Notes as well[1]. And yes, spellcheck is also something I plan to implement[2].

[1] https://github.com/nuttyartist/notes/issues/317

[2] https://github.com/nuttyartist/notes/issues/320

Interesting but not surprising that "without Electron" is becoming a selling point of differentiation.

When one electron app can easily use 1GB RAM...

Regular user of this. Just wanted to tell you a big thanks and kudos for making this. One thing, I recently tried to update it using the in built updater but it told me that it could not find anything to open appimage file in my system...

Thanks for the kind words! Which Linux distro are you using? Did you manage to open the appimage yourself?

Don't see anything about importing existing notes into the app, is this possible?

Working on this: https://github.com/nuttyartist/notes/issues/316

Better still: let me operate on a regular, arbitrary directory (like QOwnNotes) and handle caching, indexing transparently and transiently.

I got so many requests for that, so I'll definitely consider this.

Super! It greatly reduces lock-in (burned too many times by this), facilitates interop (mobile apps!) and sync, backup, and all other integration that is possible with a mere directory in a file system :)

What are the possibilities of an Android app. Qt says it works on Android but not sure. A C++ dev here. How much of an effort would it be to port it to Android or do you see any blockers?

It's not much effort, a few days and it runs if you start from 0. I usually do all my Qt hobby projects for Win, Mac, Linux and Android (have no iPhone so I don't try). Just make sure you leverage QML's power for your GUI.

But eventually you have to rethink the user interaction and also deal a bit with layout changes for portray/landscape, manifest, permissions and stuff and stuff. Depends on your app how much work is here.

If mobile stuff gets complicated and you need to do a lot of custom things with device hardware maybe Felgo is worth looking at. It's a Framework for mobile development build on top of Qt/QML

Depends on what you want to do, note this information is outdated (back when Qt used to sell mobile licenses a couple of years ago).

If you are confortable doing the whole UI in QML and eventually creating your own JNI/Java wrappers for APIs not yet wrapped in Qt, it is doable.

The Qt Widgets are focused on desktop workloads, so they aren't much usable, you might even get a desktop looking dialog poping up.

If you really want to go with native Android UI route, then there isn't much help Qt can provide here.

Major blocker is that after all these years Google still doesn't provide any kind of tooling to improve JNI workflows, we only get the basic java -> header file generation tooling, e.g. javah.

Hi! I didn't develop for mobile yet, but it seems to me like it will take considerable time since we're not leveraging QML's power, and there seem to be a lot of differences between mobile and desktop. But maybe some mobile/QML developers can show me otherwise.

I didn't know Qt could look like this! Bravo

Thank you!

This didn't even run - I'm now worried of having run a malware.

All the Windows binaries were generated in a clean environment [1], although I created the installer on my machine (just packing the binaries) since we couldn't yet find a way to combine 32bit and 64bit in one installer using AppVeyor. We'll work on that.

[1] https://ci.appveyor.com/project/nuttyartist/notes

I would like to use Qt in personal projects but the one thing that prevents me to do it is the license. If I want to monetize an app, I must purchase the Qt license.

There's nothing in even the GPL (let alone LGPL) forbidding monetization, and the LGPL doesn't even require you to release your source code if you're dynamically linking Qt.

> and the LGPL doesn't even require you to release your source code if you're dynamically linking Qt.

Can you elaborate?

Sure.

The (L)GPL requires "derivative works" to be licensed under the same terms as the original. The LGPL contains an exemption for works which reference the original as a dynamic library (.dll, .so, .dylib, etc.), such that (unlike with the GPL) non-LGPL software can use LGPL libraries. In other words: if your program only dynamically links against Qt, then it is not a "derivative work" and therefore doesn't have to be licensed under Qt's own license terms.

Qt does have GPL modules that are expansions, like QtCharts. Any extra module, be careful to only choose LGPL.

Then what do you use?

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