Show HN: A free alternative to Typora –– IF | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: A free alternative to Typora –– IF

if.openages.com

11 pointsmatrixages66 comments

I think you should disclose that it is freemium and not FREE. Typora is a one-time buy of $15; the app here, IF, is $3 /mo.

Personally, I have gone through so many productivity note-taking apps that mine are now plain-texts[1] with a tool that can read them. Of course, the texts are spiced with a tad of Markdown for readability and for the tools to make it easier on the eye. Right now, I'm with Obsidian.[2] However, I can move to any tool that does not chew up my content but just does its thang on top of it.

I also use iA Writer[3] a lot when picking out just a single file to focus on.

1. https://brajeshwar.com/2022/plain-text/

2. https://obsidian.md

3. https://ia.net/writer

In fact, IF's Note module is entirely free, while other modules have limitations. You should understand this first before refuting, instead of assuming it's not free just because there's a price tag.

Hey, hey! I'm extremely sorry if I hurt your feelings. I didn't mean that. Coming from another designer, developer, builder, I might have reacted similarly when my product had a different reaction than I expected.

Honestly, I wish you success and help others who depend on such tools for their well-being and productivity.

Treat mine as feedback after using so many similar tools in my life. Thus, I have turned to solving problems with patterns, processes, and systems and then layer tools on top — not starting with the tools.

IF is a new thing for everyone, and it carries a big goal, with less than 30% completed so far. I was previously the co-founder of Yao App Engine. I developed IF to bring low-code in a simple and easy-to-use way to end-users, and it can be used offline, just like Excel and Word.

I'm puzzled why this is headlined as an alternative to Typora.

I'm a happy, paying Typora (on macOS) customer. Looking at the linked page, I would never have guessed that IF is at all a Typora competitor.

I love Typora because it is a great, flexible WYSIWYG-ish Markdown editor (at least for me), and that is how it bills itself: “A minimal Markdown editor and reader.”

The linked page about IF doesn't mention Markdown at all… but it does mention things like “todo” and “pomo” and “schedule”. What do those have to do with editing Markdown?

It has a Markdown editor in the second tab on the left sidebar. I downloaded it to try and delete it right away. Not my type.

I was a long-time fan of Typora, too, while using it alongside iA Writer. The later won for me as it has a good iOS companion. But I'd be lying if I did not mention that my default is, well, Apple Notes.

Your site doesn’t explain your product very well. I know about GTD but I literally haven’t heard of any of the other products listed in the page. The screenshots are tiny and hard to parse on mobile. The descriptions of each feature include many paragraphs of philosophy before getting to what it actually _does_. I suggest “bottom line up front” and a clearer description of the product that better appeals to people who haven’t tried alternatives before.

Thank you for the feedback, I will optimize the content of the document.

The "doc" page starts off with about 800 words of philosophy. At first I thought it was AI generated, but it's too strange and rambling.

https://if.openages.com/doc

Excerpt:

> In the process of biological evolution, gene mutation is the main source of biological evolution, and the "mutation connection" of neurons is the main source of promoting the "thinking evolution" of the human brain. Two nerve cells that have never been connected suddenly "have a call" at a certain moment. Real life is repetitive, monotonous and boring. You can come into contact with new things and have new experiences. It is a low-probability event. Therefore, from the perspective of probability theory, this "sudden call" requires huge energy and is a low-probability event. It must have unique value.

Of course it's not generated by AI. These emotional expressions are my heartfelt words, which AI can't produce too many of.

AI is very good at generating this kind of word vomit.

This is the "underlying reason" for building this feature. As a developer, I need a starting point when creating something. You might consider this starting point philosophical, but for users, they don't need a tool that converges; they need a lifestyle that includes life philosophy.

As a user evaluating a tool like this, I definitely don’t need a “lifestyle that includes life philosophy”.

Life has different stages, and the thoughts at each stage are completely different; don't be so absolute.

Don’t patronize me. I absolutely know what I need and what I don’t need, thanks.

I think it could be useful to read: https://kennethreitz.org/essays/2016/mentalhealtherror_an_ex...

Is that related to this?

Yes, on digging deeper into the site and reading comments here, I think it’s related.

How is it related? I don't see any immediate connection between an essay on mental health and a note taking app.

If you have had any close family or friends go through a similar event, it becomes incredibly obvious to you from that point on whenever you see it. The signs are broadly invisible to most people when strangers are exhibiting them, but once you deal with it up close, they are impossible to ignore.

Thank you for your recommendation. In fact, many developers who immerse themselves in coding for long periods often face a range of issues stemming from mental stress. IF's philosophy is that beautiful design can bring joy to people's moods, Design better, life better.

Dear matrixages, I recommended this essay to you because I think you might be going through a dangerous manic episode. It might feel as a productivity and creativity boost, but it is an illusion. I think you should do a quick evaluation with psychiatrist — just in case.

Hahahahahaha, you might have some misunderstandings. But I don't care at all about what you say. Entrepreneurs are all a bit crazy, and I might not be an exception. Without a bit of passion, how can we achieve what ordinary people find hard to do?

I agree with you. I think the world is built by neuro-divergent people.

However, I read your comments and your writings (for example, [1]), and was left with impression similar to viewing pictures of famous Wain Cats [2].

I wish you and your product success. But it could be difficult to reach success if one is not well.

The essay I linked is from a very prominent developer, Kenneth Reitz. He is the author of the most used Python library, `requests`. In the essay, he describes how it felt to be manic from the inside.

[1] https://if.openages.com/blog [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Wain#/media/File:Louis_w...

So you're a doctor? I came to you for medical treatment? Don't bring up these irrelevant things. Judging others in just a few words will only make you look like a fool.

If a person can continuously be "manic" for five years without hurting others, just doing things for their own goals, then whether "manic" or not, is your definition really okay? Let go of your pitiful discriminating mind, respect and acknowledge the diversity of people in this world, instead of pointing fingers from a high position, which only makes you look like a fool.

In contrast with the other commenter in this thread, I don't think of it with relation to "hurting others". I think of it as losing rationality and coherency, and being plagued by delusions [1]

Your product is a good idea. However, the presentation was met with confusion by many readers on this submission. In fact, one person used the phrase "fever dream". This is the thing I am talking about.

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

It is totally understandable to be engrossed in a project, but it is unhealthy when the project is taking up all of your time and your emotional energy. You need to save some of that for yourself and your loved ones.

Has your family expressed concern about this? You might want to set aside some of what you are using to create this endeavor and use it instead to make sure that you are not harming anyone you love. If it is between the project and those closest to you, then I think you know what is more important.

Stop this topic. The person who brought it up has a serious potential for discrimination. I don't know why they would say that, but to claim that the developers have mental issues under a product is, in my opinion, extremely malicious.

German here: do yourself and every German visiting that site a favor and drop the machine-translated German version. And just show it in English. What I assume is "local first" is translated as something like "local with utmost importance", to name just one example. It’s barely comprehensible and most Germans who care at all about local first, will be fine with English. I can only assume it’s a similar situation for many languages.

Alright, I will cancel the German translation on the official website. I deeply apologize for the inconvenience caused by my oversight.

This looks like a fascinating new note-taking software. However, I find it a bit surprising that it's currently only available on the Mac platform. In my understanding, if the most important requirement for a GTD application is to open quickly, the second most important requirement is convenient input. Not having a mobile version is somewhat hard to accept, especially since the homepage indicates that it's a rather low priority in the planning. I suggest that the mobile version should be prioritized and developed as soon as possible. Additionally, I recommend launching a web version at the same time; it doesn't need to have many features—at the basic stage, it should just allow adding and browsing todos. Features like notes and the Pomodoro timer can be left out for now and made available only on the desktop.

Overall, it seems quite good. The quick todo addition feature, diverse display and filtering options for todos, and the aesthetically pleasing note interface are all commendable. However, the Pomodoro timer, as a separately listed feature, feels a bit hollow. It would be great if it could be more closely integrated with todos and notes. For instance, todos could have a Pomodoro attribute to track the number of Pomodoros completed, and the note-taking feature could include a Pomodoro timer function.

Additionally, the document tree, tabbed browsing, and lock screen are features that many users appreciate, yet they often seem to be absent in new software. It's nice to see that this software has considered these aspects.

That said, these impressions are based on a cursory look at the documentation; I haven't downloaded the software for experience since I don't have a Mac. So, please let me know when a Windows and Linux version is available, and ideally, there would be a mobile version by then.

Furthermore, I noticed that the software seems to have good support for Chinese, but this isn't reflected in the font options. The font switch only offers Serif, which is common for many foreign software. I hope that if resources allow, you can consider adding support for Chinese fonts, such as Song or Hei.

Lastly, I have a suggestion regarding the documentation. It would be beneficial to separate the design theory into its own chapter and include it in the "Why" section. While I personally don't mind, based on feedback from Hacker News, it seems that this is not well received by many users.

Thank you for your feedback. The Windows version will be released within a month. Your suggestions are very valuable, and I will implement them based on priority. Additionally, if you wish to join the Infinity plan, please send me an email at if.member@openages.com, and I will provide you with an activation code for the Infinity plan.

I’m not sure how this is an alternative to Typora, that seems misleading. Typora is a minimalist markdown editor, this is some sort of to-do app.

The German translation I got automatically reads like a fever dream. Grammatically it often makes no sense and even worse, some things are translated literally. Doc is now "Dok", but no one would ever shorten it like that. The da Vinci quote is shortened to one sentence, and now makes no sense at all.

I know translating is hard, but it's kind of unsettling here.

Sorry for that,I will improve the documentation in my spare time from coding.

What's Typora? What's GTD? What's KOL? What's KOC?

I don't know what any of those things are. I can deduce this is some kind of productivity tool, which I'm interested in, but it it's marketed in a way that makes me think it's specifically for some particular workflow from a book I haven't read.

No, IF is a simple productivity tool, nothing more. Regarding marketing, it was indeed my mistake, I didn't express it accurately.

I'd like to clarify that, given the numerous features of IF, I chose to promote it as a free alternative to Typora to make it easier for people to understand what IF is and to further explore its other capabilities. If this has misled you in any way, I sincerely apologize.

I don't see how this is an alternative to Typora. To Notion, perhaps, but not Typora.

In fact, IF does not want to replace any application. The purpose of creating IF is not to compete with other applications; that would be boring. There should be an application in this world that highly values design and is an offline-first content and data system where different content modules can interact with each other. The reason I chose to say it's a Typora alternative is because IF's goal is so ambitious that before it's 60% complete, people can't possibly understand what IF is in just one or two sentences.

In that case the submitted title is complete and utter lies. It's not free and not an alternative to Typora.

Do you really use it? If you don't use it and then you are talking nonsense here, you are boring.

> you are boring

Wow. Maybe your life philosophy isn't working out for you, if attacks on other commenters is how you promote your product (facepalm).

The best way to deal with slander, malice and prejudice is not to swallow your anger, but to fuck it off.

Why do I only attack a few people, and feel friendly to others? Because some people are attacking me with prejudice (beyond the product). My response to these people is, go fuck yourself :>

Once you've calmed down in a few days, I suggest you look back at this thread and reflect on your behavior.

HN is not a forgiving place to have a public meltdown, as the Matt Mullenweg situation is evidence of.

I suggest also that you re-read the HN guidelines.

I doubt you can stop yourself, but instead of replying to this, perhaps go take a break from the internet.

So hypocritical? When someone is maliciously attacking others, you don't talk about guidelines; it's just disgusting. There are some crawlers on HN who take pleasure in belittling others instead of discussing products objectively, and for these people, I return the same contempt.

This is getting embarrassing for you. Just stop :)

The website claims "Privacy First" but there's no end-to-end encryption (Obsidian has it, OmniFocus has it) and not any mention of server-side encryption either.

Because the end-to-end encryption feature has not been released yet.

Seems like Privacy is second then ;)

Nice web page but after reading through the landing page I could not say for certain what the actual product is. There is no text that describes it, it just reads

>GTD for professionals

What does this mean?

IF is an offline content and data system designed to help professionals achieve their goals more effectively. Currently, it can serve as an alternative to Typora, Ticktick, and Notion Calendar.

Had the same question, and since OPs answer isn't so satisfying in the sibling comment:

GTD stands for Getting Things Done[0], so IF advertises itself as "a time management system for professionals".

...I guess the doc/schedule part will become the major focus?

[0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_Things_Done

The world has changed rapidly in recent years. The description of GTD was defined many years ago, but the core of GTD is "Get Things Done". How to define "Things"? IF has different answers.

For linux, I enjoy Apostrophe[^1]

[1]: https://gitlab.gnome.org/World/apostrophe

And typora is thre for Linux, I tend to use Marktext lately for distraction free writing.

Have you seen my text editor, KeenWrite?

https://keenwrite.com/

Has a similar feature set to MarkText (tables, diagrams, math, code blocks), with the addition of: typesets to PDF, automatically curls straight quotes, can use inline R statements, offers interpolated variables, has distraction-free ability, document statistics, and you can position/resize/rearrange its tabbed panels to your liking. There's also a command-line interface for use with scripting.

i love https://typora.io/ and use it daily.

Does it support .mdx?

Nope. There is a module named Page under development, which will enhance Markdown capabilities. The Note module is a pure implementation of the Markdown standard, which I believe is also what many developers need.

Free as in beer only?

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