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Ask HN: For a note taking app, would you prefer standalone desktop or a web app?

2 pointsby Kecelijalmost 6 years ago
I am in the planning phase of a note taking app project, which I will be writing in Python (backend - Flask probably).<p>For the frontend I am deciding between making it for desktop and solving the cross-platfom issues later (if I decide to make it cross-platform).. and making it in ReactNative.<p>My issue is.. I&#x27;ve never liked note taking apps in the browser. They feel impersonal and &quot;un-safe&quot;. For example, I am able to write long documents in LibreOffice or Evernote, but I would never write a journal entry in a web interface, I am too paranoid for that.<p>So, for my question: For a note taking app, would you prefer standalone desktop or a web app?

6 comments

smushalmost 6 years ago
To answer your question, standalone desktop that can spit out a Library-of-congress-approved archive format like xml, sqlite, rtf etc.<p>You could also take the NoteWiki idea which is a simple text control which auto-creates hyperlinks on camelCase words and saves each page as a separate file. Then you could have whatever existing sync solution the user uses (or syncthing) handle backups etc. Having a rich text editor where one can paste images and is saved as a per file format would be ideal for me personally but truthfully I&#x27;d like to hear more about what your desired use case is.
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wishinghorsealmost 6 years ago
I&#x27;d prefer an API that plugs into Sublime Text, personally.<p>I&#x27;ve been using QuickSimpleNote to sync sublime text to simple note to my phone for the last year or so and been more or less very happy.
vanousalmost 6 years ago
Choose some good structure storage &#x2F; format.<p>I have been looking into org mode but without Emacs, thinking of making a backed, to which I would connect via web app and also ttk based app. Syncing with syncthing, on mobile orgzly works pretty well.<p>Good luck !
Someonealmost 6 years ago
Why write a backend? Sync user data with whatever the platform offers (iCloud, Google Drive (I think), “Roaming app data” on Windows (again, I think that’s what it is called)<p>Also, does the world need another “a note taking app”? What new feature do you bring to the table?
icedchaialmost 6 years ago
For note taking, I just send emails to myself.
deca6cda37d0almost 6 years ago
A native desktop app