[HN Gopher] Show HN: NoteUX - Fast and minimalist note-taking app
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Show HN: NoteUX - Fast and minimalist note-taking app
Author : ifrosted
Score : 49 points
Date : 2025-03-27 11:19 UTC (4 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.noteux.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.noteux.com)
| ifrosted wrote:
| Yesterday, I had a simple need--I wanted a quick way to jot down
| thoughts without the hassle of creating new notes or organizing
| folders. Instead of searching for an existing solution, I built
| one myself. That's how NoteUX was born!
|
| It's a minimalist, distraction-free note-taking space with
| multiple scratch pads, so you can quickly type and switch between
| notes without any extra steps. No sign-ups, no clutter--just an
| instant writing experience.
|
| Supports Fullscreen Mode, Dark Mode and Download notes.
|
| What do you guys think?
| James_K wrote:
| Text editor is already invented but nice try.
| hailruda wrote:
| >without the hassle of creating new notes or organizing
| folders
|
| Have you missed this part?
| abraxas wrote:
| Not the OP but I share the sentiment. Doesn't everyone have
| a default text editor with a Ctrl-N shortcut or equivalent
| to create an empty text file? That's what I do every time I
| need to create a quick note. Maybe I don't spend as much
| time in the browser as everyone else.
| James_K wrote:
| So to avoid the hassle of organising folders, you create an
| editor with only a single folder that has 8 files in it? I
| can replicate this in a normal text editor by simply using
| only one folder with 8 files in it. For advanced CLI users,
| an even simpler (and arguably better) solution to this
| problem exists: vim notes/"$(date
| -Iminutes)".txt # author a new note vim
| notes/"$(ls notes | tac | sed 8q)" # edit the 8 most recent
| notes, starting from newest
| hailruda wrote:
| I get your point and I agree.
| gdevenyi wrote:
| This opened up incredibly fast. Great job.
| sashk wrote:
| Reminds me Tot by IconFactory.
| https://blog.iconfactory.com/2020/02/meet-tot-your-tiny-text...
| shazeubaa wrote:
| Yeah. Strikingly similar.
| kstrauser wrote:
| OTOH, this one's had a new release in the last 2 years. I loved
| the idea of Tot and bought it, but it has its glitches and
| doesn't seem to be actively supported anymore.
| ahmedfromtunis wrote:
| What I really miss right now is a chrome extension that replaces
| the new tab page with a note taking space.
|
| I used to use an extension called papier that had a simple
| interface, just the right amount of configurability and a
| beautiful design (particularly good color schemes). The extension
| got removed because of its incompatibility with the new manifest
| V3.
|
| The current alternatives are either too involved with too much
| configuration options (i.e. distractions) and not very
| attractive, minimalist designs.
|
| With your app, you're almost there. If you can get the correct
| balance right, you could fill the gap in that niche.
| jedimastert wrote:
| Wow, I used to use Papier all the time. I sort of forgot about
| it when I migrated from Chrome to Firefox and didn't really
| find a good alternative, but man that plugin was legitimately a
| huge part of my life for a while. I'm sad to heard it's going
| away, it was an absolutely genius idea
| sheepscreek wrote:
| As developers have to support themselves in some way, would
| you be willing to use a similar ad-supported extension? Or
| perhaps pay a small amount to support development more
| directly and go ad-free?
| ahmedfromtunis wrote:
| Oh yeah, it's one of those pieces of software that goes out
| of your way and just does its assigned job so well that you
| literally forget about it.
|
| I remember switching to a new computer at work and noticing
| something was weirdly missing without being able to put my
| finger on it. It wasn't until one of those moment where I
| used to use the extension that I noticed it wasn't yet
| installed on this machine.
| squealish wrote:
| Papier is still available in Brave it seems.
| kevindamm wrote:
| I use a variation of this as a bookmarklet, perhaps you'll find
| it useful:
|
| data:text/html,<html contenteditable>
|
| You could probably set that as the URL of your home page to get
| the behavior you described.
|
| I add a style="height:100%" in the HTML tag so that clicking
| anywhere puts focus on it for editing. You could add other
| styling and initial content as desired.
| bakje wrote:
| Love the simplicity of this
| Aicy wrote:
| Oh wow that's cool! How do you use this since I presume the
| tab will forget everything once its closed? Just temporary
| notes?
| kevindamm wrote:
| Yeah, I operate it like I would a dry-erase board. Ctrl-S
| doesn't work unless you add some scripting, but I usually
| copy-paste it if I'm drafting a note, or close it without
| saving if it was meant like a sticky note. It's good as a
| longer-term clipboard or a place to privately note down
| something before deciding whether to keep it.
|
| For notes that I've refined and want to hold on to, I tend
| to use a physical notebook. I enjoy the kinesthetic process
| of writing by hand so I still use that for more permanent
| notes.
| crazygringo wrote:
| I do too. I've been wondering if there's some short
| JavaScript I could add to retrieve text from local storage
| when loaded, and update local storage after every change. Not
| so it persists for months, but just so it survives a tab
| close or a browser restart.
| kevindamm wrote:
| EDIT: mm, localStorage API is disabled inside data URLs,
| understandably
|
| There are local-first file based solutions (like classic
| TiddlyWiki) that could work for you,.. but at that point
| maybe you meant to open your favorite text editor or IDE.
|
| I kind of like that this simple solution always opens a
| scratch buffer and I have to put it somewhere else to save
| it (never saved accidentally).
|
| It also keeps the source formatting (or with ctrl-shift-V
| ignores it), which can be useful aside from the note taking
| itself.
| crazygringo wrote:
| Yeah it's what I use as a scratch buffer too. I'm just so
| used to being able to reopen a tab if I close it by
| mistake. Thanks for the info!
| kevindamm wrote:
| If you're looking to save yourself from accidental
| deletion, I tested the following, it adds a confirm
| dialog when closing the tab.
|
| data:text/html,<div contenteditable style="height:100%"><
| script>addEventListener("beforeunload", (e) =>
| {e.returnValue = "?";})</script>
| huhtenberg wrote:
| If notes are kept in the localStorage, they won't persist for
| long on the iOS. Remote backup is, regrettably, a must.
| marban wrote:
| Built-in will always win for tools like that => Notes.app
| SebastianKra wrote:
| Last time I checked, Notes.app couldn't even export notes in
| formats other than PDF.
| criddell wrote:
| Considering it's likely the most used note keeping app there
| is, that isn't much of a blocker for an awful lot of people.
| freetonik wrote:
| There are some open source tools, e.g.
| https://github.com/storizzi/notes-exporter I've used another
| tool in the past (cannot remember the name), and it worked
| ok.
|
| I personally cannot trust Apple to store data, so I only use
| Apple Notes for throw-away notes like shopping lists.
| mrweasel wrote:
| I've been looking for something simple that I can use cross
| platform (I don't care about mobile, so just across macOS and
| Linux really). So far I found nb, which is nice, but it tried
| to do to much and locating notes isn't great. I've also tried
| Bear, which is macOS only, but it also doesn't organize notes
| in a great way in my opinion.
|
| Is there anything simple, which doesn't require you to be an
| organizational genius already? Notes.app is sort of okay, but
| no cross platform.
| freetonik wrote:
| I love tiny note taking solutions. My favorite app of all time is
| (was?) nvALT [1].
|
| The simplest in-browser solution actually requires zero pages or
| apps, see this bookmarklet [2]. It opens a full-page text area.
| No saving, but immediate and does not need a network connection.
|
| Alternatively, not as easy as a publicly available web page, but
| if you want to have a very fast and minimalist self-hosted note
| taking app (with fast search and the ability to attach files and
| download websites), check out my small project called Textpod
| [3].
|
| [1]. https://brettterpstra.com/projects/nvalt/ [2].
| https://bookmarklet.one/bm/quick-note/ [3].
| https://github.com/freetonik/textpod
| shelled wrote:
| I was able to use nv (nvALT was a fork) before the development
| stopped and people slowly figured out it stopped. The website
| is still up https://notational.net and the last binary is still
| up for download. It worked for a crazy long time as it was. I
| am not sure but iirc there were some "stability" patches, in
| the original nv, or not. Then nvALT also stopped and then Brett
| started on something else and that kinda took a lot of time,
| really a long time (might have been released now but not sure).
| That is when I lost track of that lineage of note apps - the
| nvX - - the ones I started on. That was the reason my next was
| Simplenote and I stuck with it for really long.
|
| After leaving Simplenote I could never really find a successor.
| Kept jumping from one app to another - UpNote (very electron),
| FS Notes (very unstable; come across a bug every other day that
| it's tiring), then Bear (might move to it, maybe), Joplin (no
| sadly) etc and what not. Now I just try to use something that
| lets me keep notes in a folder and use it but then iOS becomes
| a mess unless I use iCloud. I could never find another simple
| note taking app. I wish Automattic took privacy seriously and
| kept the development of Simplenote afresh and maybe charged for
| it.
|
| Maybe I am not supposed to find that one note taking app for
| me. Maybe it doesn't exist. That makes sense. I think it's
| about notes and not the note apps? Keep the notes and apps are
| a-changin'.
| freetonik wrote:
| I just downloaded nvALT on Sonoma (14.3), and it runs, but
| looks a bit funky. The styling of some elements is slightly
| broken, but does not seem to affect the functionality. I
| haven't tested all the features though.
|
| >Now I just try to use something that lets me keep notes in a
| folder and use it but then iOS becomes a mess unless I use
| iCloud
|
| I didn't quite understand: do you want an app that syncs to
| iOS but not via iCloud?
| numinix wrote:
| I like the idea! The different scratch pads are cool. But I'm
| always a bit worried with localStorage of losing my work, is that
| a fair concern?
|
| If you're looking for feedback, you could consider:
|
| - Host the javascript and fonts yourself, only downsides
| (privacy, slower) in using a CDN. Ko-fi, Google fonts, Google
| analytics, Cloudflare, Bootstrapcdn, Numoh -- are all these
| entities required for note taking?
|
| - Excessive user analytics: Google Analytics is not configured
| for privacy. Also another Numoh Analytics, but that seems
| disabled at the moment?
|
| - A pretty writing experience helps me stay in a flow. Nothing
| wrong with Arial 16px #000, but not inviting either. There is
| still a lot to win from a typography perspective.
|
| - The saving to .txt is nice, but I'd want a plain text (or
| markdown) version, no html. Also would be nice if the filename
| was optimized (scratchpad + timestamp).
|
| - Instead of all CSS inline, it might prevent the flash of a
| white-screen if the styling was saved/cached in css file, or the
| prefers-color-scheme tag.
|
| - You've added an <h1> tag but styled it with a font-size smaller
| than your body text, this makes it lose it semantics (i.e. also
| no SEO/UX value).
| lioeters wrote:
| > worried with localStorage of losing my work
|
| Unfortunately localStorage is not guaranteed to be persistent,
| especially on Safari/Webkit.
|
| > Starting in iOS 13.4 and Safari 13.1, LocalStorage will be
| cleared after 7 days of no user interaction on a site.
|
| 7-Day Cap on All Script-Writeable Storage -
| https://webkit.org/blog/10218/full-third-party-cookie-blocki...
|
| This also affects sessionStorage and Indexed DB, which is
| commonly used by local-first software that runs in the browser.
| ravenstine wrote:
| > A Note On Web Applications Added to the Home Screen
|
| > As mentioned, the seven-day cap on script-writable storage
| is gated on "after seven days of Safari use without user
| interaction on the site." That is the case in Safari. Web
| applications added to the home screen are not part of Safari
| and thus have their own counter of days of use. Their days of
| use will match actual use of the web application which resets
| the timer. We do not expect the first-party in such a web
| application to have its website data deleted.
|
| I'm glad to know that this isn't [entirely] destroying the
| concept of webpages acting in an app-like manner. At least
| this gives the developer and user _some_ ability to give
| permission for actually persistent storage.
| ZunarJ5 wrote:
| Looks good, but I'd never trust anything like this I cannot self
| host.
| barrenko wrote:
| The UI made me think it's for drawn notes.
| camflan wrote:
| This is a fairly shameless Tot clone, you should at least credit
| the Iconfactory. https://tot.rocks/
| egypturnash wrote:
| starts typing random keysmash in macos safari
|
| twenty characters in, safari crashes
|
| minimalist indeed
| qoez wrote:
| The market is flooded with developers which could make one
| worried about earning a living with such competition, but most of
| them are making note taking apps like this so if you just walk a
| few steps up the hanging fruit beyond the low hanging ones you're
| back in a no competition zone.
| RandomBacon wrote:
| I would consider this a website, not an app (misleading title).
|
| For an app (on Android), I like "Notepad" by Braden Farmer (I
| just search the creator's name to find it). It has no unnecessary
| permissions.
| mprovost wrote:
| The OG drill book (Unix Power Tools) had a tip for quick note
| taking - redirect to /dev/null. For the past 25 years I pretty
| much always have a terminal window open with a shell redirecting
| to /dev/null so I can copy and paste or type quickly. I suppose
| if you wanted to save it you could redirect to a file instead of
| /dev/null but I always treat it as a buffer that will eventually
| go away.
| gwynforthewyn wrote:
| Are you just saying here that you open a shell, redirect cat's
| output to /dev/null, and then use the terminal buffer for
| notes? I can't quite parse out from your comment what you mean
| as a workflow; I checked out my copy of Unix Power Tools and
| didn't see anything clarifying what you mean in either Chapter
| 43 "Redirecting Input and Output" or flicking through section
| IV "Basic Editing".
|
| If you have a few minutes and could clarify, I'd appreciate it.
| I love a good *nix workflow.
| mprovost wrote:
| Yes that's it: "cat > /dev/null". Or you can even skip
| running cat and just "> /dev/null". You exit by typing ctrl-d
| which sends an EOF (and then sends all the output to
| /dev/null!).
| Imustaskforhelp wrote:
| cat > ~/anyrandomfile also works if you want a persistant
| connection / want storage to save things
|
| I am not sure if the noteux.com works in the same way.
|
| I am also not sure but is there a way to create persistant
| terminal connections as each is going to /dev/null but its
| persistant and you can connect to any of it?
|
| maybe using zellij / tmux
| Imustaskforhelp wrote:
| So I just tried and we can use this with zellij sessions as
| well , which is pretty nice and has a really really nice
| ui/ux
| mprovost wrote:
| I found it! Section 48.3 "A Scratchpad on Your Screen" from
| the first edition.
|
| https://web.deu.edu.tr/doc/oreily/unix/upt/ch48_03.htm
| roldie wrote:
| Semi-related: is there a modern equivalent of Notational
| Velocity? I used to love it. Similar to this app, there was a
| focus on speed. But Notational Velocity (and NValt) also had
| great search built-in
| dlbucci wrote:
| This doesn't seem to work for me in Firefox on iPhone SE 3. After
| I hit start typing here, the screen just goes blank and nothing
| appears when I type anything.
| G_o_D wrote:
| data: text/html, <html contenteditable>
| NoSalt wrote:
| I have a similar endeavor here: https://www.ephemeranote.com/
|
| What do you think?
| swah wrote:
| I must not hear about this, otherwise... its another place I have
| to look for that phone numer I wrote down last week. Where was
| it. Maybe on Notion? Or still in my Drafts? Perhaps Obsidian,
| Apple Notes, Telegram/Whatsapp, UpNote, noteux......
| czhu12 wrote:
| Been looking for a note taking app powered by local storage that
| supports images that works in iFrames.
|
| Would be great if it can also support links
|
| https://reframe.canine.sh/czhu12
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