What Tapose should have been...

Posted by MadaboutDana
Jun 11, 2015 at 01:28 PM

Hi Jim,

Re: Quip - actually, there is an iOS app (e.g. https://itunes.apple.com/gb/app/quip-docs-chat-spreadsheets/id647922896?mt=8), but on the Mac you have to run through a browser (i.e. there’s no native Mac app). So maybe you meant the other way around?

Re: Tapose - I’ve been trying to love Tapose since it first appeared (like you, enthused by the idea of Courier). But it’s not very good. Even now, it’s not very good, although some of the ideas are great. The main problem is stability - Tapose crashes quite a lot, and how much of the data you’re working on when it crashes is saved will vary from one incident to the next. The second problem is the interface, which just isn’t very intuitive.

MyMind has taken the basic Tapose idea, streamlined it, and produced a much better product which does most of the same things (with the exception of links to Contacts; that’s unique to Tapose). It’s also much more stable - at least, it is if you switch off iCloud! MyMind asks you whether you want to use iCloud when you first start using it, and indeed it does sync between different iOS devices using iCloud. But it’s much more unstable (as the developer kindly told me when I sent them a query). On the other hand, MyMind allows you to save notes as PDFs or MyMind files to Dropbox and Google Drive, so it’s easy enough to switch off iCloud and (manually) exchange data via the two alternatives. I’ve just switched over on my two iPads, and it does make a BIG difference to stability.

Otherwise, MyMind is much easier to use than Tapose. It doesn’t have the same drag-and-drop capabilities, but what it does it does neatly, quickly and elegantly - not something that’s always true of Tapose, unfortunately. The interface is also tighter (IMHO). The developers are also responsive and enthusiastic (unlike, say, NoteSuite…), which is always a good sign!

I’d love to see desktop versions of both Tapose and MyMind. For my money, I bet MyMind get there first! ;-)

On the other hand, Scrivener for iOS is promising many of the same features (including split-screen working) in the uniquely powerful Scrivener format. So that’s another one to consider.