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BoostNote > Multi-Platfrom, Multi-Pane Text/Code editor (Free Open Source)
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Posted by washere
Mar 4, 2018 at 09:37 PM
jaslar wrote:
What makes this better than Atom or Sublime (ok, it’s free?).
Nice compliment for it to be equivalent to atom & sublime, but it isn’t. Much lighter, less features and not having thousands of plugins. Different genre. A bit like a markdown IDE where you can see code next to the live output preview.
Also has dropbox features so can work on a document from anywhere. Mainly desktop, android ver is basic & keeps crashing like Win version used to, I gave feedback followed by others & he fixed it. Syncing via dropbox in a very good editor environment, unlike other editors with basic features that blind you too, has a lot of potential for non-programmers too.
It’s also a code snippet syntax app, can input & highlight code from a hundred different languages with relevant highlighting in same note, mainly for coders.
It’s different to Typora which I recommended here a while back and also a top markdown editor. Different genre again. This is mainly a note-taking app for coders. Hence some here will see the potential for other areas too as it has a combo of features:
If a note-taking maniac type of person does markdown (many will in future) + in same notes across devices from free cloud (dropbox, not some guy charging you subscription monthly for his transient app & reading your data) + wanting to see live preview markdown output + all in a classy editor that has all the basic features (unlike many hyped baby apps on github I could mention) + many themes + free + open source so branches or input by others are possible, then this is it.
Posted by MadaboutDana
Mar 5, 2018 at 09:59 AM
I’ve taken a look at BoostNote, but have to say that open-source Joplin - with its support for GitHub Markdown and Math, backed up by seamless end-to-end encryption - suits my needs much better (but then I don’t often produce programming code).
Joplin doesn’t have the same range of plugins, of course; I can see that being attractive.
Posted by washere
Mar 5, 2018 at 11:29 AM
Joplin is in my top 5 android markdown apps. Slim pickings on android. I also like his onedrive/nextcloud sync & encryption. Definitely a contender. When it comes to plugins, sublime plus atom & MS vs code are king. Sublime & atom are powerful for markdown too with the right plugins.
Another thing about the snippet code feature is that they are like chapters within the same note. Boostnote is only @ version 0.1. I have several suggestions for him yet, it can be uniquely powerful.
Main thing for me wrt to markdown editors, is the live output. Plus having it in a dual pane window system. So one sees as you code, what the hell the output looks like in the next window pane. Good for markdown blog posts. The other editor I like handling markdown dual pane live output well has limited features and in beta, and not open source.
Open source is important. Because if something is open source and gathers a large following (because it’s good), it will not die with the dev not having time in future etc etc, other devs/users join in or take over. i.e. the user time investment in it is not wasted, and it grows and evolves.
Posted by MadaboutDana
Mar 6, 2018 at 09:06 AM
Yes, the snippet thing is cool - it’s one of the reasons I like Quiver so much, and am so disappointed it hasn’t made its way to iOS (well, it has, but it’s effectively useless).
Posted by washere
Mar 6, 2018 at 03:28 PM
Snippets can be used as sub-nodes in the note, sort of outliner structure, same note having many sub-nodes, why BoostNote can be even more powerful.
Joplin is mainly potential right now, it is very basic or more frankly has no editor features. It is not comparable to Quiver which is a proper editor, like comparing MS NotePad to MS Word. Quiver is in the same league as BoostNote.
I don’t need encryption and use cloud rarely, free scheme entry ones as in DropBox, OneDrive & Google Drive.
If you need end-2-end encryption, you don’t have to limit your software to those few wares that do e-2-e, small minority and usually not the best at what they do. There are Swiss cloud firms that do e-2-e like Tresorit which costs only slightly more than DropBox pricing. Or SpiderOak which costs more. Then you can use whatever software you like.