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CintaNotes once more
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Posted by WSP
Jun 26, 2019 at 05:52 PM
Just a few more thoughts about CintaNotes, which has been discussed here occasionally:
The usual comment about CN (which I too have made from time to time) is that it’s suitable only for small, uncomplicated lists, but I’ve now come to the conclusion that its stripped-down UI is actually misleading. I’m in the midst of using it for a much larger project, and so far it’s working very well.
Of course the individual notes are relatively brief, and CN’s handling of illustrations continues to be awkward, but aside from those obvious limitations, it actually handles material on a larger scale than I thought possible. I’m working on a digital bibliography of the poet George Mackay Brown
https://gmbbibliography.wordpress.com/
and so far in my notes I have approximately approximately 1250 entries for the bibliography (not counting some miscellaneous background material). CN, I find, is able to deal easily with information on this scale, though of course it helps to split the notebook into several sections and to use common sense about images.
Here is a sample entry in CintaNotes, just to show how I am using it:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/m5kju64u2nmsuk4/Sample entry.JPG?dl=0
I have added quite a few tags (at the bottom) for this entry, because CN — more than any other note-taking program I’ve ever used — is built around tags. The line below it (“1987-05-21”) is the remarks field, which I am using for the date, where it becomes easily sortable.
I began by trying to do this project in Evernote, which is in many ways a much more powerful program, but EN is also awkward to use, whereas CN has a simple interface, has a tagging system even better than EN’s, and is rock-solid. At the moment it seems like the best solution to my problem (though I’m keeping a careful eye on the changes in Evernote that have been promised for later this year).
Bill
Posted by Daly de Gagne
Jun 26, 2019 at 10:09 PM
WSP, your post reminded me I hadn’t checked CintaNotes website for a long time. I went to the roadmap, and was shocked to see many posts dealing with topics which have nothing to do with CN.
Has the CN site been hacked, or is this a sign the program is either not being attended to, or is no longer being developed?
Daly
WSP wrote:
Just a few more thoughts about CintaNotes, which has been discussed here
>occasionally:
>
>The usual comment about CN (which I too have made from time to time) is
>that it’s suitable only for small, uncomplicated lists, but I’ve now
>come to the conclusion that its stripped-down UI is actually misleading.
>I’m in the midst of using it for a much larger project, and so far it’s
>working very well.
>
>Of course the individual notes are relatively brief, and CN’s handling
>of illustrations continues to be awkward, but aside from those obvious
>limitations, it actually handles material on a larger scale than I
>thought possible. I’m working on a digital bibliography of the poet
>George Mackay Brown
>
>https://gmbbibliography.wordpress.com/
>
>and so far in my notes I have approximately approximately 1250 entries
>for the bibliography (not counting some miscellaneous background
>material). CN, I find, is able to deal easily with information on this
>scale, though of course it helps to split the notebook into several
>sections and to use common sense about images.
>
>Here is a sample entry in CintaNotes, just to show how I am using it:
>
>https://www.dropbox.com/s/m5kju64u2nmsuk4/Sample entry.JPG?dl=0
>
>I have added quite a few tags (at the bottom) for this entry, because CN
>— more than any other note-taking program I’ve ever used —
>is built around tags. The line below it (“1987-05-21”) is the remarks
>field, which I am using for the date, where it becomes easily sortable.
>
>I began by trying to do this project in Evernote, which is in many ways
>a much more powerful program, but EN is also awkward to use, whereas CN
>has a simple interface, has a tagging system even better than EN’s, and
>is rock-solid. At the moment it seems like the best solution to my
>problem (though I’m keeping a careful eye on the changes in Evernote
>that have been promised for later this year).
>
>Bill
>
>
Posted by WSP
Jun 27, 2019 at 12:30 AM
Yes, the site seems to get hacked from time to time, and then in a few days the fake messages (usually just annoying advertisements for shoes) are erased by the moderator.
Alex, the developer, does seem to be working actively on the next version
(here is preview of it: http://cintanotes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2357)
but bear in mind that CintaNotes is more or less a one-man operation and things move slowly. Though the prototype appears to be going in the right direction, I’ll be surprised if Version 4 appears this year. CN reminds me in some ways of MyInfo, another app that I use and admire: it’s created by a developer who is extremely helpful and courteous, brimming over with clever ideas, but always proceeding at a cautious pace. On the other hand, CintaNotes is fully usable for me right now.
Posted by Daly de Gagne
Jun 28, 2019 at 03:21 PM
I am happy to see what you wrote, and I hope that you are right.
Unfortunately, nothing says “abandon-ware” or “I have been hacked” like a web site full of spam postings. What I saw the other day makes it look like the site has not been attended to for a long time, and that also is not a good message to have in the marketplace.
I am glad CintaNotes is working so well for you.
Best,
Daly
WSP wrote:
Yes, the site seems to get hacked from time to time, and then in a few
>days the fake messages (usually just annoying advertisements for shoes)
>are erased by the moderator.
>
>Alex, the developer, does seem to be working actively on the next
>version
>
>(here is preview of it:
>http://cintanotes.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2357)
>
>but bear in mind that CintaNotes is more or less a one-man operation and
>things move slowly. Though the prototype appears to be going in the
>right direction, I’ll be surprised if Version 4 appears this year. CN
>reminds me in some ways of MyInfo, another app that I use and admire:
>it’s created by a developer who is extremely helpful and courteous,
>brimming over with clever ideas, but always proceeding at a cautious
>pace. On the other hand, CintaNotes is fully usable for me right now.
Posted by WSP
Jun 28, 2019 at 07:17 PM
For whatever it’s worth, Alex Jenter has contributed 47 posts to the CintaNotes discussion forum since the beginning of April—the most recent one dated yesterday. I’m not at all persuaded that he has abandoned CN; my one complaint, as I said earlier, is that the development proceeds at a snail-like pace. But I learned long ago that you sometimes have to put up with that when you are dealing with one- or two-person operations like CN.
I forgot to mention, incidentally, that CN does not offer an iOS version, but it will sync with Simplenote on my iPhone if I wish or—my preferred solution—I can very easily export an HTML file and then import that (from Dropbox) into a synced folder in the Documents app my phone. This file is of course static but is attractively formatted and easily searchable. Bringing it up to date from time to time takes only a few keystrokes.