This might be of interest:

documentnode.io

It's cross-platform (though not mobile), with 'Freemium' pricing.

It's possible to work with an existing folder of Markdown files.

It provides various interesting features, such as:

- an outline panel that shows the hierarchy of both headings and bullets and allows for rearranging elements
- a mindmap view that is also based on the hierarchy of both headings and bullets
- various 'focus mode' and typewriter options
- hierarchical tags
- bi-directional links

The software appears to be from an independent developer based in Australia.

Here's a clickable version of the link:

https://documentnode.io/

This software looks nice, and they’re developers from my home town!

One question: is it Electron? It looks like Electron.

Drewster wrote:

One question: is it Electron? It looks like Electron.

Good question. Actually, one of its strengths is that it's not Electron. In the developer's words:

"It's NOT an Electron-based application so we can unleash its full potential to optimise the performance."

That quote is from this blog entry:

https://blog.documentnode.io/launch-a-blog-from-a-markdown-folder

This does look like an interesting writing application. Do you know if a single subscription works for both Windows and Mac? I couldn't find the answer on the website. I have sent an inquiry to their support.

Thanks.

Steve

I got an inquiry from the developer that the subscription is email based, so you do use the same subscription for multiple computers. I suspect, though I am not sure, this means you should NOT download and subscribe through the Mac App Store, but should download from the developer's website and subscribe on their site.

Stephen Zeoli wrote:

This does look like an interesting writing application. Do you know if a
single subscription works for both Windows and Mac? I couldn't find the
answer on the website. I have sent an inquiry to their support.

Thanks.

Steve

I’ve tried it, quite liked it, but was Totally Baffled by the way it does mind maps.

I suspect that’s just me and others take to it like ducks to water, but I tried twice over and eventually gave up.

I haven't been that interested in the mind map function, so I didn't really try it until you mentioned it, Bill. But now that I have I understand your befuddlement. It does feel like this has the potential to be powerful, but right now it is pretty hard to figure out how the program determines what is a mind map node, where to split it and what is just text that is included as a note under the node.

The mind map function makes more sense if you start in the mind map with a blank document and experiment. Then you'll see that each of the branches becomes a heading or sub-heading in the text document (at whatever level deep it is in the mind map). To create body text, you add it to the branch's note box.

Even so, there are lots of quirks. For example, you might expect the Central Top-Level Topic to be the main heading in the text document, but it isn't. It doesn't appear. Any text you have in its note box will show up as body text at the top of your document.

If you create bullets in the note box of a topic, they are automatically turned into sub-headings of that topic. If you're using bullets to outline your text document, this makes sense, but if you're just making a list... it doesn't.

And it isn't at all clear what is going on when you start with a complex text document and then view it as a mind map. I think the algorithm that splits things up isn't working exactly right.

Hopefully these glitches will be ironed out, because I think this could be a very powerful asset of Document Node.

Steve


MadaboutDana wrote:

I’ve tried it, quite liked it, but was Totally Baffled by the way
it does mind maps.

I suspect that’s just me and others take to it like ducks to
water, but I tried twice over and eventually gave up.

When I saw the app, I wondered whether it had any potential to be a front end to an Obsidian database/vault. So I pointed it to my Obsidian vault. I can see/edit the Obsidian files and generate a mind map. Perhaps someone may find this discovery an insight worth exploring further.

@Stephen, I’m glad it’s not just me! Your experience precisely mirrors my own – lack of logic behind the linking (ha, alliteration!)

@Weimer: intriguing! I haven’t tried linking to a pre-filled folder yet – I’ll have to try that out now…

Cheers!
Bill

Hm, quite by chance, while scanning swiftly through the DocumentNode website, I saw it also does static website publishing, complete with built-in search function!

Wow.

The templates look fairly convincing, too, as does the in-browser editor (complete with “blocks”, the modern web designer’s method of choice).

That’s unexpected. I’m going to have to take another look. I’m increasingly in favour of static websites.