Ask HN: Recommend a note taking wiki-like "super" application?

11 pointsby tripplezvor 16 Jahren5 comments

Hello,

I'll start with the applications that I've already evaluated and/or used:

Wikidpad

* Pros: fast switching between the edit and view modes; nice syntax (especially for pasting code snippets or just raw ASCII text, nice indenting visual clues); it is standalone application that don't require server; the wiki pages can be kept in flat text database; easy drag-and-drop of file attachments (especially for image files). * Cons: doesn't have history/version control of the pages and the state of the wiki database as a whole; doesn't have the concept of namespaces for the wiki pages;

MoinMoin wiki

* Pros: nice syntax; have standalone server (Python based) which makes it truly portable and standalone; keeps the pages in flat files; have a lots of nice plugins; * Cons: its a wiki == slow iterations of editing/taking notes, viewing, rince-repeat... doesn't have version control integration

Trac

* Pros: All of the features of the MoinMoin wiki, except the flat file database; Version control integration: I can use the wiki changeset feature and the wiki pages as metadata of my personal codebase; * Cons: All of the general drawbacks of the wikis; Not truly portable;

todolist2 (by AbstractSpoon)

* Pros: fast, standalone todolist manager; the tasks have this really nice and important for me feature of having an rich edit box for taking notes associated with the task with flipping between the task and the notes with a single key; time tracking for the tasks; * Cons: doesn't have version control built-in (it has "simple" version control by just making an automatic backup copies of the project/data file with time stamp embedded in its name). it's hard to filter the tasks by urgency (in the GTD terms, it doesn't have the concept of the containers of tasks: Inbox, Maybe, Next action for each project, etc). it doesn't have cross-referencing/linking between the tasks in wiki-like fashion.

Thinking Rock

* Pros: implements GTD almost perfectly; it has notes for every action; portable; * Cons: (Maybe because of the Java GUI) doesn't have simple Undo when editing text notes; it's clunky when switching between the projects/actions tree and the editable notes editbox; doesn't have version control;

MonkeyGTD/TiddlyWiki

* Pros: truly standalone almost 100% wiki nice GTD implementation * Cons: it's little confusing when there is no easy or user-friendly way to see an overview of the current structure of the wiki pages I'm not sure if it scales well when there is a lots of pages/data/text/attachments. doesn't have source control integration; I'm not sure about version control/pages history...

So, to recap, I want an application that does the following:

* It has the speed and the ease of edit/preview iteration cycle of wikidpad. * It has the wiki pages and the associated attachments as they are (like wikidpad and MoinMoin). * It has version control for the wiki pages (like MoinMoin or Trac). * It has source control integration (like Trac). * It has the time tracking of the todolist2 and the task/project nesting like todolist2 and ThinkingRock. * It has the almost perfect GTD implementation of ThinkingRock or MonkeyGTD.

It's obvious that I haven't decided which one to use because for some reason my requirements are somehow orthogonal in the terms of the features that the aforementioned applications...not that the features are orthogonal or it is impossible or not practical...actually I think that maybe wikidpad is the closest to my ideal, which means that: * I decide to implement the features that I need (to add version control, GTD-life features/properties for the wiki pages themselves, source control integration), or * Continue to search and evaluate, or * Get some interesting and valuable opinions here

Thank you for your patience

5 comments

dctoedtvor 16 Jahren

Emacs Org mode has an outliner, wiki-like internal links, and nice GTD support, all stored in plain text files. I started using it recently and like it a lot. You'd have to learn Emacs if you don't already know it, but that's not hard (I used Emacs in law school when dinosaurs roamed the earth). http://orgmode.org/

carterschonwaldvor 16 Jahren

how about a look see at gitit? http://github.com/jgm/gitit

Its a general wiki app that by default is backed by git, though darcs and mercurial are designed to work too, and it also has the webserver functionality baked in. Oh, and it does syntax highlighting for pretty much any language if you compile it accordingly, and it supports several different backeds for rendering latex math equations!

And since its written in haskell, all you need to do change backend functionality is write a bugfree snippet of the same type as the code you're swapping out, and tada!

edit: also see http://gitit.johnmacfarlane.net/ for a live example

cmelbyevor 16 Jahren

If you have a Mac OS X Server laying around, its built in wiki is one of the best I've seen.

If you want a WYSIWYG editor, Google Sites is a great choice. It's also very fast to switch between editing and view modes, etc.

Other than that, I'd recommend Gollum, GitHub's open source wiki library. It has a very clean frontend, supports many different markup languages (like Markdown, Textile, Creole, etc), and pages and revision history are backed by a Git repository.

It's as easy to setup as this:

  $ git init
  $ echo "Hello" > Home.markdown
  $ git add Home.markdown
  $ git commit -m "adding home page"
  $ gollum

And open http://localhost:4567/ in your browser.

atleivor 16 Jahren

(shameless plug) PpcSoft iKnow is a "personal wiki" with the following features:

- standalone desktop application for Windows - WYSIWYG editing - all "pages" (or notes) are stored in a single Unicode text file - all "pages" are automatically connected to each other (no "funny" syntax) - automatic semi-backup of changed pages (one week back)

For FULL version control, you can use any 3rd party version control system as all the pages are stored in a single text file.

However, it does not have any time tracking or task/project/TD functionality.

For more information:

- http://ppcsoft.com/iknow-features.asp

(/shameless plug)

anigbrowlvor 16 Jahren

Is this for you, your team, or your customers? Is your goal to have the most manageable and easy-to-organize lists, or to most easily gather the resources necessary to the performance of the tasks?

I'm having some difficulty visualizing what you want to do with the version control - backup your mind-state regularly, or automatically link to specific/latest versions of source code on the software projects that are 'getting to done'.

Thanks in any case for gathering several useful tools in one place. I've been looking for a lightweight project management tool and some of these look like useful candidates.