Show HN: A canvas-based note taking and organizer app

Show HN: A canvas-based note taking and organizer app(passinote.app)

60 points by passiflora96 21 hours ago | 32 comments

So I've been working on this app for a very long time now. Started off by wanting an app that separates long form notes from short form notes visually and keeps everything organized on a canvas.

The app features:

-Sticky notes for quick, small notes and A4 notes for long form documents

-A quick mode that uses local storage to quickly open the app and jot down a thought on the canvas -A PDF export option that exports your notes into 3 custom designed PDF styles

-Visual hierarchy to replicate file structure instead of a linear fashion, where your files are notes, stacks are folders and labels are names for your folders

Would love to continue working on this app if you guys like the concept.

mwachs 3 hours ago |

I love this! Stacking notes is the way my favorite English teacher taught us to write essays and very few apps have this functionality. And one I did find, StorySkeleton, hasn't been available for years: https://www.cultofmac.com/news/storyskeleton-an-index-card-s...

Nice work and congrats on shipping!

passiflora96 2 hours ago | |

Thank you!

ArekDymalski 20 hours ago |

Congratulations on shipping your app! I like the design and the concept of avoiding forced hierarchy like folders etc. I think this concept is worth building on even more. For example do users really need a rigid hierarchy like post-it vs A4? What would happen if I would be able to click anywhere on the canvas and immediately write down the thought (just like in MS OneNote) and format this text after writing it down - give it a distinct background to make it that physical note feel? Personally I'd be happy as it would give more freedom. Now that experience is a bit broken - I can click anywhere on the canvas to create a post-it, but inside of it I need to click on the top row to even start writing. I hope this quick opinion will be useful/inspiring for you.

passiflora96 12 hours ago | |

yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Maybe ill add a double tap anywhere on the canvas to create a sticky note kinda thing. Thanks for the feedback! really appreciate it!

mjkl7896 20 hours ago |

The UI animations are impressive; they are cute and have a nice vibe.

However, I discovered one bug. I am Korean, and when I write a memo in Korean on a sticker and press Enter, two notepads appear. This is a very familiar bug to me.

passiflora96 11 hours ago | |

oh thanks for letting me know. I still haven't thought about supporting multiple languages other that english, since developing such a big app in itself is such a big feat lol. But ill fix this bug asap. Thanks for the feedback!

NuclearPM 20 hours ago | |

How is it familiar?

mjkl7896 19 hours ago | | |

It was a bug I frequently encountered when developing websites that support Korean.

carterEthan 10 hours ago |

Nice work! The canvas interface looks clean and intuitive. I especially like the stacks and zones concept. Do you have plans to add a mobile app or sync across devices?

passiflora96 10 hours ago | |

It already has a sync across device feature if you sign in and also works on mobile if you download it through the mobile browser as a PWA. But I still dont have plans on making an actual mobile version that can be downloadable from the app store, but im not sure.

pedrogpimenta 7 hours ago |

I really like this! I'm not sure I can fully commit yet, though, because I don't want to invest in a new app without some assurances:

- Is this for the long run (I know you can't know, but I'd like to hear you out) - Will it transform to a paid service? - Will I always (at least before stopping the service or putting it behind a paywall) be able to export the content to store it myself, offline, so I own the data? - Is it open source? - Will I be able to sync it myself with an external provider? - Who are you? Why should I trust you? There's no info whatsoever anywhere, not a contact, not a privacy policy, a legal note. - Is the content encrypted?

I would really like to put my work notes in a place like this, it really looks great, but right now, I can't commit to it.

That said. I love this and wish you the best of luck! Maybe sometime I'll be a user :)

passiflora96 7 hours ago | |

Yeah I hear you. I cant really force you to trust me at this stage, but im trying my all to make this as user oriented as possible. I am a solo developer whos taken on this huge project, so there might be some issues that i have overlooked or haven't been aware of yet, since I dont even get a lot of feedback on this app. So i really appreciate you mentioning all this and it really helps.

That being said, I do have long term plans for this and hopefully one day can transform into a freemium product where the core app will always stay free with some paid features. But early adopters will surely have the premium version free always. So i really hope you can invest in it now.

The export content feature will never be paid and I can assure that. Note privacy is a big part for this app. I would have made it fully local if it wasnt for the cross device sync. So you will always own you data no matter if this app becomes paid.

Right now its not open source. I really want to scale this and maybe earn a living out of this one day and have big plans for it if it works out.

You're right on this one, I've added the privacy and terms on the bottom of my landing page. It was accessible through the log in page on google auth before this, but missed the landing page. my fault.

I would really ask you to reconsider using this app, Im all ears at this stage and im continuously trying to improve it according to the user. So I would love to have chat with you. You can email me at passiflorsproductions96@gmai.com

RustyRoss 20 hours ago |

Looks cool, but I can't sign up. I enter my email and password, and I see the error "Google sign-in isn't enabled. Turn it on in Firebase Console...". But I'm not trying to use Google sign in.

passiflora96 11 hours ago | |

oh that's my bad. I just fixed it, should be working fine now.

RustyRoss 11 hours ago | | |

Great, thanks. Looks very interesting; I'm trying it out now.

prabhanjana_c 5 hours ago |

Clean and simple UI. Some glitches on iPad. Would like to experiment on iPad.

chux52 17 hours ago |

As a notetaker who likes new apps, but has tried them all, I was impressed by this.

Your version reminds me of OneNote when it was new and good and not horrible. Being able to place your notes where you want them is such a radical concept.

The features you have are simple and the idea of stacking notes is really cool and don't think I've seen that done before.

passiflora96 11 hours ago | |

Thanks! means a lot

jsabess24 5 hours ago |

Nice

passiflora96 2 hours ago | |

thanks!

panja 12 hours ago |

Dark mode coming??

passiflora96 12 hours ago | |

Yep been working on that too. Gonna come out soon!

Jperalbelmont 18 hours ago |

Nice idea! I can't sign up, i'm trying using google sign in

passiflora96 11 hours ago | |

Just fixed it. It should be working now. Thanks for the feedback

NickNaraghi 19 hours ago |

Really cool. What do the buttons on the right sidebar do?

timothyduong 17 hours ago | |

1. Square Note template 2. Clipboard 3. dotted line boundary

Select them, then click + drag on the canvas.

Took me a minute to figure it out.

passiflora96 11 hours ago | | |

yep exactly! I guess I gotta make the features more discoverable to new users

kenerwin88 18 hours ago |

really well done!!

passiflora96 11 hours ago | |

Thanks a lot!