Feature Requests

[Jzilla]

Hi

First off I love CintaNotes. I run it portable and has replaced the large number of text notes I seem to continually make

A couple of things I would like to see in future versions.

1) Multiple notebook data files, while I have a main notebook, I keep a couple of others as some subjects I like to keep separate trains of thought

2) Formatting ability within the notes esp recognize the TAB character, some of the things I keep are best displayed as a table and being able to use TAB to separate them is a bit neater than lots of spaces. Actual tables would be cool but being able to use the TAB would suffice.

3) Advanced searching - i.e. search for multiple strings (maybe use keywords AND, NOT, OR etc) i.e. I want to search for apples AND oranges NOT lemons
I could then search the hundreds of recipes I had in separate text files but have put into a single Cinta notebook

4) expandable notes - some notes I have a quite long and when viewed in CintaNotes the bottom section is not displayed, it would be cool if I could resize the long ones to make all text visible

Regards
J

[CintaNotes Developer]

Hello Jzilla,
thank you very much for your feedback!

1) Multiple notebook data files:
This feature has already been requested, so I see that there's quite a demand for it. I have put it on the roadmap for the 1.0 version.
In the meantime you can do the notebook.dat file switching by hand. I understand that it's very inconvenient, but perhaps better
that nothing

2) Formatting ability:
I quite deliberaly chose not to support rich formatting because CintaNotes is mostly about collecting text information per se.
However I now see that the very basic formatting support will be useful, namely tabs and web links
So it is already on the roadmap as well.

3) Advanced searching:
Yes, this feature is absolutely necessary and will definitely be implemented. But still features that enable better note management, like categories and
improved tag support (smth like one-click tag assignment and automatic tagging rules), have a bit higher priority at the moment.

4) Expandable notes:
Do you mean the main note list or the note edit dialog here? As for the former, you can scroll large notes with the left/right arrow keys.
The next version will also support adjusting the limit of how many note lines are displayed. Would that be enough?

Best regards,
Alex

[Jzilla]

Hi Alex

great news about future improvements.

For the expandable notes, yes I did mean in the main list window, scrolling with the arrow keys is very useful, but sometimes it would be nice to be able to expand an individual note window to get more/all of the note visible without scrolling.

Right now what I do is double click to edit the note, then resize the edit window, this works but control is fixed on the edit window - it would be very cool if you could open multiple notes at once - my thinking is sometime quite chaotic - having a number of notes open at once would enable me to capture the different thoughts that "bubble" up while I'm working on something.

Currently if I am researching something I will be adding to a particular note in edit mode, if I suddenly have some insight to another subject I have to close that note and start another or open a different existing note then switch back to the original


Being able to "minimize" a note to just its heading would be handy as well - some of my notes are just headings when I enter them, at a later time I fill in the detail. Once I have put data in I would like to minimize the note because it is "finished" ideally I would also like to move these finished notes to the bottom of the note list - perhaps a sort by note size? at the moment I just put an "a" in the link field for unfinished notes and search for "a" by link, that effectively hides the finished ones.


Also while looking at the main notes window is it possible to hide the date and time from each notes heading? make it optional per note? its really a cosmetic thing but some of my notebooks are random bits of info and the date I enter them has no real relevance, but of course for some notes the date is very important. Perhaps the date and time could be made part of the meta data for each note similar to the tags, a read only field that could be used for sorting and grouping etc but also could be set to hidden if desired.


As I said I currently have a number of different note books, each one is used slightly differently, as you can see from the above suggestions based on the way I use them. Being able to have more than one open would be very handy - I tried to have more than one copy of CintaNotes open but it won't allow it - I guess this is because of the crtl-f12 functionality?

If it is possible in the future to have multiple notebooks open I think the title of a note being edited would have to indicate the notebook it is from to ensure those who can be a bit absent minded, like myself, won't post notes to the wrong notebook. Thinking of this creates lot's more ideas - drag and drop between open notebooks, search multiple notebooks simultaneously, merge notebooks together (or synchronise them together based on note title within the notebooks)

sorry about the rambling reply.

I know that some of my ideas are a bit pie-in-the-sky and many are probably too complicated to incorporate or may conflict with your idea and goals for your program, so can totally understand if you disregard them. After all it is your program and is based on how you work. I guess my main focus is on the way I use CintaNotes - in the end I will keep using it, even if it stays as it is.

It has replaced, for me, several methods of storing knowledge which over time became to large and unwieldy to use, and for I thank you for releasing this program and appreciate the work you have done.

Thanks
J

[toen]

Nice application, great job!. I like its portability, interface, simplicity & speed.

My feedback (some might had been requested):
- Multiple data file. Shareable. Able to synchronize.
- Display tag cloud/ tag hierarchy.
- Rename Tag.
- Default tag assignment (or function to find un-tagged notes).
- Show tag in the note (in the header, second row, small font).
- Note list (with column title, date, tags) also for search result.
- New note button.
- Option to directly edit a note (without opening a new window).
- Open multiple notes windows (sometime I need to compare notes). In each note's window there is a button to close others).
- Small toolbar on right top corner (delete, lock direct edit, detach, expand (show all text)).
- Scroll long text with mouse (by clicking the arrow button)
- Import.
- So far I still can deal with plain text :P.

Cheers :)

[Midas]

I really like your app, with its simplicity and effectiveness towards its purpose...

IMHO, the development of CintaNotes should always heed the KISS principle (people with more demanding note taking needs, should check the excelent cross platform and open source wikidPad). I see some of this sugestions are already in the roadmap, but here's my (redundant) contribution for the improvement of CintaNotes.

- A single executable is a very welcome feature.
- The problem of multiple notebooks could easily be solved by keeping notebooks (and related files) in separate folders and allowing setting (relative) paths to them.
- Detection of URLs (at least http://, www, and @) for launching with system default app would be most welcome, as well as cross-linking between notes.
- Note header should acomodate display of tags and links, which should be made active (clicking tag would perform an instant search for notes with the same tag, clicking link should launch it in default browser).
- Search field options could maybe alter the display of notes (so when you opt to search by 'text and title' that would be the note display mode, when you wanted to search 'text only' {note body} you'd only see the notes' text, and when you select 'tags' -- and provided my previous sugestion for note headers was implemented -- only headers would be displayed).
- Mapping of the text export for the inclusion of extra elements (ex.: defining notes separator) or, alternatively, integration of the excelent TXT2TAGS document processor (see txt2tags.sourceforge.net or Wikipedia) would definitively be killer features.
- As I have K-Meleon (http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/, a Gecko/Mozilla windows derivative) as my default system browser, detection of this browser (and others, as Google Chrome comes to mind) would be a big plus for the usability of CintaNotes, especially if coupled with the ability to auto insert the clipped page URL.
- Finally, regex search would be a another killer (there are many free and open source function libaries for this effect, see here and here, for instance).

None of this proposed features is a deal breaker for the utility you so generously contributed to public use. As it is, it's already a great app, besting many that have been in development for years. Thanks!

[CintaNotes Developer]

Hi Jzilla,

thank you very much for sharing more of your thoughts on CintaNotes!

For the expandable notes, yes I did mean in the main list window, scrolling with the arrow keys is very useful, but sometimes it would be nice to be able to expand an individual note window to get more/all of the note visible without scrolling.

Ok, got it, I think making the note edit dialog non-modal will do the trick. You will be able to open multiple notes at once.

Being able to "minimize" a note to just its heading would be handy as well - some of my notes are just headings when I enter them, at a later time I fill in the detail.

Yes, I've received already multiple requests for this feature and I've put it on the roadmap.

Once I have put data in I would like to minimize the note because it is "finished" ideally I would also like to move these finished notes to the bottom of the note list - perhaps a sort by note size? at the moment I just put an "a" in the link field for unfinished notes and search for "a" by link, that effectively hides the finished ones.

Well that's actually what "Tags" field is for. Actually your comment was extremely useful: I understood that it would be better to put the "Tags" field _before_ the "Link" field so that you just have to press Tab once.

Also while looking at the main notes window is it possible to hide the date and time from each notes heading?

Yep, this is already on the roadmap too.

As I said I currently have a number of different note books, each one is used slightly differently, as you can see from the above suggestions based on the way I use them. Being able to have more than one open would be very handy - I tried to have more than one copy of CintaNotes open but it won't allow it - I guess this is because of the crtl-f12 functionality?

Yes you are right - the program instances might conflict on the system-wide hotkey. I plan to add tabbed categories, so I guess this would address your problem.

If it is possible in the future to have multiple notebooks open I think the title of a note being edited would have to indicate the notebook it is from to ensure those who can be a bit absent minded, like myself, won't post notes to the wrong notebook. Thinking of this creates lot's more ideas - drag and drop between open notebooks, search multiple notebooks simultaneously, merge notebooks together (or synchronise them together based on note title within the notebooks)

Yes this all will apply to categories.

I know that some of my ideas are a bit pie-in-the-sky and many are probably too complicated to incorporate or may conflict with your idea and goals for your program, so can totally understand if you disregard them. After all it is your program and is based on how you work.

Sure I can't implement everything what people ask. If I did, CintaNotes would end up to be a piece of bloatware like EverNote or OneNote. I'll try to keep it as simple and usable as I can without sacrificing essential functionality.

I guess my main focus is on the way I use CintaNotes - in the end I will keep using it, even if it stays as it is.

Happy to hear that)

Your post was really helpful, thanks. Please don't hesitate to post more ideas

Regards,

[CintaNotes Developer]

Hello toen,

glad that you liked the program. Thanks for giving it a try!

>Multiple data file. Shareable. Able to synchronize.
Yes, that's already in plans. What exactly do you mean with this synchronization thing? Simple ability to transfer notes or something more advanced?

>Display tag cloud/ tag hierarchy.
At this moment I am not considering making the tag system hierarchical. I think that such feature might be difficult to use correctly. Instead, I will offer a three-level hierarchy including notebook files, categories and tags.

>Rename Tag.
>Default tag assignment (or function to find un-tagged notes).
>Show tag in the note (in the header, second row, small font).
Yes, all these features are essential for a good tag system and are already on the roadmap.

>- Note list (with column title, date, tags) also for search result.
What do you mean here? Advanced search?

>- New note button.
Yes, or maybe a rectangular area in the notes list where you can click to add a note. I still haven't decided which would be better.

>- Option to directly edit a note (without opening a new window).
Ok I'll consider this.

>- Open multiple notes windows (sometime I need to compare notes). In each note's window there is a button to close others).
Yes, has been requested already.

>- Small toolbar on right top corner (delete, lock direct edit, detach, expand (show all text)).
I'll consider it, but there's no way I will allow an accidental single click make something destructive.

>- Scroll long text with mouse (by clicking the arrow button)
Sure thing that's necessary, but I'm still searching for the most convenient implementation.

>- Import.
From which formats? XML is planned, anything else? (Maybe load a text file as a note?)

>- So far I still can deal with plain text .
Good to hear that) Making CintaNotes support rich text and HTML won't be a weekend job, that's for sure)

Thanks again and I'm eager to hear more of your ideas!

Regards,

[CintaNotes Developer]

Hello Midas,

thanks a lot for your post!

IMHO, the development of CintaNotes should always heed the KISS principle (people with more demanding note taking needs, should check the excelent cross platform and open source wikidPad).

I totally agree. It won't be possible to cover all the very different notetaking needs with one app.

- A single executable is a very welcome feature.

What exactly do you mean? CintaNotes, aside from the help files and settings/data file, is already a single executable.

- The problem of multiple notebooks could easily be solved by keeping notebooks (and related files) in separate folders and allowing setting (relative) paths to them.

This is a good idea. But for starters I will just allow to create new notebook files and to switch between them. When the XML import feature comes, it will atomatically allow basic note transfer between these files. Later I will also implement note transfer using the clipboard.

- Detection of URLs (at least http://, www, and @) for launching with system default app would be most welcome, as well as cross-linking between notes.

Yes, it's already on the roadmap. But about cross-linking: could you elaborate a little bit more please? I know why it's important but just can't get hold of the UI to do it.

- Note header should acomodate display of tags and links, which should be made active (clicking tag would perform an instant search for notes with the same tag, clicking link should launch it in default browser).

Agreed, that's logical.

- Search field options could maybe alter the display of notes (so when you opt to search by 'text and title' that would be the note display mode, when you wanted to search 'text only' {note body} you'd only see the notes' text, and when you select 'tags' -- and provided my previous sugestion for note headers was implemented -- only headers would be displayed).

I think this might be a bit too much, I want the user to have full control of what is displayed at all time.

- Mapping of the text export for the inclusion of extra elements (ex.: defining notes separator) or, alternatively, integration of the excelent TXT2TAGS document processor (see txt2tags.sourceforge.net or Wikipedia) would definitively be killer features.

That's a great idea!

- As I have K-Meleon (http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/, a Gecko/Mozilla windows derivative) as my default system browser, detection of this browser (and others, as Google Chrome comes to mind) would be a big plus for the usability of CintaNotes, especially if coupled with the ability to auto insert the clipped page URL.

Google Chrome is already supported, I'll add support for K-Meleon and Avant Browser in the next version.

- Finally, regex search would be a another killer (there are many free and open source function libaries for this effect, see here and here, for instance).

Yes, that's something for advanced note search that has already been requested.

None of this proposed features is a deal breaker for the utility you so generously contributed to public use. As it is, it's already a great app, besting many that have been in development for years. Thanks!

You're too generous!)) Thank you for your help, it is really inspiring. Please don't hesitate to post more, and if you want to be notified when the next version comes out (currently planned for Jan 30th), just subscribe to the "News and Releases" topic on this forum, or send a free-form request to feedback@cintanotes.com.

Regards,

[Pierre]

Hi,

I just discovered Cintanotes and I like very much its simplicity and cleverness. I especially like the filtering by just starting typing.

I have a few suggestions around search:
- add a mode to search all: text+title+tags+link+time (actually useful for me would be text+title+tags
- allow prefixing (e.g. no prefix = search all, "#" prefix = search tag, ; ";" prefix = search text)
- provide keyboard shortcut to switch search mode (like in Firefox search bar Ctrl Up/Down)


Also, when inserting a new item the focus is on text, one has to shift tab to get to title. I would suggest either:
- focusing title
- making title just be the first line of the text (i.e. merge both fields UI-wise)

I think the search suggestions above would finalize making it usable without mousing.

Thanks anyway for this clean software!

[One more]

One more I just found: allow ctrl - F find inside an open note. Would beat copy pasting the note content to notepad to find text in it

[CintaNotes Developer]

Hello Pierre,

thanks for your ideas!

add a mode to search all: text+title+tags+link+time (actually useful for me would be text+title+tags

Already done, will be released in BetaM6.

allow prefixing (e.g. no prefix = search all, "#" prefix = search tag, ; ";" prefix = search text)

This is a good idea, but before implementing it I'd like to make sure that it is easily discoverable. Just adding to help is not enough. Maybe I'll make the special symbols shortcuts into the search filter menu.

provide keyboard shortcut to switch search mode (like in Firefox search bar Ctrl Up/Down)

Great idea. I've put it on the list.

Also, when inserting a new item the focus is on text, one has to shift tab to get to title. I would suggest either:
- focusing title
- making title just be the first line of the text (i.e. merge both fields UI-wise)

This is a tricky one. If I just make the title focused by default, people will start complaining that they have to Tab to edit the note text. I think the second option is one of the best solutions. I'll strongly consider implementing it.

One more I just found: allow ctrl - F find inside an open note. Would beat copy pasting the note content to notepad to find text in it

Yes, I agree.

Thanks anyway for this clean software!

Thank you for giving it a try! Hope you'll enjoy the next versions too.

Regards,

[Midas]

Hello Midas,
thanks a lot for your post!

You're the one thanks are due to, I just made a very minor contribution...

IMHO, the development of CintaNotes should always heed the KISS principle (people with more demanding note taking needs, should check the excelent cross platform and open source wikidPad).

I totally agree. It won't be possible to cover all the very different notetaking needs with one app.

- A single executable is a very welcome feature.

What exactly do you mean? CintaNotes, aside from the help files and settings/data file, is already a single executable.

That is precisely what I meant. One executable means that, at the very least, one can always make CintaNotes run if you grab hold of its executable, or that you can move it around in your pendrive, or that you have no installation worries.

Let there be plugins, help files and path structures if needed and wanted, but the real bonus of your app is having it really simple to start with.

- The problem of multiple notebooks could easily be solved by keeping notebooks (and related files) in separate folders and allowing setting (relative) paths to them.

This is a good idea. But for starters I will just allow to create new notebook files and to switch between them. When the XML import feature comes, it will atomatically allow basic note transfer between these files. Later I will also implement note transfer using the clipboard.

It's your call. I was just following up on stuff I had read here at the forum. I like the clipboard ideia.

- Detection of URLs (at least http://, www, and @) for launching with system default app would be most welcome, as well as cross-linking between notes.

Yes, it's already on the roadmap. But about cross-linking: could you elaborate a little bit more please? I know why it's important but just can't get hold of the UI to do it.

If each note has an ID, GUID or such, it will be real easy, I guess, to make cross-linking between notes.

But I have been around some and I know that once you get that running, which BTW would totally sufice me, people will start asking for anchor-like linking. If your storage format has anything to do with XML, then XHTML compliance could be an option for this and other features.

- Note header should acomodate display of tags and links, which should be made active (clicking tag would perform an instant search for notes with the same tag, clicking link should launch it in default browser).

Agreed, that's logical.

- Search field options could maybe alter the display of notes (so when you opt to search by 'text and title' that would be the note display mode, when you wanted to search 'text only' {note body} you'd only see the notes' text, and when you select 'tags' -- and provided my previous sugestion for note headers was implemented -- only headers would be displayed).

I think this might be a bit too much, I want the user to have full control of what is displayed at all time.

I agree with your goal; I meant what I said as an easy way to do just that, while keeping the interface lean and simple.

- Mapping of the text export for the inclusion of extra elements (ex.: defining notes separator) or, alternatively, integration of the excelent TXT2TAGS document processor (see txt2tags.sourceforge.net or Wikipedia) would definitively be killer features.

That's a great idea!

I'm so glad you think so -- why keep on re-inventing the wheel when you can focus on what really matters, tuning your development to what really makes your app unique.

As you could easily guess, I'm a fan of innovative ways to organize notetaking. If you care to follow, here's a post in a wikidPad forum where I made further similar sugestions:
http://groups.google.com/group/wikidpad ... 2fc2ca52ad

- As I have K-Meleon (http://kmeleon.sourceforge.net/, a Gecko/Mozilla windows derivative) as my default system browser, detection of this browser (and others, as Google Chrome comes to mind) would be a big plus for the usability of CintaNotes, especially if coupled with the ability to auto insert the clipped page URL.

Google Chrome is already supported, I'll add support for K-Meleon and Avant Browser in the next version.

- Finally, regex search would be a another killer (there are many free and open source function libaries for this effect, see here and here, for instance).

Yes, that's something for advanced note search that has already been requested.

As for browser detection, and although I'm no coder, I believe there are some system or browser generic API for that effect. As for regex, it just seems to be this basic requisite whenever you're dealing with text...

None of this proposed features is a deal breaker for the utility you so generously contributed to public use. As it is, it's already a great app, besting many that have been in development for years. Thanks!

You're too generous!)) Thank you for your help, it is really inspiring. Please don't hesitate to post more, and if you want to be notified when the next version comes out (currently planned for Jan 30th), just subscribe to the "News and Releases" topic on this forum, or send a free-form request to feedback@cintanotes.com.

Regards,

I will -- post more & subscribe to your newsletter. Thanks for your openess & generosity, once again.

[Pierre]

Note the URL capture does not work with Firefox Portable and with Chromium. Since your application is portable (which is a big + for me) you can expect some users to use portable browsers too. I think there is also a portable version of Opera.

[Kranor]

The URL Capture feature works fine for me with portable firefox.

[CintaNotes Developer]

Note the URL capture does not work with Firefox Portable and with Chromium. Since your application is portable (which is a big + for me) you can expect some users to use portable browsers too. I think there is also a portable version of Opera.

This is due to a rather naive window-caption-based browser detection algorithm. It the next version a different mechanism will be used, which will make URL clipping work even in some browsers CintaNotes doesn't know anything about. Here you can download a preview of this:
download/file.php?id=2

[Sludge]

Hello,

Thanks for an excellent portable note manager app!

The only feature that's preventing this from being a 'killer' app for me is the ability to save images with my notes.

At risk of bloating this software beyond what makes it good, is there any chance of this happening?

[Pierre]

Note the URL capture does not work with Firefox Portable and with Chromium. Since your application is portable (which is a big + for me) you can expect some users to use portable browsers too. I think there is also a portable version of Opera.

This is due to a rather naive window-caption-based browser detection algorithm. It the next version a different mechanism will be used, which will make URL clipping work even in some browsers CintaNotes doesn't know anything about. Here you can download a preview of this:
download/file.php?id=2

5.1 works fine with firefox portable and chromium on my machine

Cool! Thx!

[2muchtv]

Great program, I like it.

A feature that I haven't seen on this forum is a hotkey to bring up the main window (instead of clicking on the system tray). Then I'd definitely replace my current quick note taking system with this one.
Two other features that are a plus for me are some way of organizing the notes in a hierarchy (I'm not a tag person) and some type of simple formatting (bold, italics). I believe that they have been requested and are in the works, but I thought I'd lend a *go-go horray* cheer to incorporate those.

[hooly]

hi, very interested in CintaNotes, looks like it could be a great thing.

re: feature requests:
- the reason i came here is to suggest some sort of visual indication that a note has a URL assigned to it.

so far i just see the note title and text in the main CN window but have no idea if there's a URL assigned to the note or not. only way to find out is to double-click on the note to edit it, or right click into the context window to see if the "Browse link" option is enabled. would be great if there was some symbol or something to indicate that the note has a URL.

- totally agree with the suggestions re: advanced tagging: tag clouds, click to select from a tag list, tag display on the note in the main app window, etc. tagging is a supremely powerful thing if it is done right (as in: extensive and robust feature set). this could elevate CN into the "killer app" realm.

- also love the idea of regular expression searches: for a text-based note taking app regex searching ability would be a major boon.

thanks, and keep up the great work!

~~hooly.

[lcsoton]

It is an amazing app. Here is my feedback.

1. Option to change font format displayed in note editor.
Default font is too small and display uglily Chinese characters.

2. Show tag in note ( maybe 2nd line of header).

3. Can choose pre-defined or used tags.

4. Tag cloud. (easy to manager notes)

5. Open multiple notes windows.

6. Header displayed only view. (Can list out more notes in windows)

7. Main window can be minimized when note editor window is open. And also keep the main window in tray when add a new note.