The Joy of Text

Why I Love Text Files

Over the last few years I’ve woken up to the problem of how I store my digital words. Up until recently, I just wrote in whatever word processor was the flavor of the month. As a result my digital noodlings are a long stream of computery-type gibberish in various formats ranging from MacWrite to Scrivener.

The problem is, I spent very little time thinking about exactly what it means to put words into word processing files. Relying on these application files for our precious words is a mistake. Standards and preferences change. What your computer can understand today, it may not tomorrow. Below is a simple Microsoft Word document.

Just six words, default settings. Below is a screenshot of the file generated by Microsoft Word for those six words. (Note the scroll bar.)

As you can see, there is a lot more to this file than those six words. This problem is exponentially worse with more complex formatting.

Below is a screenshot of that same document as a text file.

There’s something to be said for the use of plain text files. Text is simple. Text files are easy to read on any computer running any operating system and don’t require any proprietary word processor to interpret. Even more important, text files can be read by humans. Keeping your writings in text makes them digitally immortal.

Moreover, text is internet friendly. The files are small and can jump among connected devices with poor connections like hopped up Disney faeries. It is really easy to work with your text files on any device from anywhere.

Why Now?

So why this sudden epiphany about text files? For me, there were several revalations on this road starting with me adopting Scrivener a few years ago as my primary word processor. This forced me to start thinking about making my words portable. I also adopted the Notational Velocity/Simplenote Tango.

I’m not alone in this. When the Mac development software matured to the point that independent developers could commercially make word processing applications, a lot of us grabbed our life vests and happily abandoned ship from Microsoft Word, looking for software lighter, friendlier, and cheaper.

The watershed event, however, was the iPad. Very quickly after using the iPad, I realized I didn’t need a full blown word processor on my iPad as much as I needed a way to enter, edit, and manipulate text. It had to be seemless and fast. iPad developers largely delivered and the Dropbox API provides the glue to hold it all together. Now we can write 1,000 words on our Macs, add 500 more on our PCs, rewrite the introduction on our iPads from a park bench and do the final proofread over a Taco on our phones, all using text.

Text Worthy?

So what do I put in all these fancy text files? Just about anything. I’ve got hundreds of them containing everything from some of my favorite latin quotes, (Sit vis nobiscum), to travel plans, to legal forms, to half written posts, and half-baked ideas. I also have my current Scrivener projects synced to my text databases.

Would You Like Formatting on That?

Using Markdown, you can add basic formatting to these text files including headings, bold, italic, and links. Markdown is ridiculously easy to learn and there are plenty of resources including John Gruber, the Mac Power Users, and Screencasts Online (featuring some of my own markdown files). The point is that Markdown, originally designed to generate HTML, is perfect for sharing text with formatting. The iPad didn’t exist when Markdown first appeared but it feels custom made for writing in plain text on multiple devices.

Show Me the Way

So here is my text workflow. I write primarily on my Mac but also use a PC at the office and (of course) my beloved iPad and iPhone. Everything syncs with absolutely no effort on my part.

The Backbone: SimpleNote

SimpleNote is a Web based text service that grew out of an iPhone notes app but became much, much more. SimpleNote does nothing more than sync text files with the kind of focus usually saved for teenage boys at the beach. It just works. Think Dropbox for text.

There are free iPad and iPhone apps that give you access to all your text. With a paid account ($20 per year) you can sync your text over to your Dropbox account.

Moreover, there is an open API letting third party developers tie into your SimpleNote database, which leads to Notational Velocity.

The Mac

My SimpleNote client of choice on the Mac is Notational Velocity alt, a Notational Velocity fork by my pal Brett Terpstra. I’ve already written about how this works.

The PC

After playing with the various options, I’ve settled on ResophNotes to sync my SimpleNote data to my Windows 7 PC. It isn’t as good as Notational Velocity, but it works. Another gem for writing text on the PC is WriteMonkey.

iOS

I covered the iOS SimpleNote app above but for longer writing projects, I like Nebulous Notes. There are a lot of text editors on the iPad. Nebulous Notes is my current favorite because it is stable, uses TextExpander snippets and includes a customizable top row for the keyboard and macros. Moving text between SimpleNote and Nebulous Notes can be done with a block and copy or (if you are a SimpleNote paid subscriber) accessing the Dropbox copy of the SimpleNote database.

Those Others

I’ve wrapped myself in the warm embrace of the walled garden and not spent much time outside iOS but there are several SimpleNote friendly text editors available for Android and WebOS.

If your text needs further word processing, do that at the end. Open Pages or Word and copy, format, finalize, and ship. So go ahead. Take the plunge. Embrace the joy of text.

MacSparky.com is sponsored by Bee Docs Timeline 3D. Make a timeline presentation with your Mac.

66 Comments The Joy of Text

  1. tom.smith@wellandbusiness.co.uk

    When I made the move over to Mac after years of Windows, I started to crave systems like this. I find it funny how a lot of people who think they have a list of things not to like about the Mac always manage to include the fact that "everything is just designed to look pretty and not actually do anything productive", when in actual fact, quite the opposite can also be true.

    I now write almost entirely in Markdown and everything goes into either nvALT or TextMate (depending on eventual use) and sync everything across to SimpleNote on the iPhone and iPad. All of my writing stays here until it is ready to be turned into something for print or other publication, at which point it gets moved across usually to Pages. I keep meaning to give Scrivener a go but think it is perhaps a little bit too involved for my personal use.

    Thanks again for another great post David.

    Reply
  2. tom.smith@wellandbusiness.co.uk

    When I made the move over to Mac after years of Windows, I started to crave systems like this. I find it funny how a lot of people who think they have a list of things not to like about the Mac always manage to include the fact that "everything is just designed to look pretty and not actually do anything productive", when in actual fact, quite the opposite can also be true.

    I now write almost entirely in Markdown and everything goes into either nvALT or TextMate (depending on eventual use) and sync everything across to SimpleNote on the iPhone and iPad. All of my writing stays here until it is ready to be turned into something for print or other publication, at which point it gets moved across usually to Pages. I keep meaning to give Scrivener a go but think it is perhaps a little bit too involved for my personal use.

    Thanks again for another great post David.

    Reply
  3. tom.smith@wellandbusiness.co.uk

    When I made the move over to Mac after years of Windows, I started to crave systems like this. I find it funny how a lot of people who think they have a list of things not to like about the Mac always manage to include the fact that "everything is just designed to look pretty and not actually do anything productive", when in actual fact, quite the opposite can also be true.

    I now write almost entirely in Markdown and everything goes into either nvALT or TextMate (depending on eventual use) and sync everything across to SimpleNote on the iPhone and iPad. All of my writing stays here until it is ready to be turned into something for print or other publication, at which point it gets moved across usually to Pages. I keep meaning to give Scrivener a go but think it is perhaps a little bit too involved for my personal use.

    Thanks again for another great post David.

    Reply
  4. tom.smith@wellandbusiness.co.uk

    When I made the move over to Mac after years of Windows, I started to crave systems like this. I find it funny how a lot of people who think they have a list of things not to like about the Mac always manage to include the fact that "everything is just designed to look pretty and not actually do anything productive", when in actual fact, quite the opposite can also be true.

    I now write almost entirely in Markdown and everything goes into either nvALT or TextMate (depending on eventual use) and sync everything across to SimpleNote on the iPhone and iPad. All of my writing stays here until it is ready to be turned into something for print or other publication, at which point it gets moved across usually to Pages. I keep meaning to give Scrivener a go but think it is perhaps a little bit too involved for my personal use.

    Thanks again for another great post David.

    Reply
  5. tom.smith@wellandbusiness.co.uk

    When I made the move over to Mac after years of Windows, I started to crave systems like this. I find it funny how a lot of people who think they have a list of things not to like about the Mac always manage to include the fact that "everything is just designed to look pretty and not actually do anything productive", when in actual fact, quite the opposite can also be true.

    I now write almost entirely in Markdown and everything goes into either nvALT or TextMate (depending on eventual use) and sync everything across to SimpleNote on the iPhone and iPad. All of my writing stays here until it is ready to be turned into something for print or other publication, at which point it gets moved across usually to Pages. I keep meaning to give Scrivener a go but think it is perhaps a little bit too involved for my personal use.

    Thanks again for another great post David.

    Reply
  6. bdegrande@gmail.com

    I have been a long time fan of Scrivener, which is my favorite word processor on any platform, but because of your writing and Don McAllister's screencasts, I have become very interested in Markdown. I particularly like the portability, even to iOS devices, One thing I have found useful that Don mentioned is www,dashkards.com, which has free cheat sheets for various apps, and one for Markdown syntax as well. These get loaded into Dashboard and make a handy reference while learning Markdown.

    Reply
  7. bdegrande@gmail.com

    I have been a long time fan of Scrivener, which is my favorite word processor on any platform, but because of your writing and Don McAllister's screencasts, I have become very interested in Markdown. I particularly like the portability, even to iOS devices, One thing I have found useful that Don mentioned is www,dashkards.com, which has free cheat sheets for various apps, and one for Markdown syntax as well. These get loaded into Dashboard and make a handy reference while learning Markdown.

    Reply
  8. bdegrande@gmail.com

    I have been a long time fan of Scrivener, which is my favorite word processor on any platform, but because of your writing and Don McAllister's screencasts, I have become very interested in Markdown. I particularly like the portability, even to iOS devices, One thing I have found useful that Don mentioned is www,dashkards.com, which has free cheat sheets for various apps, and one for Markdown syntax as well. These get loaded into Dashboard and make a handy reference while learning Markdown.

    Reply
  9. bdegrande@gmail.com

    I have been a long time fan of Scrivener, which is my favorite word processor on any platform, but because of your writing and Don McAllister's screencasts, I have become very interested in Markdown. I particularly like the portability, even to iOS devices, One thing I have found useful that Don mentioned is www,dashkards.com, which has free cheat sheets for various apps, and one for Markdown syntax as well. These get loaded into Dashboard and make a handy reference while learning Markdown.

    Reply
  10. bdegrande@gmail.com

    I have been a long time fan of Scrivener, which is my favorite word processor on any platform, but because of your writing and Don McAllister's screencasts, I have become very interested in Markdown. I particularly like the portability, even to iOS devices, One thing I have found useful that Don mentioned is www,dashkards.com, which has free cheat sheets for various apps, and one for Markdown syntax as well. These get loaded into Dashboard and make a handy reference while learning Markdown.

    Reply
  11. helgeg@helgegudmundsen.com

    For me, the biggest advantage of plain text is searchability. Search tools (like Spotlight and Windows Search) no longer just look at file names, they also track the contents of files. This makes it trivial to search for information stored as plain text, and most time search is a lot faster than trying to navigate to the information. More complex searches are also easy to perform using combinations of find and grep/ack in a terminal window.

    Reply
  12. helgeg@helgegudmundsen.com

    For me, the biggest advantage of plain text is searchability. Search tools (like Spotlight and Windows Search) no longer just look at file names, they also track the contents of files. This makes it trivial to search for information stored as plain text, and most time search is a lot faster than trying to navigate to the information. More complex searches are also easy to perform using combinations of find and grep/ack in a terminal window.

    Reply
  13. helgeg@helgegudmundsen.com

    For me, the biggest advantage of plain text is searchability. Search tools (like Spotlight and Windows Search) no longer just look at file names, they also track the contents of files. This makes it trivial to search for information stored as plain text, and most time search is a lot faster than trying to navigate to the information. More complex searches are also easy to perform using combinations of find and grep/ack in a terminal window.

    Reply
  14. helgeg@helgegudmundsen.com

    For me, the biggest advantage of plain text is searchability. Search tools (like Spotlight and Windows Search) no longer just look at file names, they also track the contents of files. This makes it trivial to search for information stored as plain text, and most time search is a lot faster than trying to navigate to the information. More complex searches are also easy to perform using combinations of find and grep/ack in a terminal window.

    Reply
  15. helgeg@helgegudmundsen.com

    For me, the biggest advantage of plain text is searchability. Search tools (like Spotlight and Windows Search) no longer just look at file names, they also track the contents of files. This makes it trivial to search for information stored as plain text, and most time search is a lot faster than trying to navigate to the information. More complex searches are also easy to perform using combinations of find and grep/ack in a terminal window.

    Reply
  16. me@derek-morrison.com

    Great summary! On the Simplenote to Dropbox sync feature that Simplenote recently added for paying users – have you found this to work well for you? It doesn't seem quite fully baked to me; I've experienced some flakiness and don't fully trust it yet. So you can reliably, for example, create/edit a text file on iOS with Nebulous Notes, save it to Dropbox, and it reliably syncs to Notational Velocity on Mac?

    Reply
  17. me@derek-morrison.com

    Great summary! On the Simplenote to Dropbox sync feature that Simplenote recently added for paying users – have you found this to work well for you? It doesn't seem quite fully baked to me; I've experienced some flakiness and don't fully trust it yet. So you can reliably, for example, create/edit a text file on iOS with Nebulous Notes, save it to Dropbox, and it reliably syncs to Notational Velocity on Mac?

    Reply
  18. me@derek-morrison.com

    Great summary! On the Simplenote to Dropbox sync feature that Simplenote recently added for paying users – have you found this to work well for you? It doesn't seem quite fully baked to me; I've experienced some flakiness and don't fully trust it yet. So you can reliably, for example, create/edit a text file on iOS with Nebulous Notes, save it to Dropbox, and it reliably syncs to Notational Velocity on Mac?

    Reply
  19. me@derek-morrison.com

    Great summary! On the Simplenote to Dropbox sync feature that Simplenote recently added for paying users – have you found this to work well for you? It doesn't seem quite fully baked to me; I've experienced some flakiness and don't fully trust it yet. So you can reliably, for example, create/edit a text file on iOS with Nebulous Notes, save it to Dropbox, and it reliably syncs to Notational Velocity on Mac?

    Reply
  20. me@derek-morrison.com

    Great summary! On the Simplenote to Dropbox sync feature that Simplenote recently added for paying users – have you found this to work well for you? It doesn't seem quite fully baked to me; I've experienced some flakiness and don't fully trust it yet. So you can reliably, for example, create/edit a text file on iOS with Nebulous Notes, save it to Dropbox, and it reliably syncs to Notational Velocity on Mac?

    Reply
  21. andyguzman@gmail.com

    I don't exactly understand the purpose of Simplenote in all of it. I don't mean that in a negative way – I just don't understand its necessity when you can have Nebulous/Notational sync up with Dropbox without using Simplenote at all.

    Can someone explain the added value of throwing Simplenote in vs just using Dropbox?

    Reply
  22. andyguzman@gmail.com

    I don't exactly understand the purpose of Simplenote in all of it. I don't mean that in a negative way – I just don't understand its necessity when you can have Nebulous/Notational sync up with Dropbox without using Simplenote at all.

    Can someone explain the added value of throwing Simplenote in vs just using Dropbox?

    Reply
  23. andyguzman@gmail.com

    I don't exactly understand the purpose of Simplenote in all of it. I don't mean that in a negative way – I just don't understand its necessity when you can have Nebulous/Notational sync up with Dropbox without using Simplenote at all.

    Can someone explain the added value of throwing Simplenote in vs just using Dropbox?

    Reply
  24. andyguzman@gmail.com

    I don't exactly understand the purpose of Simplenote in all of it. I don't mean that in a negative way – I just don't understand its necessity when you can have Nebulous/Notational sync up with Dropbox without using Simplenote at all.

    Can someone explain the added value of throwing Simplenote in vs just using Dropbox?

    Reply
  25. andyguzman@gmail.com

    I don't exactly understand the purpose of Simplenote in all of it. I don't mean that in a negative way – I just don't understand its necessity when you can have Nebulous/Notational sync up with Dropbox without using Simplenote at all.

    Can someone explain the added value of throwing Simplenote in vs just using Dropbox?

    Reply
  26. lotusf33t

    My almost plain-text recent work-flow is using Tomboy on my mac, and on any PC they make me use at work, synched through ubuntuone to Tomdroid on my phone. Sooo nice to instantly access all my notes instantly.

    Reply
  27. davidwsparks@mac.com

    @Andy

    A couple reasons for Simplenote:
    1. Works best with the PC set up
    2. Easily search it all

    The Dropbox piece is relatively new and I'm still sorting out exactly how that fits in.

    D

    Reply
  28. davidwsparks@mac.com

    @Andy

    A couple reasons for Simplenote:
    1. Works best with the PC set up
    2. Easily search it all

    The Dropbox piece is relatively new and I'm still sorting out exactly how that fits in.

    D

    Reply
  29. davidwsparks@mac.com

    @Andy

    A couple reasons for Simplenote:
    1. Works best with the PC set up
    2. Easily search it all

    The Dropbox piece is relatively new and I'm still sorting out exactly how that fits in.

    D

    Reply
  30. davidwsparks@mac.com

    @Andy

    A couple reasons for Simplenote:
    1. Works best with the PC set up
    2. Easily search it all

    The Dropbox piece is relatively new and I'm still sorting out exactly how that fits in.

    D

    Reply
  31. davidwsparks@mac.com

    @Andy

    A couple reasons for Simplenote:
    1. Works best with the PC set up
    2. Easily search it all

    The Dropbox piece is relatively new and I'm still sorting out exactly how that fits in.

    D

    Reply
  32. dmlewis@gmail.com

    I'm starting to use text files and markdown more often.

    David, do you keep your Notational Velocity database as separate text files, or a single database? I guess separate text files allow them to be edited outside of NV.

    Reply
  33. dmlewis@gmail.com

    I'm starting to use text files and markdown more often.

    David, do you keep your Notational Velocity database as separate text files, or a single database? I guess separate text files allow them to be edited outside of NV.

    Reply
  34. dmlewis@gmail.com

    I'm starting to use text files and markdown more often.

    David, do you keep your Notational Velocity database as separate text files, or a single database? I guess separate text files allow them to be edited outside of NV.

    Reply
  35. dmlewis@gmail.com

    I'm starting to use text files and markdown more often.

    David, do you keep your Notational Velocity database as separate text files, or a single database? I guess separate text files allow them to be edited outside of NV.

    Reply
  36. dmlewis@gmail.com

    I'm starting to use text files and markdown more often.

    David, do you keep your Notational Velocity database as separate text files, or a single database? I guess separate text files allow them to be edited outside of NV.

    Reply
  37. blogs2009@ryancollins.org

    I've switched to text files in Dropbox formatted with Markdown also. For an editor, I use JDarkroom on my Mac, the Dropbox App on my Droid, and Plaintext on my iPad. It all works quite well.

    And, FYI, Calibre will automatically format Markdown formatted files for eBooks, so you can go from text file to .epub, .mobi, etc. with one step.

    Reply
  38. blogs2009@ryancollins.org

    I've switched to text files in Dropbox formatted with Markdown also. For an editor, I use JDarkroom on my Mac, the Dropbox App on my Droid, and Plaintext on my iPad. It all works quite well.

    And, FYI, Calibre will automatically format Markdown formatted files for eBooks, so you can go from text file to .epub, .mobi, etc. with one step.

    Reply
  39. blogs2009@ryancollins.org

    I've switched to text files in Dropbox formatted with Markdown also. For an editor, I use JDarkroom on my Mac, the Dropbox App on my Droid, and Plaintext on my iPad. It all works quite well.

    And, FYI, Calibre will automatically format Markdown formatted files for eBooks, so you can go from text file to .epub, .mobi, etc. with one step.

    Reply
  40. blogs2009@ryancollins.org

    I've switched to text files in Dropbox formatted with Markdown also. For an editor, I use JDarkroom on my Mac, the Dropbox App on my Droid, and Plaintext on my iPad. It all works quite well.

    And, FYI, Calibre will automatically format Markdown formatted files for eBooks, so you can go from text file to .epub, .mobi, etc. with one step.

    Reply
  41. blogs2009@ryancollins.org

    I've switched to text files in Dropbox formatted with Markdown also. For an editor, I use JDarkroom on my Mac, the Dropbox App on my Droid, and Plaintext on my iPad. It all works quite well.

    And, FYI, Calibre will automatically format Markdown formatted files for eBooks, so you can go from text file to .epub, .mobi, etc. with one step.

    Reply
  42. ronlipke@gmail.com

    @ Andy

    I asked myself the same question. If your workflow includes a PC then I can see the benefit of adding Simplenote to the mix.

    On the other hand there are just too many little inconsistencies across all potential apps to make any system perfect. For example, PlainText is beautiful and easy, but has no search feature. Elements has search and a nifty Markdown preview button, but has been buggy for me and the one minute auto-save has burned me more than once.

    Which brings me back to Simplenote. Of all the iPad/iPhone apps, it's the most stable, easy to use choice that includes a search function. I also seem to be in the minority as a fan of the landscape iPad UI design. A lot of my quick editing and referencing while out and about occurs with the Simplenote app and I'm now looking into Nebulous Notes for heavier writing tasks (which will work with the Simplenote>Dropbox marriage). So while it may not be an essential piece of the puzzle, it's definitely useful.

    Reply
  43. ronlipke@gmail.com

    @ Andy

    I asked myself the same question. If your workflow includes a PC then I can see the benefit of adding Simplenote to the mix.

    On the other hand there are just too many little inconsistencies across all potential apps to make any system perfect. For example, PlainText is beautiful and easy, but has no search feature. Elements has search and a nifty Markdown preview button, but has been buggy for me and the one minute auto-save has burned me more than once.

    Which brings me back to Simplenote. Of all the iPad/iPhone apps, it's the most stable, easy to use choice that includes a search function. I also seem to be in the minority as a fan of the landscape iPad UI design. A lot of my quick editing and referencing while out and about occurs with the Simplenote app and I'm now looking into Nebulous Notes for heavier writing tasks (which will work with the Simplenote>Dropbox marriage). So while it may not be an essential piece of the puzzle, it's definitely useful.

    Reply
  44. ronlipke@gmail.com

    @ Andy

    I asked myself the same question. If your workflow includes a PC then I can see the benefit of adding Simplenote to the mix.

    On the other hand there are just too many little inconsistencies across all potential apps to make any system perfect. For example, PlainText is beautiful and easy, but has no search feature. Elements has search and a nifty Markdown preview button, but has been buggy for me and the one minute auto-save has burned me more than once.

    Which brings me back to Simplenote. Of all the iPad/iPhone apps, it's the most stable, easy to use choice that includes a search function. I also seem to be in the minority as a fan of the landscape iPad UI design. A lot of my quick editing and referencing while out and about occurs with the Simplenote app and I'm now looking into Nebulous Notes for heavier writing tasks (which will work with the Simplenote>Dropbox marriage). So while it may not be an essential piece of the puzzle, it's definitely useful.

    Reply
  45. ronlipke@gmail.com

    @ Andy

    I asked myself the same question. If your workflow includes a PC then I can see the benefit of adding Simplenote to the mix.

    On the other hand there are just too many little inconsistencies across all potential apps to make any system perfect. For example, PlainText is beautiful and easy, but has no search feature. Elements has search and a nifty Markdown preview button, but has been buggy for me and the one minute auto-save has burned me more than once.

    Which brings me back to Simplenote. Of all the iPad/iPhone apps, it's the most stable, easy to use choice that includes a search function. I also seem to be in the minority as a fan of the landscape iPad UI design. A lot of my quick editing and referencing while out and about occurs with the Simplenote app and I'm now looking into Nebulous Notes for heavier writing tasks (which will work with the Simplenote>Dropbox marriage). So while it may not be an essential piece of the puzzle, it's definitely useful.

    Reply
  46. ronlipke@gmail.com

    @ Andy

    I asked myself the same question. If your workflow includes a PC then I can see the benefit of adding Simplenote to the mix.

    On the other hand there are just too many little inconsistencies across all potential apps to make any system perfect. For example, PlainText is beautiful and easy, but has no search feature. Elements has search and a nifty Markdown preview button, but has been buggy for me and the one minute auto-save has burned me more than once.

    Which brings me back to Simplenote. Of all the iPad/iPhone apps, it's the most stable, easy to use choice that includes a search function. I also seem to be in the minority as a fan of the landscape iPad UI design. A lot of my quick editing and referencing while out and about occurs with the Simplenote app and I'm now looking into Nebulous Notes for heavier writing tasks (which will work with the Simplenote>Dropbox marriage). So while it may not be an essential piece of the puzzle, it's definitely useful.

    Reply
  47. andyguzman@gmail.com

    @Ron / Dave

    Thanks for the feedback!

    I actually am starting to understand Simplenote now from the search perspective. Somehow I hadn't noticed yet that Nebulous doesn't appear to have a search feature – or if it does it's certainly not as obvious as it is in Simplenote or Elements.

    I only switched to Nebulous from Elements a couple weeks ago after finally being fed up with bugs just as Ron mentioned. I apparently hadn't needed to search for anything since because I never noticed Nebulous didn't do it. Gah! It's so perfect aside from that! 🙂

    So I guess Dropbox makes it easy to own the data so that you can easily get to it from any tool outside the Simplenote ecosystem, but Simplenote is the best solution for iOS if you need search. I think I'll have to take a look at incorporating Simplenote again.

    Reply
  48. andyguzman@gmail.com

    @Ron / Dave

    Thanks for the feedback!

    I actually am starting to understand Simplenote now from the search perspective. Somehow I hadn't noticed yet that Nebulous doesn't appear to have a search feature – or if it does it's certainly not as obvious as it is in Simplenote or Elements.

    I only switched to Nebulous from Elements a couple weeks ago after finally being fed up with bugs just as Ron mentioned. I apparently hadn't needed to search for anything since because I never noticed Nebulous didn't do it. Gah! It's so perfect aside from that! 🙂

    So I guess Dropbox makes it easy to own the data so that you can easily get to it from any tool outside the Simplenote ecosystem, but Simplenote is the best solution for iOS if you need search. I think I'll have to take a look at incorporating Simplenote again.

    Reply
  49. andyguzman@gmail.com

    @Ron / Dave

    Thanks for the feedback!

    I actually am starting to understand Simplenote now from the search perspective. Somehow I hadn't noticed yet that Nebulous doesn't appear to have a search feature – or if it does it's certainly not as obvious as it is in Simplenote or Elements.

    I only switched to Nebulous from Elements a couple weeks ago after finally being fed up with bugs just as Ron mentioned. I apparently hadn't needed to search for anything since because I never noticed Nebulous didn't do it. Gah! It's so perfect aside from that! 🙂

    So I guess Dropbox makes it easy to own the data so that you can easily get to it from any tool outside the Simplenote ecosystem, but Simplenote is the best solution for iOS if you need search. I think I'll have to take a look at incorporating Simplenote again.

    Reply
  50. andyguzman@gmail.com

    @Ron / Dave

    Thanks for the feedback!

    I actually am starting to understand Simplenote now from the search perspective. Somehow I hadn't noticed yet that Nebulous doesn't appear to have a search feature – or if it does it's certainly not as obvious as it is in Simplenote or Elements.

    I only switched to Nebulous from Elements a couple weeks ago after finally being fed up with bugs just as Ron mentioned. I apparently hadn't needed to search for anything since because I never noticed Nebulous didn't do it. Gah! It's so perfect aside from that! 🙂

    So I guess Dropbox makes it easy to own the data so that you can easily get to it from any tool outside the Simplenote ecosystem, but Simplenote is the best solution for iOS if you need search. I think I'll have to take a look at incorporating Simplenote again.

    Reply
  51. andyguzman@gmail.com

    @Ron / Dave

    Thanks for the feedback!

    I actually am starting to understand Simplenote now from the search perspective. Somehow I hadn't noticed yet that Nebulous doesn't appear to have a search feature – or if it does it's certainly not as obvious as it is in Simplenote or Elements.

    I only switched to Nebulous from Elements a couple weeks ago after finally being fed up with bugs just as Ron mentioned. I apparently hadn't needed to search for anything since because I never noticed Nebulous didn't do it. Gah! It's so perfect aside from that! 🙂

    So I guess Dropbox makes it easy to own the data so that you can easily get to it from any tool outside the Simplenote ecosystem, but Simplenote is the best solution for iOS if you need search. I think I'll have to take a look at incorporating Simplenote again.

    Reply
  52. docrock@ifixpro.com

    I have been doing the text file madness thing for a while now thanks to Merlin Mann. I started using Nebulous notes after Merlin told me about it at Macworld. I've been on a mission to get Markdown, and Text files as a workflow spread across this planet like the "Green" movement (text files are green because you cpu will use less power in the long run). Brett and I are secretly working on a single source markdown 101 destination. for now check out

    Markdown Rules.

    I use Nebulous note with NValt sharing the same Dropbox foilder, no database just single files. This let's Elements, Writr, SimpleNote, Markdown Mail, TextMate and a host of all get access to my texts. No issues so far but I thought it worth a mention.

    Aloha

    Reply
  53. docrock@ifixpro.com

    I have been doing the text file madness thing for a while now thanks to Merlin Mann. I started using Nebulous notes after Merlin told me about it at Macworld. I've been on a mission to get Markdown, and Text files as a workflow spread across this planet like the "Green" movement (text files are green because you cpu will use less power in the long run). Brett and I are secretly working on a single source markdown 101 destination. for now check out

    Markdown Rules.

    I use Nebulous note with NValt sharing the same Dropbox foilder, no database just single files. This let's Elements, Writr, SimpleNote, Markdown Mail, TextMate and a host of all get access to my texts. No issues so far but I thought it worth a mention.

    Aloha

    Reply
  54. docrock@ifixpro.com

    I have been doing the text file madness thing for a while now thanks to Merlin Mann. I started using Nebulous notes after Merlin told me about it at Macworld. I've been on a mission to get Markdown, and Text files as a workflow spread across this planet like the "Green" movement (text files are green because you cpu will use less power in the long run). Brett and I are secretly working on a single source markdown 101 destination. for now check out

    Markdown Rules.

    I use Nebulous note with NValt sharing the same Dropbox foilder, no database just single files. This let's Elements, Writr, SimpleNote, Markdown Mail, TextMate and a host of all get access to my texts. No issues so far but I thought it worth a mention.

    Aloha

    Reply
  55. docrock@ifixpro.com

    I have been doing the text file madness thing for a while now thanks to Merlin Mann. I started using Nebulous notes after Merlin told me about it at Macworld. I've been on a mission to get Markdown, and Text files as a workflow spread across this planet like the "Green" movement (text files are green because you cpu will use less power in the long run). Brett and I are secretly working on a single source markdown 101 destination. for now check out

    Markdown Rules.

    I use Nebulous note with NValt sharing the same Dropbox foilder, no database just single files. This let's Elements, Writr, SimpleNote, Markdown Mail, TextMate and a host of all get access to my texts. No issues so far but I thought it worth a mention.

    Aloha

    Reply
  56. docrock@ifixpro.com

    I have been doing the text file madness thing for a while now thanks to Merlin Mann. I started using Nebulous notes after Merlin told me about it at Macworld. I've been on a mission to get Markdown, and Text files as a workflow spread across this planet like the "Green" movement (text files are green because you cpu will use less power in the long run). Brett and I are secretly working on a single source markdown 101 destination. for now check out

    Markdown Rules.

    I use Nebulous note with NValt sharing the same Dropbox foilder, no database just single files. This let's Elements, Writr, SimpleNote, Markdown Mail, TextMate and a host of all get access to my texts. No issues so far but I thought it worth a mention.

    Aloha

    Reply

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