Show HN: NoteUX – Fast and minimalist note-taking app
67 comments
·March 27, 2025sashk
kstrauser
OTOH, this one’s had a new release in the last 2 years. I loved the idea of Tot and bought it, but it has its glitches and doesn't seem to be actively supported anymore.
ifrosted
I believe this one is limited to MAC OS only my idea was that it should be available almost every where regardless of which OS we are using. And i am also planning to launch a dedicated app on appstore as well as play store when i have some more time. If you want to be notified about when i launch next set of updates feel free to follow my product hunt launch here -> https://www.producthunt.com/posts/noteux
And any feedback given there would definitely be added fast :)
shazeubaa
Yeah. Strikingly similar.
ahmedfromtunis
What I really miss right now is a chrome extension that replaces the new tab page with a note taking space.
I used to use an extension called papier that had a simple interface, just the right amount of configurability and a beautiful design (particularly good color schemes). The extension got removed because of its incompatibility with the new manifest V3.
The current alternatives are either too involved with too much configuration options (i.e. distractions) and not very attractive, minimalist designs.
With your app, you're almost there. If you can get the correct balance right, you could fill the gap in that niche.
hakaneskici
Your wish came true :)
I've made this a while ago for myself to take quick notes while browsing the web, so I'm publishing this in case anyone finds it useful:
> minimalistab is an extension for Chrome that replaces chrome://newtab with a blank WYSIWYG editor for taking notes.
https://github.com/hakaneskici/minimalistab
Here's the primary trick [1] behind the scenes that makes this possible:
kevindamm
I use a variation of this as a bookmarklet, perhaps you'll find it useful:
data:text/html,<html contenteditable>
You could probably set that as the URL of your home page to get the behavior you described.
I add a style="height:100%" in the HTML tag so that clicking anywhere puts focus on it for editing. You could add other styling and initial content as desired.
Aicy
Oh wow that's cool! How do you use this since I presume the tab will forget everything once its closed? Just temporary notes?
kevindamm
Yeah, I operate it like I would a dry-erase board. Ctrl-S doesn't work unless you add some scripting, but I usually copy-paste it if I'm drafting a note, or close it without saving if it was meant like a sticky note. It's good as a longer-term clipboard or a place to privately note down something before deciding whether to keep it.
For notes that I've refined and want to hold on to, I tend to use a physical notebook. I enjoy the kinesthetic process of writing by hand so I still use that for more permanent notes.
crazygringo
I do too. I've been wondering if there's some short JavaScript I could add to retrieve text from local storage when loaded, and update local storage after every change. Not so it persists for months, but just so it survives a tab close or a browser restart.
kevindamm
EDIT: mm, localStorage API is disabled inside data URLs, understandably
There are local-first file based solutions (like classic TiddlyWiki) that could work for you,.. but at that point maybe you meant to open your favorite text editor or IDE.
I kind of like that this simple solution always opens a scratch buffer and I have to put it somewhere else to save it (never saved accidentally).
It also keeps the source formatting (or with ctrl-shift-V ignores it), which can be useful aside from the note taking itself.
jdshaffer
Wow! That's really cool. Thanks for sharing!
bakje
Love the simplicity of this
rtcoms
I'm using Brisk Notes: https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/brisknote-new-tab-n...
ifrosted
Thank you for your kind words, I am the founder here :) , give me feedback and i will most probably add them right away.
I will try to create a chrome-extention for NoteUX hopefully soon.
you can follow me or directly reach out to me on twitter too x.com/nabeelHQ
ifrosted
FYI Chrome Extension on the way, will publish the url soon as its published on the chrome store, thanks for your feedback.
jedimastert
Wow, I used to use Papier all the time. I sort of forgot about it when I migrated from Chrome to Firefox and didn't really find a good alternative, but man that plugin was legitimately a huge part of my life for a while. I'm sad to heard it's going away, it was an absolutely genius idea
ahmedfromtunis
Oh yeah, it's one of those pieces of software that goes out of your way and just does its assigned job so well that you literally forget about it.
I remember switching to a new computer at work and noticing something was weirdly missing without being able to put my finger on it. It wasn't until one of those moment where I used to use the extension that I noticed it wasn't yet installed on this machine.
sheepscreek
As developers have to support themselves in some way, would you be willing to use a similar ad-supported extension? Or perhaps pay a small amount to support development more directly and go ad-free?
jedimastert
Back when I started using it I probably would have considered ads, but I'm not sure if I would turn them on
Nowadays? I would probably have chucked $5 or $10 towards the dev.
squealish
Papier is still available in Brave it seems.
camflan
This is a fairly shameless Tot clone, you should at least credit the Iconfactory. https://tot.rocks/
ifrosted
Yesterday, I had a simple need—I wanted a quick way to jot down thoughts without the hassle of creating new notes or organizing folders. Instead of searching for an existing solution, I built one myself. That's how NoteUX was born!
It’s a minimalist, distraction-free note-taking space with multiple scratch pads, so you can quickly type and switch between notes without any extra steps. No sign-ups, no clutter—just an instant writing experience.
Supports Fullscreen Mode, Dark Mode and Download notes.
What do you guys think?
James_K
Text editor is already invented but nice try.
hailruda
>without the hassle of creating new notes or organizing folders
Have you missed this part?
abraxas
Not the OP but I share the sentiment. Doesn't everyone have a default text editor with a Ctrl-N shortcut or equivalent to create an empty text file? That's what I do every time I need to create a quick note. Maybe I don't spend as much time in the browser as everyone else.
James_K
So to avoid the hassle of organising folders, you create an editor with only a single folder that has 8 files in it? I can replicate this in a normal text editor by simply using only one folder with 8 files in it. For advanced CLI users, an even simpler (and arguably better) solution to this problem exists:
vim notes/"$(date -Iminutes)".txt # author a new note
vim notes/"$(ls notes | tac | sed 8q)" # edit the 8 most recent notes, starting from newestnuminix
I like the idea! The different scratch pads are cool. But I'm always a bit worried with localStorage of losing my work, is that a fair concern?
If you're looking for feedback, you could consider:
- Host the javascript and fonts yourself, only downsides (privacy, slower) in using a CDN. Ko-fi, Google fonts, Google analytics, Cloudflare, Bootstrapcdn, Numoh -- are all these entities required for note taking?
- Excessive user analytics: Google Analytics is not configured for privacy. Also another Numoh Analytics, but that seems disabled at the moment?
- A pretty writing experience helps me stay in a flow. Nothing wrong with Arial 16px #000, but not inviting either. There is still a lot to win from a typography perspective.
- The saving to .txt is nice, but I'd want a plain text (or markdown) version, no html. Also would be nice if the filename was optimized (scratchpad + timestamp).
- Instead of all CSS inline, it might prevent the flash of a white-screen if the styling was saved/cached in css file, or the prefers-color-scheme tag.
- You've added an <h1> tag but styled it with a font-size smaller than your body text, this makes it lose it semantics (i.e. also no SEO/UX value).
lioeters
> worried with localStorage of losing my work
Unfortunately localStorage is not guaranteed to be persistent, especially on Safari/Webkit.
> Starting in iOS 13.4 and Safari 13.1, LocalStorage will be cleared after 7 days of no user interaction on a site.
7-Day Cap on All Script-Writeable Storage - https://webkit.org/blog/10218/full-third-party-cookie-blocki...
This also affects sessionStorage and Indexed DB, which is commonly used by local-first software that runs in the browser.
ravenstine
> A Note On Web Applications Added to the Home Screen
> As mentioned, the seven-day cap on script-writable storage is gated on “after seven days of Safari use without user interaction on the site.” That is the case in Safari. Web applications added to the home screen are not part of Safari and thus have their own counter of days of use. Their days of use will match actual use of the web application which resets the timer. We do not expect the first-party in such a web application to have its website data deleted.
I'm glad to know that this isn't [entirely] destroying the concept of webpages acting in an app-like manner. At least this gives the developer and user some ability to give permission for actually persistent storage.
ifrosted
Thanks for your feedback, which font do you think would suit better? Also the point to launching noteux was not to compete with full fledge note taking apps but to quickly jot down something instead of thinking about which directory / note to create. I will keep on improving with the community's suggestions.
null
sharmasachin98
I love minimal note tools, what’s your approach to syncing across devices without adding too much bloat?
freetonik
I love tiny note taking solutions. My favorite app of all time is (was?) nvALT [1].
The simplest in-browser solution actually requires zero pages or apps, see this bookmarklet [2]. It opens a full-page text area. No saving, but immediate and does not need a network connection.
Alternatively, not as easy as a publicly available web page, but if you want to have a very fast and minimalist self-hosted note taking app (with fast search and the ability to attach files and download websites), check out my small project called Textpod [3].
[1]. https://brettterpstra.com/projects/nvalt/ [2]. https://bookmarklet.one/bm/quick-note/ [3]. https://github.com/freetonik/textpod
shelled
I was able to use nv (nvALT was a fork) before the development stopped and people slowly figured out it stopped. The website is still up https://notational.net and the last binary is still up for download. It worked for a crazy long time as it was. I am not sure but iirc there were some "stability" patches, in the original nv, or not. Then nvALT also stopped and then Brett started on something else and that kinda took a lot of time, really a long time (might have been released now but not sure). That is when I lost track of that lineage of note apps - the nvX - - the ones I started on. That was the reason my next was Simplenote and I stuck with it for really long.
After leaving Simplenote I could never really find a successor. Kept jumping from one app to another - UpNote (very electron), FS Notes (very unstable; come across a bug every other day that it's tiring), then Bear (might move to it, maybe), Joplin (no sadly) etc and what not. Now I just try to use something that lets me keep notes in a folder and use it but then iOS becomes a mess unless I use iCloud. I could never find another simple note taking app. I wish Automattic took privacy seriously and kept the development of Simplenote afresh and maybe charged for it.
Maybe I am not supposed to find that one note taking app for me. Maybe it doesn't exist. That makes sense. I think it's about notes and not the note apps? Keep the notes and apps are a-changin'.
freetonik
I just downloaded nvALT on Sonoma (14.3), and it runs, but looks a bit funky. The styling of some elements is slightly broken, but does not seem to affect the functionality. I haven't tested all the features though.
>Now I just try to use something that lets me keep notes in a folder and use it but then iOS becomes a mess unless I use iCloud
I didn't quite understand: do you want an app that syncs to iOS but not via iCloud?
shelled
I would rather prefer an app which gives me an option to sync via a service of my choice (at least some well established ones) e.g. Dropbox, Netxcloud, maybe for someone it could be even Google Drive, or their own sync if they have e2ee. etc.
> syncs to iOS
It just an OS so I would put it as "is available on OS"
> but not via iCloud
But the sync options are not limited to iCloud.
roldie
Semi-related: is there a modern equivalent of Notational Velocity? I used to love it. Similar to this app, there was a focus on speed. But Notational Velocity (and NValt) also had great search built-in
mprovost
The OG drill book (Unix Power Tools) had a tip for quick note taking - redirect to /dev/null. For the past 25 years I pretty much always have a terminal window open with a shell redirecting to /dev/null so I can copy and paste or type quickly. I suppose if you wanted to save it you could redirect to a file instead of /dev/null but I always treat it as a buffer that will eventually go away.
gwynforthewyn
Are you just saying here that you open a shell, redirect cat's output to /dev/null, and then use the terminal buffer for notes? I can't quite parse out from your comment what you mean as a workflow; I checked out my copy of Unix Power Tools and didn't see anything clarifying what you mean in either Chapter 43 "Redirecting Input and Output" or flicking through section IV "Basic Editing".
If you have a few minutes and could clarify, I'd appreciate it. I love a good *nix workflow.
mprovost
I found it! Section 48.3 "A Scratchpad on Your Screen" from the first edition.
mprovost
Yes that's it: "cat > /dev/null". Or you can even skip running cat and just "> /dev/null". You exit by typing ctrl-d which sends an EOF (and then sends all the output to /dev/null!).
Imustaskforhelp
So I just tried and we can use this with zellij sessions as well , which is pretty nice and has a really really nice ui/ux
Imustaskforhelp
cat > ~/anyrandomfile also works if you want a persistant connection / want storage to save things
I am not sure if the noteux.com works in the same way.
I am also not sure but is there a way to create persistant terminal connections as each is going to /dev/null but its persistant and you can connect to any of it?
maybe using zellij / tmux
swah
I must not hear about this, otherwise... its another place I have to look for that phone numer I wrote down last week. Where was it. Maybe on Notion? Or still in my Drafts? Perhaps Obsidian, Apple Notes, Telegram/Whatsapp, UpNote, noteux......
czhu12
Been looking for a note taking app powered by local storage that supports images that works in iFrames.
Would be great if it can also support links
egypturnash
starts typing random keysmash in macos safari
twenty characters in, safari crashes
minimalist indeed
Reminds me Tot by IconFactory. https://blog.iconfactory.com/2020/02/meet-tot-your-tiny-text...