Tuesday
Aug242010
Briefly: our big update
Tuesday, August 24, 2010 at 03:58AM by Simplenote Our update went live several hours ago and we're buried in feedback. Most of it is very positive, which is extremely rewarding for us. Thanks everyone for your kind words.
We'll be going through it all in the coming days. This will take some time as we work through the backlog.
If you unsuccessfully tried sending an email to support@simplenoteapp.com, please use support@simperium.com instead until our domain transfer is complete.
We're already working on another update to address some of the problems people have found. We appreciate your help.
Reader Comments (96)
Very attractive redevelopment work. Well done!
The new icon is just A** UGLY! Seriously, just total crap. Like the Pepsi logo (as already pointed out by earlier comment), but smaller, out of proportion, and not really all that "S" like anyway. Was so happy to have the old icon as one of only 4 apps on my homescreen, but it's like an icepick to the eye each time I've looked today.
Cool update otherwise!
Nth-ing the request for the old icon - or at least a nicer-looking one. The new one's neither informative nor aesthetically appealing.
Yes, please bring back the old icon!
Another vote to bring back the old notepad icon. If you want to use the new logo perhaps you could combine the two somehow?
I think some ppl are overreacting but yes, the new icon does leave much to be desired. Perhaps a notepad icon with the blue Pepsi logo on it would work for everyone.
One new feature that I think we can all love is the search function that attempts to highlight the sought-for text. Great idea. However on my iPhone 4 it doesn't work; the text appears highlighted in a spot in the note where it doesn't actually appear! (When I click to edit, the "ghost" text disappears.)
Also, credit where credit's due: I love that autolinks are now compatible with "click here to type here" (instead of scrolling all the way to the bottom).
I like the new icon, actually. *ducks and runs away*
@Yakov Hadash
Actually, Dropbox sync via NV is unsatisfactory. First, I would like notes synced to Dropbox immediately, not just whenever I launch NV. I create notes in SimpleNote on the go, so it might be a while before they're synced to Dropbox via a third-party tool.
Second, NV doesn't work well when more than one computer running NV is set to use Dropbox as a sync. In fact, it specifically warns you against doing this, and you can easily run into serious syncing problems if you try to use NV with Dropbox on more than one computer.
I'd like SN to save directly to Dropbox, and then tell NV to just get its notes from there. More likely I'd just use a regular text editor.
Until SN has true Dropbox support, I've reluctantly switched to Elements.
I am already a premium user and would have no problem paying €9.99 to renew when my time is up.
But please change the iPhone icon. I found it much easier to locate simplenote when it was like a little notpad. Maybe consider a cross between the new icon and the old.
Ouch. I'm sad and disappointed. I loved the simplicity of the original. It had such a lightweight feel to it and absolutely nothing intimidating about it at all.
Now, with the new features it feels bloated and all the extra buttons at the bottom are a distraction.
Can I please go back?
And just to add to my comments above:
I'd have liked to see performance improvements. As it is, the app starts visibly slowing down on very long notes.
You should have just polished the existing features to a mirror shine. Instead ...
I figured out why I had to log in every time I changed the settings -- it's because of your ridiculous placement if the "log out" button where "back" usually lives. Log out should be a big red button at the bottom of the settings menu, not at the top left.
More seriously -- when I tried to load a very long note the app hung and wouldn't load even after a hard reboot of the phone. The only fix I could find was to download the app again. The old version did not have this problem.
On iPhone app, when selecting the timeline to go back to a previous version, the ability to return to the list of all notes is lost. Not only can I not get back to the home state, I don't even see the history of the current note.
As a new user, I like the app, despite it's fairly buggy implementation.
Much prefer the new icon. And appreciate the modest update of features.
When searching, the bottom bar becomes a way to navigate for the phrase in question within the note. Cool. But after canceling the search, the search bar remains on the bottom next time I check into a note. Not so cool.
Loving Simplenote, especially in tandem with the iPhone app and ResophNotes (free, Windows). FYI, RN adds some fantastic features which would be great to see in the iPhone (and web) app:
- Markdown display of annotated text
- Simple wiki: optionally convert text between [brackets] to clockable links to other note titles!
The addition of tags was a quantum leap forward, but there is (I think) an easier way to categorize notes by leveraging searches. Many folks already included pseudo-tags in their note titles before the actual tags existed, then searched on those "tags".
How about "saved searches" (see MIT's "list.it" Firefox extension)?, with another dropdown next to the tag dropdown (web view at least) that presents a list of recent or saved search phrases? On the iPhone, these saved searches could be presented in the same list as the tags.
This would remove one very repetitive step from the search process, and also the manual addition of tags in a different GUI field in the web view (not sure how to add tags to a note on the iPhone!)
Anything I can type inline is far quicker and in line with the original Simplenote philosophy
One more request among the dozens: user-sortable notes. iPhone UI has a great drag-and-drop list widget, would be great to use it (and even have the option to have D&D enabled all the time, e.g. like the Doris app)
@Rob: I do this using BASIC-style line numbers and alpha sort. Not perfect but it works...
How to use Simplenote as your "GTD homepage":
Using URL schemes, you can have access to all the built-in and third-party URL launchers that iOS handles in most text fields. Simplenote will make clickable not just standard http: URLs, but also any other special URL or formatted text that iOS recognizes in mail and safari. You can essentially create a "Home" note and pin it to the top, to:
- Call a phone number (e.g. a 10 digit text string)
- Create an event in your calendar (date with optional time, e.g. 8/24/2010 8:34pm Get milk)
- Kick off an SMS (no subject though)
- Compose an email, with subject and initial body filled in
- Open facebook (try fb://profile ) if you have it installed
etc.
A list of various URL schemes (both built-in and registered third-party apps):
http://applookup.com/
More detail (e.g. Facebook), but harder to read:
http://wiki.akosma.com/IPhone_URL_Schemes
Thanks Rob!
I only just discovered how to undo when typing in iOS...
Thanks everyone for your bug reports, feature requests, and comments. We'll be releasing regular updates to fix the current issues, and processing everyone's feedback to decide next steps.
Top priority is bug fixes right now.
Loved it before. Love it even more now. This is the note pad app I've have been waiting for. Seamlessly sync'd without any of the Evernote bullshit. Keep up the great work.
Now it's got tags I can finally move over from Evernote. Any idea when the PC/Mac apps will start supporting these new tags? I can't move over until this happens.
How the heck do people manage without tagging their notes anyway?