It's just unfortunate that the proprietary apps have IMHO much nicer UI/UX. Why can't we have both!

On Mac I use Ulysses. I get the benefits described here while still having a fast, native app with excellent UX.

I have Mac for work, and Linux for personal and an Android phone. That means Ulysses on Mac, ThiefMD on Linux, and Markor on Android, all synced with syncthings. Native apps on different OSes is the best solution I've been able to come across.

A single cross platform app would be preferable, but the last time I used Obsidian it was slow, heavy, bloated, with a pretty ugly UI, likely in part due to running on electron.

The look of Obsidian put me off too but after I got into it I realised the whole theme is totally css-able. It's really easy to make it your own.

I do agree though, they do themselves no favours with that ugly black / purple website. They need a much better, much prettier default.

All that aside, I'm delighted with my switch to Obsidian. Just an amazing tool, and total reassurance that it's just markdown with all the benefits that brings. So glad to be rid of Evernote...!

I've always liked Obsidians design or/and haven't thought of it as bad. We've all seen way worse looking applications.

I use Ulysses too, but I it could be faster. I haven’t tried them in the latest versions, but in the past I’ve had issues with even medium-sized files with lots of formatting.