helloworm
So, here the discussion is on apps that have native ink support (for iOS, that would be via iPad and Apple Pencil).
So I guess they don’t have search because a majority of users use liquidtext primarily with inked notes or pasted inked notes from the clipboard. I guess text extraction is way harder of a problem to solve - hence no searching.
Text boxes are still very useful for title boxes and also detailed paragraphs of concentrated info - again, I used both of these in liquidtext but was immediately frustrated with even the lack of keyboard shortcuts for making text bold/underlined, changing sizes, or color. I did contact their support to request adding in keyboard shortcuts.. but instead they added in other more complicated features such as some weird inking mode switch. Hmmm adding in keyboard shortcuts for bold and changing size and color vs a switchable “inking”-mode .. surely the former is dead easy compared to the latter .....
So, supposing Dropbox has a sync with the files api, then that sync would be the responsibility (and implemented by) the Dropbox app. All you need to is ensure that you write into Files api properly (Ie don’t leave any locks around on files, etc - I’m not an iOS developer so I have no idea what’s actually required for very good/correct Files api interoperation, but it should be in Apple docs).
With a git repo program like Working Copy, you’d just write into its Files space (same as above for Dropbox), then Working Copy handles the syncing. Since Working Copy has no such auto sync as something like Dropbox would have, since WC is a git repo app and not a cloud files service, the user would manually open it themselves and make a commit and push it at their own choosing. Any writes to WC in the meantime will just overwrite. That’s all understood by the user , if he’s using a git repo as his files backup. I prefer manually syncing my files as commits to a repo, so this all works beautifully for me .
I don’t like placing the security of my synchronization in the hands of cloud files providers such as Dropbox or Google Drive. I use multiple iPads and laptops at once, so google drive and Dropbox bugs in sync may bite me. For notes this is best for me, since note update frequency of one to five times an hour doesn’t need any auto sync. But most users, even programmers, that I know don’t seem to enjoy this level of exactness.
The one issue with Margin Notes is that it refuses to let you manually position the frames. I often ended up doing nested frames, so it wasn’t a big deal, but visually it was still jarring to see the highlight boxes that you’ve made to visually switch up their positioning on you due to the auto arrange.
I haven’t used Margin Notes in a year. I have given up on both LiquidText and MarginNotes - neither were able to offer me the visual learning I needed. The former was too inefficient to stylize everything by hand without even keyboard shortcuts for bold, underline, etc, and the latter was too heavy handed in its insistence on visual placement for the user.
I ended up just using CardFlow (iOS). It is a great tool for visual learners. It has enough quality of life features to be efficient, but you also don’t end up trying to import every pdf into it - allowing you to focus on making just the key notes.
It’s a nice concept but their devs have moved on and barely update it at all. Trivially small feature updates are spun as huge improvements , but only released every six months to a year (!).
For the same paradigm but with a much, much better user experience with constant quality of life upgrades and devs that actually spend full time job on it, use Margin Notes 3 (iOS).
I think this is news for the sake of news. It’s just head hunting