Archive for the ‘Downloads’ Category:
Free Online Notetaking Applications
Since Ts’ai-Lin invented paper in 105 A.D., taking notes has largely been a paper and pencil activity. And no doubt it remains so, as witnessed by a recent poll of the tech-savvy readership of the popular Lifehacker blog, which voted Pen(cil) and Paper number two on The Five Best Note-taking Tools.
But if you are inclined by nature or curiosity to consider a web-based system for taking notes, jotting down ideas, or whatever, a plethora of choices–in several categories–are available. Suffice it to say that after reading Solution Watch’s Fifty Ways to Take Notes, I discovered many more viable options not listed. I recommend you start by reading the Lifehacker and Solution Watch articles as well as 7 Apps for Online Notetaking over at Web Worker Daily. If you want to delve more deeply into this topic don’t skip the reader comments.
Myself, I constantly take notes and have sheets of pocket-sized notepad paper piled in drifts about my desk, both at home and in the office. I’m still seeking a final good solution for my own particular needs but after doing much research and trying many apps, I’ll offer a few thoughts. All these apps allow you to quickly take notes on the fly, but some are quite feature-rich and can be used for far more than simply taking and organizing notes and ideas.
The feature-rich end of the spectrum includes Evernote, a powerful cross-platform app that’s on the top of everybody’s best-of list. As described at their website: “Evernote allows you to easily capture information in any environment using whatever device or platform you find most convenient, and makes this information accessible and searchable at any time, from anywhere.” Information includes just about anything digital: text, audio, video, images, et al. Zoho Notebook is another excellent application similar to Evernote.
Closer to the middle of the spectrum you’ll find Google Notebook, and one of my favorites, Notefish. These are both great clip-and-save type applications, and I use them both regularly. Notefish is especially easy to use, and with a Firefox add-on, its a snap to add online content via right-clicking (or Command clicking on the Mac). Many of the feature-rich and center-spectrum apps can conveniently be accessed in various ways through Firefox and other browsers.
If all you really need is to write notes, categorize, and save them, there are several good choices. Notezz is a very simple, no muss, no fuss app. You just write a note and save it. Yahoo Notepad, WebAsyst Notes, MyYellowPad, and Springnote are also worth a look. My current favorite in this category is FruitNotes, which includes a feature that allows you to call a number and record a “note” that is then automatically placed on your FruitNotes page as an audio file. For someone who is paranoid about being caught with an idea and no pen or paper to record it… well, lets just say that I love this feature.
Have fun, and let me know what you use!
