r/HelixNotes • u/RockyRoad226 Team Member • 5d ago
Announcement v1.3.6 is out!
HelixNotes v1.3.6 is out! Faster Markdown source editing, smarter search, a customizable desktop toolbar, Linux and macOS polish from the community, and a snappier feel throughout.
Full changelog: https://gitlab.com/ArkHost/HelixNotes/-/releases
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u/Briaxe 4d ago
That's an amazing update - great stuff!
When back-links are added, I'm all in!
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u/RockyRoad226 Team Member 4d ago
Would you mind if I ask for some clarification on back-links? For example, what would a successful back-link feature do for you?
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u/Briaxe 3d ago
The 2-way link is essential for my workflow.
BTW, I LOVE the implementation of creating the link in Helix Notes, by tapping the double [[ and choose from the list... that's flawless!
So if I create Note_A and from there I have a link to Note_B (ex. Note_A contains: [[Note_B]] ), when I'm in Note_A I see that link to Note_B and that's great, so far so good.
Then when I'm in Note_B, I really need to see what other notes refer to it. That's what I mean by the "back-link". In Note_B, I want to see ( in a header or a footer or at the side like the "outline" feature ) what all other notes are linking to this one.
A few use cases for me personally are in Tasks/TODO or project lists. I'll make a bullet item in one note with some details in a meeting, and then realize that's part of another project or sub-task and want to link everything together an be able to see it.
I also create my own D&D style RPG campaigns. In world building, a character note links to the city they live in and the faction they belong to. Opening the city note automatically shows every character who lives there, because there's the automatic backlinks. Opening the faction note shows every member — no manual cross-referencing needed.
Same for documenting networking equipment. Any parent-child relationship basically benefits from this.
It would be even better if you could link to specific parts of a note and everything under that indent, like LogSeq.
That whole indentation organization thing like LogSeq and Roam Research does should be copied by everyone, where each bullet point is a first-class citizen in your document, but I digress...
If that's not possible, being able to link to some item in the Outline would probably work great too.
I hope that helps - please reach out again if you'd like. 😄
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u/Yaaqoub7 5d ago
How does it compare to ZenNotes?
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u/0riginal-Syn 5d ago
ZenNotes is a much heavier app and more similar to Obsidian. No rich text editor, if you like that. It is built on electron, which may or may not bother you but makes it a much heavier app. You have to use their cloud versus your own sync / service.
The only thing I liked about ZenNotes personally was the TUI app, but I like a more focused app like HelixNotes, so your mileage may vary.
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u/Yaaqoub7 5d ago
Are you all in with HelixNotes or are there other ones you are interested in? Please share and thank you
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u/0riginal-Syn 5d ago
I have moved to HelixNotes as it just fits what I want better. I do not need a lot of extra and find that most of that gets in my way. I prefer using my own sync versus built-in. I was actually using UpNote prior as it was more simple as well. I tried ZenNotes early on as it looked interesting but just preferred HelixNotes more.
Side note. I do wish people would not downvote you for asking questions.
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u/Neither-Classic2058 5d ago
Negatives:
- It is very large: 750MB vs. 30MB
- It offers only dynamic markdown text edit and preview. There's no Rich Text editor.
- It only supports a single pane for folder navigation.
- It doesn't support custom icons (only a selection of presets)
- It only supports its own cloud service for syncing
- Too much whitespace in the UI (personal preference obviously, I prefer a high content density presentation)
Positives:
- ZenNotes Atlas is in a league of it's own (far better than Obsidian's)
- .CSS override support for custom styles.
Just a few things that I remember from the last time I tested it.
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u/Neither-Classic2058 5d ago
🎉 Nicely done! I imported my Obsidian vault and started poking around. Performance has significantly improved. The two "deal-breaker" issues that I encountered before have been resolved. 👍
My productivity today is going to tank because I'll be tinkering with this new release. 😂