Old "Low Level" Note-Taking
What can I say about NodeLand?
NoteLand offers a quick, but super simple and superficial summary of websites and smaller documents. Larger documents are simply not summarized.
This is a time saver, but as mentioned, the summary is superficial.
The interface is anything but modern and not intuitive at all.
Moreover, it is necessary to make far too many separate clicks to accomplish simple tasks, for example:
- I have to press a "Create" button to create a node.
- Then enter the node name in a text field that opens at the bottom left of the page.
- Then save.
Conclusion: The window always stays in the bottom left, and when zoomed in, it is no longer present.
For connections:
- Click on the node.
- A side panel opens on the right.
- I then have to click on the tab to create connections.
- Then (if many nodes are present) search for my note in the unordered list (there's no hierarchy).
- Select.
- Confirm.
The other way for Connections:
- Click on the note
- Click on Connect in the blue menu
- Drag from one note to another note
- Done.
Why not simply display a point to connect when I hover the mouse pointer over a note? Then I would just need to click this and connect while holding down the mouse button. (As mentioned, this connection point could appear to the left, right, above or below the note since clicking on the note opens the side panel!)
And I'll stop here...
These are just a few examples of the many I could provide!
NodeLand is not at all intuitive, let alone modern, and the processes to get something done could be reduced by 90%.
Conclusion:
I absolutely cannot recommend NodeLand for note-taking.
It seems more like an attempt to reintroduce old, dead software with a new name, without making any qualitative changes regarding the UI or intuitive handling.
The only thing I would recommend NodeLand for is a quick but superficial summary of smaller documents or websites.
Therefore, 3 stars for summarizing websites, smaller documents, and for the feedback from the founders here on Appsumo...
Otherwise, NodeLand is unfortunately years behind!
P.S. If someone has $19 to spare and doesn’t mind using it for support, even with the uncertainty that NodeLand may not stay on the market for long, they can do so!
Whether I apply for a refund will depend on whether the speed of completing notes changes significantly in a short time and whether NodeLand becomes more intuitive.
Gabriel__Cmaps
Nov 22, 2024Hello, Fabian!
First, I want to sincerely thank you for such detailed and thoughtful feedback. Customers like you, with high standards and clear insights, truly help push us to improve and refine NodeLand.
1) Note-Taking & Node Creation.
We completely understand how critical it is for a note-taking solution to be quick and frictionless. Every “extra click” can feel tedious over time. Based on feedback like yours, we’ve already adjusted the behavior of the “Create Node” button. Now, instead of opening a text field at the bottom left and requiring a confirmation click, it directly opens the note-taking panel on the right side of the screen. Additionally, the cursor focus is automatically set to the node title, making the process smoother and faster.
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2) Connections.
We’ve actually experimented with this approach of hovering over a node to display connectors for drag-and-drop linking (similar to what app.diagrams.net, formerly draw.io, does). However, we’re not yet satisfied with the results in our testing. For now, we’ve decided to stick with the toolbar-based “Connect” mode, where clicking on a node while in this mode creates a new connection. But we expect to switch to a smooth approach soon.
The Connections tab in the side panel is primarily designed for visualizing and navigating a node’s links, especially in larger mind maps. While it includes an “Add New Link” button, it’s not the primary method for creating connections.
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We’re fully committed to improving NodeLand’s UI/UX to better support heavy note-takers like yourself. If you have more suggestions or points of concern, please don’t hesitate to share them.
Parallel to these UI/UX improvements, we’re also focusing on enhancing our AI assistant to handle larger documents with hundreds of pages. Our goal is to deliver more comprehensive and meaningful summaries.