Pinoy Tech Guy

Written on Sunday, 20th of Jan 2008 – 10:55 am | by sylv3rblade | 829 views

Whether it’s for assignments, projects or even just a blog post, we usually find snippets, pictures and links, note taking is both useful and essential. Ever had the experience of trying to remember that the impromptu assignment that your boss sent you on your IM but cant?

I’m sure many of you will suggest “isn’t that what NOTEPAD is for.” Yes, notepad works but only to a point. For those who want more functionality and the ability to share their work, here’s a list of programs and services that allow you to do so:

Freebies:

Free Note - Free Note is a free note taking program for just under 2MB. What it does is provide note stickies on your desktop where you can add text and links. It also integrates with your default web browser allowing you to use the “Search the web” function. You can change the color of the sticky and the font, but it doesn’t go transparent when idle.

[download Free Note].

Notes Editor - (For Desktop Sidebar Users only) Notes Editor v2 provides a simple note taking panel for your Desktop Sidebar. It’s basically a notepad for the sidebar with very limited functionality. I like (and use) it because it has easy access (just click) and it autosaves your work.

[download Notes Editor].

Web Services:

Webnote - Webnote is an interesting web tool that allows you to take notes using your web browser. No sign-up or registration required. Just create a workspace and start taking notes down. When you’re done you can save your workspace and return to them from the same computer or any other computer.

You can also share your notes with others by providing the workspace name (or url) to a friend. Just don’t share anything NSFW. Your boss/parent might be watching over your shoulder and you have no means of preventing people of accessing your notes.

Web note only recognizes text inputs though.

[Use Webnote]

Google Notebook - Google is everywhere, even in your notebook and you only need an existing Google Account (gmail, google docs, etc) to use it. Google Notebook provides more functionality by giving you a Rich Text WYZIWYG (What you see is what you get) editor you note just text, but images and links from web pages as well.

You also have the ability to create multiple notebooks, divide them into sections, and drag-and-drop your notes to stay organized.

Because it’s online, you can access it on any computer with a browser and because it’s tied to your Google Account, it’s secure (objectively).

If you’re a Firefox user, you can make taking down notes efficient by installing the Google Notebook plugin (scroll below, you need to sign-in to your Google Account). It adds a Google Notebook button on your Firefox and uses a small popup for the notebook interface.

[use Google Notebook]

Dappad - Here’s the service that gets my recommendation. Dappad is a service that gives you use of a Rich Text WYZIWYG (What you see is what you get) editor. Note only that, it allows you to mark notes you’ve stored as public or private making sure people don’t see what you’re hiding (like future posts? XD)

Notes you’ve written can be copy and pasted content from web pages, Word documents and Excel spreadsheets and vice-versa. Note that you may have to use Ctrl+V instead of the Paste function.

Dappad allows you to easily organize your notes by giving you folders AND tags. Even the most popular email services don’t use them both so it’ll fit Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 users.

Dappad also provides an Easy Reading mode which publishes your work in HTML format for better reading.

If you choose to install the Firefox plugin, note that it has issues with the All in One Sidebar.

[use Dappad]

Not Freebies:

NoteZilla - I found NoteZilla to be the answer to the most aesthetic-sensitive geek. It doesn’t only provide sticky notes but it also allows you to customize them with no end. Change how the note looks, it’s background, color, font, transparency and the list goes on

It’s most attractive feature? NoteZilla also allows you to “stick” notes to any window, be it a word processor, a browser, or even a calculator. Nifty right? It’s also quite expensive running and $30.

Additional features include:

• Password-Protected Notes
• Checklist Sticky Notes
• Website links inside Notes
• Images inside Sticky Notes
• Skins & Transparency
• Auto-Hide Toolbar

If you can shell out the cash, you’d definitely want this one. It’s lightweight (uses little memory) and unobtrusive.

[ConceptWord NoteZilla Sticky Notes]

One Note - Microsoft has always been on everyone’s nerves but I guess I’ll cut them some slave with One Note. Why? Onenote, part of the Office 2007 suite, is the perfect companion for students who does lots of research and note taking with their notebooks (yeah it’s expensive… and pardon my crappy scribbling, it’s hard to do it with a mouse when you just woke up >_<).

One Note works well with touchscreen equipped computers because of the scribbler and drag and drop functions. What’s more, you can insert ANY Microsoft Office file into your Notebook, either by providing a link to the file or the contents itself.

Over my months of using One Note, here’s a list of the features that I’ve found very useful:

• OneNote Mobile - two-way synchronization with Windows Mobile–powered Pocket PCs and Smartphones. Synchronized files include photos, voice recordings, etc.
• Calculator - You can easily compute mathematical expressions even without opening Excel.
• Side notes - One Note provides you a sort of Sticky Notes (like free notes). It works even if One Note isn’t open.
• Printing to OneNote - Not many people will use this feature but I find it very handy. Basically, driver, you can print any file to a page in your OneNote notebook, just as you would to a printer. What use is that? Use your imagination guys ^^.

Also, if you have an Office Live Workspace Account, you can share files with anyone with an OLW account. Sign up for OLW is free and if you have an existing Windows Live ID, you can use that to sign up for the service.

[Office One Note]

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