Read Me

Notilo
======


Notilo is a software for writing notes.
There are many similar programs out there,
 but they were missing some features important for me, so I decided to write my own.
I hope there are some people with similar needs, who will enjoy it.

The name is from Esperanto, it means simply "a note tool".


Packages
--------

Curently for each version there are two packages:
notilo-<VERSION>.zip      -- for end users and developers
notilo-<VERSION>-src.zip  -- for developers only

If you are end user, download only the first package.
Unzip it in some directory.
If you use MS Windows, just double-click the "notilo.bat" file,
 or create a desktop shortcut (use "notilo.ico" for nice icon).
If you use some other OS... well, it will not work immediately,
 because the SQLite Java wrapper needs a native library.
I would appreciate some help from users of other systems.

If you are developer, download BOTH packages.
Unzip them to the same directory.
Some files are necessary for both end users and developers,
 and I did not want to put them into both packages.
The only file that appears in both packages is this "README.txt".

Directory structure:

bin/  -- Java program
img/  -- images used in program
*.dll  -- MS Windows library for SQLite Java wrapper
*.bat  -- MS Windows shell file for starting program
*.ico  -- a nice icon (same as img/icon.png)
*.txt  -- documentation

src/  -- Java source code
rsc/  -- source for images

You can run Javadoc to build code documentation.


Goals for version 1.0
---------------------

Version 1.0 should contain all of the following:

	Plain-text notes

Most things I need to write are plain text.
The rich text is IMHO more distracting than useful; it wastes time and disk space.

	Unicode

Sometimes I need to write texts in other languages.

	Tree hierachy

Easy to understand; scales well.

	Database

I expect to write notes in one file, but they do not need to be in memory all the time.
Each page is saved when it is changed.

	Manual

I will make a web page with manual probably with version 0.9.


After 1.0
---------

Here are some thoughts what I may do after the version 1.0 is ready.
But I do NOT promise anything of this!

	Internationalization

I will write Slovak and Esperanto translations myself, you can contribute the rest.

	Nice icons

If you think the current icons are ugly, I agree; you can make better ones.  ;-)

	Export

Exporting database to HTML, KeyNote, FreeMind formats.
Import from KeyNote.

	Support for optional non-plain-text pages

By default all pages will be plain-text, but when necessary,
 there should be a possibility to include something else.

	Less memory usage

In version 1.0 the whole page structure with all TITLES is in memory.
It could be better to read the structure on-demand, only the expanded nodes.

	More then tree hierarchy

Possibility to include one page into multiple pages.
This could make user interface more difficult,
 so I will try to implement it in way that if you do not use it, user interface stays the same.

	Multiple files

Links from one database to another; e.g. to separate public and private data.
Moving pages between databases.


Used libraries
--------------

	SQLite
http://www.sqlite.org/

	SQLite Java Wrapper/JDBC Driver
http://www.ch-werner.de/javasqlite/


Similar products
----------------

These programs are in my opinion somehow similar to Notilo,
 so if you are not satisfied with Notilo, maybe this is what you want.

The list of main advantages (+) and disadvantages (-) is from my point of view,
 for you other things may be important.
These products usually support rich text, or at least some kind of markup,
 and they usually do not keep data in database.


	KeyNote

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keynote_(notetaking_software)
+  free software
-  no longer maintained
-  does not support Unicode


	SEO Note

http://www.seonote.info/
-  proprietary (freeware)


	Microsoft OneNote

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_OneNote
-  proprietary, sold as part of some Microsoft Office packages
+  supports collaboration


	WikidPad

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikidPad
+  free software
+  stores data in database
+  one page can be linked from multiple pages
-  uses special wiki syntax


	FreeMind

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FreeMind
+  free software
-  not good for editing long texts, IMHO


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