Directories, filter tags or notebooks

[happy-turtle]

The sync feature of the app nicely fits my use case for a shared grocery list. But the sync feature also lets me wonder about a second use case: shared recipes. But for this I think the app lacks some kind of organization feature. Putting some notes in directories or notebooks, or tagging and filtering the notes would be nice. So I could distinguish e.g. between my personal notes and shared recipes for my family. What do you think about this, what approach would be the best fit?

I would also be open to help on any of this, happy to get involved if that makes sense.

[inventory69]

Hello @happy-turtle,

I think it's a great idea to be able to organise notes and checklists even better.
Perhaps with pagination, folders or tags.
I've been thinking about something like this for a while, but I can't find a sensible and subtle way to do it that fits with the app's philosophy - simplicity.

If you'd like to help with coming up with specific ideas or even with implementation, you're more than welcome to do so.

[happy-turtle]

Thanks for being open about this, I appreciate it! I gave it some thought and I already have some ideas on how to implement this in the app. Before I start to try something out though, I am interested in what you think would be the best fit into the current structure of the app, especially on the backend. At first I would definitely tend to subdirectories. I think this would fit best to the WebDAV server as well. And it would also allow to restrict access to specific directories to some users on the server.
The other option is to use a tag or filter property on the notes themselves. I think this requires more work on managing and updating the notes though. And adds additional overhead to the core structure.

[racehd]

I'd love to see something like this to help organize my notes. I think following the app's philosophy of simplicity not all of these would be enabled by default so that the base user experience is still simple and intuitive, but allows for added layers of organization. Here are some rough thoughts that keep this in mind:

• Folders as a core feature.

  • I think folders could be implemented while retaining UI simplicity. For example, visually show folders like a note but with a folder icon. This would result in no UI clutter and the folders only show if used.
  • Adding a folder would work like adding a note or checklist (clicking the + icon and selecting folder).
  • Most people intuitively understand what a folder is, whereas tags and notebooks might be more abstracted.

• tags disabled by default but listed as an option to enable in menu. I could see an argument that having to 'enable' tags just add settings clutter and it might be cleaner to just have them as a core feature.

  • For markdown files it would be added to the existing markdown frontmatter as a tags key

    ---
    tags: [markdown, tutorial, web]
    ---

  • Long term, supporting tags opens the door to broader frontmatter support which could be useful to power users. For example, there could be a simple frontmatter UI where you enter these keys and values into. Common keys like 'tags' could be always listed but then allow adding custom keys. Alternatively a simple UI for adding tags and a separate option to enable viewing frontmatter within the note and editing it directly to cover other use-cases.
  • I think offering a simple UI for tags would be the most intuitive use, but mention the rest since it might be worth considering the frontmatter architecture while building out tag support.

• notebooks. An option in menu to add additional notebooks and switch among them.

  • If new notebook is added, you could create a 'notes2' profile which creates a 'notes-2' and 'notes-2-md' directories.
  • Server settings could be optionally copied over from default notebook, but could be updated independently if needed. This would allow that usecase of a 'shared' recipes notebook if the user has separate WebDAV folders for shared access.
  • There could be some options to rename the notebooks and/or directories. The renaming of directories could be handled through the existing sync folder settings.

[inventory69]

Hey @happy-turtle and @racehd, your ideas are very helpful as i had a very hard time thinking about this :D

After going through it a few times and think about it carefully while doing simple stuff, i think we might have a plan!

What do you think about it?

Folders, single level and no nesting at first. Why?

As @happy-turtle raised the point: We can actually use WebDAV access-rights if the folder in the app maps 1:1 to a directory on the server, we dont need any logic for this in the app. So no login or sharing code needed. Tags actually can't do this, so it would be the most simple and clean approach in my opionion as it would also fit best to the shared-recipes use case.

It would fit the WebDAV layer as a PROPFIND already returns collections separately from files, so we would only need to change the sync logic to go one level deeper.
We could keep the notes folder flat locally and put a folderName field on the note itself, so we wouldn't need to bother with renaming or moving folders or notes cross directory.

UI wise i really like the idea of @racehd, showing folders as cards at the top of the existing list with a folder icon. No UI clutter, no drawer, no extra tab and if no folders exist, nothing would change visually. Keeping the UI as simple as our philosophy..
The "+" FAB button would get a third option "New folder".

About tags: This would not include tags. On purpose. The "labels" field already exists on the note model since the Google Keep import implementation. When we add a tag system later, the data is already there waiting for it.

I think we dont need nesting for now (no folders in folders), but if it turns out to be a missing part of the feature, we can surely think about it again.
One level should already cover all the use cases i've seen here: Family, Work, Recipes.

@happy-turtle if you really would like to help implementing, i could coordinate it or outline all the touchpoints. But honestly, now i am already much into it and thinking about all that stuff, so it probably would not be needed. :)

[ZaxonXP]

Tags could be added in the note metadata, like it is now for type of the note. It would really help to filter notes if the tags feature would be added to the application.

[inventory69]

Yes and good news are: we already have a 'labels' field on all notes since the Keep-import update and they already round-trip through JSON and Markdown export.
That means tags wouldnt need complex storage or sync logic, its purely an UI question..

I want to implement folders first because of the reasons i've pointed out on my last answer and maybe tags right after it.

One thin im still concerned about: the filter row is already pretty full, where do we put the tag filter? :D
(I already have an idead, lets see how it works out)

[ZaxonXP]

Maybe in the filter row you can create new icon "Type" where you would put All/Text/Check list options? That would make a space for a "Tag" icon where the tag selection could be done (multiple choice with tag search). And perhaps space for the "Folder" filter. :)