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Notes Plus on sale
- Thread starter GerritV
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It's tempting. Have you used Notability too? I'd like to see them both compared, mostly the toolsets.
Yes, I did use Notability - briefly.
What I like about it is the "Finder" and the low price.
IMHO Notes Plus has a much better inking engine, that makes your writing look really organic and beautiful. Every stroke is vectorized, so export is high quality.
But it comes at a price, there is a little lag while writing that you'll need to get used to.
IMHO Notes Plus has a much better zoombox, the ideal size with the tools right there close at hand. You can set about any colour you like, opacity etc. and turn any setting into a favorite.
Notability's writing on the other hand has a limited toolbox and the writing is somewhat low quality with hardly any inking effect. Sorry, but I happen to like this fountain pen look and feel.
Notability's zoombox is way too small for me, or the zoom factor too high (and hard coded). When I write in Notability, it feels more like drawing letters.
I'll try to do some more comparing tools tomorrow. In the meantime, you can already download Inkredible for free, kind of a light version of Notes Plus.
Thanks for that!
How is typing on it? The thing I like with Notability is that I don't have to make a text box or anything. So it's easy to do some text based notes and drawing/writing based ones.
And what do you mean like lag? Does Inkredible have it too? The better toolset sounds nice, but the lagging not so much!
Notes Plus probably has the edge on stylish ink but Notability's ink is very good too. You can tweak how it looks and it is vector based as well. The zoom factor isn't hard coded, you can pull the bottom right corner to alter the size of the zoom box and the resultant zoom factor. Still my top notes app.
Here's a few details from Notes Plus' tools (images followed by short description).
The main toolbar has 4 boxes, from the 7 tools you pick your 4 favorites.
The zoombox toolbar has 3 boxes for your favorite tools, and 3 for your favorite styles.
Please note that you can delete something by just draw a stroke through your text, and select something by drawing a circle around it. So the Eraser and Selection rectangle aren't that important.
Tap the tool preview to open the Style sheet. Ballpoint, fountain pen, calligraphy pen and brush are the possibilities. Each one has colour, thickness, viscosity and eventually a fill. Save your settings as a favorite by tapping the star in the top right corner.
Pick a colour from the colour wheel and adjust the opacity.
Another way to specify your colour of preference.
The fill option lets you write in hollow body characters. Here, the fill colour is set to white - can be anything though.
The style sheet for calligraphy.
Once you activate the Text tool, you start typing at the top left of the page. There's an option to extend your keyboard to show some extra's like a date and a time stamp, TAB...
A two finger tap brings up a menu from which you can create a text box anywhere on the page.
I'll let you do the comparison to Notability, after all my thread is about Notes Plus
Don't hesitate to ask more if needed!
The main toolbar has 4 boxes, from the 7 tools you pick your 4 favorites.
The zoombox toolbar has 3 boxes for your favorite tools, and 3 for your favorite styles.
Please note that you can delete something by just draw a stroke through your text, and select something by drawing a circle around it. So the Eraser and Selection rectangle aren't that important.
Tap the tool preview to open the Style sheet. Ballpoint, fountain pen, calligraphy pen and brush are the possibilities. Each one has colour, thickness, viscosity and eventually a fill. Save your settings as a favorite by tapping the star in the top right corner.
Pick a colour from the colour wheel and adjust the opacity.
Another way to specify your colour of preference.
The fill option lets you write in hollow body characters. Here, the fill colour is set to white - can be anything though.
The style sheet for calligraphy.
Once you activate the Text tool, you start typing at the top left of the page. There's an option to extend your keyboard to show some extra's like a date and a time stamp, TAB...
A two finger tap brings up a menu from which you can create a text box anywhere on the page.
I'll let you do the comparison to Notability, after all my thread is about Notes Plus
Don't hesitate to ask more if needed!
I have them both and used to use Notes Plus as my main note taker. Notability took over as main main app for taking notes as it is quicker in use and more flexible. Notes is a lot more configurable but I want to take notes, not have varying styles of writing all over the page. It's all down to personal preference and both are excellent apps.
Well, I tried Inkredible, there isn't any noticeable lag, and I really like that I can circle words and change the color. I love the style options, and the way it does line per line handwriting (which is much nicer than Notability).
I'm still thinking. Can you use like Command-B, I, and U to format text? How about undo and redo?
I know I'm focusing too much on text on an app you primarily use with a stylus. There are things I don't necessary want to handwrite though.
I'm still thinking. Can you use like Command-B, I, and U to format text? How about undo and redo?
I know I'm focusing too much on text on an app you primarily use with a stylus. There are things I don't necessary want to handwrite though.
Glad to hear the lag doesn't bother you. I once tried to record it on video and it wasn't noticeable. But if one day you have a 20 page notebook perhaps with a few pdf's inside, and you want to move a paragraph of text - then you'll see the lagging and dragging more clearly.
The text style is comparable to the drawing style. Here's the dialog:
Whatever style you choose for either a full page of text or a text object, it will apply throughout. So far, I haven't found a way to apply a different text style to just a few words.
You choose the text style from your favorites or customize one on the fly by working the Style dialog. There are no shortcuts like Cmd-B, not even a "B" button.
Undo and Redo (the arc arrows in the text toolbar) work on a paragraph base (Return to Return). So Undo will swipe off the whole paragraph at once - based on the cursor location.
Shouldn't you be looking at Pages or the likes?
The text style is comparable to the drawing style. Here's the dialog:
Whatever style you choose for either a full page of text or a text object, it will apply throughout. So far, I haven't found a way to apply a different text style to just a few words.
You choose the text style from your favorites or customize one on the fly by working the Style dialog. There are no shortcuts like Cmd-B, not even a "B" button.
Undo and Redo (the arc arrows in the text toolbar) work on a paragraph base (Return to Return). So Undo will swipe off the whole paragraph at once - based on the cursor location.
Shouldn't you be looking at Pages or the likes?
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Ehh, I don't know why I'm complaining, I can always color code stuff instead and make the handwriting thicker! Setting style favorites will help deal with that. Got it, works good. I'll leave the text for the copy and pastes, rest of the feature set outweighs the problems. Trying too hard to make it work with everything.
Oh wow, I had no idea there was this much stuff in Notes Plus! I like it and it looks nice. If there is a Mac version how is it? I am currently using Notebooks because it allows me to have ToDo's and the ability to sync across my devices. But man I am really liking the look of this one especially since I use my iPad a lot for notes....
And there's a lot more like audio recording, pdf annotating, etc.
But, Notes Plus is iPad only...
Like yourself, I'm a heavy Notebooks user also. Take it from me - stylewise, these two apps could have been designed by the same person(s). Both are very much in line with iOS7.
The only thing missing for me is the lack of Mac support. I like being able to take my notes on my iPhone/iPad and then open them up on the Mac.
I am really digging the screen shots and look of this app though. It is very nice and I am liking the features a lot!