Fs00
commented
10 months ago Hello @smaragdus, thank you for your feedback and interest in the app! Before we move on, I'd like to make it clear that this fork is currently on hold as I'm busy with other things. I have a fairly long Todo list of things I want to improve in the app, so I'll eventually pick it up again, just not in the very short term :)
Regarding the first issue: it's a very simple change I have nothing against. I have already put it in the aforementioned Todo list, ready to be worked on when I get back to Scarlet.
Second issue: I'm a bit confused because there shouldn't be any links in Edit mode (links are only added to the text when the note is rendered in View mode). I have encountered a very similar issue in View mode - likely the same you mentioned - in which the first tap on the link works but makes the viewer jump to the beginning of the text block. It seems to be a weird behavior (maybe a bug?) of Android's TextView component, because I noticed it in another app too. I'm not sure if it can be worked around.
About the Markdown parser: the topic is a bit complex so it may be worth giving a bit of context. Scarlet uses a home-made Markdown parser which isn't quite robust, but has the advantage of being tailored to the needs and the user experience of the note editor. This makes its behavior generally predictable and easy to adjust, but adding support for complex Markdown features like tables means writing all the required code from scratch. Since that's a lot of work for a feature I'd hardly ever use myself, this is simply not going to happen. However, there's a portion of the parser I want to rework in the future, which is the part responsible for parsing inline Markdown (bold, italics, etc.). In the current state, that part is riddled with subtle bugs which could be fixed by using a dedicated library. That would also make it possible to properly support Markdown links without too much work.
As for the bottom bar: the reason for having some buttons behind the "+" is because they add new text blocks, as opposed to the others that alter text formatting or insert inline Markdown. While I'm convinced that the separation makes the editor more usable on small/narrow screens, I agree with having a unified toolbar in landscape mode to leverage the extra space.
smaragdus
@Fs00
It seems that your fork of Scarlet Notes is the only one that has seen any development, so thanks for trying to maintain this abandoned project, be it for personal use only.
I have a soft spot for Scarlet Notes because I find its design the best one I have seen in a note-taking app (and I have tested virtually every free notes app).
For me in its current form, even taking into account the improvements which you have made (which I appreciate) Scarlet Notes is unusable for markdown notes because markdown links and tables are not rendered at all, and it is barely usable for plain text notes because of two issues, the first of which I think can be easily fixed.
First, in Settings, under Interface and Experience, Note preview length is hard-coded to a minimum of
2 lines in home screen, screen:My suggestion is to unlock it (1 line can be chosen) so that only the header (the note title) would be seen in home screen. This would result in a denser notes list, which would be particularly useful (at least for me) for long notes lists which will diminish the scrolling as more notes would be visible in the home screen. I absolutely do not need preview of notes as note titles are more than enough for me.
Second, there is a glitch when clicking on a link inside a note in Edit mode, in stead of offering to open it in a browser, the app jumps upwards to the beginning of the note and only on the second click on the link it offers to open the link.
If it happens that you find time to work on this app and wish to improve it further, I would like to suggest that you may replace the markdown parser used in Scarlet Notes since the current one cannot handle tables and links (for me the latter is a fatal flaw). I am not a developer but I suppose that you might borrow from Quillpad, I am not suggesting Markor (the markdown app I use which I find convenient but I don't like its interface) or neutriNote because these two apps are written in Java while Scarlet Notes, just like Quillpad, is written in Kotlin.
Another possible enhancement would be improved bottom bar, I find the current one inconvenient compared to Markor's, for me a long, single line tool bar with all the comnands is better and simpler than hiding some of the comnands behind the plus (+) button.
If it happens that you continue the development of this fork I may suggest some more improvements.
Regards