For example, Evernote Corporation, an old knowledge note application like Microsoft, has been praised as a shining frog of "excellent developers" in the comments of many science and technology forums, and so on.
Both companies that have been deeply involved in the field of writing for many years and cutting-edge companies in the field of writing have taken a fancy to people's demand for writing scenes without exception.
A number of excellent applications such as Evernote, OneNote, Ulysses, Bear, Effie, Typora, Effie have also emerged in the Mac App Store.
Some of the applications mentioned above are installed on my Mac, and I will use them in different usage scenarios. In this article, I will cross-comment on the scene of efficient document output.
Cross-scoring software: Effie, Ulysses, Evernote, OneNote.
Let's get down to business and start to evaluate the software from the following aspects: new function guidance, focus function, markup language support and multi-terminal synchronization.
1. new function guidance: learning cost of software
Some softwares have new function reminders/function tutorials, either in the software interface or with the help of the software. Here, use the updated software to evaluate some software.
Introduction in the software interface: Effie, Ulysses;
Open Effie, and there is a software introduction on the left side of the interface. Users can view the corresponding content according to their own functional requirements.
The difference is that Effie added its design concept, which may be the same as its creator Li Ziran's idea: an application specially designed for creators.
In the settings, you can find an overview of the new features of OneNote, generally help-new features, and Ulysses.
2. Software functions: focus mode and markup language support.
Writing an application is an important scene. Focus mode may not be an indispensable part, and the application requirement of my note-taking is that there needs to be a non-interference creative environment. So my definition of focus mode is: interface mode of non-interference creation.
Let's talk about the focus mode first.
Even: Effie, Ulysses
Effie is similar to Ulysses in interface design. Effie can enter "Minimalist Mode" by clicking the icon of the contraction bar at the top left. In minimalist mode, you can enter a concise and undisturbed writing environment.
Ulysses can also enter focus mode by clicking on the sidebar on the upper left, or by sliding the touchpad twice: once to hide the grouping and once to hide the document directory on the left side of the document output.
Effie swipes once to hide the document card and sidebar.
Effie on the left and Ulysses on the right.
Perhaps Evernote positioned itself as a minimalist outline note-knowledge base, but according to the actual operation, I found that this did not prevent it from becoming a concise output function.
They all need to hide the sidebar to get in, just like Effie and Ulysses, as shown in the picture below.
However, the sidebar of OneNote can hardly be hidden, so there is no corresponding focus mode. However, the sidebar can also be shrunk and expanded, leaving an icon icon for easy search.
However, because Microsoft owns the Surface series of touch devices, the stylus also supports work.
Free borderless canvas provides free output space, which makes it easier to mark and express key points.
After talking about the focus mode, let's talk about their support for Markdown function.
?
Effie: Minimalist Markup Language. Because only some functions are supported, it is enough for me who has been proficient in using the "reference" function.
While writing, I consolidated my impression of Markdown and was friendly to new users.
Ulysses: Support Markdown? XL has almost all the functions of Markdown. You can see all the functions in the user introduction, and there are also shortcut keys to support them.
Evernote: supports Markdown.
OneNote: Price reduction is not supported.
?
3. Interface theme: software theme, night mode and eye protection function.
When it comes to beautiful interfaces, writing applications all have theme-related functions. For example, here is the theme and night mode.
theme
In the previous comparison, Effie can switch colors according to the system theme, while Ulysses can add more themes, right?
Night mode
?
Since dark mode has been an essential mode in Apple's ecosystem since iOS 14, all these softwares have the function of dark mode in testing. But whether to follow the system or not, let's look at it separately.
Effie: I can't automatically switch between day and night modes.
In the current version, I found that even if I click on the system below in the menu bar, Effie still reaches the corresponding real time point and still can't switch the night mode. I can only switch modes in System Settings/Application Settings.
You can also switch the theme directly here, perhaps the development logic, from which we can see that it depends largely on the system settings. This may be exactly the same as the poem described by Effie official website: "I intend to enter Huo Heng in the clear autumn and write endless days for you."
"Special" Ulysses:
When writing a manuscript, the author clicks the night mode, and the editing area automatically switches to the dark theme.
It can be seen that the division of its theme is more detailed, not just the "night mode", but the theme difference between the menu bar and the editing area.
When the dark theme is not selected, the white input interface is a bit dazzling in the background of the whole night theme, which may be the reason why it automatically switches to the night theme. Among these details, the professionalism of Ulysses is more prominent, and other details will not be developed here for the time being.
Uncheck the Ulysses theme at night.
Complete Evernote and OneNote according to the system.
These two players have perfected the corresponding effect in the adaptation of software and system, and simply adapted to the night mode.
The picture on the left shows OneNote and the picture on the right shows Evernote.
4. Export format: Can you edit it twice?
Effie: At present, it supports exporting in docx, PNG and PDF formats, which can meet most of my needs.
Evernote: There is no format option for export. You can export an enex file directly, and you can only import and export it.
OneNote can only be saved as PDF.
Ulysses can export a variety of formats: text, HTML, EPUB, PDF and DOCX.
5. Multi-device synchronization: cross-platform seamless writing
In the era of mobile office, cross-platform operation is the norm, so multi-terminal switching is also a common requirement for writing software.
Effie is in the process of synchronization. When the operation on the mobile phone is used on the computer side, it needs to wait for synchronization. A Xiaoyun icon will appear.
Evernote, OneNote: unstable link
The synchronization of the international version of Evernote in China is sometimes unstable, and the domestic version will be faster because the server is in China. The specific test results are temporarily unknown.
OneNote: For well-known reasons, synchronization in the client is slow.
Ulysses has not been installed on the mobile version, so it cannot be tested for the time being.
Small summary
In different usage scenarios, they all found their own styles, and each software is not short of corresponding functions: night mode (Effie can look forward to the subsequent iterative follow-up system).
In terms of export function, OneNote can only export PDF except that Evernote cannot be edited twice.
At present, I use Evernote as my knowledge base application and Effie as my notebook application to show my ideas.
OneNote expresses visual notes, which complement each other in my work.
I hope you can also find a notebook application that suits you.