Hey, Agenda devs and community. I initially thought I’d leave this in the “Feedback” category, but I’m not so sure it belongs there, since it’s as much a rant as it is feedback on the application. First, my thanks to the devs for making a note-taking app such as this. I’ve only been using it for a couple weeks, and am very impressed by both what Agenda offers now and what you’ve laid out as plans for the future. I also like seeing the willingness you folks have had to interact with your users here.
Now, I’ve seen quite a few requests for features of all sorts in these forums over the past couple weeks, and I’d like to add my own: simplicity. There are a couple aspects that attracted me to Agenda:
- The ability to add multiple, distinct notes to a single project and clearly see and interact with those notes; and
- The ability to add individual notes to a clearly organized and interactive agenda
Each of these features have made it easier for me to focus on what needs doing right now. The interface is very well-organized, and overall I think the base application is great. I can understand that different people have different needs, but I think keeping the base application simple and placing a focus on stability and performance over adding new features should be the goal. There are really only three features that I’d like to see in future releases of the base Agenda app:
- A broader support for Markdown (blockquotes, horizontal rules, etc.). Basically more of the stuff supported by the CommonMark spec.
- A bit more control over typography
- In-line attachments
- A nice share sheet extension/URL scheme that can be used to easily append things to notes and export notes to other applications
It seems a couple of these are already planned, so that’s awesome. Most things beyond that should be paid features. That’s an opinion that’s not likely to go over well with people who request niffty new features, but I think that if they weighed the cost of developing a feature against the amount of compensation the developers could expect to receive—without raising the price of the application or introducing in-app ads—they’d get the idea.
If a feature request basically amounts to no more something that would make my own life easier, in my relatively unique position; or if it requires owning another paid app; or if it amounts to duplicating something already available elsewhere; or amounts to duplicating functionality that already exists in the app, but for purely cosmetic reasons, then I personally wouldn’t expect a small team of developers to devote their time to it at the expense of focusing on making a fantastic, simple note-taking application.
I can only hope other users feel the same way. Thus far, my go-to app for taking notes on Apple devices has been Bear, largely because of its beautiful interface and its simplicity. (I first started looking for a replacement for Bear because I didn’t much like its pricing model, and when I learned about your approach to pricing I was definitely interested.) I’d like to see Agenda become what I presently think it has the potential to be: a fantastic, list-based note and task organizer with a couple embellishments, rather than an application designed to do anything that might conceivably make anyone’s life easier. Basically just “digital paper.” If the base app were to reach feature a point just shy of feature parity with Bear, I’d be happy as can be. Just one person’s opinion, and I’d be interested to hear what your take on developing Agenda might be. And thanks again for making Agenda in the first place. 