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Markdown GUIs

'Organizers', 'wikis', 'note-taking apps', et c. - these apps are mostly Markdown with an attached GUI. Today, I'm trying each of them out for twenty minutes apiece.

AnyType

Site: anytype.io
Size: 383 MB
AnyType comes encrypted, meaning you can't easily grab the raw markdown notes and stick them in a Git, or do much else with them.
It comes with its own synchronizing feature, so you're discouraged from using your own.
It recognizes various 'types' of things very well, with

* bookmarks for youtube links (with an icon), along with the ability to leave notes in the bookmark,

* task lists

anytype.io

It may be encrypted, but it starts up and just starts synchronizing with...the broader internet. That's still a little spooky for me.
Onboarding goes quickly, as the task-list is pre-populated with notes on how to learn the app, and the knowledge-base is populated with knowledge about the app.
Pressing Alt+F does not open the 'File' manager, which I take as a personal insult.

Zettlr

Site: zettlr.com
Size: 383 MB
LaTeX support works by integrating with other LaTeX programs, which warms my heart, but also confuses me. Who uses LaTeX but computer science nerds?
Very FOSS-friendly,

* with a link to a Mastodon feed for the project.

zettlr.com

The split-view lets you view many notes at once, and reminds me of `vim`.
It seems to use `pandoc`, and the integration looks sensible.
Under the hood, there is no markdown, so once again, no easy way to integrate git.

* But apparently you can make or open Markdown anywhere, so that all works fine.

* I should have tested that function with AnyType as well to make the tests equal. cba

Once again, Alt+f fails to open `File` at the top bar.

LogSeq

Site: logseq.com
Size: 473 MB
The name `LogSeq` sounds too nerdy.
It opens in light mode, unlike the others.

* Selecting a theme gave me the options: * Light mode

logseq.com

* This made me think it was a bar of options to click on.

* It kept burning my retinas.

* I really hate this.

* When I found a more general theme option, it merged with my local system theme, and now looks amazing. All is forgiven.

It's so minimalist it looks like nothing but a wrapper for Markdown, with no options or abilities. Top score.
It has an option for when to 're-index', which tells users who don't know what that means that this app is not for them.
When renaming a whiteboard, a popup asks 'Are you sure?' I think I hate it again.
Whiteboards feel like a CLI-user's idea of what GUI users want, but then again I make maps in `vim` so what do I know?
The onboarding assaults you with random animations. I don't like it.
All settings are in plain text, which is obviously a much-needed feature, but comments are made with `;;`, which is weird.
The standard notes display as simple markdown, and on startup LogSeq asks where it should save information. This isn't an 'app', it's a `program`.
The automatic graph of pages shows how each links together.
Everything confuses me.

* Why is everything a bullet point? Where is the normal text?

* I realize I'm typing this from an all-bulleted post, but that's beside the point.

* The bottom of the page says '0 Unliked References': what does this mean?

* I can make links because I know markdown, but it has no buttons to do this as far as I can see.

* With no `File` bar across the top, I can't see how to access menus and discover the abilities. I just have to click buttons with random unicode symbols.

It's been 40 minutes and I don't know what I'm doing. Time to stop.