Today Milanote released its software to the general
public, I sat down and took a few moments to evaluate the application. Milanote
claims to be better than Evernote due to its unique visual organizational
structure which works differently from other applications because you can
arrange your notes like a virtual desktop.
Initial Thoughts
By double clicking the screen you can quickly create
cards ideas and then arrange them any where on the screen. Each card has your
standard basic formatting tools like Bold, Italic, and checklists. You can also
create cards for images, quotes, and links.
If you want to organize your cards you can arrange them in
columns, where you can drag and drop the cards in any which order you like. It
looks very similar to Trello, especially when you have multiple columns on your
screen.
You can also add lines to visually demonstrate the
work flow process of one stage to another.
If you want to go more in depth on different subject, you
can create a board, and add as many cards and columns there as you like. You
can also nest boards within boards, or create a column that has your boards
grouped together.
Looks Familiar, doesn't it?
Unique Features
In terms of organization, Milanote is intuitive and
flexible, and doesn't get in the way of the creative process. It's organizational
structure is easy to understand straight out of the box, and you can quickly
make nested lists in a matter of minutes. I would recommend Milanote for:
•
Working on a Project.
•
Collecting Ideas.
•
Researching a paper or writing a novel.
In terms of sharing you can also collaborate with
others and send links to other people, as well as export your data in multiple
formats including Markdown, Word, PDF, or Plain text format.
In terms of long term storage I wouldn't recommend
Milanote due to the free storage limit of 100 notes. But if you decide to
upgrade to the paid plans then storage limits shouldn't be a problem.
Research in Milanote
Drawbacks
Milanote is currently web based, and while there are
mobile apps in production, users are currently limited to using the mobile web
browser on their smart phone to access Milanote on the go. The application does
work on a smart phone, and everything you enter into the mobile browser does
sync via real time, however the full suite of features that you can access is
limited, and I did notice some minor formatting errors. This is not very
encouraging, but considering the application was just released from beta, I'm
sure that the developers will sort out the bugs in no time.
Another feature I noticed is that while you can drag and
drop images into the app, or insert quotes and hyperlinks, I didn't see any
other method for importing content into the app. Currently there is no Chrome
Extension or way to send content via email. Both of these features would be
very useful in future releases. Being able to attach documents would also be
nice.
It would also be a nice feature that you could fuse cards
together as you type, this would be a boon for writers who like to consolidate
and organize their content.
Pricing
Currently Milanote is free to use up to 100 notes,
images, or links. For unlimited storage the price is $12.00 per person billed
annually, $15.00 when billed monthly. Professional plans for 2 or more people
run $10.00 per month or $12.50 when billed monthly. As far as pricing is
concerned, I would say its a relatively inexpensive pricing plan, and pretty
reasonable when compared to similar products on the market.
Conclusion
Because of the limited support for mobile apps, I
unfortunately can't recommend Milanote. The 100 note limit can also be a
problem for some people who like to do a lot of creative work. Overall I think
its a great idea though, and going forward I can't wait for the mobile apps to
come out. This is definitely a promising start to an intriguing new
application. You can set up an account for free at http://www.milanote.com/
