5.12 Plain Text Files
Notenik stores all of its data – including your Notes, but also configuration info – in plain text files stored visibly on your Mac, in ordinary folders.
As a practical matter, this means that Notenik data:
Can be viewed and modified using any text editor;
Can be copied, synced and stored using pretty much any computing platform;
Can be easily read and written using just about any programming language;
Will always be available and accessible, without having to worry about complex, proprietary and largely closed document or database formats, or mysterious storage locations.
In addition to these very sensible reasons, I’m also partial to plain text files based on these more personal reasons:
I dislike all the hard lines that modern computing tends to draw between developers and users, and am much more comfortable with a sort of middle ground that can be shared by both camps;
I tend to think of text file viewing and manipulation as the keys to the computing kingdom, and that everyone using a computer – especially a device with a dedicated keyboard – should be comfortable using a text editor;
Just as my father and engineers of his generation were comfortable “popping the hood” on their cars in order to tinker with the engines, I think Notenik users should be able to look under the hood to see what Notenik is doing, and tweak things if they desire.
Of course, the ability to open and edit Notenik data using a text editor can also get the user into a bit of hot water at times, but I like to think, as Jesse Winchester apparently did, that A Reasonable Amount of Trouble is to be expected, and in fact can be part of the joy of the journey.
Next: One Tool Among Many