BetterNote is a clone of EverNote, the popular note-taking app. It was built by Sam Sweeney in Spring 2014. You can view it at http://www.betternote.us.
BetterNote has most of the core features of Evernote with a few additional features sprinkled in. Users can:
- Create notes, notebooks, and tags
- Organize their notes into notebooks
- Tag their notes with multiple tags
- Search their notes by tag or search term
- View their friends' notes
- Comment on their friends' notes and respond to comments on their notes
- Like notes
- View one Easter Egg (try to find it!)
BetterNote was built using the following technologies:
- Back-End: BetterNote has a Rails 4 back-end with a RESTful API.
- Front-End: Betternote has a Backbone.js front-end to provide a smoother user experience and minimize requests to the server.
- Styling: BetterNote was styled with custom CSS without the use of any third-party themes or tools.
Additional features to implement include:
- Allow users to send and approve friend requests
- Use SendGrid to authenticate email address and activate upon sign-up
- Allow users to post notes via email or text message
- Add jQuery UI drag/drop functionality for changing a note's notebook
- Allow users to filter notes by multiple tags at once
- Use TinyMCE to allow rich text editing of notes
Why bother copying a website that already exists? Isn't Evernote good enough?
Great question! My main goal in creating BetterNote was to hone (and demonstrate) my Rails and Backbone skills and to become a better developer in general. BetterNote is meant as an homage to Evernote, not a substitue.
What are the main differences between Evernote and BetterNote?
Well, their names for starters. BetterNote also has a number of social aspects (liking notes, commenting on notes, viewing friends' notes) that (as far as I know) aren't in Evernote. There just might be a few features in Evernote that are missing from BetterNote as well.
What was the most challenging part about building BetterNote?
Hard to say. Styling BetterNote to look like Evernote definitely took some time, as did setting up the myriad Backbone views (they're everywhere!) so that everything on the page is synced up.
Wow, I'm blown away! How can I be a part of BetterNote's next fundraising round?
Thanks! Unfortunately, we just closed our most recent round, in which we sold 10% of BetterNote for a Diet Coke and bag of SunChips (they were delicious!). We're unlikely to raise additional funding prior to our IPO (currently scheduled for the Fall of 2062), so you'll just have to wait until then.
"Nice app. Love, Mom"
- My mom