Apropos

This is a very simple notes container application, based on an idea from my once favourite web browser Opera, namely that the notes you enter are automatically available the next time you load the application, without bothering with filenames or titles.

In Dutch we have the expression "van je à propos gebracht worden" (literally "to be taken off your à propos"), it basically means to be distracted.

I can't function well without doing several things at the same time. So I don't mind being disturbed. But there are times when you follow up on for instance a phone call, and when you've handled it some time later you wonder: "where was I again with what I was doing?" and you try to pick up from where you left off and after some time you realize that you're repeating something you already had done.

For that reason I decided to build me a small tool that should be as minimally disruptive as possible, but at the same time capable of capturing as much information as I'd like it to hold.

So I ended up with this interface containing a multi-line text field and a tab bar, and driven by keyboard shortcuts. Since what you'll mainly be doing is typing, it made sense to me not to have to switch to using the mouse for controlling the interface. For the same reason, I chose not to implement a menu.

Screenshot

The only concessions to making it more complicated are the possibility to dismiss the app to the taskbar and get it back from there (probably because Total Commander had it too and the mission of this tool was to get out of the way until needed), and switching the interface language.

How it works (to the user)

How it works (internally)