One principle in development that can NEVER be stated enough is "Keep It Stupid Simple" (or Keep It Simple Stupid or Keep It Super Simple). In any case, this development principle can be used in many aspects of life, but obviously it can be used when working with every day computer tasks.
One task that most people perform is keeping notes about various "things". Sometimes when people start to get lots of notes they think they should try and get some fancy program or a spreadsheet or even specialized software for keeping track of all these notes.
However, I've found that the simplest solution is still the best, Notepad.
Notepad has been around since the days of Windows 3.x and I'm sure that even in the DOS days people would keep notes using EDIT (a dos command to edit a file). Even as I being moving more and more of my electronic tasks onto my smartphone I've found that the simple "notepad" like app that came with my phone has become extremely valuable.
Some might say that notepad lacks features; however, the "lack of features" ensures that you stay on task. Instead of spending a lot of time formatting and inserting clip art you have to capture the important information with... TEXT.
At first a simple text app might seem "too simple" but with a few tips and ticks you can capture and convey a lot with these simple little notes.
A few tips I've found helpful:
A healthy amount of white space will ensure that various sections stand apart.
You can use any NONE alpha numeric character to indicate bullet/lists.
You can "underline" with the use of the underscore.
(i.e. this is a title)
------------
- You can "double underline" with the use of the equal sign.
(i.e. this is important)
============
- You can use a tab space to create a point, sub-point.
Main Point One
Sub-Point One
Sub-Point Two
Main Point Two
Sub-Point One
After you start to use simple text notes, you'll also enjoy the fact that almost without exception they are transferable to almost any device with a modern OS, including many smart phones.
So as I've learned, KISS as much as possible.
Top comments (0)