LINK!
A downloadable tool for Windows
Brainstorming. Notes. Planning. Tonight's dinner.
When ideas strike, they can happen anywhere, lead anywhere. With a vast and endless landscape to capture them, they won't be lost.
Granted, most ideas suck. Some can be saved, most just need to be tossed aside.
But the good ones can grow creating more and more ideas along the way.
LINK! will never* run out of room.
Open Source
I wish I could spend more time on it but life has other plans for me. I don't know if I'll ever get a chance to revisit this program so I'm releasing it as open source to give it one more chance.
You can check out the code on GitHub.
Sneak Peak
Some of the features coming soon out now!
Which Version?
Version 0.7 is the latest stable version, however, it is quite behind in terms of development. Unless you've been using 0.7 for a project, I'd use version 0.8.
The 0.8 Alpha has all the latest features I worked on. If you're new to LINK!, I'd try this one out.
There is no plans for another release but if you want to give it a shot, the code can be found on GitHub. As of now, there is no difference between the open source version and the available 0.8 build.
Download
Install instructions
Extract any where you like and run link.exe.
To learn more, drag Welcome.link from the same directory and drop it onto the app.
Development log
- Finding the CoreMay 20, 2022
- Let's Get Wild at the LINK! JAMboreeMar 22, 2022
- Open Sourcing LINK! version 0.8 Alpha 1Jan 30, 2022
- Something Big is HappeningJan 04, 2022
- The Operation Was a Success!Dec 18, 2021
- Lift and Separate, User InputDec 10, 2021
Comments
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if you want cross-platform app with some / same powers —
i highly recommend exploring Excalidraw and tldraw + their integrations with Obsidian (closed source) and Logseq (open source).
Excalidraw became my fav sketching tool, whilst tldraw has stronger text on canvas options.
Obsidian and Logseq are second brain apps (wiki / zettelkasten / linked notes / pkm).
I believe logseq + tldraw will outperform everything in the longterm, but is wip as of today
Sorry if this is a dumb question but, do you mind making a list of the commands?
Like, I had to watch some of your videos to figure out that to make the heading you hand to type [ :h1 ], I read through the [ Welcome.link ] and got the [ :goto ] and [ * "text here" ].
Are there any more commands? Are they listed somewhere and I just missed it? And when I drag my transparent png into the program, it auto adds a white bg to the image, I want it to remain transparent so how do I fix this?
I don't know much about coding so sorry if this is dumb.
p.s
Thank you for making this! I find this program really helpful~
No problem. I think you’ve got most of the commands but I’ll list them here (which applies to 0.8 Alpha 2):
* Task to do
:h1 Heading
:goto X, Y, [Zoom] (Zoom is optional argument between 0 and -6)
:image path/to/image.png (which is created when dropping an image)
:line (Typing just :line and exiting the note will allow you place the end point)
Also, something that you might have missed when resizing notes: dragging the right edge of the note left and right will set the wrap width, dragging the bottom edge will set the height but dragging it up past the top of the note will allow the note to auto-resize. Dragging from the left or top will most likely break something.
When adding images, the white background is actually a note that the image is added to. Unfortunately, this isn’t possible to fix without diving into the code.
I’ve got a few projects in the pipeline but getting back to LINK is something I’ve been wanting to do now that I have more of an idea of where I’d like to take LINK.
But if you’ve got a moment, I’d love to hear a little about your use case for LINK.
And thank you for using LINK and taking the time to comment! It’s nice to know that someone finds this little program useful.
I use Link for story boarding/mind mapping! I love the app and it really fits my needs! I plan on using this app for future stories too, if I ever upload them I'll hit you up and show 'ya!
Tad unfortunate that images can't stay transparent because I was planning on making little designs on notes to make'em cute but aye, I'll take what I can get!
I'll be following you and your future projects~<3
I was playing around with version 0.7 and 0.8 Alpha, and was wondering what the difference was? Were any of the intended feature updates to the point of implementation?
Thanks for trying out LINK!
To the first question.
Drag and drop pngs or jpgs into the program was the big one.
Otherwise, mainly quality of life updates.
Wrapping can be set by resizing the note’s sides and disables it by dragging the right side all the way to left. Dragging the bottom similarly effects note resizing, particularly if you delete text.
I added a Serif font. Other ttf fonts should work just fine but aren’t supported without hacking the code.
Speaking of code, the 0.8 alpha’s source is available on GitHub if that interests you. MIT license so go nuts.
There’s probably more I’m not thinking of. I highlighted the important bits in devlogs. If I get a moment I’ll summarize other things I missed in a new devlogs, but no promises.
To the second question, I didn’t really have a clue what I was going for which is why development has stalled. Most of my plans were too far fetched and I couldn’t figure out where I wanted to take LINK next.
For the most part, LINK does what I wanted it to but it didn’t quite hit the mark.
I have an idea I’m working on. If it floats, expect to see it in The Tool Jam 2.
the idea of forking it on GitHub is really intriguing to me, however, I am an extremely novice programmer. From glancing at the repository, LINK is coded in LUA correct?
I dabbled in LUA years ago for a minecraft mod, and haven't touched it since. I am currently in college and have studied C/C++ so far, how similar is LUA to those in your opinion?
They work well together but that’s about it.
I’d always suggest someone learn Lua. I’m a little biased, but I find the language to be very easy to read while being expressive and fast.
That said, LINK’s code base is a bit overwhelming because most of the code resides in link.agpack/main.lua and I use Vim’s code folding to keep it organized, meaning sections are contained within blocks surrounded by “{{{” and “}}}”.
I use this inline style (where most of the logic is contained in the update loop) because I find it easy to add new code and refactor old code until I work out how to separate it into self contained modules (which I’ve been working on to use some of the code in my latest project).
But by all means, check out the code. Bring a notebook and feel free to ask any questions you might have. I might be able to point you in the right direction.
I’d avoid working out edit mode at the moment. It works but it’s a dumpster fire that I’m trying to deal with right now.
Not sure if there is any interest for this, but I made a different color theme and thought I would share it if anyone is interested.
As you can see it is a Black based dark mode.
I am not really one for color theory, so if something doesn't look right change it, and if you do, let me know what you changed, maybe I like what you did better than what I did.
[Click "View rest" for the code at the bottom"]
I like the looks of it. Thanks for sharing.
I’ll be sure to check it out.
Hi! I've been having fun with this. Curious if there's a way to edit goto blocks? Right now if I goof I cut them out through a text editor. Cheers!
Press shift while double clicking the goto button to edit it.
Notes and buttons can be selected with shift+click or shift+drag. When selected, buttons won’t be activated so they can be double clicked.
Thanks for trying out LINK. I’m happy to hear you’re enjoying it.
Thank you very much!
So um, link inst opening.
Sorry about that. I just uploaded a hotfix that takes care of the problem.
Please include a gif or video of the tool in action.
I never even thought to add a gif for this. Next time I have the chance I’ll be sure to get one up.
Thank you.
After only 5 months, I’ve finally been able to complete your quest.
+100XP!
YTMND