Happy Harry
Happy Harry is a Note Taking application. It has been developed to run on Linux.
There are already Note Taking applications running on Linux which are widely used. Tomboy Notes and Zim spring to mind. Zim is a particular favourite of mine.
Happy Harry is different. Though I like and use ZIM, for my own purposes I need better integration between Note Taking and web access. I research historical, geological and geographical subjects. I often use the web and libraries, I make notes about web pages: I copy data: I collect bibliographic records. Based on this information I write and publish on the web. If I develop my own application for this purpose I can experiment with my needs.
Happy Harry also allows me to experiment with the User Interface. I am particularly interested in the use of text lists rather than iconbars as an interface paradigm. This is rather contrary to the current vogue of using icons, for example Ubuntu Unity, iPad and Android interfaces. The interface may not look cool but it may be easier to comprehend what is possible.
I am a great believer in integration between desktop applications, so where possible I will use other applications for specific functions. I also intend to integrate with external data sources such as library, information and RDF triple stores.
Happy Harry also gives me an opportunity to learn how to use PyQt4 and CouchDB in a Linux application. The functionality of Happy Harry is based on the capabilities of PyQt4, or rather my understanding of them. This includes the implementation of WebKit resulting in a quite usable, simple web browser. Local notes can be linked directly to web pages.
The code for Happy Harry is available on Launchpad under a Collective Commons Licence.
Happy Harry is nothing like perfect yet and definitely not for live use at this stage. Please try it, then send me ideas and encouragement.
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