Dyrii - Private Journal/Diary App for iOS & Mac

[renox]

Thanks for these questions. See below my responses.
1. We are evaluating markdown but don't see an advantage over our current rich text editor. Are you seeing anything specific that is missing where markdown editor could add value?
2. We are going to soon add support for exporting attachments to file system.
3. Are you looking to increase the font size in the Editor screen or throughout the app? In the editor we have a zoom feature under more (...) menu. You can try using that as a temporary workaround until we add system wide font size change.
4. Can you clarify what you mean by "expanding gray area"? Did you mean you want to have that type of formatting in the Editor?

1. The things I'm missing the most are headers, to add more structure, and checklists. Headers I can maybe live without, but lack of checklists is a big problem for me. There are other minor things, but mostly it comes down to habit since I'm constantly using markdown in my writing and note-taking apps.
2. Glad to hear that.
3. Yes, font size is what I was interested in. But then I noticed that templates seem to use different font (with no lower case letters) which was also bigger then standard font used for body. It is a bit confusing not being able to do anything with fonts, yet having other fonts/sizes already used in templates.
4. Similar to my previous point, it's not that I explicitly need it, more like "Okay, I see this nice formatting used in templates, how to I create the same thing manually? Oh, I can't...". I could use quote formatting in place of it and it would look almost identical, but why can't I use the same thing templates use? Feels weird.


The font and grey area I was talking about:

 

[Ibalek]

1. The things I'm missing the most are headers, to add more structure, and checklists. Headers I can maybe live without, but lack of checklists is a big problem for me. There are other minor things, but mostly it comes down to habit since I'm constantly using markdown in my writing and note-taking apps.
2. Glad to hear that.
3. Yes, font size is what I was interested in. But then I noticed that templates seem to use different font (with no lower case letters) which was also bigger then standard font used for body. It is a bit confusing not being able to do anything with fonts, yet having other fonts/sizes already used in templates.
4. Similar to my previous point, it's not that I explicitly need it, more like "Okay, I see this nice formatting used in templates, how to I create the same thing manually? Oh, I can't...". I could use quote formatting in place of it and it would look almost identical, but why can't I use the same thing templates use? Feels weird.


The font and grey area I was talking about:

We will add following formatting options in the toolbar to address this need.
a) Three heading levels
b) Ability to add checklist. We already have bullet and number listings so I am assuming your ask is to add checklist option.
c) We had some plans to allow users to create their own templates. So we will also plan to expose the upper case styled header and gray response field as options you could add from the toolbar.

I don't think there is a need to change the font size in the editor other than having the ability to change the system default font size?

Let me know if this makes sense.

 

[renox]

We will add following formatting options in the toolbar to address this need.
a) Three heading levels
b) Ability to add checklist. We already have bullet and number listings so I am assuming your ask is to add checklist option.
c) We had some plans to allow users to create their own templates. So we will also plan to expose the upper case styled header and gray response field as options you could add from the toolbar.

I don't think there is a need to change the font size in the editor other than having the ability to change the system default font size?

Let me know if this makes sense.

Sounds perfect. I also hope that if/when a) and b) will be implemented, they will be displayed properly when imported from JSON entries. Well, imported nested lists work just fine, so I'm assuming this shouldn't cause any problems either. Thanks for answering the questions. Best of luck.

 

[Ibalek]

Sounds perfect. I also hope that if/when a) and b) will be implemented, they will be displayed properly when imported from JSON entries. Well, imported nested lists work just fine, so I'm assuming this shouldn't cause any problems either. Thanks for answering the questions. Best of luck.

What do you think about attached (file) type settings for the three heading types we discussed earlier? it is an rtf file so open it in textedit.

 

[renox]

What do you think about attached (file) type settings for the three heading types we discussed earlier? it is an rtf file so open it in textedit.

When you mentioned three headings earlier, I though that "Title" already counts as H1 and there will be two more. I like the three new headings. What I don't like is the new Title style. I think current one is closer to H1 from rtf (am I wrong?), and I like it. The new one looks like bold was applied twice to it, which from my point of view affects readability. The font sizes are okay - not too small, not too big.

 

[vbctv]

What do you think about attached (file) type settings for the three heading types we discussed earlier? it is an rtf file so open it in textedit.

I like that for the settings, I think it would improve the app. It stands out in the bold. I always say fonts make the app along with the UI. Fonts should pop out at you and look neat. I personally like Apple's new approach in iOS 11 with the Bold headers.

 

[Ibalek]

When you mentioned three headings earlier, I though that "Title" already counts as H1 and there will be two more. I like the three new headings. What I don't like is the new Title style. I think current one is closer to H1 from rtf (am I wrong?), and I like it. The new one looks like bold was applied twice to it, which from my point of view affects readability. The font sizes are okay - not too small, not too big.

The title is 'Heavy'. And the headings are 'Bold' with varying sizes. Title is kind of like heavy + bold and the bold part comes as part of the heavy font. No way to turn it off. I guess you are saying heavy is a bit too heavy? What if it is still kept at heavy but dropped a couple of font sizes?

We are still evaluating which of the below approaches to take. We kept title heavy in the sample assuming Approach A.
Approach A: Title = Independent, Heading 1 = H1, Heading 2 = H2, etc.
Approach B: Title = H1, Heading 1 = H2, Heading 2 = H3, etc.

Approach B will clash with imports that may contain multiple H1s throughout in the body. So our preference is Approach A that keeps Title out of such conflicts.

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I like that for the settings, I think it would improve the app. It stands out in the bold. I always say fonts make the app along with the UI. Fonts should pop out at you and look neat. I personally like Apple's new approach in iOS 11 with the Bold headers.

I like Apple's approach with prominent headers in iOS 11 as well, but I don't understand why there is so much space wasted on the top. It could be for some feature coming in iPhone 8 but not sure.

 

[renox]

The title is 'Heavy'. And the headings are 'Bold' with varying sizes. Title is kind of like heavy + bold and the bold part comes as part of the heavy font. No way to turn it off. I guess you are saying heavy is a bit too heavy? What if it is still kept at heavy but dropped a couple of font sizes?

We are still evaluating which of the below approaches to take. We kept title heavy in the sample assuming Approach A.
Approach A: Title = Independent, Heading 1 = H1, Heading 2 = H2, etc.
Approach B: Title = H1, Heading 1 = H2, Heading 2 = H3, etc.

Approach B will clash with imports that may contain multiple H1s throughout in the body. So our preference is Approach A that keeps Title out of such conflicts.

Well, I would certainly prefer approach B. But I also checked out how title would look like with font sizes reduced by 2 and 4. It helped a bit. Reducing by 4 helped more, but also introduced a new problem - tittle appeared to be shorter than H1 even though technically it's not.

Edit: Just noticed a couple of things: app uses different (system?) font for cyrillic letters and avenir seems to lack a Heavy style for cyrillic. So I guess I'll either get Bold avenir or Heavy system font for the Title, which makes Approach A okay for me.

 

[Ibalek]

Well, I would certainly prefer approach B. But I also checked out how title would look like with font sizes reduced by 2 and 4. It helped a bit. Reducing by 4 helped more, but also introduced a new problem - tittle appeared to be shorter than H1 even though technically it's not.

Edit: Just noticed a couple of things: app uses different (system?) font for cyrillic letters and avenir seems to lack a Heavy style for cyrillic. So I guess I'll either get Bold avenir or Heavy system font for the Title, which makes approach B okay for me.

Good catch regarding cyrillic not having heavy. I guess then there could be a third approach with all bolds:
Approach C: Title = H1, Heading 1 = H1, Heading 2 = H2, etc.

With this approach, Title and Heading 1 would be interchangeable.

 

[Ibalek]

If you are using the app and like it so far, please upvote us on Product Hunt.
Here is the link: https://www.producthunt.com/posts/dyrii

 

[Ibalek]

FYI, we have rolled out a new update (v1.08) for Mac app with following enhancements.

New:
- Introducing Dyrii Assistant that runs in the Status bar
- Added preference setting to change default font size
- Added new formatting options (headings, strikethrough, new line) in Editor under menu

Fix:
- Refined text font sizing and coloring for accessibility
- Other bug fixes for performance and crashes.

 

[Ibalek]

And forgot to mention, we also shredded some weight. The new app is only 11.5MB in size!

 

[vbctv]

FYI, we have rolled out a new update (v1.08) for Mac app with following enhancements.

New:
- Introducing Dyrii Assistant that runs in the Status bar
- Added preference setting to change default font size
- Added new formatting options (headings, strikethrough, new line) in Editor under menu

Fix:
- Refined text font sizing and coloring for accessibility
- Other bug fixes for performance and crashes.

The update makes the app feel smoother and quicker. It also looks a lot better with the new formatting options. A great update...

 

[Ibalek]

We have been busy with our next release. Here is what's coming out next in couple of days.

Let me know if you have any questions.

New:

- Added Auto backup with ability to snapshot and copy backup files to iCloud Drive.

- Tags now appear nested under sidebar as a drill-able menu item.

- Added a fancy date header on post view.

- Added toggle to display images as thumbnails in post view.

- Added a scroll helper on top of timeline to indicate date.

- Added a toggle for distraction free writing mode in editor.

- Added support for few shortcuts in Editor view. e.g. Command + T for tagging.

Fixed:

- Search now searches under selected sidebar context instead of searching entire library.

- Resolved an issue that caused entry statistics under Preference/Manage data to not refresh in certain situations.

 

[BigMcGuire]

We have been busy with our next release. Here is what's coming out next in couple of days.

Let me know if you have any questions.

New:

- Added Auto backup with ability to snapshot and copy backup files to iCloud Drive.

- Tags now appear nested under sidebar as a drill-able menu item.

- Added a fancy date header on post view.

- Added toggle to display images as thumbnails in post view.

- Added a scroll helper on top of timeline to indicate date.

- Added a toggle for distraction free writing mode in editor.

- Added support for few shortcuts in Editor view. e.g. Command + T for tagging.

Fixed:

- Search now searches under selected sidebar context instead of searching entire library.

- Resolved an issue that caused entry statistics under Preference/Manage data to not refresh in certain situations.

AWESOME. Love the backup ability to iCloud - I will look forward to that! Great work

 

[vbctv]

I was looking at bear & macID the other day and one feature I like that I think Dyrii should have is multiple themes and the icon changes color to match those theme colors. That was one of the things about the UI that needs improvement is themes. There is no dark theme or colored themes, you only offer one theme, that would set you apart from other Journal apps. Hope it's something that can happen.

 

[SammyNad]

AWESOME. Love the backup ability to iCloud - I will look forward to that! Great work

Yesterday, I switched to Dyrii, and I'm a PAID DayOne subscriber. I didn't switch because of DayOne's sub model, but did so because Dyrii's feature set outperforms DO.

Left a msg for DayOne about Apple Pencil support this week. Their response: "Hey, we'll get it to it, but we're a small team." Apple Pencil support for a mac-based journaling app should be a 1st principle, in my opinion.

Anyway, thrilled with the Dyrii so far - bugs and all - and the developer is so bloody responsive. It's weird

 

[Ibalek]

I was looking at bear & macID the other day and one feature I like that I think Dyrii should have is multiple themes and the icon changes color to match those theme colors. That was one of the things about the UI that needs improvement is themes. There is no dark theme or colored themes, you only offer one theme, that would set you apart from other Journal apps. Hope it's something that can happen.

We have night mode in our list of features to add under 1.x release. We will review support for additional themes under 2.x release.

 

[Ibalek]

We are adding TouchID support for Mac App in our next release! Who's excited?

 

[BigMcGuire]

We are adding TouchID support for Mac App in our next release! Who's excited?

WooHooo!!!!

 

[SammyNad]

We are adding TouchID support for Mac App in our next release! Who's excited?

I'll get excited... when I find out what TouchID is

 

[Ibalek]

I'll get excited... when I find out what TouchID is

Touch ID is the password-less way to unlock your Mac or any App that supports it. Basically it is the same iOS fingerprint unlock feature available on newer MacBook Pros. See below article from Apple site for more information.

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT207054

 

[Ibalek]

Does these keyboard shortcuts combinations universal enough for following functions?
- Add heading 1 cmd+1
- Add heading 2 cmd+2
- Add heading 3 cmd+3
- Save post cmd+S
- Zoom In cmd+=
- Zoom Out cmd+-
- Actual Size cmd+O
- Add template cmd+shift+T

 

[BigMcGuire]

Does these keyboard shortcuts combinations universal enough for following functions?
- Add heading 1 cmd+1
- Add heading 2 cmd+2
- Add heading 3 cmd+3
- Save post cmd+S
- Zoom In cmd+=
- Zoom Out cmd+-
- Actual Size cmd+O
- Add template cmd+shift+T

Yes, and Command T for tag!

Edit - wow that was already implemented! haha. Nice

Looks good!

 

[SammyNad]

Yes, and Command T for tag!

Edit - wow that was already implemented! haha. Nice

Looks good!

"Command T" was already implemented? Not on my Mac version 1.09.5 (35)