I have improved my Note list plugin and published it.
After the installation you could switch to a preview for the note list.
It will take some time until it appears in the plugin search, but it can also be installed manually. Instructions and download on the git page.
Thank you very much for this! 
I'd just like to report that for some reason the plugin is listed twice in the repository:
Also, strange things happen when you change the application layout like this:
OK the version 0.0.1 was briefly released under a different name but was deleted in npm.
@laurent How can I delete or exclude a plugin from the list?
You then only have to configure the height and the number of characters in the settings.
Currently joplin has to be restarted after the change.
I totally missed the advanced settings 
. Works perfectly now!
You can create a pull request to exclude that plugin as described here: plugins/readme/obsoletes.md at master · joplin/plugins · GitHub
If you have any questions about it let me know
Sorry, how do you do this? I've successfully installed the plugin but I'm not seeing previews.
And a new version with thumbnail option
This is how it looks here:
(note: these notes comprise of images only)
I wonder whether it would be possible to align the thumbnail to the top of the note, basically putting it on the same line as the title. Also, I find the current line spacing very cluttered. Is it possible to make the line height customisable? Lastly, would it be a problem to make it possible to input 0 for "Note excerpt", which would effectively hide it completely?
Thanks again for the plugin and sorry for all the questions/requests! For me, being able to see note dates like this alone is a very big improvement in Joplin's usability.
Maybe out of scope for this note list plugin, but I'll ask anyway. Would it be possible to have the option to have a note list view that is similar to the default Joplin note list (which shows only the note titles), but adds other (optional) fields such as creation date, updated date, tags, etc.? Basically an equivalent to Evernote's note list view. See pic below for example. The user can select which fields to see or hide. And then sorting by any of these fields is as simple as clicking on the field header.
Great!!
Just not to forget it, the plugin is named funny in the plugin list under settings:
I've already fixed the typo 
@jb261 No, I will likely not create such a view
I will rather not do this, because this is a plugin for preview and not a list view
For this I would have to make a configuration where there is a completely different layout if the preview is arranged like this. I will have a look.
Ah, I swear I looked under the menus and couldn't find it.
I would kindly suggest that the plugin be turned on by default after install. After all, we wouldn't be installing the plugin if we didn't want that view. And for something this simple, a user shouldn't have to hunt down the readme.
Also, just FYI, I tried to turn it on by right clicking on the note list expecting to see the option to turn on the previews there. If it's possible, that might be a logical place to have the ability to turn it on.
Thanks for making this plugin! Like your backup plugin, I hope one day this is part of core.
That looks very good!
By the way if you notice any issue or missing feature in the plugin API feel free to let me know
It looks like the height of the preview is fixed? I have some notes with only a line or two and there is a chunk of empty space in the preview. Would be great if the height matched the content.
Yes which can be configured in the settings.
This is currently specified for performance reasons on the Joplin side, as all elements have to be processed before they can be displayed. If you have to wait until each element is calculated to display the next one that fits the height, building the note list would take x times the time to processe a preview and it could not all be done in parallel. I would say this is the current reason for this limitation. But I'm not 100% sure about that.
Thank you, this is exactly what I was searching for.
I know design decisions are really complicated and can have unanticipated results. But the fact that the note list isn't just an html list has to be one of the strangest things about Joplin. The ability of html elements to shrink to fit their content is such a fundamental principle. I've never understood why there is so much strangeness around the note list.
As JackGruber mentioned this is for performance reasons. If items can have a dynamic size it means they all need to be rendered so that we know how much space they will take, and so that we can display the scrollbar correctly. Of course if there are millions of notes that would be a problem... So there's this restriction that items should all have the same height.
I don't think it's particularly weird though since lists with items of the same dimensions are quite common?
