Just two types? I'm not so sure about it. Besides good old pencil & paper I still use / may use again:
- A bunch of TiddlyWikis (classic 2.x, not 5.x) — a non-linear personal information manager
- TheBrain — a network of thoughts (no current activities on that front, however)
- reMarkable — a paper tablet (not really, but it comes close to it)
Very different concepts! As for Joplin, after two months experience I don't expect to marry him/her (Scott/Janis), but I foresee al long-lasting and close friendship. It scored convincingly on the following criteria:
- Many platforms
- I still feel the owner of my data, the format is human readable and well structured, so even when Joplin suddenly vanishes, the information won't — in contrast with OneNote — be totally lost (I would feel more than a tiny bit uncomfortable, nevertheless)
- Rich text
- Table support (above my initial expectations, I must say)
- Images can be included
- Simple organization: hierarchy (very visible) and tagging (a bit hidden away)
- Ease of use, really
WYSIWYG would be more convenient (provided that it won't limit my expressiveness), but the dual pane solution has proven not to stand between my thoughts and getting them recorded. Better than TiddlyWiki and TheBrain.
It's not all euphoria, however. In spite of what I said above about my illusion of ownership, I am actually worried about the continuity. It's not only about Joplin's life expectancy, but also about future changes that may break the structure of my data. I have already experienced such a case. Not tremendously harmful this time, since I've just started to build up my text corpus and I can easily repair it at this stage. I realize that my concern goes beyond Joplin. I'm already losing a lot of time trying to find ways to go on with what I'm used to be doing. 'Version' and 'new model' are becoming horrifying words.