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Show HN: Desktop app displaying files on a 2D canvas

(limandoc.com)
41 points limandoc | 3 comments | 18 Oct 24 12:35 UTC | HN request time: 1.146s | source

Hey all! I always wanted to arrange my text/markdown/pdf files on a 2D canvas and visualize them without opening all the windows. An extra feature I added is also visualizing folders within - so kind of a 3D visualization? It was also important to be an offline desktop app, rather than online tool like Miro or Mural, because once I edit files in Sublime or AdobePDF then I want changes to sync in the canvas right away.

Some technical points and lessons learned: being Android developer helped a lot with this project since I used Kotlin Multiplatform with Compose Desktop renderer (actually skiko). It runs on JVM under the hood, which was exciting at first since I can use the app on all of my Mac/Windows/Linux machines. Right? Wrong. One lesson I learned wasn’t “write once - run everywhere”, it was “write once - test everywhere; repeat”. On the other hand, using Kotlin Multiplatform will allow me easily to port to Android and port the logic to iOS.

Anyways, I released LimanDoc v1.0.3, still in Proof-Of-Concept, so I hope to get some feedback and features you think would be helpful.

I was thinking these features would be great for future releases: - adding a local LLM support to search/summarize your docs, books, videos, etc; - sync on local network (including future mobile apps) - Templates, groups, and better diagram integration like in Drawio.

1. zelos ◴[18 Oct 24 15:27 UTC] No.41880312[source]▶
Nice. Kind of like Jef Raskin suggested in The Humane Interface?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archy_(software)#Zoomworld

replies(1): >>41881876 #
2. limandoc ◴[18 Oct 24 17:59 UTC] No.41881876[source]▶
This is a great find, thanks! Indeed I had the vision of Zoomworld as described there. The Leaping concept is very intriguing I must say - will play with that for sure
replies(1): >>41883754 #
3. alpaca128 ◴[18 Oct 24 21:40 UTC] No.41883754[source]▶
Vim's incremental search experience is basically identical to this Leap concept, just that unfortunately it doesn't come with two dedicated keys on the keyboard. It's been my favorite way to navigate text files for years and one of the reasons I like that editor.