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82 points WolfOliver | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0.206s | source

Hi HN,

Since 2019, I’ve been working on a writing platform designed for creating complex documents (e.g., theses). I personally use it for everything as it also allows to classify documents in categories so you can organize them efficiently. As of a few months ago, the app is also available in the browser, and you can now invite coworkers to collaborate on a document in real time.

The app is somewhat inspired by LyX. It offers an intuitive, modern editor, but users don’t need to know any LaTeX. When it’s time to export, they can choose from a range of templates (IEEE paper, thesis, etc.).

A few highlights:

- It uses a custom-built block editor that performs well with large documents. Each block is its own contenteditable element (instead of having one massive contenteditable for the whole document)

- If you prefer plain text - you can insert a Markdown block and write using Markdown instead

- Built-in citation management

- Support for cross-references and footnotes

- Mermaid diagrams, inline LaTeX equations, and display math are all supported

- "To-do" sections help you stay organized while writing

You can try it out here: https://www.monsterwriter.com/

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MDWolinski ◴[] No.44347500[source]
The application looks nice but…

Why do all these Notion “replacements” seem to think Notion is just an MD editor and note taker. It seems the unique position of notion is the ability to integrate databases into documents much less within each other. That’s the feature most of these replacements are missing.

Honestly if Notion would offer a self hosted version for companies, that would be a killer feature. Until then, I’m waiting until a feature for feature open source replacement appears.

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1. whalesalad ◴[] No.44360030[source]
The actual "word processor" or editor of notion is hot garbage, especially for software/keyboard people. Try out something like https://ckeditor.com/ and it is infinitely better.