The site, which launches in private beta today (we've got invites), takes a grown-up approach to virtual notes, and hopes to mature past competitors like Diigo, Fleck, and i-Lighter.
Adult-Only Annotations
WebNotes is no-nonsense about online notes. Once users install the browser plug-in for either Safari, Chrome, Firefox, or Internet Explorer, they can choose to highlight a text passage or add a sticky note to any page they're researching. Once the virtual content is created, users can then manage their "MyWebNotes" page much like an Outlook email inbox with user-friendly drag and drop functionality. It's straight-forward, fast, and incredibly easy.
WebNotes really jumps to the head of the class with a few additional key features. Once you've built up a repertoire of knowledge and notes, WebNotes lets you conveniently publish your online notes in both virtual and physical form. Users can choose to publish saved content from folders in HTML or as PDFs. The end result is a web page, or printable document that combines your hours of research with your notes in a portable and presentable fashion.
WebNotes also wins my attention by immediately updating my MyWebNotes page as soon as I create a new note or start to highlight a text passage on the page. There's no need to hit submit, saving me precious time and simplifying my research process for me.
Too Serious or Just Right?
WebNotes is sparse on the social features, only offering users the ability to send their annotations via email or share with a link. Social butterflys, like myself, might find the site slightly socially inept, but perhaps this will keep us all a little more focused in our educational endeavors.
Invites