Software recommendations for an offline journal or personal diary?

June 10, 2008 9:24 AM

Software recommendations for an offline journal or personal diary? (for Windows XP)

I'd like to get back into keeping a personal diary or journal - this time on my computer instead of in a notebook.

I'd like it to be rather blog-like, including the ability to tag my entries and attach photos and html content (including web-pages). And I'd like it to be as lightweight as possible, and as future-proof as possible so I won't have to worry about file format problems in the distant future. It needs to be kept on my home computer alone, completely offline.

I could just use a word-processor like Word or Jarte but they don't really suit my needs. Any suggestions?

posted by Auden to computers & internet (9 comments total)

What about installing Wordpress on a USB stick?
posted by B(oYo)BIES at 9:32 AM on June 10 [1 favorite]

tiddlyWiki can be used very easily for journaling. It's HTML and pluggable.
posted by mkb at 9:42 AM on June 10

The Journal has been around for a very long time. I'm not sure if it can store HTML content.
posted by cCranium at 10:31 AM on June 10

I do exactly what you're wanting to do and use a great little program called GS Notes. I have this completely installed to a USB flash drive for maximum privacy. This program is perfect for a journal with its tree structure. Mine is setup Year/Month/Week/Day and I have another tree of misc. information. HTML, photos, etc. go in entries with ease. It's WYSIWYG and all very simple to use. The portability is extremely nice. Also, it can all be exported to HTML or rtf. I tried several options - including The Journal - and found GS Notes to be the best solution for me. Good luck!
posted by Gerard Sorme at 11:09 AM on June 10

You should be able to install many of the big blogging platforms onto a thumbdrive and use ScribeFire to edit.

For added security, use one of those tiny MicroSD thumbdrive sockets and you'll be able to stash the very tiny card almost anywhere and no one will ever find it.
posted by TheManChild2000 at 11:53 AM on June 10

I used to use Blosxom for this sort of thing - it's a bit fiddly to set up, but once you have, it's super-simple to use, meets your 'future-proof' requirement perfectly, since all your journal entries are stored as plain text files, and is certainly lightweight.
posted by jack_mo at 12:09 PM on June 10

Microsoft OneNote.
posted by ChabonJabon at 12:42 PM on June 10

Evernote is excellent, easy to use, has extremely powerful and flexible tagging, does not require "saving," automatically dates notes, and has a thousand other uses. Free, although I think there's a paid pro version too.
posted by Alabaster at 2:49 PM on June 10

Thanks, everyone. I appreciate all the software suggestions - I'll be checking them out in the next week or so.
posted by Auden at 11:16 PM on June 10