Start of the blog

Here is the blog that I plan to keep as I build my note-taking web application using Ruby on Rails. 

My goal application is a web-based repository for all my notes, organised by categories (and sub-categories), with all the entries stored in a database. The closest analogy is like writing a book using LaTeX, with chapters, sections, and subsections. I want the chapters and sections displayed clearly at all times so that I can jump around easily. I imagine it to look something like this:

The categories are listed in the tab on the left hand side, and can be expanded to show all sub-categories and/or entries. The plan is to have a tree structure three levels deep --- category, sub-category, and content --- though I'd like to model the entries so that this can be further expanded, e.g. by using the same model to represent a category and sub-category so that one can be converted to the other, or so that adding sub-sub-category can be done easily.

Why not use an existing solution?

I have been using DevonThink in the past, but it is Mac-only, and I want something online-based. Evernote was too disorganised for me, or rather, I'm too disorganised for Evernote. TiddlyWiki was great, but I need more structure than a wiki. I have tried a few more tools, but haven't found anything suitable so far. 

Writing something from scratch also gives me more freedom than any tools I can find, particularly since I hope to be able to process LaTeX entries in the future (none of the above supports LaTeX as far as I know). Things like code highlighting can also be done easily in html. 

I plan to be using Ruby on Rails, since this is what I have been learning for the last year. I may consider using other tools that I have learned (AngularJS, node.js), but after all this is a beginner's project, so I'd like to keep it simple.

Why keep a blog?

I like keeping records on everything that I do, so that I can always refer back to it (hence the project!). It doesn't take that much effort to convert it to a blog, and maybe someone can benefit from reading my drivels as well.