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A structured note-taking app for personal use

github.com

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Re: A structured note-taking app for personal use

#61

Post by tovej »

Ringz wrote: post #14
Yodel0914 wrote: post #3

This looks pretty nice. In the same space, personally, I'm a huge fan of Joplin. Apps for every platform I care about, and the ability to self-host the server component (which is what I do). I has some really nice features, like import/export of directories of markdown files, and sharing notebooks with other users.

Since Joplin's developer decided to put all Markdown files into a database and thus give up all the advantages of a flat file system, I have uninstalled Joplin. In my view, the last discussion in Joplin's forum on this topic further discredited the developer.

Well, if what you need is a flat file system, the json-as-database approach that penx is taking isn't really an improvement.

I'm interested in what advantages you have lost. Joplin allows you to export your entire notebook as a directory of markdown files (with front matter), and from a performance, reliability, and replication perspective, a database seems like a much better choice.

Re: A structured note-taking app for personal use

#63

Post by uxp8u61q »

atoav wrote: post #32
uxp8u61q wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you expect that your notes will still be valuable in 30 years, then you should probably migrate them to something other than a quick note taking app. If everything I wrote into onenote before eg last year disappeared right now, I wouldn't lose much sleep.

Why would I do that? I use only apps that use text files anyways. I am pretty confident I will be able to open them in 30 years.

My point is that I sincerely doubt that these notes will have any usefulness in 30 years.

Re: A structured note-taking app for personal use

#64

Post by creesch »

jddj wrote: post #54
Vingdoloras wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does Obsidian's text editing experience compare to VSCode? I'm using VSC for everything at the moment, which includes a workspace roughly structured into GTD categories via subfolders, filled with markdown documents. The only thing that keeps me curious about Obsidian is the note linking/network visualization and features related to that. But I'm so used to having dev tool levels of text editing available in VSC…

Same here, but other side of the chasm. I use logseq for note keeping but I just want the text editing experience of vs code. I'm not sure why they all roll their own editor. Can't it be a plugin?

Fyi, if you are ever looking for a fun project you might be able to implement this. The vscode editor source is available as a library https://microsoft.github.io/monaco-editor/

Re: A structured note-taking app for personal use

#65

Post by deafpolygon »

bayindirh wrote: post #59
Al-Khwarizmi wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In which way does Obsidian "create value and extract structure and knowledge from your Markdown files"? I tried it a few months ago because of all the hype, and from a quick try I didn't see anything useful that my current choice (Joplin) didn't have, but from what you are saying, maybe I didn't try for long enough? I like Joplin, one of its strong points being that it's open source, but I'd be willing to switch if a…

> In which way does Obsidian "create value and extract structure and knowledge from your Markdown files"? It's search is extremely fast, plus with a bit of metadata, you can pack tons of information into a standard markdown file. Moreover, when you start to add more and more knowledge, you start to connect notes to each other, which creates a Zettelkasten-like connected notes web. I write gigantic notes generally, bu…

> Zettelkasten-like connected notes web

ZK isn't a notes web or anything like that. Just because it can replicate some of the ZK 'methodology' doesn't mean it's Zettelkasten-like.

It's a wiki-like connected notes application.

Re: A structured note-taking app for personal use

#66

Post by eviks »

atoav wrote: post #15
0xyz wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Currently, you can install it as a PWA app. when the web version is stable, I will develop a desktop app.

In which format are the notes stored? Many of us have been bitten by vendor lock in before, so we prefer our notes tobe in simple human readable formats that can also be read in 30 years when your app (more likely than not) doesn't exist anymore.

It's not a human readable format outside of simplistically formatted text, but even then the vendor locking is solved via exporting to that simplistic format so that you can easily do that when the app dies and you need to move to another one, no need for every app to suffer the limitations by choosing that as its internal data format

Re: A structured note-taking app for personal use

#67

Post by eviks »

Ringz wrote: post #14
Yodel0914 wrote: post #3

This looks pretty nice. In the same space, personally, I'm a huge fan of Joplin. Apps for every platform I care about, and the ability to self-host the server component (which is what I do). I has some really nice features, like import/export of directories of markdown files, and sharing notebooks with other users.

Since Joplin's developer decided to put all Markdown files into a database and thus give up all the advantages of a flat file system, I have uninstalled Joplin. In my view, the last discussion in Joplin's forum on this topic further discredited the developer.

The linked discussion also lists some huge limitations of the flat markdown file system, how did he discredit himself?

Re: A structured note-taking app for personal use

#68

Post by tovej »

It seems like this tool is creating a hierarchical document database, it reminds me of XML, but it's json! (or serializes to json at the very least)

I don't know what to make of this. I do like the fact that it's a tree, and you can sort of create a document-like hierarchy. The issue with enforced hierarchies is that you now have to find a spot in this arbitrary tree structure for every note you take.

It's also a little jarring that list items are treated in the same way that two articles would be. I'm not sure I like that. Lists are a useful readability tool, but articles and chapters are semantic partitioning concepts. I get a little bit of a weird feeling when this is the only representation of the note set that's available. And it feels like cross-referenced notes might be difficult to represent.

I do like the representation from a minimap perspective, and it's making me think that maybe the best solution is to use this tree-view as a UI model rather than a canonical representation.

Re: A structured note-taking app for personal use

#70

Post by bayindirh »

deafpolygon wrote: post #65
bayindirh wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In which way does Obsidian "create value and extract structure and knowledge from your Markdown files"? It's search is extremely fast, plus with a bit of metadata, you can pack tons of information into a standard markdown file. Moreover, when you start to add more and more knowledge, you start to connect notes to each other, which creates a Zettelkasten-like connected notes web. I write gigantic notes generally, bu…

> Zettelkasten-like connected notes web ZK isn't a notes web or anything like that. Just because it can replicate some of the ZK 'methodology' doesn't mean it's Zettelkasten-like. It's a wiki-like connected notes application.

I have neither said it replicates ZK nor I use it as a ZK tool. It's wiki-like, yes, and ZK is not a simple "web of notes". However Obsidian's management of notes and links make it more advanced than a simple Wiki-Like application.

It's less linear than a Zim Wiki like desktop wiki, but more linear than a "cloud of floating notes" approach of TiddlyWiki.

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