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I'm in the same camp, all my notes are in Markdown files, organized as a tree of folders. Some folders are prefixed with YYYY or YYYY-MM, when needed. My text

I'm in the same camp, all my notes are in Markdown files, organized as a tree of folders. Some folders are prefixed with YYYY or YYYY-MM, when needed. My text editor, also VS Code, has extensions for Markdown live preview, to-do lists, and other conveniences - everything I need to manage the "knowledge database". In the terminal, `find` and `grep` are perfect for searching notes. I have a few aliases defined for quickly adding new single-line notes, current date/time, paste a link and title, etc. As a higher-level interface, I wrote a little React app / Node.js server that renders the Markdown files, with hot reload on changes. Not necessary, but I like having a "personal dashboard" of sorts, with calendar and whatever feature/widgets I want to add. I also join the chorus, that we ought to welcome more exploration in the area of knowledge management. I love seeing new systems, open-source projects, applications, SaaS (though not as much) taking on this problem space. Since the days of index cards, through Vannevar Bush's Memex, Ted Nelson's Xanadu, Englebart's mother of all demos, HyperCard.. In some ways I think the past decade took a step forward and a couple steps back. The personal computer, as an augmentation of the human intellect, has creative potential yet to be explored. --- Edit: A recent one I found delightful is the Johnny Decimal System. https://johnnydecimal.com/ https://johnnydecimal.com/

zikani_03 6y ago
I also rely on Markdown files and typically write very short content in each file, especially to help with my memory. I tried Google Keep, Evernote and at some point pain-stakingly migrated all the notes I had to Notion, but they are missing "something" I don't know yet so I regressed back to markdown files in a directory. I created a tool to automatically structure files into a directory tree based on file dates because of this: github.com/zikani03/groupby It is really great to see more attention given to this space. That and personal relationship management tools (e.g. Monica)
- kuzimoto 6y ago
  Sounds like your writing style fits with how TiddlyWiki[0] works. I just started using it, but like it so far. Has a plug-in for editing in Markdown as well. [0] https://tiddlywiki.com/ https://tiddlywiki.com/
- lioeters 6y ago
  Nice! I could actually use something like this, for a subset of notes, or nested (and disorganized) folders of files, books, etc. Thanks for sharing. https://github.com/zikani03/groupby https://github.com/zikani03/groupby
- logicuce 6y ago
  This is exactly me! I think the something missing in Notion is keyboard shortcuts and overall feeling that it does not feel fast enough. For example navigating to a page and then jumping between pages requires more steps than I am comfortable.
  - input_sh 6y ago
    Ctrl + P followed by first few letters of a page you're jumping to.
jen729w 6y ago
Hey. Johnny-as-in-Decimal here. Thanks for the mention, I'm always happy to see someone making use of the system. There's lots of work in progress on the site and the system, I just need to find more time. In the mean time, always happy to help. Contact details are on the site.
- lioeters 6y ago
  Honored to meet you, Johnny! I recently learned about the Johnny Decimal System, while doing some "research" following links on Zettelkasten and other systems. I found your system brilliant, how simple you kept it, with consistent, easy-to-remember rules. I like that it has no dependencies on service/platform or language, it's generic in the best sense of the term. As I was reading, I immediately started creating a folder structure, and took notes (in area "00 System" :). Interestingly, I felt that the system builds on how people already keep folders and notes in ad-hoc categories - and giving it a few organizational concepts to standardize the structure. Like, I have a big nested folder of notes spanning years, and migrating them to a newly started decimal system, it's giving all notes a canonical place, with a defined schema/model/taxonomy. As I wrote in the parent comment, I have a few aliases for shell commands, like find by file/folder name, grep to search notes, a shortcut to add a note. I'm now thinking of adapting them to the decimal system, so I can, for example, list all categories in an area, or add note to a category. I live in the terminal (and code editor), so having such shortcuts, usually of 1~3 characters, makes note-taking a natural, effortless step. I like that you have a page for such workflows from the terminal: https://johnnydecimal.com/concepts/working-at-the-terminal/ https://johnnydecimal.com/concepts/working-at-the-terminal/ For feedback, one thing comes to mind that could help beginners like me, would be examples on the site, like downloadable template(s) of common project organization. I had difficulty coming up with a sensible structure of categories - in fact, the "root" project where I'm moving my existing notes to, the foundation is still not stabilized, deciding where everything should go. It might help if there were some examples or ideas of categories, that could be copied and adapted.
paulcarroty 6y ago
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=patricklee.vsnotes https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=patrickl... Very easy to write notes in VSCode and render them by native render.

zikani_03 6y ago

I also rely on Markdown files and typically write very short content in each file, especially to help with my memory. I tried Google Keep, Evernote and at some point pain-stakingly migrated all the notes I had to Notion, but they are missing "something" I don't know yet so I regressed back to markdown files in a directory. I created a tool to automatically structure files into a directory tree based on file dates because of this: github.com/zikani03/groupby It is really great to see more attention given to this space. That and personal relationship management tools (e.g. Monica)

kuzimoto 6y ago
Sounds like your writing style fits with how TiddlyWiki[0] works. I just started using it, but like it so far. Has a plug-in for editing in Markdown as well. [0] https://tiddlywiki.com/ https://tiddlywiki.com/
lioeters 6y ago
Nice! I could actually use something like this, for a subset of notes, or nested (and disorganized) folders of files, books, etc. Thanks for sharing. https://github.com/zikani03/groupby https://github.com/zikani03/groupby
logicuce 6y ago
This is exactly me! I think the something missing in Notion is keyboard shortcuts and overall feeling that it does not feel fast enough. For example navigating to a page and then jumping between pages requires more steps than I am comfortable.
- input_sh 6y ago
  Ctrl + P followed by first few letters of a page you're jumping to.

jen729w 6y ago

Hey. Johnny-as-in-Decimal here. Thanks for the mention, I'm always happy to see someone making use of the system. There's lots of work in progress on the site and the system, I just need to find more time. In the mean time, always happy to help. Contact details are on the site.

lioeters 6y ago
Honored to meet you, Johnny! I recently learned about the Johnny Decimal System, while doing some "research" following links on Zettelkasten and other systems. I found your system brilliant, how simple you kept it, with consistent, easy-to-remember rules. I like that it has no dependencies on service/platform or language, it's generic in the best sense of the term. As I was reading, I immediately started creating a folder structure, and took notes (in area "00 System" :). Interestingly, I felt that the system builds on how people already keep folders and notes in ad-hoc categories - and giving it a few organizational concepts to standardize the structure. Like, I have a big nested folder of notes spanning years, and migrating them to a newly started decimal system, it's giving all notes a canonical place, with a defined schema/model/taxonomy. As I wrote in the parent comment, I have a few aliases for shell commands, like find by file/folder name, grep to search notes, a shortcut to add a note. I'm now thinking of adapting them to the decimal system, so I can, for example, list all categories in an area, or add note to a category. I live in the terminal (and code editor), so having such shortcuts, usually of 1~3 characters, makes note-taking a natural, effortless step. I like that you have a page for such workflows from the terminal: https://johnnydecimal.com/concepts/working-at-the-terminal/ https://johnnydecimal.com/concepts/working-at-the-terminal/ For feedback, one thing comes to mind that could help beginners like me, would be examples on the site, like downloadable template(s) of common project organization. I had difficulty coming up with a sensible structure of categories - in fact, the "root" project where I'm moving my existing notes to, the foundation is still not stabilized, deciding where everything should go. It might help if there were some examples or ideas of categories, that could be copied and adapted.

paulcarroty 6y ago

https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=patricklee.vsnotes https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=patrickl... Very easy to write notes in VSCode and render them by native render.