5 ms·

I watched a few people (Nat Eliason, Tiago Forte, Abi Abdaal) use Roam, EverNote & Notion and they spend so much time in a categorising phase, and the idea of a

by AJRF 6y ago

I watched a few people (Nat Eliason, Tiago Forte, Abi Abdaal) use Roam, EverNote & Notion and they spend so much time in a categorising phase, and the idea of a note having one "parent" topic really restricts cross linking of ideas, Especially in folder based setups like Evernote. Something like this is very cool and looks like it helps solve that problem. Does it have a roam style graph? Can't see one from screenshots.

cborenstein 6y ago
Hey, I'm Cara - one of the founders of bytebase.io. Thanks for your question! Currently we don't have a roam style overview graph. While a graph can be satisfying to look at, it also encourages striving for "perfection" in your notes. The graph wants you to create a masterpiece. That's not what Bytebase is about. Bytebase is for the scratch notes core to your daily work - some of which you'll want to refine and organize later. Getting things down is messy and that's how it should be. After the "jot down", Bytebase helps you stay just a little more organized over time by making it easy to organize/categorize in small steps (and giving you flexibility through multiple parents and infinite hierarchy). Re: navigating around - our approach uses keyboard shortcuts to quickly jump to and hone in on the bytes you need. One way we do this in Bytebase is with Speed Dial (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3lS5J71HEM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3lS5J71HEM) - which lets you jump to a location in one keystroke.
ColinWright 6y ago
The graphs are cool, and when I saw them I was seriously tempted. Then I thought: (a) What does this tell me? (b) How will I act on this? I still have no answers to those questions, and while I still think the graphs are cool, and still create similar graphs from my bespoke system, I still don't think they actually give me anything. I'd love to hear your thoughts on that.
- lojack 6y ago
  I use Obsidian (which is inspired by Roam). I know some people may use the graphs, but I personally have that functionality disabled. The real important bit for me is the fact that I can have bi-directional linking. For me, graphs are a cool toy, something I can go "ohhh, neat" and then never use again.
  - ColinWright 6y ago
    I still don't understand what these systems give that isn't provided by a simple wiki with auto- and bi-directional linking. People are getting extremely excited by Zettelkasten, and Roam, and Org-Roam, and Obsidian, etc, etc, etc, and no one seems to be able to explain to me why it's not basically just a wiki. You use Obsidian ... how is it different from a wiki with auto-linking?
    - mstngl 6y ago
      What makes me using Obsidian / Zettlr rather then a wiki is that they use just text files (in markdown syntax) you point the app to. You are not locked in with any of the apps, more specific wiki syntax or wiki infrastructure and are very free to sync or back-up all the contents. Do you have any plain-file (i.e. non-database) wiki in mind which provides auto-linking and simple tagging?
      - ColinWright 6y ago
        I'm using the wiki I wrote in about 1998 when I first encountered the C2 wiki. It uses plain text files, and in addition to using mark-down style link syntax, the latest version auto-links from free-text without requiring any special markup. That reduces the friction further. But what you are saying here is "Yes, it's basically just a wiki, but using plain text files underneath, and without using a specific app or database". This isn't a criticism, it's just me hunting for understanding from the huge heap of hype. Every description I read seems to lead me to: (a) It's just a wiki, and (b) It's not doing what Luhmann says his Zettelkasten did. So I'm finding the excitement very mysterious, and keen to find out what I'm missing.
    - lojack 6y ago
      > and no one seems to be able to explain to me why it's not basically just a wiki That's actually precisely what it is for me. It's just an easy to use, lightweight, wiki that uses markdown and has backlinks. Your pages are stored in regular old markdown files, so you can do whatever you want for syncing if that matters. If I weren't using Obsidian I'd probably be using a lightweight note taking app like Bear, or maybe a personal Wiki. It just feels like a good mix of the two that works for me though.

by AJRF 6y ago

cborenstein 6y ago

Hey, I'm Cara - one of the founders of bytebase.io. Thanks for your question! Currently we don't have a roam style overview graph. While a graph can be satisfying to look at, it also encourages striving for "perfection" in your notes. The graph wants you to create a masterpiece. That's not what Bytebase is about. Bytebase is for the scratch notes core to your daily work - some of which you'll want to refine and organize later. Getting things down is messy and that's how it should be. After the "jot down", Bytebase helps you stay just a little more organized over time by making it easy to organize/categorize in small steps (and giving you flexibility through multiple parents and infinite hierarchy). Re: navigating around - our approach uses keyboard shortcuts to quickly jump to and hone in on the bytes you need. One way we do this in Bytebase is with Speed Dial (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3lS5J71HEM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3lS5J71HEM) - which lets you jump to a location in one keystroke.

ColinWright 6y ago

The graphs are cool, and when I saw them I was seriously tempted. Then I thought: (a) What does this tell me? (b) How will I act on this? I still have no answers to those questions, and while I still think the graphs are cool, and still create similar graphs from my bespoke system, I still don't think they actually give me anything. I'd love to hear your thoughts on that.

lojack 6y ago
I use Obsidian (which is inspired by Roam). I know some people may use the graphs, but I personally have that functionality disabled. The real important bit for me is the fact that I can have bi-directional linking. For me, graphs are a cool toy, something I can go "ohhh, neat" and then never use again.
- ColinWright 6y ago
  I still don't understand what these systems give that isn't provided by a simple wiki with auto- and bi-directional linking. People are getting extremely excited by Zettelkasten, and Roam, and Org-Roam, and Obsidian, etc, etc, etc, and no one seems to be able to explain to me why it's not basically just a wiki. You use Obsidian ... how is it different from a wiki with auto-linking?
  - mstngl 6y ago
    What makes me using Obsidian / Zettlr rather then a wiki is that they use just text files (in markdown syntax) you point the app to. You are not locked in with any of the apps, more specific wiki syntax or wiki infrastructure and are very free to sync or back-up all the contents. Do you have any plain-file (i.e. non-database) wiki in mind which provides auto-linking and simple tagging?
    - ColinWright 6y ago
      I'm using the wiki I wrote in about 1998 when I first encountered the C2 wiki. It uses plain text files, and in addition to using mark-down style link syntax, the latest version auto-links from free-text without requiring any special markup. That reduces the friction further. But what you are saying here is "Yes, it's basically just a wiki, but using plain text files underneath, and without using a specific app or database". This isn't a criticism, it's just me hunting for understanding from the huge heap of hype. Every description I read seems to lead me to: (a) It's just a wiki, and (b) It's not doing what Luhmann says his Zettelkasten did. So I'm finding the excitement very mysterious, and keen to find out what I'm missing.
  - lojack 6y ago
    > and no one seems to be able to explain to me why it's not basically just a wiki That's actually precisely what it is for me. It's just an easy to use, lightweight, wiki that uses markdown and has backlinks. Your pages are stored in regular old markdown files, so you can do whatever you want for syncing if that matters. If I weren't using Obsidian I'd probably be using a lightweight note taking app like Bear, or maybe a personal Wiki. It just feels like a good mix of the two that works for me though.