7 ms·

Digital Gardening in Obsidian

140 points by brianhicks 4y ago

adamgordonbell 4y ago
Anyone looked at Tana? I'm really liking the concept they call super tags. Makes it easy to extract structure from what is just a giant document of nested lists.
- gardenfelder 4y ago
  https://help.tana.inc/getting-started-and-overview/introduction-to-supertags.html https://help.tana.inc/getting-started-and-overview/introduct...
- dangoor 4y ago
  I've been using Tana the past few weeks (after more than 2 years in Obsidian). I quite like it in general, but it's really a big step up for tracking the details of the fiction I'm working on right now.
Sakos 4y ago
I'd be interested in more detail about the journal prompts he mentions. That's something I've never done, but I feel like it could be a useful practice to add.
inferense 4y ago
if you’re using calendar and tasks i recommend checking out https://acreom.com/ https://acreom.com/. (disclaimer: i’m one of the makers)
Sakos 4y ago
One of his references seems to have gone under and I want to point it out because I want other people to also suffer from reading every single linked note, all of which are great sources for ideas: https://notes.andymatuschak.org/z36iMKLe4CDAXdtLSJD4Z6qPPFUS8ZXymUk3i https://notes.andymatuschak.org/z36iMKLe4CDAXdtLSJD4Z6qPPFUS... Sorry.
- brianhicks 4y ago
  gone under? Do I have a broken link someplace?
  - Sakos 4y ago
    Sorry, I just meant that people shouldn't miss it, because there's great stuff there too.
number6 4y ago
My problem with obsidian is that I need a license to use it if I add something work related. I can not realy disentangle both. If Ilearn something new here on HN Iwm will propably use it later at work.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- wrikl 4y ago
  Same here, and honestly I suspect a lot of people probably don't know this and use Obsidian for work or include work-related notes in their free plan without realizing that it technically violates the license.
- moooo99 4y ago
  I am curious, is there any issue with just purchasing the license? I started out using Obsidian just for university related stuff but found it incredibly useful, so I ended up purchasing the license myself. While I'm not a big fan of subscription software, 50$/year is extremely reasonable, especially considering that your data isn't trapped in someone's cloud.
  - number6 4y ago
    I am extremly cautios with this small fees. They tend to add up. If I would use Obsidian, I sure would use it all my live. So 50$ * 45 years more to go: 2250$
    - chrisco255 4y ago
      All the files are locally hosted, and written in standard markdown. You can abandon ship any time you want. It's also ok to pay for good software.
    - AB1908 4y ago
      $2250 dollars over 45 years sounds pretty good imo but that's just me haha
phartenfeller 4y ago
If you want something self-hosted look into Foam[0]. You write your notes in VS Code with Markdown. Many web frameworks can then generate interactive sites from it. [0] https://foambubble.github.io/foam/ https://foambubble.github.io/foam/
- rhtgrg 4y ago
  I've documented some of my improvements to Foam and my workflow [0], brings it very close to endgame for me. [0] https://csh.rit.edu/~rg/productivity/20221109203834/ https://csh.rit.edu/~rg/productivity/20221109203834/
- sofixa 4y ago
  Obsidian is also self-hosted, so i don't understand your point. It's just a very fancy Markdown editor of local files.
  - wrycoder 4y ago
    The idea is to be able to hit the server from all your devices, and to have that server and all the software under your control.
    - scubbo 4y ago
      You can very simply host your own server providing and syncing markdown files with rsync! (/s, referencing https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863)
  - stonepresto 4y ago
    Open source
- stonepresto 4y ago
  Finally something FOSS I can get behind. Really dislike Obsidians business model; it's going to breed anti-user features. This looks very hackable too (in the good way).
whichdan 4y ago
Tiny suggestion - instead of .map(g => { return { key: g.key, rows: g.rows.map(r => r[1]) }}) you can write .map(g => ({ key: g.key, rows: g.rows.map(r => r[1]) }))
- rcarr 4y ago
  You could also destructure g to end up with: .map(({ key, rows }) => ({ key, rows: rows.map(r => r[1]) }))
  - nivertech 4y ago
    also: .map(({ key, rows }) => ({ key, rows: rows.map(([page, link]) => link) })) and .groupBy(p => p[0]) to .groupBy(([link, file]) => link)
s3000 4y ago
I hope that Obsidian extends the social network beyond Discord integration. Those digital gardens only grow on their own when others can enrich notes and annotate ideas.
- gala8y 4y ago
  Now, that is interesting direction to take. For the time being, there is Github and PRs.
cube2222 4y ago
If you like that, I also recommend taking a look at Logseq[0]. I've previously been using Obsidian, and Bear before that, but always structured my notes as increasingly nested lists of bullet points. Logseq is basically built around that abstraction, to make it very ergonomic (with each bullet point being a "block" - the smallest unit of text on which Logseq operates). It also has querying built-in and the core is fully open source. So far very happy with it, and the new sync is great. Besides, it's also written in ClojureScript, which makes my inner lisp nerd happy. [0]: https://logseq.com/ https://logseq.com/
- anon2022dot00 4y ago
  Also, some cool new outliner/mindmap tools are flowchart.fun[0] and obsidian markmind plug-in[1]. Personally, I find it easier to initially think visually and then just later convert it to nested-bullet points. [0] https://flowchart.fun/ https://flowchart.fun/ [1] https://github.com/MarkMindCkm/obsidian-markmind https://github.com/MarkMindCkm/obsidian-markmind
  - koch 4y ago
    See also: https://markwhen.com https://markwhen.com In a similar vein except for plotting events that I've been working on
- sharps1 4y ago
  This is a great course on Logseq https://www.logseqmastery.com/ https://www.logseqmastery.com/ (working my way through it). Also he has some great intro videos on YouTube for the way he uses Logseq https://youtube.com/@OneStutteringMind https://youtube.com/@OneStutteringMind I prefer Logseq because Obsidian gets messy quickly with the structure for me. I end up having to use the OmniSearch plugin to find things quickly.
- malnourish 4y ago
  Agreed, Logseq has worked for me where no other note-taking system has (and I've tried a _lot_). I believe it has spaced repetition cards built in, too. It took me a day to grok the "structured" lack of structure, but once I did, it has become an invaluable tool. I just throw notes on my daily journal and add tags/links (same thing) liberally. The knowledge network is practically automatic and I don't fall into the trap of prescribing a hierarchical system. A massive boon for someone with clinically significant ADHD. The only extensions I use are for cosmetics, all functionality I need is included out of the box. My biggest complaints are the querying language (a form of datalog) and that macros don't replace the text but are rendered dynamically instead (limiting referential utility).
wrycoder 4y ago
“Whas Dataview?” https://medium.com/os-techblog/how-to-get-started-with-obsidian-dataview-and-dataviewjs-5d6b5733d4a4 https://medium.com/os-techblog/how-to-get-started-with-obsid...
miobrien 4y ago
Cool post. Definitely impressed with Obsidian. Not a huge fan of the UI on iOS. For some reason I keep getting drawn back to iOS Notes for ease of use.
- 0xCMP 4y ago
  iOS Notes should be enough for anyone, but I hate that you can't link between notes in any reasonable way (sharing the note to myself sucks and forcing the system to give you the note id and creating your own internal notes link is tedious). I basically use iOS Notes as a dumping ground and then occasionally clean it out like an Inbox. Mostly deleting things, but sometimes moving it into my Obsidian vault. In theory Drafts is even better for this because it supports Markdown and is designed to be a dumping ground and rapid processing of the notes.

140 points by brianhicks 4y ago

Anyone looked at Tana? I'm really liking the concept they call super tags. Makes it easy to extract structure from what is just a giant document of nested lists.

gardenfelder 4y ago
https://help.tana.inc/getting-started-and-overview/introduction-to-supertags.html https://help.tana.inc/getting-started-and-overview/introduct...
dangoor 4y ago
I've been using Tana the past few weeks (after more than 2 years in Obsidian). I quite like it in general, but it's really a big step up for tracking the details of the fiction I'm working on right now.

Sakos 4y ago

I'd be interested in more detail about the journal prompts he mentions. That's something I've never done, but I feel like it could be a useful practice to add.

inferense 4y ago

if you’re using calendar and tasks i recommend checking out https://acreom.com/ https://acreom.com/. (disclaimer: i’m one of the makers)

Sakos 4y ago

One of his references seems to have gone under and I want to point it out because I want other people to also suffer from reading every single linked note, all of which are great sources for ideas: https://notes.andymatuschak.org/z36iMKLe4CDAXdtLSJD4Z6qPPFUS8ZXymUk3i https://notes.andymatuschak.org/z36iMKLe4CDAXdtLSJD4Z6qPPFUS... Sorry.

brianhicks 4y ago
gone under? Do I have a broken link someplace?
- Sakos 4y ago
  Sorry, I just meant that people shouldn't miss it, because there's great stuff there too.

number6 4y ago

My problem with obsidian is that I need a license to use it if I add something work related. I can not realy disentangle both. If Ilearn something new here on HN Iwm will propably use it later at work.

deleted 4y ago
[deleted]
wrikl 4y ago
Same here, and honestly I suspect a lot of people probably don't know this and use Obsidian for work or include work-related notes in their free plan without realizing that it technically violates the license.
moooo99 4y ago
I am curious, is there any issue with just purchasing the license? I started out using Obsidian just for university related stuff but found it incredibly useful, so I ended up purchasing the license myself. While I'm not a big fan of subscription software, 50$/year is extremely reasonable, especially considering that your data isn't trapped in someone's cloud.
- number6 4y ago
  I am extremly cautios with this small fees. They tend to add up. If I would use Obsidian, I sure would use it all my live. So 50$ * 45 years more to go: 2250$
  - chrisco255 4y ago
    All the files are locally hosted, and written in standard markdown. You can abandon ship any time you want. It's also ok to pay for good software.
  - AB1908 4y ago
    $2250 dollars over 45 years sounds pretty good imo but that's just me haha

phartenfeller 4y ago

If you want something self-hosted look into Foam[0]. You write your notes in VS Code with Markdown. Many web frameworks can then generate interactive sites from it. [0] https://foambubble.github.io/foam/ https://foambubble.github.io/foam/

rhtgrg 4y ago
I've documented some of my improvements to Foam and my workflow [0], brings it very close to endgame for me. [0] https://csh.rit.edu/~rg/productivity/20221109203834/ https://csh.rit.edu/~rg/productivity/20221109203834/
sofixa 4y ago
Obsidian is also self-hosted, so i don't understand your point. It's just a very fancy Markdown editor of local files.
- wrycoder 4y ago
  The idea is to be able to hit the server from all your devices, and to have that server and all the software under your control.
  - scubbo 4y ago
    You can very simply host your own server providing and syncing markdown files with rsync! (/s, referencing https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8863)
- stonepresto 4y ago
  Open source
stonepresto 4y ago
Finally something FOSS I can get behind. Really dislike Obsidians business model; it's going to breed anti-user features. This looks very hackable too (in the good way).

whichdan 4y ago

Tiny suggestion - instead of .map(g => { return { key: g.key, rows: g.rows.map(r => r[1]) }}) you can write .map(g => ({ key: g.key, rows: g.rows.map(r => r[1]) }))

rcarr 4y ago
You could also destructure g to end up with: .map(({ key, rows }) => ({ key, rows: rows.map(r => r[1]) }))
- nivertech 4y ago
  also: .map(({ key, rows }) => ({ key, rows: rows.map(([page, link]) => link) })) and .groupBy(p => p[0]) to .groupBy(([link, file]) => link)

s3000 4y ago

I hope that Obsidian extends the social network beyond Discord integration. Those digital gardens only grow on their own when others can enrich notes and annotate ideas.

gala8y 4y ago
Now, that is interesting direction to take. For the time being, there is Github and PRs.

cube2222 4y ago

If you like that, I also recommend taking a look at Logseq[0]. I've previously been using Obsidian, and Bear before that, but always structured my notes as increasingly nested lists of bullet points. Logseq is basically built around that abstraction, to make it very ergonomic (with each bullet point being a "block" - the smallest unit of text on which Logseq operates). It also has querying built-in and the core is fully open source. So far very happy with it, and the new sync is great. Besides, it's also written in ClojureScript, which makes my inner lisp nerd happy. [0]: https://logseq.com/ https://logseq.com/

anon2022dot00 4y ago
Also, some cool new outliner/mindmap tools are flowchart.fun[0] and obsidian markmind plug-in[1]. Personally, I find it easier to initially think visually and then just later convert it to nested-bullet points. [0] https://flowchart.fun/ https://flowchart.fun/ [1] https://github.com/MarkMindCkm/obsidian-markmind https://github.com/MarkMindCkm/obsidian-markmind
- koch 4y ago
  See also: https://markwhen.com https://markwhen.com In a similar vein except for plotting events that I've been working on
sharps1 4y ago
This is a great course on Logseq https://www.logseqmastery.com/ https://www.logseqmastery.com/ (working my way through it). Also he has some great intro videos on YouTube for the way he uses Logseq https://youtube.com/@OneStutteringMind https://youtube.com/@OneStutteringMind I prefer Logseq because Obsidian gets messy quickly with the structure for me. I end up having to use the OmniSearch plugin to find things quickly.
malnourish 4y ago
Agreed, Logseq has worked for me where no other note-taking system has (and I've tried a _lot_). I believe it has spaced repetition cards built in, too. It took me a day to grok the "structured" lack of structure, but once I did, it has become an invaluable tool. I just throw notes on my daily journal and add tags/links (same thing) liberally. The knowledge network is practically automatic and I don't fall into the trap of prescribing a hierarchical system. A massive boon for someone with clinically significant ADHD. The only extensions I use are for cosmetics, all functionality I need is included out of the box. My biggest complaints are the querying language (a form of datalog) and that macros don't replace the text but are rendered dynamically instead (limiting referential utility).

wrycoder 4y ago

“Whas Dataview?” https://medium.com/os-techblog/how-to-get-started-with-obsidian-dataview-and-dataviewjs-5d6b5733d4a4 https://medium.com/os-techblog/how-to-get-started-with-obsid...

miobrien 4y ago

Cool post. Definitely impressed with Obsidian. Not a huge fan of the UI on iOS. For some reason I keep getting drawn back to iOS Notes for ease of use.

0xCMP 4y ago
iOS Notes should be enough for anyone, but I hate that you can't link between notes in any reasonable way (sharing the note to myself sucks and forcing the system to give you the note id and creating your own internal notes link is tedious). I basically use iOS Notes as a dumping ground and then occasionally clean it out like an Inbox. Mostly deleting things, but sometimes moving it into my Obsidian vault. In theory Drafts is even better for this because it supports Markdown and is designed to be a dumping ground and rapid processing of the notes.