15 ms·

What it does for me: - everything is markdown which I'm comfortable in - I can use conventional structure of folders and notes within folders (not for everyon

What it does for me: - everything is markdown which I'm comfortable in - I can use conventional structure of folders and notes within folders (not for everyone but it works for me) - extensive support for cross-linking/embedding/bookmarks along with connection graphs/search (out of these, I had use cases for cross-linking and embedding which worked very well) - nice responsive UI with support for themes/customizations (I particularly like the Nord theme). Allows lots of control like custom CSS etc for more fine-tuning - allows customizing keyboard shortcut for practically any action - quality of desktop and mobile (Android) application is pretty good and the look and feel is consistent - extensive plugin system: I mainly use plugins out of the box but with stuff like Data tables plugins, you can automate/implement your own workflow (I am too lazy to use all that). Even with out-of-box stuff, things like the git plugin allows version control with minimal effort, smart links allows regex based rules to convert strings to URLs (like entering JIRA ticket no. which converts to clickable URL), MathJax support for entering formulas which render beautifully etc; there are lots of such quality of life benefits via the plugins which adds up. - allows easy syncing either using their paid service or using syncthing (which is what I use)

Eddy_Viscosity2 3y ago
Thanks for this. Would you recommend this to someone who is not already a markdown user or that a key prerequisite for this to be useful?
- noisy_boy 3y ago
  The only concern I have is that the content that happens to match markdown rules will get interpreted and the subsequent highlighting etc might surprise/annoy a user not familiar with markdown. E.g. adding a dash at the beginning of the line will get interpreted as a list item, typing asterisk will trigger the editor to put another asterisk and put the cursor in the middle with the expectation that you want to type bold text - you can press backspace to remove the extra asterisk and continue as per normal but if you are in the business of dealing with loads of asterisks/dashes at the beginning of the line, and don't care about markdown, you might be pissed. All the approaches to handle this kind of thing are not as simple as turning off a checkbox. If that is a deal breaker, then this may not be the app for you. OTOH, if you don't mind occasionally dealing with that (or better still, picking up the bare minimum amount of markdown), it'll provide a pretty rich note taking experience. For typical content, I don't think this will be a frequent issue but then again, what is typical for someone may be atypical for me and vice versa. Personally I think it is totally worth it but YMMV.
dandellion 3y ago
Do you use syncthing to sync notes with your phone too? How do you set that up?
- Capricorn2481 3y ago
  Obsidian has an optional paid sync plugin that works out of the box. You could use Syncthing but I don't think it does text file diffing? Obsidian Sync keeps a version history of each file I have tried to use a plugin called Obsidian Git that automatically runs git commits and pushes on an interval, but I have found it frequently had conflicts and the visual for resolving those conflicts wasn't super helfpul. I ended up just paying for Obsidian Sync. I wish I had a solution that kept my data just to myself, but I don't care that much of Obsidian has my notes
  - radlad 3y ago
    Great writeup of the tradeoffs. Also, Obsidian Sync offers end-to-end encryption.
  - noisy_boy 3y ago
    For my notes, it is only me who edits, so I don't have conflicts as such. If I edit notes on the phone while on the move, syncthing syncs to PC once I'm back home; similarly any changes done at home on the PC flow to the phone. I also use the Obsidian Git plugin (though I have disabled automatic commits and commit as and when I feel the need) - haven't had any conflicts so far.
    - Capricorn2481 3y ago
      It's also only me editing my notes and I have Obsidian git conflicts all the time. Also, it freezes my typing every time it tries to push/pull. So if you put it on an interval, to make it more automatic, your typing will just be frozen every however many seconds
- noisy_boy 3y ago
  I do - Syncthing runs on both Linux (my PC) and Android (my phone). The configuration is same as any syncthing setup to share a folder (the top-level folder containing all the Obsidian vaults in this case) between two nodes (my PC and phone in this case) - their UI[0] is relatively straightforward. [0]: https://docs.syncthing.net/intro/getting-started.html https://docs.syncthing.net/intro/getting-started.html
karmelapple 3y ago
The iOS app is similarly well done.

Eddy_Viscosity2 3y ago

Thanks for this. Would you recommend this to someone who is not already a markdown user or that a key prerequisite for this to be useful?

noisy_boy 3y ago
The only concern I have is that the content that happens to match markdown rules will get interpreted and the subsequent highlighting etc might surprise/annoy a user not familiar with markdown. E.g. adding a dash at the beginning of the line will get interpreted as a list item, typing asterisk will trigger the editor to put another asterisk and put the cursor in the middle with the expectation that you want to type bold text - you can press backspace to remove the extra asterisk and continue as per normal but if you are in the business of dealing with loads of asterisks/dashes at the beginning of the line, and don't care about markdown, you might be pissed. All the approaches to handle this kind of thing are not as simple as turning off a checkbox. If that is a deal breaker, then this may not be the app for you. OTOH, if you don't mind occasionally dealing with that (or better still, picking up the bare minimum amount of markdown), it'll provide a pretty rich note taking experience. For typical content, I don't think this will be a frequent issue but then again, what is typical for someone may be atypical for me and vice versa. Personally I think it is totally worth it but YMMV.

dandellion 3y ago

Do you use syncthing to sync notes with your phone too? How do you set that up?

Capricorn2481 3y ago
Obsidian has an optional paid sync plugin that works out of the box. You could use Syncthing but I don't think it does text file diffing? Obsidian Sync keeps a version history of each file I have tried to use a plugin called Obsidian Git that automatically runs git commits and pushes on an interval, but I have found it frequently had conflicts and the visual for resolving those conflicts wasn't super helfpul. I ended up just paying for Obsidian Sync. I wish I had a solution that kept my data just to myself, but I don't care that much of Obsidian has my notes
- radlad 3y ago
  Great writeup of the tradeoffs. Also, Obsidian Sync offers end-to-end encryption.
- noisy_boy 3y ago
  For my notes, it is only me who edits, so I don't have conflicts as such. If I edit notes on the phone while on the move, syncthing syncs to PC once I'm back home; similarly any changes done at home on the PC flow to the phone. I also use the Obsidian Git plugin (though I have disabled automatic commits and commit as and when I feel the need) - haven't had any conflicts so far.
  - Capricorn2481 3y ago
    It's also only me editing my notes and I have Obsidian git conflicts all the time. Also, it freezes my typing every time it tries to push/pull. So if you put it on an interval, to make it more automatic, your typing will just be frozen every however many seconds
noisy_boy 3y ago
I do - Syncthing runs on both Linux (my PC) and Android (my phone). The configuration is same as any syncthing setup to share a folder (the top-level folder containing all the Obsidian vaults in this case) between two nodes (my PC and phone in this case) - their UI[0] is relatively straightforward. [0]: https://docs.syncthing.net/intro/getting-started.html https://docs.syncthing.net/intro/getting-started.html

karmelapple 3y ago

The iOS app is similarly well done.