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I'm very curious how and why to use Obsidian well. It's so confusing I've given up multiple times.

crooked-v 2y ago
It's just ("just" in the good sense) a fancy Markdown editor with a bunch of plugins, including for most of the core features (which are just bundled-in plugins and can be turned off).
tomjakubowski 2y ago
Think of it like maintaining your own personal Wiki, comprised of flat-file markdown
cityzen 2y ago
At its simplest, it is a UI to markdown files. When I was first looking into it, it seemed very tightly coupled with the zettelkasten method which I know nothing about. At first I thought that I was missing something but have since used it as just a markdown note app. I will asked ChatGPT to output responses in a note form in markdown so I can copy/paste it in. You can wrap code with: ‘’’elixir Code here ‘’’ To get syntax highlighting Todo lists are as simple as -[ ] to do item You can use iCloud/dropbox to sync.
vunderba 2y ago
It's a pretty simple note organizer for markdown notes. That's literally it. Vaults/folders/subfolders are 1:1 representations of the folders on your physical computer. It's WYSIWYG, so even if you don't know markdown, you can just use standard shortcuts like Ctrl-B to bold something, Ctrl-I to italicize, etc. But it's only as valuable as the notes that it contains. If you are a fastidious note taker (for your projects, work, etc), like to ontologically tag things, and appreciate building inter-related knowledge (like wikipedia links), then you'd be hard pressed to find a better substitute even compared to other heavy hitters like Joplin and Logseq.
muppetman 2y ago
Don't buy into all the crazy around it. It's a Markdown editor with some organisation features. If you read Reddit, people treat it like some sort of second coming, making sure EVERY NOTE THEY TAKE is linked at least one other, tagged, etc. Like somehow that makes notes better. I was confused at first too but once I realised most of these people are insane and it's a note taking app, it's very easy simple and quick to use. I love it.
- theshackleford 2y ago
  > Like somehow that makes notes better. And for many, it does. It may not for you, but everyone has their own system.

It's just ("just" in the good sense) a fancy Markdown editor with a bunch of plugins, including for most of the core features (which are just bundled-in plugins and can be turned off).

tomjakubowski 2y ago

Think of it like maintaining your own personal Wiki, comprised of flat-file markdown

cityzen 2y ago

At its simplest, it is a UI to markdown files. When I was first looking into it, it seemed very tightly coupled with the zettelkasten method which I know nothing about. At first I thought that I was missing something but have since used it as just a markdown note app. I will asked ChatGPT to output responses in a note form in markdown so I can copy/paste it in. You can wrap code with: ‘’’elixir Code here ‘’’ To get syntax highlighting Todo lists are as simple as -[ ] to do item You can use iCloud/dropbox to sync.

vunderba 2y ago

It's a pretty simple note organizer for markdown notes. That's literally it. Vaults/folders/subfolders are 1:1 representations of the folders on your physical computer. It's WYSIWYG, so even if you don't know markdown, you can just use standard shortcuts like Ctrl-B to bold something, Ctrl-I to italicize, etc. But it's only as valuable as the notes that it contains. If you are a fastidious note taker (for your projects, work, etc), like to ontologically tag things, and appreciate building inter-related knowledge (like wikipedia links), then you'd be hard pressed to find a better substitute even compared to other heavy hitters like Joplin and Logseq.

muppetman 2y ago

Don't buy into all the crazy around it. It's a Markdown editor with some organisation features. If you read Reddit, people treat it like some sort of second coming, making sure EVERY NOTE THEY TAKE is linked at least one other, tagged, etc. Like somehow that makes notes better. I was confused at first too but once I realised most of these people are insane and it's a note taking app, it's very easy simple and quick to use. I love it.

theshackleford 2y ago
> Like somehow that makes notes better. And for many, it does. It may not for you, but everyone has their own system.