digital-edc-notebook/2024-11-23 115613.md at main

kemonine cd10e16bb8 Updates to verbiage, grammer, and similar in readme

2024-11-23 22:48:17 +00:00

20 KiB

Raw Permalink Blame History

Readme?

This notebook is intended to only create unique notes with a file name format of YYYY-MM-DD HHmmss. This strangely named file is the readme. See the below for the "why" of this naming convention.

What is this?

This repo contains a highly opinionated Obsidian vault that is intended to be used as an analog Pocket Notebook alternative. It's a simple, easy to use, and efficient. This is meant to be near insta-open and near insta-sync so you can 'whip it out' and start making notes ASAP.

[!abstract] More specifically: it's the digital equivalent of an Every Day Carry Pocket Notebook for recording your Shower Thoughts. Small, simple and incredibly powerful.

Is it as fast as paper? Not if your phone has a password. Without a password (or other screen lock), it's pretty fast. It can be faster than analog if you lose track of your writing instrument and can't immediately find it when going to use an analog pocket notebook.

Licensing

This vault is licensed under the Creative Commons BY-NC 4.0 International license.

The Pinned Note

Aka: "I read this file and there should be no pinned notes, wtf?"

Succinctly: read this note so you know what this vault is all about and it's assumptions. Then unpin this note or rename it or delete it. Done.

Tip

Food for thought: It may be good to rename this note so it's out of the way but still available as a reference if needed. Essentially, bend the "rules" slightly to ensure you can find head from anus later.

Using the vault

The below is not "set in stone" and can be tuned to individual need. However, the below is fast, efficient and borrows the analog pocket notebook workflow as its own. This is well trodden territory that is known to Just Work for almost every human, including non-normative thinkers.

There is a lot of opinion below but it's present to ensure this vault behaves as similarly to a pocket notebook as possible. Not your main notebook(s) or similar, your pocket notebook. I stress pocket because it's the reason for the how this vault is setup to work and the opinions below.

File Naming

The file naming convention is a timestamp comprised of both the current date and the current time. The filename has second level precision to allow for notes to be quickly created in succession at a rate of 1 note per second. Or stated another way: you'll likely never have a problem with filename collisions.

This file naming approach also allows the oldest material to be at the top of the navigation pane and the most recent at the bottom. This matches the overall analog pocket notebook order of oldest notes at the front and most recent at the back.

[!info]

The navigation pane sorting can be changed

If you find yourself desiring more or less precision than seconds, see the Unique note creator -> Unique prefix format setting

New Notes

New notes should be created for every note taking session. This will chop up your information into sessions which tend to be easier to tease apart later. This also keeps things fast as you don't have to find an existing note, you don't have to scroll to the bottom of an existing note and similar. You can also create multiple notes during a session if you want to break the text up further.

Practically speaking:

Open App
Boop "New Unique Note" Button
Start writing

That's a shockingly fast setup in the world of anything digital. The best part is: An analog pocket notebook will have a similar content layout and workflow.

[!info]

Keeping notes small is beneficial as it helps break up content so it better matches the flow of your day and can be helpful when processing notes later

If your pocket notebook is standing in for another, larger notebook (say: $dayJobNotebook) creating notes to represent a single day or multiple areas of focus and editing those notes across multiple sessions is valid

Attachments

The vault has an attachments directory. This is where note attachments will live. Consider it a bit of a "dumping ground" that gets cleaned up (by hand) when notes are pulled out of this notebook. This can be especially helpful if you use an accessibility aid that generates files you'd like to "process later".

A good example: if you use a text to speech program on your phone you can create a note that has attachments for the audio as well as the transcription. When you go to process the output, you'll have everything you need right in the vault.

This can also be helpful for screenshots, downloads from the internet and more.

[!info]

You will likely need this folder at some point, even if it's "rarely"

Do not delete this folder, Obsidian is setup to use it and anything "attachments" will cause this folder to be created. Just ignore it if you're not using file attachments.

Sync Strategy

Warning

I do not use the built in sync feature of Obsidian I use Nextcloud in conjunction with FolderSync for syncing my Obsidian data. This section should only really apply to those of us using our own sync processes.

Syncing this notebook is pretty simple. However, if you use multiple Obsidian clients over the course of the day you can easily run into conflicts on the .obsidian folder which are a pain to reconcile.

This vault should sync fast. Like within 60 seconds fast. I recommend syncing prior to using any client with the vault, closing clients when you're switching to another client or "walking away" for awhile and and syncing when you close the Obsidian app.

For me this looks like

Sync the vault on the desktop computer
Open the vault on the desktop computer
Do stuff
Close the vault when "wandering off" for lunch, meetings, etc and/or when I walk away from my computer at the end of the day
Sync the vault on the desktop computer
Sync the vault on the phone
Use the vault on the phone as needed, keeping it closed unless in active use
Sync the vault on the phone when closing the app or just before switching to a different client
Repeat

I promise the process isn't as daunting, complex or dense as it seems in the above. Basically I keep my vault closed unless I'm actively using it and any time I switch between clients, I run a sync on the one I'm putting down and a sync on the one I'm picking up (in that order: putting down then picking up).

The above procedure is the most reliable way to avoid conflicts with sync in my experience.

The Note Template

Overview

The template folder as a single template called Shower Thought. This vault is your pocket notebook used for quick, mini writing sessions. Basically you're capturing "Shower Thoughts" with this notebook. If you have a water resistant or water proof device with this vault, you may actually be recording information in the shower (or bath).

Something important: ensure there is only one template and it's as minimal as possible. Doing otherwise will slow note creation enough to be a very real problem during regular use.

[!danger] A single template with unique output file name makes creating notes fast and this is the most critical factor related to speed.

Tweaking

The template is pretty simple and easy to work with. Since it's simple, see the below for the "why" of each item present in the template.

tags: This is a single tag as a list for one specific reason: I move my shower thought notes into my main "2nd Brain" vault or "Medical" vault or "Digital Art Composition Book vault every day. This lets me know which items originated as shower thoughts and makes it easy for me to add additional tags when I process my shower thoughts in other vaults.
created_ts: This is a timestamp for when the note was created. When I move notes to my other vaults I tend to rename them. This allows me to keep track of the actual creation timestamp long-term.
source: If the note didn't originate "in my head"... it came from somewhere. It could be another human showing me something, a website, a book, whatever. This field tells me where this note came from. I consider this an optional field and a lot of my notes never use this field. I don't delete this field until I've pulled a shower thought out into another vault. It doesn't take up much screen or storage space and I can easily ignore it when not needed.
table-of-contents: This is here because, well, I use headings A Lot. Even in "tiny notes" I tend to have headings. This lets me get a proper table of contents at the top of my note so I can "jump down" when processing my notes into other vaults. This also allows me to expand on a shower thought if I get any down time "on the go". Only about 30% of my shower thoughts could or would benefit from a table of contents up front and about 70% could use a table of contents once I start to expand on my initial thoughts or process the shower thought. If the standard Outline View built into Obsidian is enough for your needs, I'd recommend removing this block from the template and removing the related community plugin.
Shower_Thought text: This is here so I can double click or long-press to get my text cursor to the point where I want my text to start. This also helps me visually separate "the header" and "the note". If you find you don't need or want this text, feel free to remove it.

That's the whole template. It's very simple and designed to facilitate shifting data from this vault into my other vaults that I treat as my main data and knowledge storage zones.

You may also notice a lack of prompts in the template. This is intentional. Originally I had the template setup to prompt and it always slowed me down and got in my way. In the end, any and all prompts pissed me off because they get in my way. Especially given I very likely need to capture my thought first and then, later, fill in any applicable properties. This inversion of the "standard workflow" proved an important consideration with regular use.

[!danger] When tweaking the template, the most important thing to remember is: keep it simple and do NOT use any prompts.

Managing the data (aka speed)

This vault should be considered a slip box, pit stop for thoughts, and similar. This vault should be empty more often than not.

Sync speed is directly tied to the amount of data stored within this vault. Particularly the number of files. In order for this vault to be useful the speed needs to remain fast.

I strongly recommend culling all notes into other vaults or storage areas at least weekly, if not daily or every other day. I cull daily and it's proven critical to my use of this vault. I tend to note a lot of random information over the course of a day and this tiny, simple, efficient, super fast syncing vault is indispensable for me. However it's only super fast for sync if I go through and pull out or delete the content stored within daily.

When I cull, I look at each note, move it to a better spot like my 2nd Brain vault or another vault or my todo list or another location. There are times I outright delete the note. I also go through any attachments and move them into other locations or delete them as appropriate. Once a shower thought or attachment gets moved to a different location for the long-term, I go ahead and rename the note, tag it as appropriate, add content and generally fold it into my data sets for use. Sometimes I'll move a shower thought into my 2nd Brain's inbox so I know that it deserves some focused attention. Since it's in my main inbox, I won't lose track of the note and will ultimately come back to it.

Tip

Just remember: the more data, the more files: the slower sync becomes

The Finer Details

I'm sure at least one person will open this vault and think it's a little too "utilitarian minimalist". I can appreciate that and I promise: this vault did not start out this trim. It started out with additional plugins, more standard features enabled, prompts used in templates and more.

With time, I ended up reducing the scope of options/features/etc present until I couldn't remove more. This is the bare minimum to be effective and removing more can be done but I don't recommend it. I also don't recommend adding more setup or options or features to this vault. I found the knee in the curve.

Standard Plugins

The only standard plugins enabled are...

The command palette: This has proven far more flexible and useful than the ribbon. It's also easy to access on both desktop and mobile so it's been prioritized and setup to replace the ribbon.
File recovery: You'll eventually need to undo some kind of "oopsie". Better safe than sorry.
Files: Attachments may not be super common but when you need them... you really do need them.
Outline: Having a table of contents at the top of a note is great but if you're scrolling, it can be annoying to use to jump to a specific heading. The outline view solves this problem perfectly. If you use a lot of headings, even in small notes, this is very helpful. I do not recommend disabling this feature. The moment you use a lot of headings is the moment you'll want this enabled. It's minimal overhead and doesn't hurt anything.
Templates: This is needed to create notes quickly and easily. It's also a requirement of the Unique Note Creator plugin. The standard template plugin in Obsidian is not something considered "powerful" but it's just enough to be useful for shower thoughts. It also forces KISS principles. This is a good thing as it'll help ensure you can get to editing notes fast.
Unique Note Creator: This is useful as it is meant to create notes using a timestamp for the title and filename. It's even tunable for the date and time format used to create the note title. Be careful though: the date and time setup here is designed to be properly sortable. US dates, UK dates, am/pm times and other formats are notorious for not being able to be sorted reliably or easily. Please mind this fact before making adjustments to this plugin's configuration.

Audio Recorder Plugin

Audio recording has been disabled due to the simple fact there are better options available and this vault is setup to have attachment support. You can simply attach audio notes from other apps as appropriate.

However, if you use simple voice memo's heavily, it may be good to turn on this plugin to help ensure both textual and audio shower thoughts are captured in one location.

Community Plugins

The only community plugins present are...

Automatic table of contents: When you do end up with the rare "long note with headings" or if you're like me and use headings heavily, having a full table of contents at the top of a note can be super helpful, even if the standard outline feature is available. If the standard outline view is sufficient for your needs, this plugin can be removed and the shower thought template adjusted to not use this plugin.
Definition list: For whatever reason, Obsidian doesn't support definition list markdown syntax. This plugin fixes that fact. Note: these lists of plugins are definition lists.
Trash explorer: Simply put: I don't like "use system trash". It causes any data that you may want to restore (accidental deletes anyone?) to be outside the scope of the vault. Add in the fact that on mobile OS's, the .trash folder can be a right PITA to find/view... I just setup this plugin. You boop a button and can see the trash. It's also included in sync just in case. Keep this, it's a very useful safety net.

AI Integrations / Plugins

Succinctly: pretty much everyone has a hot take on AI as of this writing (November 2024). As a human with accessibility needs I know for certain AI has a place, however the current "tech giants" have created a fustercluck and I leave it to end users to add AI integrations and/or plugins as they see fit, if at all.

[!info] This vault is setup for attachment support. You can easily use an AI app, export the data and import the data as attachments within this vault. It's a bit clunky but usable.

The Ribbon

The ribbon has been essentially disabled in this vault. The command palette is far more flexible, adaptable and can displace the ribbon on both mobile and desktop.

On mobile the ribbon button has been outright replaced by the command palette.

On desktop, the ribbon is present and it's set to have the "Open command palette" and "View trash folder" commands available to facilitate easier mouse use of the vault.

Additional Notes

Tags: Tagging features are effectively turned off in this vault. They add an additional layer of thought and complexity that detract from the point of this vault. Especially given the content added to this vault should be culled into other vaults and/or locations. Tagging should be done after moving content out of this vault to ensure the workflow here is kept simple and efficient. The shower-thought tag in the template is mainly to ensure content that originated in this vault is easy to find elsewhere.
Properties Viewer: The standard properties viewer has been disabled in favor of showing the properties at the top of each note. Just like with tags: properties add an additional layer of overhead and complexity that detract from the point of this vault. The few properties that may be present on a note can be worked with at the top of the note and I've found this to be a simple, efficient, non-distracting approach to properties.

Tuning

I do recommend tuning some areas of the vault config based on need and/or preference. There are a few, less than obvious, areas that can, and probably should, be tuned to individual need and/or desire.

Default Editing Mode

This vault is setup to use Source mode instead of Live Preview as the editing mode. This is due to my preference to keep presentation and formatting independent of content. I also have the majority of the markdown spec memorized and tend to write pure markdown by default. Unless you're comfortable writing markdown directly or want to learn markdown syntax, you probably want to change this setting.

Tip

If you aren't fond of editing markdown outright, don't know the markdown spec or any other reason to avoid Source mode, you should change the Editor -> Default editing mode setting to Live Preview. This is a valid adjustment, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

Pinned Commands

The command palette has the following commands pinned

Unique note creator: Create new unique note
Outline: Show outline
Files: Show file explorer
Trash Explorer: Show trash explorer
File Recovery: Open saved snapshots

These are the only commands I've regularly used to date and I've been using this vault for a long period of time now. Sometimes I need additional commands but the command palette pop-up allows me to search for a command. This search feature has obviated the need for additional pins on the command palette. Especially since I can start typing to search as soon as the command palette pops up on screen.

Tip

If you find yourself needing additional commands regularly or disliking the order of pinned commands, feel free to make adjustments. This is a very personal area of config and should be adapted to individual need.

The mobile editing toolbar has been configured to have only the following items present

Insert attachment
Undo
Redo
Cut
Copy
Paste
Configure mobile toolbar

The standard mobile editing toolbar is a huge list of "stuff" and far more than my needs require. I also prefer writing markdown directly and have most of the spec memorized. Because of this I've reduced the mobile toolbar to a fundamental set of actions that are not "simply markdown syntax". I strongly recommend adjusting this to your individual preferences.

Tip

This is one area of the vault that should be evaluated and tweaked immediately, especially if you don't have the markdown spec memorized.

20 KiB Raw Permalink Blame History