Ask HN: note taking Tiddlywiki (https://tiddlywiki.com) professionally?

24 points by widea 2 years ago | 17 comments

lnwlebjel 2 years ago |

Yes, I have been using it for more than 10 yrs. Search, cross linking and tagging are the key features IMO. The file is 5.6 Mb and it's still very fast. I have to run a ruby server [1] for the saving to work which is a bit annoying but it works.

I might move to a new thing at some point soon just for the mobile support feature.

[1] https://gist.github.com/jimfoltz/ee791c1bdd30ce137bc23cce826...

zdunn 2 years ago | |

I've found https://tiddly.packett.cool/ is great on desktop and mobile

lnwlebjel 2 years ago | | |

Cool! I'll check it out

doydoy 2 years ago |

I tried it for a project and I was pleased with what I could do with it (links to other inner sections, web formatting, etc). However, i couldnt maintain this approach for new projects and daily notes, so i switched to Docsify and markdown a month ago. Docsify needs plugins to accomplish most built-in TiddlyWiki stuff (search, last updated subtitle, etc) and basically forces you to script your way to make a document structure and a working sidebar, but at least I find it less platform-dependent and more customizable.

widea 2 years ago | |

Tiddlywiki makes use of a browser and in that regard it is platform independent, right?

doydoy 2 years ago | | |

Yes, but the way that I see it, if some JS function that TiddlyWiki relays on is deprecated (for example) then your Tiddly html could not work anymore, regardless of the browser. You don't have that limitation with markdown files, which are still readable in txt form. Again, only my opinion.

quietthrow 2 years ago |

Tiddly wiki’s super powerful killer feature is “Transclusion” + “Scripting”. Even eMacs org mode lacks this to be easily usable .

However the problem with tiddlywiki is saving to the wiki is not straightforward and requires all kinds of hacks depending on what you are looking for. In today connected world you want you notes on your connected devices and it’s not straightforward or user friendly. I wish somebody would just take the Js library that powers tiddly wiki and add / fix these issue.

DecoySalamander 2 years ago |

It's really neat, but feels like overkill for every project where I might want to use it. Maybe if I need to publish my organized notes later? For very other case - a structured pile of markdown files.

cosmaioan 2 years ago |

One of the gems on the internet. I first used it with ie4 .... that allowed to be saved locally via ActiveX. Now I have a plugin that saves it to Google drive.

Many thanks to people who developed it.

quietthrow 2 years ago | |

Two questions:

1) How do you use it on your mobile device? ( For Reads and Writes)

2) How is the performance on really large files -say 10k tiddlers?

clsturgeon 2 years ago | | |

1. I only use it for read only on my phone. 2. Though size can impact load/start up performance, I have found poorly written TW macros and such to cause the biggest performance issues. Large volume of tiddlers can make the problem worse.

I have configured a genealogical solution in TW. So, TW can be used for complex data structures, but you need to be careful on how features are implemented.

quietthrow 2 years ago | |

100%. Total gem.

widea 2 years ago |

I tried it but the biggest problem I have with Tiddlywiki is the layout: the 'tiddler' box is too small. And changing the layout is not easy.

runjake 2 years ago |

Nope, I've tried TiddlyWiki a couple times and there's too much friction for my liking. Glad it exists though, it's pretty neat.

KomoD 2 years ago |

Never even heard of it

HocusLocus 2 years ago | |

This has been noted with ink-dipped quill in my giant tome, Codex Ignoramus.

quietthrow 2 years ago | |

That’s fine but if you are a note taking nerd ( I mean it positively) you should 100% try it out so you understand how powerful it would be if it just had a little more support saving changes.