Request: Advanced Tips from Veteran TW users (discussion, not technical)

[Shay Shaked]

Hello all, 

I'm deep into my second year using TW, mostly as a journal. 

I have an understanding of some core concepts of TW, like creating Macros (simple ones), themes with CSS to customize TW and such... you know nothing too crazy. If you want, you can totally check out my Tech Wiki (SSTech), hosted on my website at shayshaked.com. 

OK, here come the very broad questions... 

I love TW, and I've been always looking to use it on my phone (Android, Nexus 5X) as a note taking app, possibly as Google Keep replacement. I tried AndTidWiki, and built a basic to-do list work around to help me in the past (it's documented in this group somewhere) but this never took off. The problems are mostly is that the android app and TW slow to use as a quick note taking app. In Keep, for example, I capture a quick serial and model number of an asset, then tag it, and the app extracts the text out of the image, and bam I have it ready. With TW, I need to open, right it down, if I take a photo, I need to edit it on a different app, than put it in the write media folder for TW, then link it, then make sure I'm using the right syntax... who has time for that? 

OK yes, TW  is not meant for quick note taking, at least not that way, and requires some care to really make things shine out (my online Wiki is an example I'm proud of). 

First question: Am I right? Have you used TW as your preferred quick notes app on your phone, and if so, what's your method? 

TW is developed with love mostly in this group. I believe AndTidWiki hasn't been really updated since 2013, and is mostly not widely known. While this is fine and all, and this group is always brimming with ideas and developments... sometimes I wonder if it's alive. You know that feeling? The constant worry of any user of any platform these days, worrying his favorite app is going to vaporize into thin air tomorrow morning, and no one would notice? To be fair, that's one of the major fears I have with Keep too, especially because it's from Google. One of the VIP wakes up one morning and decide "nope! no more of that!" and that's the end of Keep. 

Second question: How stable do you think is TW, and is it here to stay? How do you keep tabs? How often? 

And a question that follows from that, one that I ask again because it's been a while: how and where do you learn about new plugins or features that are useful for you? Themes? 

Over time, I learned to appreciate the Unix philosophy. I have TW, and TW is a Wiki, and as such it's not meant to be a quick note taking app, or a Todo app. Yes, I am totally contradicting myself. I'm wondering in general :p. OK, so if I want to stay away from the big cloud companies like Google and Microsoft and Apple and even Dropbox if possible, what kind of apps are out there that work well, are visual (include images, which is very helpful for me, with annotation would be a HUGE plus), that work independently? And if not completely independent, at least offer a clean (and free!) exporting option as a form of backup? A good example of an app that doesn't do that is Evernote. Simplenote is an example of an app that lets you at least extract all your text files and save them locally as well. 

OK, let's break the question down. 

Third question: What do you, TW users, use as your favorite note taking app and your To-Do app, if it's not TW? Especially as TW users, who respect and like TW, but feel that it does only Wiki... stuff? What have you learned to count on? 

This is a whole lot of questioning. By no means, I am hoping for a full, long, response that addresses ALL of the above. But opinions would be nice. I do hope that this discussion would stirr some minds around here maybe and contribute more to TW somehow. TW has been a blessing so far, I love it! 

 

[Danielo Rodríguez]

Hello Shay Shaked 

I'm deep into my second year using TW, mostly as a journal. 

I do exactly that. From travel expenses to training sessions.

 

I love TW, and I've been always looking to use it on my phone (Android, Nexus 5X) as a note taking app, possibly as Google Keep replacement.

Me too

OK yes, TW  is not meant for quick note taking, at least not that way, and requires some care to really make things shine out (my online Wiki is an example I'm proud of). 

I have the same requirements as you. That's why I go through the journey of creating my own app.

 

First question: Am I right? Have you used TW as your preferred quick notes app on your phone, and if so, what's your method? 

As I said, yes I do. 

My strategy is composed of several parts, but it is heavily based on my own tiddlywiki edition: https://noteself.github.io 

The first part of my strategy is to create a VERY SPECIFIC form for adding the kind of information that I usually add. This includes input text with auto-completion, select lists, and that stuff. Then I have a dashboard tiddlers with several tabs with one form on each tab

The second part of my strategy includes the usage of my NoteSelf android app. The cool thing is that I can share a text from any other application and it will be added as a tiddler. Not the most useful thing in the world, but saves some keystrokes.

The third part of my app consist on the multi device synchronization of NoteSelf. 99% of my content is produced while I'm on my laptop. Thanks to the multi device sync I can create basic versions of the tiddlers on mobile and then I edit properly on my laptop. For scrapping snippets and links what I usually do is share the link with my android app and then copy the snippet when I arrive to my home.

 

Second question: How stable do you think is TW, and is it here to stay? How do you keep tabs? How often? 

I've been using it for years. But I really think that is a better idea to close the tab when you are not using it. Tiddlywiki does not manage over-writings very well. Even using NoteSelf, which uses a database shared across all the tabs I don't usually keep them open.

 

And a question that follows from that, one that I ask again because it's been a while: how and where do you learn about new plugins or features that are useful for you? Themes? 

Here on the group. Sadly, it is VERY HARD to keep visibility when you publish a new plugin. There is a list on reddit, but I'm not sure how up to date it is.

 

 

Third question: What do you, TW users, use as your favorite note taking app and your To-Do app, if it's not TW? 

I use Tiddlywiki for everything except for TODOS. The reason behind this is that I need reminders, widgets, repetitions, notifications... and that is not possible wit TW at the moment. I also like keeping my notes apart from my todos. 

However, I have plans to allow Tiddlywiki to raise android notifications when running on my android app, but that is just a future plan.

Regards 

[Mark S.]

Hi Danielo,

A few questions --

What mobile device do you use?

What mobile browser?

How long does it take for a TW file to come up? It takes about 20 seconds on my tablet and 30 seconds on my phone. This makes it difficult to take quick notes.

Do you add images to noteself?

My problem with noteself is that you're still depending on someone else's cloud storage. Does noteself have an option to encrypt the data on the server?

Thanks!
Mark

[@TiddlyTweeter]

Excellent to have this laid out so well ... I'll comment on ToDos

Third question: What do you, TW users, use as your favorite note taking app and your To-Do app, if it's not TW? Especially as TW users, who respect and like TW, but feel that it does only Wiki... stuff? What have you learned to count on?

I'm old and worn out. I've seen the rise and fall of more GTD systems than God. Before they went computer they were filofax. Before filofax they were note assemblies. Before note assemblies they were etc ... I worked through Covey, MindMaps, Giants Within, ultimate systems etc ...

The point about GTD's, it turns out was never the systems, it was always the user. There is NO GTD system that fits all. The BEST GTD's are ones you create for yourself that emerge from your own process that fit you. In other words: decent GTD systems are emergent expressions of you, they are themselves part of the GTD you are working on. In that regard TW is very good because of the extent you can customize it. And, to use a philosophical term, TW inherently supports "reflexivity".

But still I want to widen your query to answer it properly. The options are WIDER than software. They have to be because software is not me per se. Software is an animal I can train, but only to the extent to which it can perform the tricks I need. And paper remains pretty damn good for lateral thinking and I use it a lot. And GTD's that last are adaptive to thinking about "what am i doing?" as much as "when am i doing it?" Its been a big error in the history of GTDs to ever pretend otherwise.

For people who need ALARM CALLS to GTD, TW does not yet fit the bill. It has no alert mechanism that can prod the somnambulant GTDer to awake to The Priority.

I have been very impressed and now use daily Thomas Elmiger's ToDoNow plugin for TW. Why? Its orientated to the singular user. Its agnostic about ones aims. It depicts tasks in CONTEXT (for me that OVERVIEW is more important than the singular tasks). Its one of the most elegant designs for a GTD I ever seen in my years of travail on the ToDo path.

Then you have Cardo in TW that can deal with very complex projects. And if I was running one I'd definitely consider it. Its not far off full Project Management Software, yet without the complexity of their interfaces.

---

Okay you asked what I used, seriously, before TW, it was a DOS program, InfoSelect. Now gone, long replaced by a crappy Windows version. I'd love to implement in TW how that worked if I had the skill. Its display mechanism was brilliant. Everything was by default OPEN. Then as you typed into the filter the widgets on screen reduced to only what you needed. I loved it. You didn't search then click on an item. The search itself dynamically reduced the entries. Unicode killed it unfortunately. It was ASCII only.

Best wishes
Josiah

[Shay Shaked]

TiddlyTweeter, 

Thanks for this great feedback and thoughts. People like you are the kind of folks who makes it not just effective, but also fun, to use TW. 

I'll reply inline to what you said. 

On Thursday, May 18, 2017 at 2:11:29 PM UTC-4, @TiddlyTweeter wrote:

Excellent to have this laid out so well ... I'll comment on ToDos

Third question: What do you, TW users, use as your favorite note taking app and your To-Do app, if it's not TW? Especially as TW users, who respect and like TW, but feel that it does only Wiki... stuff? What have you learned to count on?

I'm old and worn out. I've seen the rise and fall of more GTD systems than God. Before they went computer they were filofax. Before filofax they were note assemblies. Before note assemblies they were etc ... I worked through Covey, MindMaps, Giants Within, ultimate systems etc ...

The point about GTD's, it turns out was never the systems, it was always the user. There is NO GTD system that fits all. The BEST GTD's are ones you create for yourself that emerge from your own process that fit you. In other words: decent GTD systems are emergent expressions of you, they are themselves part of the GTD you are working on. In that regard TW is very good because of the extent you can customize it. And, to use a philosophical term, TW inherently supports "reflexivity".

But still I want to widen your query to answer it properly. The options are WIDER than software. They have to be because software is not me per se. Software is an animal I can train, but only to the extent to which it can perform the tricks I need. And paper remains pretty damn good for lateral thinking and I use it a lot. And GTD's that last are adaptive to thinking about "what am i doing?" as much as "when am i doing it?" Its been a big error in the history of GTDs to ever pretend otherwise.

I agree with you deeply sir. I'm guessing I'm not as experienced as you, but I am tired of productivity apps and to-do list apps out there that are based on yet another company sitting on Amazon's servers somewhere hoping to create an account for you and then down along the line some social-network, and if they survive long enough, integrate some sort of a chat app into it as well.. man, it's a pattern I see time and time again. Don't care. TW is a private thing for me (it's my journal), it is not really meant to share as a to do app, and if I want to ask someone to do something, I make a to do to tell that person to do it.. right? I digress. 

GTD is one big cult thing I missed on. I have the book and all and tried it, but it just didn't do the thing for me. I have my own system, which I developed throughout the years, and it is this system that survives through the apps, and made its way into TW as well for a while. If you want to share more of how you actually write your projects and tasks down, even show me if you will, I'd be more than happy to see.  

 

For people who need ALARM CALLS to GTD, TW does not yet fit the bill. It has no alert mechanism that can prod the somnambulant GTDer to awake to The Priority.

I have been very impressed and now use daily Thomas Elmiger's ToDoNow plugin for TW. Why? Its orientated to the singular user. Its agnostic about ones aims. It depicts tasks in CONTEXT (for me that OVERVIEW is more important than the singular tasks). Its one of the most elegant designs for a GTD I ever seen in my years of travail on the ToDo path.

Then you have Cardo in TW that can deal with very complex projects. And if I was running one I'd definitely consider it. Its not far off full Project Management Software, yet without the complexity of their interfaces.

I took a deep look. It looks impressive, and I'm working out how to use it exactly. Thomas' work looks solid and he is very organized, but the "jump" is too high for me to understand at first or second glance. I'm going to install the plugin, run it, work on it, see how it works, maybe get in touch with him directly. When I understand how it works I'll see if it fits my needs. I hope so, because saving my tasks and projects in TW, along with my journal notes and my personal information, makes perfect sense. I'd love to replace it with Google Keep, which I now use, if possible. 

[Shay Shaked]

Hello Mark! 

Thanks for answering my questions thoroughly. I took a look at your app, and I don't think I'll try it right now, but you did give me an idea - create a specific note type for what information needs to be entered, and basically, have it ready on my phone. After all, we're talking HTML files, so what's the big deal of just contributing to a tidder which will eventually be imported into my main TW? 

The only issue I see is right syncronazation. In the past, I had a somewhat complex mechanism that would update my TW via dropbox and Google Drive, and I'm not really interested in getting back at that just because I want to implement a ToDo mechanism. It's kinda of going backward for me, you know? I'm going to think some more... 

[Mark S.]

Hi Shay,

Some name confusion. I think you're referring to Danielo's excellent suggestions.

About synchronization. If you're still using a desktop or laptop, then you can use something like Synchthing to synchronize your files. In theory (as I understand it) you could leave your device running and synch to it from somewhere off-site via relays (though I've never tried it).

About Thomas Elmiger's ToDoNow plugin for TW, it's actually pretty intuitive to use. What may be missing is the on-ramp. The secret is, just open TodoNowTiddler. Close every thing else. The TNT is the main dashboard and allows you to add new items, organize them by priority and date, quickly put them into projects (tags), and add notes (including checklists). About 30 minutes of playing and you should know everything you need to get started.

The GTD "cult" probably got a boost from the Franklin-Covey thing, which was like an industry-driven cult (Big business is swamped with 'cults' and 'memes', usually loaded down with acronyms). It reminds me of the "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" which outsold its competitors because it was (1) Cheaper and (2) Emblazened with the words "Don't Panic". The FC people were busy attending expensive seminars and purchasing expensive custom notebooks. By contrast, Allen's book was $10, called for no expensive supplies, and he advocated a zen-like approach to make your mind "like water."

Good luck!
Mark

[Mark S.]

@Josiah

Like you I've tried dozens of information systems. In fact, I need an information system to track the information systems I've used.

I dropped InfoSelect when they changed their pricing policy overnight moving to a subscription model. Except that the subscription cost more than my initial investment. Also, IS is mono-platform.


Mark

[@TiddlyTweeter]

Shay Shaked wrote: I am tired of productivity apps and to-do list apps out there that are based on yet another company ...

Mark S. wrote: I've tried dozens of information systems ...  I need an information system to track the information systems I've used.

Josiah wrote: I've seen the rise and fall of more GTD systems than God.

Its a very interesting subject. I suspect that Mark & Josiah went through a very complex computer-cultural saga of lost promises. Hopefully later users won't go so trustingly through that fiasco.

Best wishes
Josiah

[Shay Shaked]

OK! So I  went ahead and installed Thoma's ToDo, and here is how it looks like in action:

 

What I like about having my projects this way is that the checklist is ordered in a way that makes sense to me (one of my rules is to try not use more than three words for sake of simplicity). 

Notice I am using a recent NYTimes articles that has a couple of tricks to help as a reference, and that the Cafiza > Espresso Machine line is actually a link to a YouTube video, it links to the exact second where they show how to clean it. I will probably add more notes to this as I keep repeating it... 

Want to figure out a way to turn off the ability to mark this one as done at the bottom row... because this is an ongoing one. But this is pure cosmetics. Any questions, let me know! :)

[Mark S.]

Hey! How come mine doesn't work that way? When I check off a finished project, it gets grayed and moved to the bottom. It doesn't get the strike-thru yours has. Is there some magic CSS I need to tweak?

Thanks,
Mark

[@TiddlyTweeter]

M S, You need update to the latest version. Though in some ways its still a bit buggy on presentation. J.

[Birthe C]

Hi Mark,

In the latest version, go to plugins and find the configurationb tab, Strike checked items:


Birthe

[Mark S.]

Thanks Birthe & Josiah!

[Lost Admin]

On Saturday, May 20, 2017 at 6:06:46 PM UTC-4, Shay Shaked wrote:

OK! So I  went ahead and installed Thoma's ToDo, and here is how it looks like in action:

 

...

Want to figure out a way to turn off the ability to mark this one as done at the bottom row... because this is an ongoing one. But this is pure cosmetics. Any questions, let me know! :)

You need to add another action item: "schedule kitchen cleaning". This is the last task to be completed and to complete it, you make a new set of to-do entries that are a duplicate of the current set (or at least the ones that should be done regularly) but with a due date in the future.