TiddlyWiki and Workflowy integration ideas
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David Gifford
Apr 24, 2016, 11:04:35 PM4/24/16
to tiddl...@googlegroups.com
Hi everyone
Just wanted to note that I have been integrating TiddlyWiki and Workflowy quite well. Each one counteracts the shortcomings of the other. I use a central TW to create a tag based hierarchy of topic tiddlers. And the tiddlers contain no text, only links to the corresponding articles in Workflowy. If a given topic would be better served by a TiddlyWiki (i.e., embedded images, wiki links and more control over the page style and text formatting), I create a TW and link to it from the central TW.
Why this approach?
1. Workflowy is better for free writing and rearranging as I write. It is a writing tool. It allows me to work far faster than TW ever could. By contrast, putting asterisks for bulleted lists or @@ for indenting, etc, takes me out of the zone when writing in TW. So I write my actual content in Workflowy.
2. Workflowy is also infinitely scaleable. No concern about ever hitting a filesize ceiling. And no need to create multiple TiddlyWikis and have to manage them.
3. But tagging, listing and filtering are much nicer in TiddlyWiki. There is no tool like TiddlyWiki for showing relationships between topics (tiddlers) like TiddlyWiki.
4. And the search in TW is so fast and flexible compared to pretty much anything out there. By contrast, searching in Workflowy, even when using its tag system, turns up reams of irrelevant stuff, because topic titles are not distinguished from content in WF as they are in TW.
So when I have even something small worth saving, I create a topic tiddler and tag it, and in the edit template I have a link to open up the notes section of my Workflowy. I write the note or article or outline or whatever it is in Workflowy, then grab the link from the browser bar (every single bullet in WF has its own URL), and paste it into the still open tiddler. If the topic already has a tiddler with a link to that topic in WF, I open that tiddler and open the WF link there and add the note there. Pretty quick system.
So now I have a virtually infinite CMS using one central TW, a WF account, and the occasional topical TW file here and there. Filesize is irrelevant because the tiddlers in the central TW only have one link in them, and maybe one or two tags. The system is easy for inductive dumping and tagging when I find something worth saving in my reading and browsing, and is also easy for writing a longer article or project in WF and wanting to find it quickly using TW, and is also easy for a more deductive process of creating a hierarchy from above with new here buttons then adding WF links later.
$50/yr may seem steep for the pro account of WF, but I have found it well worth it. Here is a shared section of my Workflowy with more information: https://workflowy.com/s/VQgA01nJMn
As you can tell, this system doesn't require much on the TW end to implement. The only real addition needed is a tiddler tagged $:/tags/EditTemplate with a link to the URL of the section in WF where you keep your notes. And maybe the new here button made visible in the tiddler toolbar. That's pretty much it.
Hope someone here finds this helpful. For me it is the end of a long obsessive quest that saw me produce many experiments along the way. Finally feel like I got there. The only things I might wish for now are a few additions to WF like embedded images that are not a hack, and pretty links like [[viewed text|URL]]. But to be honest, I am content with this system as is.
Blessings,
Dave
Just wanted to note that I have been integrating TiddlyWiki and Workflowy quite well. Each one counteracts the shortcomings of the other. I use a central TW to create a tag based hierarchy of topic tiddlers. And the tiddlers contain no text, only links to the corresponding articles in Workflowy. If a given topic would be better served by a TiddlyWiki (i.e., embedded images, wiki links and more control over the page style and text formatting), I create a TW and link to it from the central TW.
Why this approach?
1. Workflowy is better for free writing and rearranging as I write. It is a writing tool. It allows me to work far faster than TW ever could. By contrast, putting asterisks for bulleted lists or @@ for indenting, etc, takes me out of the zone when writing in TW. So I write my actual content in Workflowy.
2. Workflowy is also infinitely scaleable. No concern about ever hitting a filesize ceiling. And no need to create multiple TiddlyWikis and have to manage them.
3. But tagging, listing and filtering are much nicer in TiddlyWiki. There is no tool like TiddlyWiki for showing relationships between topics (tiddlers) like TiddlyWiki.
4. And the search in TW is so fast and flexible compared to pretty much anything out there. By contrast, searching in Workflowy, even when using its tag system, turns up reams of irrelevant stuff, because topic titles are not distinguished from content in WF as they are in TW.
So when I have even something small worth saving, I create a topic tiddler and tag it, and in the edit template I have a link to open up the notes section of my Workflowy. I write the note or article or outline or whatever it is in Workflowy, then grab the link from the browser bar (every single bullet in WF has its own URL), and paste it into the still open tiddler. If the topic already has a tiddler with a link to that topic in WF, I open that tiddler and open the WF link there and add the note there. Pretty quick system.
So now I have a virtually infinite CMS using one central TW, a WF account, and the occasional topical TW file here and there. Filesize is irrelevant because the tiddlers in the central TW only have one link in them, and maybe one or two tags. The system is easy for inductive dumping and tagging when I find something worth saving in my reading and browsing, and is also easy for writing a longer article or project in WF and wanting to find it quickly using TW, and is also easy for a more deductive process of creating a hierarchy from above with new here buttons then adding WF links later.
$50/yr may seem steep for the pro account of WF, but I have found it well worth it. Here is a shared section of my Workflowy with more information: https://workflowy.com/s/VQgA01nJMn
As you can tell, this system doesn't require much on the TW end to implement. The only real addition needed is a tiddler tagged $:/tags/EditTemplate with a link to the URL of the section in WF where you keep your notes. And maybe the new here button made visible in the tiddler toolbar. That's pretty much it.
Hope someone here finds this helpful. For me it is the end of a long obsessive quest that saw me produce many experiments along the way. Finally feel like I got there. The only things I might wish for now are a few additions to WF like embedded images that are not a hack, and pretty links like [[viewed text|URL]]. But to be honest, I am content with this system as is.
Blessings,
Dave
Dave
Apr 25, 2016, 4:39:13 PM4/25/16
to TiddlyWiki
just wondering, do you view the workflowy instance from within TW5 using iframes, or just open a new tab to work in?
David Gifford
Apr 25, 2016, 5:44:21 PM4/25/16
to tiddl...@googlegroups.com
Hi Dave
In my edittemplate I have links to sections in my Workflowy, one for each letter and number, A-Z and 0-9, and by clicking it I can open a tab to the section of Workflowy corresponding to the first letter of the topic, and add the topic there. Iframes would not be a good idea for this. More work, and less space to work in Workflowy compared to using the entire tab for it.
Blessings
Dave
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David Gifford
Christian Reformed World Missions, Mexico City
Christian Reformed World Missions, Mexico City
Conor White-Sullivan
Mar 26, 2017, 1:44:48 PM3/26/17
to TiddlyWiki
Hey David,
The shared workflowy is now a dead link, I'm really curious to hear more about this system and see if it is still working as well for you now as a year ago
Do you collaborate with others? Using TW or Workflowy?
David Gifford
Mar 27, 2017, 12:15:43 AM3/27/17
to TiddlyWiki
Hi Conor
Yeah, not only did I give up on this system, I also gave up on Workflowy, because the creators were not developing it, and kept promising things without delivering. I switched to Dynalist. See my blog post about that switch here http://www.giffmex.org/ideas/thanks-to-dynalist-my-searching-is-over/
My current system is: use Dynalist for writing and outlining, since that is its strength, and use TW
1. store sensitive personal and work information kept offline,
2. primarily to create and export static htmls on http://articulos.giffmex.org/, and
3. to take summary notes on books and webpages I read. (see the results at http://giffmex.org/mn.html, but note that while I am using it, I haven't uploaded changes to that file recently)
Not sure with your other question if you were asking if others collaborated with me on this project (not directly, but many people here helped me solve problems that refined the project), or if you are asking if this system had a collaborative component to it (it did not).
Blessings
Dave
Yeah, not only did I give up on this system, I also gave up on Workflowy, because the creators were not developing it, and kept promising things without delivering. I switched to Dynalist. See my blog post about that switch here http://www.giffmex.org/ideas/thanks-to-dynalist-my-searching-is-over/
My current system is: use Dynalist for writing and outlining, since that is its strength, and use TW
1. store sensitive personal and work information kept offline,
2. primarily to create and export static htmls on http://articulos.giffmex.org/, and
3. to take summary notes on books and webpages I read. (see the results at http://giffmex.org/mn.html, but note that while I am using it, I haven't uploaded changes to that file recently)
Not sure with your other question if you were asking if others collaborated with me on this project (not directly, but many people here helped me solve problems that refined the project), or if you are asking if this system had a collaborative component to it (it did not).
Blessings
Dave
Mark S.
Mar 28, 2017, 8:08:23 PM3/28/17
to TiddlyWiki
Dynalist seems to suffer from the online requirement that Work-Flowy does/did. WF was way too expensive for what it was IMHO.
It seemed to me that someone could come up with a kind of Work-Flowy for TW. Here's what I came up with back in December using TOC macros and a couple bits. You can just add new items with "new here". I'm sure someone who knew what they were doing could do much better.
-- Mark
Danielo Rodríguez
Mar 31, 2017, 3:47:02 AM3/31/17
to TiddlyWiki
Hey David,
Have you tried Noteself ? It is also some kind of mixture between tiddlywiki and an online service
I would love to see what kind of things a well organized mind like yours is able to do with it.
Video to configure cross device sync: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oc5lNND8dZE&t=164s
The advantage is that you don't need toleave TW at all.
Regards
David Gifford
Mar 31, 2017, 9:35:20 AM3/31/17
to tiddl...@googlegroups.com
Hi, Thanks Danielo,
I kind of have my system that is working great for me right now. I did look at Noteself when it was first announced, and I could see that it is a great tool. Way to go! But my needs are a little different right now.
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