
Tiddlywiki – A non-linear personal web notebook - entelechy
https://tiddlywiki.com/
======
mih
Ever since the decline of Evernote, I've been looking for something as
convenient, but been pretty much disappointed in the alternatives. For a while
Qownnotes was my choice, but it's not without its drawbacks. Currenlty Joplin
( [https://joplin.cozic.net/](https://joplin.cozic.net/) ) is the one I'm
taking for a test drive, and I'm pretty much pleased with what I've seen so
far. Among the features that impressed me most in terms of personal priority
are:

\- Importing from Evernote (.enex files)

\- Cross-platform support (Win/Lin/Mac) + Mobile apps (ios / Android)

\- Synchronization (Dropbox, Onedrive, Nextcloud, WebDAV, Filesystem)

\- Support for encryption

\- Webclipper extension (for Firefox and Chrome)

\- It's FOSS, with a number of active contributors on GitHub
([https://github.com/laurent22/joplin](https://github.com/laurent22/joplin)).
A good bus factor and no more dependence on the whims of private
organizations.

\- A command line interface

\- Use of Markdown. Drag and drop support for files and media in the GUI.

There are still features of evernote I miss such as inline PDFs and audio
recording

~~~
luckman212
I've got my eye on Joplin as well to replace EN. The deal-breaker issue for me
right now is that the mobile app (iOS) only supports Dropbox as the backend
sync provider. I refuse to use Dropbox, and prefer to sync via filesystem. I
use Resilio Sync (formerly btsync) for this. Until some other method is
allowed, I can't make the jump.

~~~
garfieldnate
Why do you refuse to use Dropbox?

------
TomDavey
A hyperlinked knowledge-management system for personal use, on all my
computers, is essential. To achieve it, I use Emacs and Org-Mode and Dropbox.

An additional benefit of using Emacs: the personal wiki can be integrated with
my task-management system, which Org-Mode handles as well. Plus I can draft
and edit at warp speed, having customized the native Emacs keybindings to suit
me better.

Were I going to publish my wiki to the Web for others to use, I'd export the
wiki to HTML with Org. But for now it's all personal.

~~~
danShumway
How do you handle images/screenshots/handwritten notes?

I am also using Org-Mode and Dropbox for the majority of my notes. I really
like it. In particular, Orgzly for Android works great with this system, so
check it out if you want mobile notes as well.

The problem is that I also like to take paper notes, and take videos/pictures
of stuff, and scan documents, and download webpages. Org-mode kinda stinks for
embedding external content that isn't text? As far as I can tell.

I can link to external content, and if I export to HTML it'll show up. But...
I never export to HTML, because, as you probably already know, it's way easier
to read notes in an editable format. I can turn on picture rending in Org-
mode, but it's not responsive, and I can't crop the pictures or annotate them
with a stylus, or do any of a dozen different things that I want to do.

What I've thought about is that I really just want the ability to render
HTML/CSS inside of an Org-mode buffer, and ideally to be able to set up custom
CSS classes that would be applied to every snippet. Just set up a quick
region, write some helper functions to compile/render the HTML, etc...

I've been thinking for a while about taking some time off of work to just try
and solve the problem. Is it already solved? I know that at one point people
were looking into getting webkit embedded into buffers. Did that go anywhere?
I guess you can build GTK widgets for Org-mode as well? But then you lose the
ability to define custom styles on the fly.

~~~
nextos
You can make some tweaks to org to get images to display nicely:
[https://lepisma.github.io/2017/10/28/ricing-org-
mode/](https://lepisma.github.io/2017/10/28/ricing-org-mode/)

~~~
danShumway
A) That is beautiful, thank you for sharing

B) Does it actually address the image problem? The config appears to be using
the built in inline-images, which don't support responsive widths.

Even getting rid of responsive widths, simply embedding the image into the
buffer isn't really good enough for handwritten notes -- you need _at least_
the ability to crop/zoom.

~~~
nextos
I'm not sure whether it solves the problem you mention. But it might be a good
starting point. If you can roll your own solution, I'd be very interested in
hearing about it, and probably most org users! I keep my scanned notes in
separate files, though.

------
pixelmonkey
I personally think Tiddlywiki is a fascinating project and I even used it
professionally for a few years. But, these days, I think you likely do better
with either a Dropbox directory full of Markdown files or installing the free
tool Simplenote everywhere (mobile/desktop) and using its support for
notes/Markdown. It's true that if you go with these simple schemes, you lose
wiki-style linking. But, I've found that YAGNI applies here.

~~~
another-cuppa
Anyone reading this thinking a "bunch of markdown files" sounds like a good
idea should really look into org-mode. Trust me.

~~~
pqs
I used the great org-mode for many years, but the lack of a good option to
view and edit my notes from mobile pushed me to Evernote, which I'm happily
using since, even though I miss the simplicity of text files and the power of
git.

~~~
pqs
I just have checked orgzly and it impressed me. It has really progressed since
the last time I checked it.

So, now I have to think about the possibility of reverting back to org-mode
after a couple of years of heavily using Evernote.

~~~
kaushalmodi
I've used EverOrg[0] to convert my evernote files to Org files, retains the
attachments (images, PDFs, etc) wonderfully too.

[0]: [https://github.com/mgmart/EverOrg](https://github.com/mgmart/EverOrg)

------
Glawen
I discovered TW a few months ago and I decided to use it for our new project
at work. We use it to document our SW, one tiddler for each module. So far, it
is working great, we can quite easily merge our code and doc because
everything is in one file.

I find it much easier to use than Word. My colleagues were startled by it, but
they mastered it now.

The only annoying thing are:

\- we need to press 2 carriage return to go to the next line

\- the markup languages are never standard. we use redmine with textile which
is kinda compatible with TW, but not 100%

------
hobo_mark
I look at TW every couple of years or so, and there has never been either:

\- a sane way to keep a wiki on something like Dropbox (at the time, the only
way to have persistence was to disable browser security and allow JavaScript
to write to disk directly) or

\- a service to sync a wiki between machines

Has that changed nowadays?

~~~
jimpick
I hooked up Dat multiwriter and the Automerge CRDT for my own personal use...
I’ve been using it for several months and it works well.

I haven’t tidied it up for a public release, but feel free to try it out:

[https://dat-tiddlywiki.glitch.me](https://dat-tiddlywiki.glitch.me)

[https://github.com/jimpick/dat-tiddlywiki](https://github.com/jimpick/dat-
tiddlywiki)

~~~
tgirod
Wow this looks great. Can you tell me a bit more about how it works ? I've
been looking for a way to do collaborative work with TiddlyWiki for ages ...

------
TeMPOraL
A bit of a tangent, but I'm looking at the (official? shown on site)
Tiddlywiki poster[0], and I just have to ask: what is that fish doing, and
does this really communicate something positive about the product?

\--

[0] -
[https://tiddlywiki.com/poster/images/TiddlyWiki_TiddlerPoste...](https://tiddlywiki.com/poster/images/TiddlyWiki_TiddlerPoster_en_L.png)

~~~
OJFord
Never used Tiddlywiki, just guessing from your link:

the fish is a tiddler [0], it's consuming a mess [several entangled lines] and
excreting something unified and cohesive [single line].

[0]:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiddler](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiddler)

('Tiddler' is perhaps BrEng slang? I'm British, and I'd say it's slang -
especially when applied not to a fish, but to something or someone small - but
I don't know how widespread it is.)

~~~
tofof
From that wiki page:

> A small fish, especially the three-spined stickleback

My wife, a neuroscientist researching three-spined stickleback, has never come
across the term 'tiddler'. Midwestern US.

So, yes, I would say it is solitarily British slang.

------
lxe
The most unique thing for me is the fact that it's an .html file that you can
just download and run. The data/saving mechanism is completely separate. This
"unhosted-ness" seems to be a growing trend.

~~~
kvakil
You might find this interesting:
[https://unhosted.org/](https://unhosted.org/)

------
eponeponepon
I tried using TiddlyWiki some years back but never really reached the stage
where I felt I could definitely trust my use of it to result in it saving my
notes properly. The real utility of it, I'm sure, comes with a large corpus -
but I never got there.

At the time though, my only option was keeping it as a local file on a single
machine - these days my home infrastructure is much more developed, and I
think I might have more luck running it on a proper http server. Maybe I'll
give it another shot.

------
cbau
I've been writing a personal encyclopedia for the last five or six years or
so. I have some 1500+ articles multiple of which are 50+ pages. I think it's
been really valuable. I think I get a few things out of it:

1\. Perfect recall. Every little detail I read in a book/blog/article stays
with me. Makes it easy to synthesize results from multiple pieces across time,
which is useful when you only have a casual interest in something. (I really
like downloading the cool education images/GIFs and and inserting them in
articles- otherwise I don't know where I'd keep them.)

2\. Reveals what I don't know about a subject. For example, whenever I start
off writing a new article on some topic, the first thing I write is a
definition, e.g. "A cat is an animal that ...". The process of doing that
often reveals gaps in my understanding.

3\. It makes me better at asking questions when I'm trying to understand
something. The analogy I like to make here is that learning a second language
is harder than a third language, because after learning the second you know
what you need to know to understand a language. But there's no reason that
should be limited to languages and couldn't apply to all things, and things
themselves. Some questions I like to ask are "What is the function/uses of
this thing?" "What are the parts of this thing and how are they arranged?"
"How do we make this thing?" "What's the history of this thing?" "What
subtypes of this thing are there?"

The downside is that it dramatically slows down my reading speed, since I now
feel I need to take detailed notes, and then I often have to reconcile them
with notes on other things which can be time-consuming. Considering the number
of books a person could realistically read in their lifetime is limited, it's
unclear if it's worth the tradeoff.

I'm curious how other people think about remembering things, and if they have
a system, what tools they use. It seems unsatisfying to me to read a book and
realize I'll probably forget it in four years, yet most people seem content to
do so.

If anyone is interested in the specific software I use, here's the Github
project:
[https://github.com/Ceasar/Encyclopedia](https://github.com/Ceasar/Encyclopedia).
It uses restructuedText (as opposed to Markdown) for the text. I edit them
using Vim. All the files are stored in Dropbox so it gets synced between my
devices. A simple Flask web server renders the pages in a prettier format.

Still very primitive compared to what it could potentially be, but combined
with regular Unix command line tools it's worked fine for my needs. (I like
the idea of a hacker-wiki by the way, more than something like this which
comes out of the box. Seems like an personal wiki designed for a power user
could be way more interesting.)

~~~
themodelplumber
Thank you for sharing. I have a system that is kind of like this. Except it's
not meant for memory as much as analysis. And I don't consider the entries
"articles" but rather refer to them as "models" as in mental models. Like a
real life model, say a toy car, I try to cover enough bases that it--
metaphorically--at least _resembles_ a car at first. Then as I identify needed
leverage points in the model, I refine my analysis and expand the model. So
maybe at that point it has a hood you can open, and an engine you can see, so
to speak.

I think I'm at or near around 800 of these, and many are very short. But no
matter how short they are, they are all there because they provided me or
continue to provide me with needed leverage.

I keep the bulk of the information in markdown in a Dropbox folder and also
occasionally try new methods. For example, for topics that will quickly
benefit from hyperlinks, I developed a LibreOffice web template and a
companion PHP script that indexes these files and inserts additional CSS,
variables, JS, etc. when they are served up. For searching I like Regexxer a
lot, but I also use grep quite a bit :-)

On my XFCE desktop are buttons for opening a random one of these files, and
for opening a random journal entry to try to harvest new models, so to speak.

And there's some paper involved here too... Can't get away from it, because
paper has its own special leverage points...

I'm not concerned about memory, knowing it's a special weakness of mine. If
I'm working in a context where memory is super important, my energy is best
spent moving to a more sustainable context. :-) Memory is a hobby for me, a
side gig for memorizing pi, that kind of simple and fun thing.

~~~
Noumenon72
I have no idea what it means for a piece of text to have "leverage points" or
a hood you can open.

~~~
themodelplumber
A model has leverage points if there are parts of it that can be useful for
solving a problem. For example, a website-building model might provide useful
links to software that can be used to build different kinds of websites. Those
links are important leverage points.

Each model has different leverage points. Your comment, taken as part of a
model of your psychology, provides leverage for understanding that part of my
text was not well received by your psychology.

Regarding the hood, look at it this way: If you don't know much about cars,
you might look at a simple toy car _without an opening hood_ and make
assumptions about what happens in the front of the car. When you get a car
where the hood opens, maybe all of a sudden you make a huge leap: There is
stuff under here, and it does something. So at this point, maybe you start
working on (by asking around, or reading), or building, a model with a working
engine. Or even just a working dipstick, who knows. As the parts are revealed,
the model gains leverage. Pretty soon you are able to run more advanced
simulations and predict traffic dynamics, things like that. Or you change
models and learn the leverage points of the tractor, or motorcycle. You begin
to learn why a motorcycle is helpful and even necessary in some circumstances.
Texts work the same way as they unfold. And there are also various text-
creation methods that expose different leverage points. Reliance on charts and
graphs, or emotive graphics, etc. All of it is helpful in some way, and maybe
--like my original comment--low-leverage in other ways and for other people.

Anyway I hope that helps, but I know I'm still couching this in metaphor which
isn't a high-leverage communications method for everyone. YMMV, which is what
makes human psychology so cool.

------
hboon
An anecdote:

In a previous job as a presales engineer, I kept notes of prospects and
customers in a TiddlyWiki. When I left, I handed the file over to my
replacement. He told me after a few years that the "wiki" was of great help to
him.

------
agentdax5
I looked into Tiddlywiki before but it seemed too involved to maintain easily
and overkill for my use case. I have recently found
[https://www.notebooksapp.com/](https://www.notebooksapp.com/) and am in the
process of converting all my desperate notes and documents into it using the
internal linking to create my own kind of wiki.

Everything is plain text, has markdown support, apps on most platforms,
ability to automate things for everyday use, and easier to use overall.

Also I just can’t stand the idea of “tiddlers”.

~~~
moioci
Although I kinda love the idea of desperate notes and documents, I think you
probably meant "disparate."

------
jtl999
I remember first hearing of TiddlyWiki back in 2005(?)

Glad to see it's still here.

~~~
Milner08
I was wondering if it was the same project I remembered! I used to use it in
high school, with its stored on a USB stick that i'd carry around on my keys.
Was pretty useful at the time, wouldn't want to carry around a USB stick now,
but using dropbox is interesting.

------
hyperpape
I wrote my own system for capturing and organizing information
([https://lobste.rs/s/ord0rg/does_anyone_else_keep_their_own_k...](https://lobste.rs/s/ord0rg/does_anyone_else_keep_their_own_knowledge#c_cxecdn)),
so I understand the desire to fiddle with your own system.

That said, the list of literally 20 different ways of storing your Tiddlywiki
data is user-hostile. Don't tell me that you have a Node server and a PHP
server, just give me the easiest way to self-host, how to use Dropbox/Google
Drive, or perhaps one more option. You can include a link to "other options",
but don't put them front and center.

Even open-source tools that appeal to us nerds need some attention to
marketing.

------
carapace
Here's a single-page "simple self-contained web notebook inspired by the
"classic" version of TiddlyWiki."

Live demo:
[https://calroc.github.io/HulloWurld/Hullo.html](https://calroc.github.io/HulloWurld/Hullo.html)

Once you're seeing the page you have it all. Click the "Save..." button to
keep a local copy with any edit you've made. If you right-click and "save
page" you'll get the original content only.)

Repo is here:
[https://github.com/calroc/HulloWurld](https://github.com/calroc/HulloWurld)

It's just a simple experiment, nothing fancy.

------
rwbt
TiddlyWiki is great, but I really need is something like Notational Velocity
but everything is stored in a single html file (with .js embedded of course),
so that it's very portable.

------
ttroyr
[https://www.notion.so](https://www.notion.so) offers an excellent balance of
power & simplicity. Definitely worth a try for those who prefer to visualize
the connection between different projects. Shines in long-term planning & wiki
knowledge collection.

------
igorp74
After TiddlyWiki classic with tons of plugins, I used SpringPad while it
lived, then Evernote but markdown was able only via browser addon (Markdown
here or something). OneNote never suited for my needs and finally settled down
with Quip.com. It is like TW with all fancy plugins + live editing...

------
rb808
Nothing beats a plain text file for me.

~~~
galfarragem
A text file formatted as markdown and a text editor is an easily searchable
_flat wiki_. After having tried _a lot_ of stuff I can say that nothing beats
it on my usecas e.

------
rmu09
For those who want to sync TiddlyWiki between multiple computers, there also
is [https://noteself.github.io/](https://noteself.github.io/).

This TiddlyWiki-variant stores documents in the browser (pouchdb) and can sync
to a couchdb-server.

------
platz
[http://mgsd.tiddlyspot.com/demo3.html](http://mgsd.tiddlyspot.com/demo3.html)
TiddlyWiki powered GTD system

there is a newer version, but I think it's worse than the old one.

------
darpa_escapee
Besides Tiddlywiki, does anyone have recommendations for personal wiki
software?

~~~
interfixus
Zim, if you actually need the wiki-like stuff. Cherrytree, if you are mainly
after the structured note-taking functionality.

I use both. Cherrytree for all my daily notational needs.

[http://zim-wiki.org/](http://zim-wiki.org/)

[https://www.giuspen.com/cherrytree/](https://www.giuspen.com/cherrytree/)

------
qwerty456127
Does it integrate with Gitub Pages? I'd like my personal WiKi to be shared as
a part of my Jekyll-powered Gitub Pages blog (and I'd love to see more people
go this way sharing their knowledge).

------
shawn
I'd like to be able to press a shortcut key and have my computer save a
screenshot of whatever I'm looking at, along with letting me type a brief note
for context. Ideally it would also record the URL of whatever the browser was
visiting (if it's a screenshot of a browser page), or the file path of
whatever was open.

So basically Pinboard, but for pages of PDFs and other random scraps.

~~~
submeta
Evernote does something like this. And it let's you search for text in the
images as well. I have over 12k notes in Evernote. Many screenshots. It has
excellent OCR capabilities, full-text search (via Lucene?) and syncs across
devices.

~~~
luckman212
What platform do you run EN on? I have 9.3k notes and find it _horrifically_
slow to run searches on macOS (Quad core i7 Mini 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD).

It's so bad that I am actively looking for alternatives, even though I'm
dreading getting my highly-formatted data out in a usable form.

~~~
submeta
Mainly macOS. Well, to begin with: I don't perceive it as "terribly slow".
Yes, it has hiccups at times, but we are talking about several thousand notes.
And in that range I haven't seen a real altrrnative. For instance I imported
my 12k notes in BearApp. The app won't open anymore after the import.

I am in the exact same position. Especially so after several senior execs left
the Evernote company. I even work on a custom notes store (Django and mysql
backed) to keep kopies of all my notes because I really see no real
alternative with the search capabilities of Evernote. And no, OneNote is not
the same (search wise)

