Hi Lawrence, thanks for your extensive thoughts on the topic. I'll concentrate on the "omnibar approach" that you are questioning - not to convince you but maybe to explain it a little more.
First of all: everybody has different needs and different workflows. As long as it is working, there is no reason to implement something by force that does not feel right to you. My requirements differ from yours, as my fraction of searching vs. creating documents is about 3 to 1 or even higher – quite different from yours (I try to automatize ways to input new information into the zettelkasten/Wiki - the mentioned macro to save selected text in any app or another one that allows me to save an important mail as a new note with one keystroke). So, searching (and finding) information is kind of a top priority for my system. For that, the simplicity and beauty of a singular search bar is just evident to me – maybe it fits the way *my* brain works. I remember some grains of a bigger text chunk and it allows me to find that information just by typing the few characters I remember. The brain works with associations and in my opinion, typing ahead serves that approach pretty well. In BBEdit, when it comes to a single document, I use Live Search almost exclusively over the regular Find Window (which I only use when a search gets more complex or when I want to replace things). It may not be that much of a difference but omitting the search and result windows feels way faster and more focused. Of course you have to adapt your searching strategies: when you name a lot of files with the sequence "til" in it, then searching for "til" does not do a good job at narrowing things down. I try to use distinctive search terms and my experience is, that I (luckily) almost never get thrown off track by some false positive hit in my result list (aka dead cats) – you can't avoid them, but you can learn to ignore them. I just want to point out that BBEdit reiterately (is that a word?) uses the principle of search bars or type-ahead-functionality: Insert Clipping, Open by File Name, the new "Commands" command, Named Symbols, type-ahead in marker and function lists - it is everywhere and it is always about narrwoing down a heap of possibilites down to a manageable number the fast way. What I love about BBEdit is that a) it allows me to do it all by keyboard, it is b) unobstrusive, and c) therefore feels fast and keeps me in the flow (nvALT extends that feeling from a single file to my whole notes collection). I tried to tie the post to BBEdit and as the core of the discussions tends to drift away from a mere BBEdit topic, I hope this is not perceived as noise. But on the other hand: thinking about the organization and handling of (presumably) a big number of text file is not to far fetched, either. And in my book a nice paraphrase of BBEdit's claim "it doesn't suck" is: "it plays well with others" – making different approaches to text editing possible. Thanks for that Roland On Tue, Dec 17, 2019 at 12:38 AM Lawrence Salberg <[email protected]> wrote: > I find this topic fascinating. A "personal wiki" is not done well, IMHO, > by any tools, and I agree with Roland that our "data" needs to be in > something not bound to a specific tool (probably plain-text, or at least > HTML). > > I'm not clear what the differences are between a zettekasten and a > personal wiki, but I can pronounce the latter, so I'll use that here. But > if anyone can explain to me how it fundamentally differs, I'd like to know. > > I'm not a BBEdit expert, but I try to use it for everything, except for > long-form text within IA Writer, but that's only because I have yet to > figure out how to make BBEdit have a different look and feel by filetype. > In other words, when/if I can ever figure out how to remove line numbers, > use a nicer font and size (like IA Writer's DuoType), and other > adjustments, I might even use BBEdit for long-form writing, too. > > However, I do know that in relation to Roland's first "weak point" about > BBEdit, that there is searching just across a single project (Cmd-Shift-F). > You don't even have to have the project defined as a technical "project" > per BBEdit's project features. You can search across multiple distinct > (separate) projects all at once, too, so that you could have, for instance, > 4 or 5 different "personal wikis" (maybe one for work, one for home, etc) > and search across all of them, even if they aren't in the same path or are > scattered about your hard drive. > > Yes, I said hard drive. I'm dating myself. > > (See page 154 onward in the manual for 12.6.7 for details). > > Then, once you go through the "hassle" (by which I mean, several clicks of > the mouse, which in our day constitutes cruel and unusual punishment to > those under the age of 30) of doing a search of your Personal Wiki, then > you can set it as a Saved Search. > > Once you see a past or Saved Search in your BBEdit menu, then you can > assign a keyboard shortcut to it. That is done in a few clicks via OS X in > the Keyboard Settings. You can use Keyboard Maestro or other apps, but for > creating a simple shortcut, I haven't found any reason to breach the > confines of OS X itself. > > So, then you can just type your custom shortcut to do a custom search > across all your files (or even folders, projects, etc) for your Personal > Wiki. > > HOWEVER, you must type most of your search term or word, and then press > RETURN. I'm so sorry. The beauty is you get that amazing Search Results > pane in BBEdit, but if you just wanted to type a few characters, and then a > tab or down-arrow to a file, and have it open up, it won't work like that. > > You can down-arrow in that results pane and examine a big chunk of each > document that is returned, or as is often the case, each section of a > document when your search term is on multiple lines of a single document. > When you're done, you can either press RETURN again to open the document in > your main window (and it will open with that relevant line highlighted and > your search phrase selected (try that, you other quick search features in > other programs), such that if you start typing before arrowing or pressing > escape, you can begin to replace that line of text. Normally, you'd > probably never do that (instead using find/replace features), but I imagine > there are some use cases for it. If instead, you just want to go to the top > or bottom of that document, once opened, press Cmd-Up or Cmd-Down. > > So, to reiterate, Special Hotkey, type search phrase, press Enter, press > Up or Down to get to document you want, press Enter to Open, and then > navigate in document normally. No mouse required. > > Another good thing about this approach is that you can just close the > search window with Cmd-W, and you are back to your Multi-File Search modal > window again, Type another search phrase, or press Cmd-W again to go back > to whatever you were doing before. > > NOW! (Whew!), you also have the power of Grep. I doubt things like Atom > and others have that built-in (but I don't know so don't sue me). I also > don't USE Grep myself, because I'm not that geeky yet, but I love knowing > that if I ever get into trouble and really need it, it's very close by. For > a Personal Wiki, I would imagine if you need Grep, you have truly lost your > documents... ha ha. Or your mind. > > What I don't think BBEdit has, as Roland pointed out, is "live search" (or > instant), the kind we get from Cmd-Space (Spotlight) and other modern > search engine style features. Personally, I'm not a fan of it on the web as > it distracts me from what I actually wanted to find, because I have to > endure the plebeian masses "most popular" searches. (Try typing "die", the > first three letters of diet, into Google, and watch what it THINKS I'm > looking for). Anyway, I digress. > > There is a live search feature in BBEdit (Option-Cmd-F), but it is only > for the present document (as near as I can tell). The option above, for me > anyway, is more than sufficient. > > However, that may be because I'm not doing zettelkasten correctly. I have > seen for years that nvALT and one or two others talk a lot about how you > "just start typing" and it searches your existing treasure trove of files > and then you either open it or press Return to create a new document. > > I'll be honest. I don't get how that's a feature. Somehow, in my mind, I > separate the two events of "search my existing docs" and "create a new > document". > > If I'm working on my life research project of Giraffes in Alaska (and > whose to say that I'm not?), and have discovered some new data I need to > add to my file, I'm going to (obviously) search my Personal Wiki for > "giraffe" or "Alaska" or "coffee" (because that is what they were used for: > to harvest Alaskan coffee beans). > > However, if I want to start a new journal entry, I really don't want to > see all my past journal entries popping up in a list, particularly if I am > forced to see excerpts of them as many of these tools do. I simply want to > create a new fresh journal entry. > > Imagine I'm getting excited about a new BBEdit feature I learned and I > want to write a note to myself in a TIL. So, I go to create > til-2019-12-16.txt and I start typing "til" only to see a thousand other > "til" files fill up my screen, and my eye catches one from last year that > starts off "Today I learned that my cat will be put down because he has > rabies from his recent battle with the giraffes in the coffee fields". Now, > I'm going to be sad, have to get a tissue, and probably forget all about > the new BBEdit feature I learned, and I'll eventually regress to using Nano > as my text editor. > > So, again, not to be critical of other software (and I think Brett is a > genius), but I just don't understand why that's a "feature" or why people > (seemingly) find it important or useful. These tools just tout it as if it > is commonly understood as to why it's so great. I've watched screencasts of > it, see it in action, and just think "huh... I don't get why I'd want to do > that". What am I missing? Is it because people are worried they might > re-create a document they had already started? I suppose if you had 10,000 > text files, you could accidentally do that, but I guess I don't see that as > a common problem. At least, not for me. And even if you did, when you > eventually searched for "giraffe", you'd realize that, duh!, you did the > research on them twice and now you have to merge your files. Good luck > doing that without a DIFF tool handy, especially if you have lots of links > and data in each file. > > I like iA Writer. Opens to a blank document and I just type my TIL or > Journal or what-have-you. If I don't want/need a blank document, then I > search my files for my old one. > > For me, about 1/4 the time, I'm looking for an old document. About 3/4 of > the time, I'm creating a new one. Same with BBEdit (except for code-related > projects, in which case the ratios are reversed). > > So, I'm not writing all this to say "These are not the Live Search tools > you are looking for", or to try to dissuade Roland or anyone from using > nvAlt or similar tools, but I think BBEdit is pretty workable "as is". I'm > sure there are scripts from Dr. Drang and others that could really power up > BBEdit for this Personal Wiki approach more, but I am not aware of the > issues yet. I think the WikiLinking is probably the most critical/PITA > aspect of it all. That's what I want to deal with more and am working on > now. > > Lastly, on #hashtags, I gave them a try at one point. iA Writer recently > implemented smart uses of them. Just put a #hashtag in your document > (anywhere) and the program scans your whole library and gives you a nice > list down the left (if you have the Organizer open) of all them out there. > The article describing their mentality in implementing it is worth a read ( > https://ia.net/writer/blog/write-to-organize), and as much as I thought > it was "genius", as most of their work on iA Writer is, I found it > cluttered up my interface, made me add tags that I then had to later deal > with, and much more. > > In other words, if my document names are things like > "til-2019-12-16-giraffe-mating.txt" or > "thoughts-animal-teeth-coffee-beans.txt" or "journal-2019-12-16.txt" or > "plans-2020-escape-to-alcatraz.txt", do I really need to tag those things > more? > > One other issue was that, on a few occasion on some old blog posts I had > saved, I had referenced some twitter tags. Needless to say, when someone > walks behind you and you have iA Writer open, and there is a list of tags > down the left column, and they see #geekpickuplines, you simply can't > explain it before you are sent to the couch for three nights. Which > wouldn't be so bad except that the dog also thinks it's his couch and there > is a bit of a power struggle at 2AM. > > On Monday, December 16, 2019 at 1:58:09 AM UTC-7, Roland Küffner wrote: >> >> Hi Christopher, >> >> I'm actually doing a home brewn approach to a zettelkasten system. The >> main things are there: just one repository (folder) and date based id's in >> the file names. >> >> Here are some thoughts that you may also read as tipps: >> >> >> - My most important advice would be: do not relate on one app. As >> astounding as BBEdit is, it hast some weak points (please forgive me this >> heresy) when it comes to the special needs of a zettelkasten: >> - instant searching your notes (preferable with a system wide hot >> key) - I use nvALT for that, it still holds the crown in that ballpark >> (some kind of a Live Search for project files would be a nice addition >> to >> BBEdit (at least for my needs)) >> - #hashtag support out of the box (you might try The Archive for >> that) >> - [[WikiLink-Support]] - again, nvALT is good at this >> - I also use BBEdit heavily on my zettelkasten as it is my main tool >> when it comes to editing text. Here are some minor twists that help me >> - I recorded a "Find Next WikiLink" script: just start a recording in >> the Script Editor, switch to BBEdit and perform a search for >> \[\[.+?\]\] >> - … or hit cmd+B when inside a [[WikiLink]] >> - "Open File by Name" (cmd+D by default) opens other files quickly >> - I use a BBEdit project for my zettelkasten. They allow you to >> use containers to create temporalily hierarchical structures - without >> rearranging your files (I'm not too dogmatic about the >> no-subfolder-rule) >> - Filters are also a great tool for working with a zettelkasten - >> I set up a few filters that simply search for text contents (mostly for >> hashtags like #project_xy). This narrows down the file list in a >> project. >> - Last but not least, I rely on Keyboard Maestro (honestly I can not >> imagine using a Mac without it): if you don't know it, in very short >> words: >> it is a macro utility (and so much more). >> - It nicely handles the creation of new zettel files - including the >> creation of a time based id in the file name >> - It is also easy to set up a macro that creates a new file and >> copies the current selection to it - giving me a system wide snippet >> saving >> tool >> - It communicates nicely with BBEdit: it can access BBEdit's Text >> Factories to achieve all kinds of text processing needs, even if you >> are in >> some other app (an example: I have a macro that uses a Text Factory to >> extract all [[WikiLinks]] of the frontmost text document and to >> provide a >> nice Spotlight-like search bar for navigating and opening one of it) >> >> So this might not be the solution you are looking for, but in my opinion >> BBEdit is a strong chain link in a zettelkasten system that is even more >> fertile when brought together with other good tools. And at the end of the >> day it is the beauty of plain text that makes this freedom a joy (and one >> of the reasons I still like and use BBEdit so much). >> >> Regards >> Roland >> >> >> On Sat, Dec 14, 2019 at 10:38 PM Christopher H. <[email protected]> wrote: >> >>> All, >>> >>> I am wondering if anybody has experience using BBEdit as their primary >>> location for a Zettelkasten-based note-taking system? For the uninitiated, >>> Zettelkasten is just another way of keeping track of notes and ideas >>> <https://zettelkasten.de> - a system rather than a piece of software. >>> It's described thoroughly in English in the book *How to Take Smart >>> Notes* by Sönke Ahrens >>> <https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/14876464.S_nke_Ahrens>, and >>> while there are now a few pieces of primary software that have been built >>> around the general principles of the Zettelkasten, others have ported the >>> system to their text editor of choice - such as has been done with Sublime >>> Text <https://github.com/renerocksai/sublime_zk>. >>> >>> I would love to have this functionality ported to BBEdit rather than >>> using a separate piece of software, if anybody is aware of efforts to >>> do so. The primary features required are related to automatic ID generation >>> for the file as well as incorporation of wiki-style links. >>> >>> - Christopher H. >>> >>> -- >>> This is the BBEdit Talk public discussion group. If you have a >>> feature request or need technical support, please email >>> "[email protected]" rather than posting to the group. >>> Follow @bbedit on Twitter: <https://twitter.com/bbedit> >>> --- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>> Groups "BBEdit Talk" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>> an email to [email protected]. >>> To view this discussion on the web visit >>> https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/bbedit/1398ad33-d621-4c49-982b-77649525e0f1%40googlegroups.com >>> <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/bbedit/1398ad33-d621-4c49-982b-77649525e0f1%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> >>> . >>> >> -- > This is the BBEdit Talk public discussion group. If you have a > feature request or need technical support, please email > "[email protected]" rather than posting to the group. > Follow @bbedit on Twitter: <https://twitter.com/bbedit> > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "BBEdit Talk" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/bbedit/ab9943a3-aa11-411b-80c2-30f512848f0f%40googlegroups.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/bbedit/ab9943a3-aa11-411b-80c2-30f512848f0f%40googlegroups.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > -- This is the BBEdit Talk public discussion group. If you have a feature request or need technical support, please email "[email protected]" rather than posting to the group. 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