What's more, more note-taking software is used than there are notes taken – the explosion of task management tools has made people always toss and turn in search of the "best tool".
The core of note-taking is to choose a suitable software to keep a record for a long time, so as to improve your knowledge. But the problem is that everyone's needs are different, so they are forced to use too much note-taking software, and eventually slide into the pit of "playing with note-taking software".
Today, we're going to introduce this note-taking software that has been in service for nearly 20 years and can meet any of your customization needs without taking anything. Therefore, it definitely deserves to be your "Evergreen Note" software. And you don't need to worry about stopping or stopping or special formats, because it's open source.
Now let's see how it implements "card notes + interval repetition + note task management" to help you better load knowledge into your head!
First, the Tiddly Wiki can also be used by ordinary people
TiddlyWiki is an open source non-linear atomization note-taking software. The first version, which began in 2004, stores everything in an html file, so you can link to it anytime, anywhere as long as you put it on your web drive.
But obviously, its biggest problem is that it is "geeky", in part because the founders think that people who really want to learn are capable of solving these problems, but this does not stop our determination to be lazy.
Zhihu netizen "Lin Yi'er" spent half a year developing an out-of-the-box client - "TidGi Taiji", which helped us pre-install many useful plug-ins. However, the client uses the Node.js multi-file management mode to facilitate viewing changes to each note, rolling back any note, and editing with third-party editors. And it also integrates a lot of plugin sources, allowing you to install and update different plugins directly in the client, saving you the time and effort to find and update plugins.
Next, take a look at the interface of Tai Ji.
1. Open this URL: https://github.com/tiddly-gittly/TidGi-Desktop/releases/tag/v0.7.4, pull to the bottom to select your version and install.
2. After the installation is successful, click the "Plus" sign in the left sidebar to create a knowledge base.
3. Next, create a local knowledge base named "APPSO".
4. Then you will see a default card of "GettingStarted", on the right side of the "Home" you can customize one or more notes that can be opened globally, for example, we put the "Index Note Card" here, when you click the icon of "Small Room", you can directly open this card. Also, it will be displayed automatically every time You Start Tai Ji.
5. Finally, you can also combine plugins, macros, and widgets to transform your homepage's functionality and layout. It sounds difficult, but we don't need to understand these concepts, just copy and paste the code written by others, and modify it slightly. For example, I can't write code either, but I can also change my homepage to look like this.
If you have more needs, such as cloud synchronization, version management, private notes, deployment websites, etc., you can read this article in Zhihu: "Replacing Notion and EverNote as Personal Knowledge Management Systems with TidedlyWiki".
2. Card notes + Anki-style review
In the beginning, I took notes with Notion, but the result was that tens of thousands of words of notes and various pictures were recorded on a page, causing the page to freeze and not easy to review. I then switched to Obsidian, but it was also easy for me to record too much in a note without noticing. Then I switched to Roam Research, but I really didn't like its default style—even if it's a blank row, there's still a symbol on the left without a sequenced list. Finally, DEVONthink caught my attention, and I decided to link the notes and documents directly, which is convenient for both the original text and the document management, but found that DEVONthink is really not suitable for note-taking software, the real "heavy tool light use".
Luckily, I found TheiddlyWiki, which enables real card notes and an Anki-style review and task management via plugins. How?
1. Record the real "card notes"
Click "Plus" at the top of the right sidebar to create a new note entry, then click the "Eye" of the editing toolbar to open a real-time preview, then you can start taking notes, fields, tags, etc., and with the style of TidedlyWiki, a real card note is made.
For example, in the following figure, plug-ins that come with, pre-install, and later install can be used to implement functions such as reference, embedding, aliasing, and dynamic display directory. It's worth noting, though, that The TidedlyWiki doesn't have block references, as it itself suggests that you condense each note to just one knowledge point, practice the original "card notes," and then use other plugins to organize them into a long piece of content. Seeing this, do you find that this is really in line with the core concept of "card notes"?
2. One-click implementation of Anki-style review cards
Don't think that everything will be fine after taking notes, if you want to put knowledge into your head, you will never be able to do this step - review. And it's reviewed multiple times until it becomes your muscle memory.
Tai Ji pre-installed the fishing plugin "Fishing", you just need to put a "?" on the label. The label can be fished out like fishing to review the cards, and then with the different contents of the "Caption" field, you can achieve different functions such as progressive reading, fill-in-the-blank questions, questions and answers, multiple choice questions, etc., helping you to take the initiative and review scientifically after taking notes. At first glance, isn't it necessary to repeat these steps for every card? No! We can use the powerful plugin "Tiddler Commander" to modify any content of multiple notes with one click, including titles, tags, fields, content, etc.
Next, let's do it specifically, import all the notes of "Label 1" into the phishing plugin to implement interval review. You'll notice that after modifications, their cards automatically become collapsible.
a. Modify multiple cards to "excerpt title" with one click: add "?" The label and "Caption" fields are "{{|| Excerpt}}」
b. Interval review excerpt questions, the plug-in author uses the FSRS free interval repeat scheduling algorithm that theoretically super Anki catches SuperMemo.
In addition to the above "express" modification method, you can also click the corresponding tool button when taking notes, automatically adjust the notes to any question type, or click other buttons during review to select the appropriate content to add as a phishing topic. The plugin author has already helped us think it through!
3. Manage new insights during review
We often have some new feelings when reviewing, at this time if you open another note-taking software to record, your concentration state can easily be broken. But in The TidedlyWiki, we only need to work with the "Thinkup" plugin to quickly record to-dos.
In addition to the bottom of the card, you can also see all the to-dos in "Thinkup" in the sidebar.
4. Check your notes and browsing
Finally, you can also use the "ECharts" plugin to implement the following functions:
View the card related to the current note and click to expand the note
For example, we can see that I came to the current card from the "Index" card and it links to the "APPSO" card. As the name suggests, Brain lets you roam the mind of a KiddlyWiki, showing you how to walk all the way through the current notes.
You just need to create a new note entry from this code and tag "$:/tags/SideBar" to put this view in the sidebar and view it at any time:
See how many notes are recorded and modified each day and display them as heat maps
Also create a new note entry, enter this code:
Automatically create a label cloud map to see which label record has the most numbers
The code is as follows:
With these plugins, we've successfully implemented a one-stop note-taking process for card creation, interval review, and real-time recording without disrupting the state of focus. In a way, this is the "All in one" of learning.
Third, non-pre-installed plug-ins are recommended
Some of the above functions are implemented by the self-installed functions and pre-installed plug-ins, and some of the functions I implement using other plug-ins, so the following recommends several must-install plug-ins to you. Of course, there are other plugins that are highly recommended, but it's up to you to dig into.
But one thing is very worth mentioning, TiddlyWiki's plugin compatibility is good and timeless. You'll even find that many plugins were made six or seven years ago, but still work because TiddlyWiki has been updating for a decade while maintaining compatibility. Make good use of search and you will find countless useful plugins.
Trashbin: Added trash can function
TiddlyWiki doesn't have a trash can function, so if you accidentally delete a note and don't have version management, you really can't get it back. Therefore, it is highly recommended that you install this plugin. After that, it will add a delete button to the toolbar, and clicking it will move the notes to the trash, giving you a chance to regret it.
The implementation functions are as follows:
Thinkup: Added bottom status bar and other standard template features
The feature of this plugin that I use most often is the to-do list and backlink features at the bottom. In addition, it also has template functions such as comments, keywords (equivalent to tags), and quick records, which will not be repeated here.
The to-do list was shown earlier, so let's take a look at its dynamic table backlinks.
Similarly, you can find the "Thinkup" plugin in the "Kookma Plugin Library" plugin source.
Template List: Added note preset template function
For certain topics, such as reading notes, we have fixed record templates. With this plugin, you can display preset templates at the bottom of every blank note, and with a click, you can quickly fill in pre-set content, including labels, fields, and body content.
The usage is simple, just label the template notes with the "$:/tags/TextEditor/Template" tag. In addition, the developers of Tai Ji have pre-installed this plugin for you, and it works right out of the box!
Uni-Link: Add aliases and beautify links
This plugin is in the "Wikilabs Library" plugin source. With it, you can implement aliasing features and beautify link features. Previously, we recorded a note of "APPSO", and the alias field "aliases" is "digital life home" and "love fan".
Below, we only need to modify the "citation writing" in this way to achieve the use of "aliases" to refer to cards, or beautify the link.
In addition to these plugins, TiddlyWiki also has a large number of plugins worth installing, such as book management, Things 3 task management, various editor plugins, etc. Although many of them are introduced in English, it is not difficult to understand how to use them, you just need to translate them into Chinese with the browser, and then carefully compare the differences before and after, you can find out how to modify their grammar, after all, you are a person who will learn!
Do you really like to use Roam Research?
TiddlyWiki is essentially an html page. In other words, you can change the front-end code to make it whatever you want. Even if you are a code white, it doesn't matter, we can directly download the template shared selflessly on the Internet. Let's look at 3 cases.
Notion style
This is the default style of "Tai Ji", if you like it, you don't have to waste energy to adjust it.
In addition, you can also learn some of the writing methods of the note module on the developer's homepage (URL: https://onetwo.ren/wiki/).
XP style
Website: https://keatonlao.github.io/tiddlywiki-xp/
This template imitates the style of the computer system, allowing you to use various functions directly in the bottom Dock bar, and also moves the "currently open notes" to the left, so that your eyes are focused in the middle, which is more in line with the normal visual focus.
RR-TW5 style
URL: https://rr-tw5.github.io/#DAILY%20NOTES
If you like the style of Roam Research, you can try this template. To know what Roam Research is, it is recommended to read this article "Spike Traditional Notes!" Why is Roam Research, which supports Markdown and two-way linking, so strong? 》。
There are also many interesting templates on the Internet, and the brain is open. But that doesn't mean you can only use your KiddlyWiki with one template, instead, you just have to carefully find out what plugins are implemented for each content that interests you, and then import them into your TiddlyWiki to successfully transfer, creating a note-taking software that really meets your needs.
Finally, we think the biggest advantage of TiddlyWiki is that it proves to be a note-taking software that can really be used for decades and can adapt to currently popular features at any time, mainly thanks to the many selfless and dedicated developers in China and abroad. In addition, we need to clarify the two concepts of free and open source. If a piece of software is just free, there is still a chance to stop serving, but if it is open source and has real value to us, its vitality is unimaginable.
Seeing this, whether you have a passion for TiddlyWiki or not, remember that the key to taking notes is to jot down content for a long time and use it to collide with other content to generate new ideas, rather than tossing various software.