I will watch the videos you recommended.

-Dormouse (May 04, 2022, 04:16 PM)

Have looked. My issue mostly is the same as I have with Obsidian which is that using the features is relatively high friction and dependent on support of plugins which may or not be maintained into the future and the whole program is likely to shift and evolve in ways I might not want. As with Obsidian, I'm sure it will be much enhanced in 2 or 3 years time.

I tested document mode when I last used Logseq. Dynalist has something similar. A similar effect can be achieved in Obsidian using the block dragging plugin. I've even checked out writing in Workflowy bullets, with a document view in another program. I've not been persuaded by any of them. I always found friction in some part of the process: when is all said and done, the bullets remain bullets even when they are hidden. In theory, it ought to be extremely useful in the same way that Workflowy's kanban/outline view switch is, but I found it cumbersome and not hugely useful in practice.

I've not checked out the focus mode from the plugin. I can't actually remember checking any of the focus modes in Obsidian, and the typewriter mode only for a moment. What all these programs ignore, is that it's not the feature's existence that matters but how much it enhances a user's productive workflow. I don't love iA Writer's focus mode, but it is simple to use and robust (personally I'd add a focus of  x number of lines above and below the typewriter position, with x being easily changed), but I'm also not tempted to use iAW for long-form writing; I know how I coujld do it, but I think there are better ways for me.

I didn't check out the colour highlighting. Mostly because it works through HTML and CSS. Some of this is a conclusion that docx is always likely to be smoother and more robust than markdown+CSS+HTML as well as being easier to convert into any format I'm likely to use; (this particular comment is not against markdown/plaintext but adding CSS & HTML complexities to it). I stopped using the Obsidian plugin, because it was a little long-winded and intruded into my process, as well. I think the Logseq one works through slash commands which wouldn't suit my workflow either.

I stopped looking at logseq for about a year. Oh my, have they made progress. This company is a rocket. They have something very unique.

-urlwolf (May 04, 2022, 10:51 AM)

True, I've had a go with it a few times. I stay in touch. My main problem is that I simply haven't taken to it. Like Obsidian, there are many friction points and I feel it is, in general, rougher around the edges. But mostly it simply doesn't feel comfortable.
I don't like writing in it at all.
Other issues I've found and read about are that it can be quite slow and the outliner design is restrictive. Good maybe for zettelkasten.
I'm sure it can be tweaked to suit me better, but I when I ask myself whether that would be time well spent, I doubt it. But with its development speed, all that could change quickly. I will watch the videos you recommended.

I'd describe Scrivener as functional but rather complex and clunky, Ulysses/IW as functional and quite polished but simpler, and Obsidian/Logseq as too unpolished to use professionally. Small things are always being tweaked (ie changed) and I find that too disruptive -apart from the high friction parts of the workflow.

Aspects of Workflowy are quite high friction too, but the quick switch between outline and kanban views suits me perfectly. If it would only sort out the notes to make them a good environment for writing, I could see me spending most of my time using it. For now, IW works, Atlantis works - I'll see what works best in the end, switching between them is easy enough.

Still undecided about research. Obsidian probably best overall for now, but I keep my eyes on everything else too.