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Enter TiddlyWiki

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ajp:
For note taking, I've been a devoted user of KeyNote for years. But recently, I found a new tool that definitely became my new choice. Before I go on I must say that this is no ordinary app, and that for making the most of it, you must be some sort of a power user. Web developers will feel right at home. But once you understand the logic, it is really really powerful.

TiddlyWiki is a web application, but not in the traditional server-browser approach. It is a web page that, using modern techniques, makes for the whole application: user interface, logic and data repository. That is, you only need to carry around the web page to have your note taking system with you. It is perfectly suited for carrying in your usb memory drive. You authorize writing to disk once (I didn't know this could be done, and I am into web development) and up you go.

From the original TiddlyWiki (http://www.tiddlywiki.com) there have been many variations, extending or specialising the basic concept, which is: every note is a TIDDLER. It has a title, body text and tags. The body text is edited using Wiki notation, which is quite easy to get used to. An example:

!Title level 1
!!Title level 2
* this is
* a bullet
* list

# this is
# a numbered
# list

I know, many users won't do without a WYSIWYG interface. But I know many others simply LOVE this degree of control. And there are some that would simply get used to, once they find the power of the tiddler ;)

There is full-text search, features for working with tags, dates and so on. For the GTDers out there, there are at least three incarnations of TW specific for David Allen's methods. I use d3 (d-cubed ) http://www.dcubed.ca/, which adds many GTD oriented macros (yes: there are macros here).

For a quick overview of what is TiddlyWiki and some of the available versions, go to http://www.socio-kybernetics.net/saurierduval/2005/07/tiddlywiki-mania.html. So go there, pick your flavour and give it a try. Though the first impression might be a bit weird, it DOES make sense. I met EverNote about a month after TiddlyWiki, and I must say EN arrived late. This is a TW territory already!

mouser:
very nice, thanks for the post  :up:

Perry Mowbray:
 :Thmbsup: Thanks for your post AJP! I was a KeyNote user too, but have moved on, mainly to SurfuLater, but I also use TiddlyWiki at work (where I can't install SurfuLater). I have a script that can dump a SurfuLater file as a TiddlyWiki file, and when I get time I'd like to see about doing the reverse  :)

I mentioned TW in the main discussion, but it didn't seem to raise any interest at the time.  :huh:

TW is brilliant, it does use standard Wiki formating (as you showed), but when I last looked there were a few people working on a WYSIWYG editor  :-\ But even so, I've managed to convert some of my computer semi-illiterate workmates to using it in a collaborative framework.

You can get your own hosted TiddlyWiki over at TiddlySpot using any of the more common versions:

* Standard
* MonkeyPirateTiddlyWiki
* MonkeyGTD
* d3
WikiPedia also has a good list of resources.

BidiXTW has some great plugins that allow you to upload to a server and for enabling Group Authoring... but the development community is extremely active!

- Perry

mouser:
A related program for windows, is WikiPad: http://wikidpad.python-hosting.com/

Jammo the OrganizedFellow:
awh yeah, i LOVE my tiddlywiki.

WHAT DO YOU USE YOURS FOR?

me?
I keep track of my software installations.
I create a new tiddler when I install a new application.
Using the table format, I take note of the software title, version number, site download, basic information, and I even go so far as to get the SHA-1 hash value.
I have this in a folder with all my installation files, and when ready to reinstall windows, I copy to a CD (along with the tiddlywiki file). aw man, i must reinstall windows about once every month or two.
I cant stop installing things, hahaha. thats why i love this forum so much.
:)

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