Post AVdTKuFWyeKXVJKnsu by shacker@zirk.us
(DIR) More posts by shacker@zirk.us
(DIR) Post #AVcZkgSZH6A0pe9Cvg by tommertron@masto.yttrx.com
2023-05-12T13:31:31Z
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Thinking about switching from #Obsidian to Apple notes for my personal notes. I think I’ll still use Obsidian for work notes as there’s an extra layer of complication there.But the Obsidian app for iOS is just still so clunky that I find it hard to find quick bits of information quickly. And being able to easily add images and quick drawings on notes makes it handier too.
(DIR) Post #AVcZkhr45VLl9ucHke by shacker@zirk.us
2023-05-13T18:57:29Z
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@tommertron I agree about obsidian being clunky. But I also don’t think Notes is the answer. There are a ton of great options out there. I settled on Bear three years ago because I like to write in markdown all the time and it’s been wonderful.
(DIR) Post #AVca9ICMcBvApIIoXA by EpiphanicSynchronicity@pkm.social
2023-05-12T17:16:30Z
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@tommertron The worst thing about Apple Notes is the lock in. They make it a hassle to get your notes out again, especially if you decide you want to move them all to another app in the future.I suggest looking at Bear for a native Swift app; I found their export to .md quite good. But if you like the idea, consider subscribing quickly—you can get the current $15 USD per year subscription price grandfathered in permanently, but it’s going to $30 when Bear 2 is released.
(DIR) Post #AVca9IzzdfcVJDWRtI by tommertron@masto.yttrx.com
2023-05-12T17:34:52Z
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@EpiphanicSynchronicity Thanks! I have tried Bear in the past and did quite like it. I might consider it again. Not really bothered by the price. The other thing Notes has in its favour is sharing. As my whole family is on Apple devices it makes it easy to share notes for certain situations. Though admittedly that’s not a common use case.
(DIR) Post #AVca9JWxf5zWxSwmHI by tommertron@masto.yttrx.com
2023-05-12T18:07:12Z
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@EpiphanicSynchronicity Actually… playing around with Bear again and forgot how much I liked it. The iOS experience is really well done. Gonna give it a go.
(DIR) Post #AVca9K8tO4Kgr6h4Ou by EpiphanicSynchronicity@pkm.social
2023-05-12T18:42:41Z
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@tommertron Btw, Bear 2 is switching to Commonmark. If you’re using the stable Bear 1 version from the App Store rather than the Bear 2 beta, be sure to activate markdown compatibility mode in the settings on all your devices. Otherwise you’ll be stuck with a weird proprietary (and soon to be deprecated) markup language called Polar.
(DIR) Post #AVca9KoMtrVevk6C36 by shacker@zirk.us
2023-05-13T19:01:55Z
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@EpiphanicSynchronicity @tommertron Where can I learn more about Bear2? I don’t see it on the App Store or mentioned on their website.
(DIR) Post #AVceJvseKgSibuPVA0 by EpiphanicSynchronicity@pkm.social
2023-05-13T19:48:39Z
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@shacker @tommertronhttps://beta.bear.app/latest and https://blog.bear.app/ It’s been in development forever (to the point that it’s been the butt of jokes) and it’s still in beta, but the scuttlebutt is that it will be out in the next month or so. Some people on the Reddit say they’re already using it full time. I’ve pretty much moved on to Obsidian, but I used it for quite a while and still have warm feelings for it.
(DIR) Post #AVcmoA311UYIs0BSwS by shacker@zirk.us
2023-05-13T21:23:49Z
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@EpiphanicSynchronicity @tommertron Ah there it is! Wow this is exciting - it's barely changed in the years I've been using it. Not that the current version needs much for my needs, but still, these look like welcome features. Thank you. I tried Obsidian for a few days but too many things about it didn't feel well thought-through, and I went back to Bear.
(DIR) Post #AVcsqjeCEbzfaJBZYW by EpiphanicSynchronicity@pkm.social
2023-05-13T22:31:30Z
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@shacker @tommertron If it’s been a while you might find it worthwhile to give Obsidian another look. The pace of development is rapid and the default theme had a huge overhaul not that long ago. But Bear has its strengths and if you prefer it, then that’s what you should go with, regardless of what works for me or anyone else.
(DIR) Post #AVdTFNvrhjOBpHVGka by tommertron@masto.yttrx.com
2023-05-13T22:44:55Z
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@EpiphanicSynchronicity @shacker Obsidian on desktop is great. Keyboard shortcuts and the like just make it so fast and I can customize it exactly how I like it. But I really struggle on iOS. It just takes so long to load, and switch between interfaces (search/files etc). Every time I want to look up a quick bit of info on the go, I just get bogged down.
(DIR) Post #AVdTFOfaxhy876tn1s by EpiphanicSynchronicity@pkm.social
2023-05-13T23:34:01Z
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@tommertron @shacker It’s interesting how polarizing the mobile app appears to be. While there are certainly some people in the middle, there also seem to be rather large groups at each end who either just don’t warm up to it like you or who *really* like it such as me.Fortunately, if you just want to do basic things on mobile, Obsidian’s use of .md files means you can point an alternative editor like 1Writer or iA Writer at your vault when you’re on the go.
(DIR) Post #AVdTFPG6lxAxwLywwS by shacker@zirk.us
2023-05-14T05:19:19Z
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@EpiphanicSynchronicity @tommertron I didn't spend much time with the mobile app - it was the desktop app that I found clunky. Things I remember: There being two search fields rather than one, and it being unclear which did what. Another is that the site's docs on importing from Bear only told how to fix a problem post import, not how to actually *do* the import. A third was that all of my imported notes had duplicate titles, and I had to jump through hoops to fix Just felt uncooked overall.
(DIR) Post #AVdTKuFWyeKXVJKnsu by shacker@zirk.us
2023-05-14T05:20:21Z
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@tommertron @EpiphanicSynchronicity The bad experience I described above was just a couple of months ago. Has it improved a lot since then?
(DIR) Post #AVe5fAYLrp6Y7PE8TQ by EpiphanicSynchronicity@pkm.social
2023-05-14T12:29:47Z
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@shacker @tommertron I’m not sure what the two search fields you refer to are. When I switched from Bear, I first changed my tag names to be Obsidian-compatible (unlike most apps, Bear allows spaces in tags), then exported into folders that matched the names of my Bear tags. (I could instead have just exported them into Obsidian’s root folder and used the TagFolder plugin to mimic Bear.) I don’t recall duplicate titles; maybe you had Show inline title enabled in Obsidian.
(DIR) Post #AVe6YAQ640fDdHah28 by EpiphanicSynchronicity@pkm.social
2023-05-14T12:39:43Z
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@shacker @tommertron Hard to say, since experiences are subjective, and Obsidian and its ecosystem are under rapid development. I felt comfortable with it almost immediately; it suits who I am and what I do with it, but it may not suit you. And that’s okay—there’s nothing wrong with preferring something else.
(DIR) Post #AVej6U7r6Jv2qwqjuy by shacker@zirk.us
2023-05-14T19:51:43Z
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@EpiphanicSynchronicity @tommertron Here are the two search options in desktop obsidian. Why two? How are they different? How would the user know which one to use when? "Show inline title" rings a bell - I think I did finally discover that I had to toggle that to fix the problem, but it took forever to figure out. It shouldn't have been a problem I had to fix! UI/UX has always been a legit challenge for open source desktop software.
(DIR) Post #AVeuhrBBRwiOYyQfmC by EpiphanicSynchronicity@pkm.social
2023-05-14T22:01:43Z
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@shacker @tommertron You can remove one of them or hide the left bar completely.Some users like show online title. I toggled it off immediately.Obsidian isn’t open source. I love that I could shape it to my needs and preferences, but some people just want a predetermined solution and workflow and that’s fair.If you ever give it another go, I recommend trying the Minimal theme with the Minimal Theme Settings and Style Settings plugins, or Things with the latter.
(DIR) Post #AVgQBdkpDhZnLmk3wu by shacker@zirk.us
2023-05-15T15:29:10Z
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@EpiphanicSynchronicity @tommertron Out of curiosity though, do you know *why* there are two search icons? How are they different?
(DIR) Post #AVgXAlKQH0dMEMvA48 by EpiphanicSynchronicity@pkm.social
2023-05-15T16:47:25Z
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@shacker @tommertron I suppose also having one in the Ribbon keeps a search button visible when the sidebars are collapsed.Instead of the default search, I tend to use the Quick Switcher, which can both find and create notes, or the Omnisearch plugin via keybindings or the Command Palette (⌘+p) instead of buttons, but I notice I changed the one in the Ribbon to Omnisearch at some point. ;-)For interface customization, see especially the Commander and Hider plugins.
(DIR) Post #AVhcaFuYOkrHFYkxMm by shacker@zirk.us
2023-05-16T05:22:48Z
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@EpiphanicSynchronicity @tommertron Hmm, so you're saying that they are duplicates of one another? I remember that I was searching for something, couldn't find it, then tried the other one and it worked. So they performed different kinds of searches, it just wasn't clear exactly how they were different. Who knows, maybe it was a hallucination.
(DIR) Post #AViCC3Jx9betbMOYa0 by EpiphanicSynchronicity@pkm.social
2023-05-16T12:01:47Z
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@shacker @tommertron I assumed they were, but it would be interesting if they had different functionality. If I remember, I’ll ask the next time I’m on the Discord.
(DIR) Post #AVl4UqXIpwxMc85SrY by EpiphanicSynchronicity@pkm.social
2023-05-17T21:19:40Z
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@shacker @tommertron I asked on the Discord and someone suggested I open the sandbox vault, which uses the default, unmodified Obsidian interface. And guess what? The search button only appears in one place now—at the top of the left sidebar, above the File Explorer. That coulda saved us a long conversation! 😂
(DIR) Post #AVlIACYBBzd6AOXz3Q by shacker@zirk.us
2023-05-17T23:52:51Z
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@EpiphanicSynchronicity @tommertron Oh! So they got rid of it since I took that screenshot? Cool!
(DIR) Post #AVlID21emMBsOUgUnQ by shacker@zirk.us
2023-05-17T23:53:21Z
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@EpiphanicSynchronicity @tommertron And thank you for asking.
(DIR) Post #AVlLcnFQe3EFx96NWa by EpiphanicSynchronicity@pkm.social
2023-05-18T00:31:36Z
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@shacker @tommertron The last time you tried it was probably before the major redesign.
(DIR) Post #AVllMJDJ8pFmyiuU2C by shacker@zirk.us
2023-05-18T05:19:59Z
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@EpiphanicSynchronicity @tommertron Ah! Now I think I'll give it another shot :)