When you consider the phrase wiki, likelihood is the very first thing that involves thoughts is Wikipedia. That’s not a shock, contemplating that Wikipedia did assist put the idea of the wiki into the favored consciousness. Wikis, that are web sites you’ll be able to edit, are nice instruments for collaborating and organizing. But wikis often require plenty of digital plumbing and a little bit of care to make use of and preserve. All of that is overkill for private use.
While you’ll be able to set up desktop wikis in your pc, they are not as moveable as some folks need or want them to be.
Enter TiddlyWiki, the brainchild of British software program developer Jeremy Ruston. Not solely is it nice for organizing your self, however it’s additionally simple to make use of and really moveable.
Let’s take a fast have a look at the fundamentals of utilizing TiddlyWiki to get organized.
What’s TiddlyWiki?
TiddlyWiki is not software program fairly as you already know it. It’s a big net web page (consisting of HTML and plenty of JavaScript) that weighs in at round 2MB. You can edit and save the file in an internet browser.
It’s very versatile. You can use TiddlyWiki to take notes, handle job lists, save bookmarks, publish a weblog or web site, create a presentation, and much more. And folks have used it to do some interesting things.
As I discussed, TiddlyWiki could be very moveable. You can put it in a folder in, say, Nextcloud and share a TiddlyWiki between computer systems and cell units. Or, you’ll be able to carry it round on a flash drive.
Getting began
Head over to the TiddlyWiki website and obtain the file empty.html. Rename that file to one thing a bit extra significant and descriptive. Then open it in an internet browser.
You’ll see the Getting Started tiddler (extra on tiddlers in a second):
Click the pencil icon within the top-right nook and alter the knowledge. Then, click on the checkmark icon to avoid wasting the TiddlyWiki.
A observe about saving your TiddlyWiki
Since your net browser thinks a TiddlyWiki is a file, it will save your TiddlyWiki to the folder in your pc the place downloads go. And when it does that, your browser will most likely put it aside with a file title like tiddlywiki(1).html. You don’t desire that.
If you are utilizing Chrome or Chromium, set the browser to ask you the place to avoid wasting information by deciding on Settings, then clicking Show superior settings on the Settings web page. Then click on the Ask the place to avoid wasting every file earlier than downloading possibility.
If you are utilizing Firefox, click on on the stacker menu within the top-right nook and choose Options. Find the Downloads possibility, and click on Always ask you the place to avoid wasting information.
Working with TiddlyWiki
You can use TiddlyWiki for absolutely anything. And folks have performed simply that. But as a substitute of leaping into the scary depths, let’s take a look at the fundamentals of utilizing TiddlyWiki.
Since I choose to give attention to particular duties with my instruments, I am going to have a look at utilizing TiddlyWiki for:
- Taking notes
- Managing duties
- Keeping a journal
Taking notes
To get going, create a brand new tiddler, which is a person web page inside TiddlyWiki. To be sincere, I do not know what number of tiddlers a single TiddlyWiki can comprise earlier than it slows down, however I would not be shocked if it is within the a whole lot or hundreds.
Create a brand new tiddler by clicking the + icon.
Give your tiddler a reputation, like Notes for netbooks essay. You may kind a tag within the Tag title discipline—doing that can allow you to filter your tiddlers so you will discover them shortly when you will have plenty of them. Then begin typing.
You can format your tiddler utilizing TiddlyWiki’s markup. You may use the formatting toolbar so as to add character formatting, lists, quotes, headings, photographs, and hyperlinks.
When you are performed, click on the checkmark icon to avoid wasting the tiddler.
Creating a job checklist
Again, create a brand new tiddler. Give it a reputation like Tasks – four May 2019 and sort Tasks within the Tag title discipline.
From there, kind your duties—one line for every. Put an asterisk desktop wikis in entrance of every one to create a bullet checklist. Then save your checklist.
To mark off a accomplished job, edit the tiddler, spotlight the duty, and click on the Strikethrough button on the toolbar.
That’s a fairly easy, and admittedly lame, strategy to take care of duties. If you are on the lookout for one thing extra visually interesting, watch this video. This technique requires a bit extra setup, however you additionally get nifty checkboxes which you could click on once you end a job.
Keeping a journal
If you need to hold a journal, first click on the Tools tab and choose the New journal possibility. That places the Create a brand new journal tiddler button on the primary TiddlyWiki toolbar.
Click that button and you will discover that the journal tiddler has in the present day’s date as its title and has been tagged Journal.
As with some other tiddler, kind your textual content and save the tiddler once you’re performed.
The energy of plugins
What if you would like or want extra from TiddlyWiki? You can use plugins to increase and customise TiddlyWiki’s capabilities. You can change its look, add editors and support for Markdown, flip TiddlyWiki into a private kanban board (à la WeKan), add a extra highly effective search engine, and extra.
TiddlyWiki has a plugin library, which you’ll be able to entry from its management panel. There’s a list of plugins created by customers, and this toolmap lists over 600 plugins, ideas, and methods.
One TiddlyWiki or a number of?
You can load up your TiddlyWiki with every little thing it’s good to do. Eventually, although, it may get so stuffed with tiddlers that it is troublesome to simply discover what it’s good to discover, even with good tagging.
An various to that’s to have a number of TiddlyWiki information—for instance, one for notes, one for duties, one for outlines, one for journaling. Keeping monitor of these information may grow to be a chore. The desktop version will help you higher set up two or extra TiddlyWiki information.
Learning extra
I’ve solely coated the fundamentals of utilizing TiddlyWiki. There is loads you are able to do with it, even when (like me) you are utilizing it simply for easy duties.
Here are some good assets that may make it easier to study extra about utilizing TiddlyWiki:
