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by ZeroGravitas 1864 days ago
Amusingly, the last paragraph is almost the exact opposite conclusion I just typed on another thread, that Ctrl-P type interfaces in Vim is the future of programming UI.

I've struggled with the notetaking issue as well and think the important part isn't the taking notes, but the processes around it. The paper/ink based note systems that work possibly do so because they accidentally force you to refer back to things repeatedly, like the virtual note taking system they use.

I can certainly think of times I've written and then forgotten notes in ink.
1 comments
theelous3 1864 days ago
> but the processes around it

Couldn't agree more.

I keep a notes vim open in i3's scratchpad. Mod+minus and it appears front and center, I make a note. I shortcut again and it's gone. I use one giant text file so everything is always searchable on hand.

I never kept notes before this setup, no matter how hard I tried. I just made it as ridiculously easy and zero-brain-required as possible. I don't even like using vim, but the setup is just too straightforward. I've become a note making machine, and I love it.

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ZeroGravitas 1864 days ago
Sounds similar to my current setup. Partly inspired by Bullet Journal's paper based system, it's a per "project" (basically usually a git repo) notespage, that appears and disappears with a hotkey. It also acts as a margin to center the other vim buffer when I'm only working on one file.

It functions mostly as a Todo, so if I'm in the middle of one thing and think of another thing that I want to come back to later, I can add it here. And when I'm thinking, what next? I can consult it and tick things off to feel like I'm making progress and remind me to break big tasks into smaller tasks.

As yet incomplete parts of the process are stealing some ideas from Bullet Journal and having global "pages" that I can call up, a system for copying (not moving!) issues to other places (similar to the > in bullet journals). My theory is that digital workflows err on the side of only showing you what's relevant, and you need to correct for that to a degree to see the full benefit.

I do still like "thinking" with a pen and paper though, not sure why, but then distilling that down into typed text.

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