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note_taking_programs [2025/08/21 15:34] – clean up formatting qlyoungnote_taking_programs [2025/08/21 15:35] (current) – add mention of bases qlyoung
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 On the other hand, Obsidian wants to have its cake and eat it too. It wants to get all the advantages of Markdown but also offer high level functionality such as task tracking, tabular data storage, query languages etc. To make these work well, the underlying data really wants to be structured. But there is no structured data store in Obsidian, the data format is "just Markdown". How to solve this conundrum? Most of the value-added features do so by storing structured data **in Markdown**. This is such an obviously bad idea and the results are as bad as you might expect. You end up with a bunch of shitty home grown databases whose disk format is an insane extension of Markdown. Now it's no longer easy to exit the ecosystem, you cannot get at your data without the Obsidian code necessary to render it, etc. On the other hand, Obsidian wants to have its cake and eat it too. It wants to get all the advantages of Markdown but also offer high level functionality such as task tracking, tabular data storage, query languages etc. To make these work well, the underlying data really wants to be structured. But there is no structured data store in Obsidian, the data format is "just Markdown". How to solve this conundrum? Most of the value-added features do so by storing structured data **in Markdown**. This is such an obviously bad idea and the results are as bad as you might expect. You end up with a bunch of shitty home grown databases whose disk format is an insane extension of Markdown. Now it's no longer easy to exit the ecosystem, you cannot get at your data without the Obsidian code necessary to render it, etc.
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 +Edit: I originally wrote the above paragraph in 2024. It's now late 2025 and I have been vindicated. https://help.obsidian.md/bases/syntax
  
 Consequently I don't use any of the plugins in Obsidian that do this and so for me, most of the advanced workflows are lost on me and it ends up as a glorified Markdown editor. However, the editor itself is quite nice so it's still worthwhile to use it vs e.g. vim on a directory tree. The sync service (which costs money) works well and does a good job syncing apps between my various computers and phone. The mobile editor is not great but as it is an App it's more functional than alternatives. Writing Markdown is fine when you have a full keyboard but it's not a good experience on mobile. Consequently I don't use any of the plugins in Obsidian that do this and so for me, most of the advanced workflows are lost on me and it ends up as a glorified Markdown editor. However, the editor itself is quite nice so it's still worthwhile to use it vs e.g. vim on a directory tree. The sync service (which costs money) works well and does a good job syncing apps between my various computers and phone. The mobile editor is not great but as it is an App it's more functional than alternatives. Writing Markdown is fine when you have a full keyboard but it's not a good experience on mobile.
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note_taking_programs.txt · Last modified: by qlyoung
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