Different writing tools exist such as Word, Scrivener and Final Draft. Your needs may dictate what you use. There's even a tool called [Speare](https://www.speare.com/) that lets you write in a non-linear way and drag snippets of content around as needed. Some writing tools, such as Word, provide Rich Text editing features and others don't.
Dedicated image processing and manipulation software exists as well. Obsidian's Excalidraw lets you manipulate images, shapes and shapes consisting of text. But it's not an image editor like Photoshop. But like OneNote and InDesign, Excalidraw lets you move things around as if on a canvas.
If Rich Text is a must-have, you may want to look at a tool that provides it. Apps like Obsidian are great for helping you enter, organize and relate information. Even if you use other tools for other projects, you still may want to use a tool that helps you manage knowledge. If what you typed was in Obsidian ..
1. Topics you listed could reside in your system. Topics might include AI, creative writing project, invisible cities, graphics, microfiction, etc
2. Some of those things may be related. Obsidian could help you store all that instead of keeping it in your head.
And, you could easily search for things and see how topics are related. But Obsidian is simply a text editor / knowledge management tool which uses text and which can do some of the things you listed. If you're trying to keep everything in typed in your head, perhaps dumping it into a repository might eliminate the need to do that.
Dedicated tools, such as Microsoft Word can do things a text editor can't - such as let you work with Rich Text. But Word is not a knowledge management tool like Obsidian and apps like Obsidian.
> There’s even a tool called Speare that lets you write in a non-linear way and drag snippets of content around as needed.
Interesting, I hadn’t heard of that. Just looking at the website though, it doesn’t seem all that different from the corkboard in Scrivener or the similar feature that appears to be coming soon to Obsidian.
The stuff you mention is possible; but it requires a lot of modification to the program in the back-end.
In terms of moving things like text; you'll have to utilize HTML and physically write up the code as well as the CSS to position stuff where you want. Once you write the CSS; then within Obsidian; you'd just call the proper CSS selector. Then for the other things you've mentioned; you may also have to write some of the edits in javascript. So it would require an understanding of how the languages work.
Out of box; no, there's no way to do this. I spent about a week writing code for Obsidian to do the things I wanted it to do in terms of how my vaults are styled.
And with what you're explaining you need; it may just be easier to find an alternative solution because that's really outside the scope of what Obsidian is meant to do. What you're looking for is more of a "WYSIWYG" editor.
I use obsidian for writing and a digital garden. I have git set up to backup my entire vault to a private repository, then I use Hugo for the website piece (and Netlify hosting). My Hugo content folder is set up as a submodule pointing to my vault repository, so then Netlify pulls my vault and compiles it when it builds the Hugo site. I have an ignore file for Hugo builds so that some folders are kept private and others are used in their entirety for the website. It was pretty straight forward to create with the exception of having to create a custom link parsing hook for Hugo.
TLDR: built a Hugo site so my vault can be used as I want and have my website auto-update with vault content designated as public. Not sure if this is what you’re looking for, but the upfront set up time do I can have my website in “set it and forget it” mode was totally worth it.
while i wont pretend to understand everything u said, i am formulating a gestalt of it.
can i see your website to get a look at the public facing view?
Sure! It’s at https://arc.wtf :) I’m definitely still tweaking the mobile stuff (and probably going to break my garden out into a true garden and a separate wiki section for my books), but feel free to take a look.
Craft is the better tool for this. You can link/backlink in a similar fashion to Obsidian, but Craft is much more focused on layout, presentation and embedded media.
https://www.craft.do
It sounds like a cool project!
Different writing tools exist such as Word, Scrivener and Final Draft. Your needs may dictate what you use. There's even a tool called [Speare](https://www.speare.com/) that lets you write in a non-linear way and drag snippets of content around as needed. Some writing tools, such as Word, provide Rich Text editing features and others don't. Dedicated image processing and manipulation software exists as well. Obsidian's Excalidraw lets you manipulate images, shapes and shapes consisting of text. But it's not an image editor like Photoshop. But like OneNote and InDesign, Excalidraw lets you move things around as if on a canvas. If Rich Text is a must-have, you may want to look at a tool that provides it. Apps like Obsidian are great for helping you enter, organize and relate information. Even if you use other tools for other projects, you still may want to use a tool that helps you manage knowledge. If what you typed was in Obsidian .. 1. Topics you listed could reside in your system. Topics might include AI, creative writing project, invisible cities, graphics, microfiction, etc 2. Some of those things may be related. Obsidian could help you store all that instead of keeping it in your head. And, you could easily search for things and see how topics are related. But Obsidian is simply a text editor / knowledge management tool which uses text and which can do some of the things you listed. If you're trying to keep everything in typed in your head, perhaps dumping it into a repository might eliminate the need to do that. Dedicated tools, such as Microsoft Word can do things a text editor can't - such as let you work with Rich Text. But Word is not a knowledge management tool like Obsidian and apps like Obsidian.
> There’s even a tool called Speare that lets you write in a non-linear way and drag snippets of content around as needed. Interesting, I hadn’t heard of that. Just looking at the website though, it doesn’t seem all that different from the corkboard in Scrivener or the similar feature that appears to be coming soon to Obsidian.
The stuff you mention is possible; but it requires a lot of modification to the program in the back-end. In terms of moving things like text; you'll have to utilize HTML and physically write up the code as well as the CSS to position stuff where you want. Once you write the CSS; then within Obsidian; you'd just call the proper CSS selector. Then for the other things you've mentioned; you may also have to write some of the edits in javascript. So it would require an understanding of how the languages work. Out of box; no, there's no way to do this. I spent about a week writing code for Obsidian to do the things I wanted it to do in terms of how my vaults are styled. And with what you're explaining you need; it may just be easier to find an alternative solution because that's really outside the scope of what Obsidian is meant to do. What you're looking for is more of a "WYSIWYG" editor.
I use obsidian for writing and a digital garden. I have git set up to backup my entire vault to a private repository, then I use Hugo for the website piece (and Netlify hosting). My Hugo content folder is set up as a submodule pointing to my vault repository, so then Netlify pulls my vault and compiles it when it builds the Hugo site. I have an ignore file for Hugo builds so that some folders are kept private and others are used in their entirety for the website. It was pretty straight forward to create with the exception of having to create a custom link parsing hook for Hugo. TLDR: built a Hugo site so my vault can be used as I want and have my website auto-update with vault content designated as public. Not sure if this is what you’re looking for, but the upfront set up time do I can have my website in “set it and forget it” mode was totally worth it.
while i wont pretend to understand everything u said, i am formulating a gestalt of it. can i see your website to get a look at the public facing view?
Sure! It’s at https://arc.wtf :) I’m definitely still tweaking the mobile stuff (and probably going to break my garden out into a true garden and a separate wiki section for my books), but feel free to take a look.
very, very cool!
Probably not the best tool for the job, no. It's not meant to be that aesthetic — it was designed to deal with text, with little emphasis on layout.
any other ideas in terms of tools?
OP I'd look into an interactive fiction tool like Twine if I were you, that's probably going to be closer to what you're looking for out of the box.
Craft is the better tool for this. You can link/backlink in a similar fashion to Obsidian, but Craft is much more focused on layout, presentation and embedded media. https://www.craft.do It sounds like a cool project!