I've been trying to think of every mixed RTL/LTR edge case I can, and finally feeling good about it
if you like to write in both directions within the same note, #obsidian 1.6 will provide the smoothest experience I have seen — will be in the next beta soon
Still very WIP, but I am revamping the #obsidian UI for right-to-left languages such as Arabic, Dhivehi, Hebrew, Farsi, Syriac, Urdu.
So many little questions I had never thought about:
- Which way does a "back" arrow go? - Do progress bars fill right-to-left? - Are slashes in paths reversed? - Do window buttons get mirrored on major OSes?
This has been an eye-opening experience. Using start/end values rather than left/right is something I will think about with every project going forward.
Exporting = one-way door File over app = two-way door
Do not mistake the map for the territory.
Many apps allow you to export your data. That's better than nothing, but not the same as editing files directly. An export is a representation of your data. It's an output of the source. It's a one-way door.
The file over app philosophy does not make a distinction between data and file. Both are one and the same. The source is the output, and vice versa. It's a two-way door.
I appreciate the nod to "File over app" from the Observable team in the latest announcement.
It's so cool that a Markdown file with code blocks can be the source for complex data visualizations and dashboards. This means the files are interoperable with #Obsidian
Here I am running an Observable site from Obsidian
1. VC vs user-supported 2. Files vs databases 3. Open vs proprietary formats 4. Open vs closed source 5. Extensible vs non-extensible 6. Private vs privacy-invasive
An open source app can be VC-backed, store its data in a proprietary format, have terrible APIs, and include telemetry
For the last few months I have been learning piano with no prior music theory knowledge and the most frustrating part is how terrible musical notation is.
I am on the verge of rage-creating a new musical notation system 😭