I never bothered to document how I do sidenotes because they’re basically a simplified version of other implementations. But several people have asked about them, so in the spirit of sharing, here are my Super Simple Sidenotes. No javascript, just html and css.
(Heads up: this post is only of interest to IndieWeb folks / WordPress users!)
For the past few years, I’ve used self-webmentions as an “off-label” way to use my WordPress.org website as a digital garden, rather than using special software like Obsidian. Since I’m using my site as a digital garden, I extensively backlink everything I write — most posts have at least three, but often more, links to other posts on my website.
A few weeks ago, I decided to switch from self-webmention to self-pingback because I like what pingbacks display better. However, I’ve since discovered that there’s a long-known problem when there are too many self-pingbacks in a post, so that only a single self-pingback is sent each time the post is either published or updated.
Republishing a post ten times to get ten pingbacks to send seems unreasonable — so either I need to fix that behavior so all pingbacks send, or switch back to self-webmentions. Option B sounds easier since I don’t know how to code!
So I asked David, one of the Webmention plugin contributors, whether there might be a way to style self-webmentions differently. He set up a Github issue and asked me to document my use case:
My ancient drawing tablet is no longer supported by the official Wacom driver, so I am trying out a new open source driver for it: Open Tablet Driver. I like to use hardware as long as it lasts, and this puppy’s still humming along 18 years later. I can’t be too salty about them no longer supporting it after so long, but I am glad that someone else has created an alternate driver to keep it from becoming junk! #RightToRepair ✊
Recently I added something to my own personal framework: a note to myself about what to look for, when I am losing my mind.
I’ve thought about warning signs in terms of noticing my own symptoms of depression so I can deal with it instead of letting myself get worse, but not holistically for other emotional and life phases. I try to notice when my mood is off on a day to day basis, or when I’m being reactive to something, but less so over a longer period of time.
A Personal Framework Leads You Back Home to Your Self
It seems especially useful for periods of transition — a personal framework would have been handy to have last year when I left my job.
Today, our brain is splintered across an array of devices, social accounts, and apps. What do we make of these growing archives? The natural human impulse, it seems, is to preserve this personal data at all costs.
As an owner of a mind garden / “second brain,” I think Nguyen is missing the other benefits beyond a searchable record, of making connections, pushing yourself to process what you’re saving, and expanding your thoughts over time (the way others do it 😉).
Re: memory, I do think sometimes of an article I read (and wish I’d saved on here) about the value of forgetting that the internet and lasting records have disrupted. I do find myself possessive of my files, especially my photos… a significant portion of which are plants and garden photos. I like taking the photos and posting the highlights on my blog, but do I really need the hundred other shots? Do I need the food photos of my brunches? Some records we make serve a temporary purpose, yet all our files are permanent unless we choose to delete them.
At work we have archiving standards for different types of work. Admin stuff that’s only useful in the same year, longer term admin stuff gets kept three years, projects ten years. Automatic archiving (deleting) feels shocking when you lose something and I highly disagree with the 90-day inbox policy being an inbox is my to do list gal, but there is some value in assigning temporal value to files, and following through on the removals.
The fastest way to learn, grow your career, and build your network.
Have a habit of creating learning exhaust:
- Write blogs and tutorials and cheatsheets.
- Speak at meetups and conferences…
- Draw cartoons.
“Learning exhaust,” love it.
Whatever your thing is, make the thing you wish you had found when you were learning.
Try your best to be right, but don’t worry when you’re wrong. Repeatedly. If you feel uncomfortable, or like an impostor, good. You’re pushing yourself.