- Sep 2024
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www.matthewsiu.com www.matthewsiu.com
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Latticework’s portal-based marginalia allow commentary to be created and viewed from either “side” of a snippet link, interchangeably. Snippet links can be serialized to standard URLs in standard Markdown plaintext. (Modern systems only support links to blocks, not arbitrary text ranges. For block links, Obsidian uses non-standard anchors; others use proprietary database formats.) Snippet links can be quickly created (either from source or at the destination) using key commands. Transcluded snippets can be collapsed to increase density, and re-expanded when needed. Pane-based navigation allows users to preview and visit links while maintaining a consistent view of the linking pane.
5 reasons L's bidirectionality is different to pkm tools / Xanadu. The first two are most key imo: they can be initiated from both sides of a link, and result in the same thing. (e.g. diff from [[Webmention 20200926203019]], and two the links are standard URLs (in standard Markdown), whereas Roam / Notion abstract them away in a db, moving outside their role as viewer, and Obs maintains its viewer role, but adds things to the notes not obviously interpretable outside of it.
I'd add that the linked snippets are a different unit of linking from what Obs et al support. Much closer to the granularity where the knowledge work is done. Surprisal I rarely find in a paragraph, mostly in part of a sentence. Questions latch onto a single word sometimes.
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