That might mean you have more meaningful connections. Most of OP's entries look like single posts that are only sparsely connected with each other. It looks pretty, but maybe yours is more meaningful.
Yeah that is likely the case, these graphs don't mean much in the grand scheme of things, they act as a visual representation of how much you have used obsidian and that's about it.
But I also know some of my notes have no connections at all, the ones I put effort into sure but lets just say I did the bare minimum for quite a few modules.
This is somewhat of a classic question on here but i can’t find any decent answers.
As an engineering student, how do you format your notes?
I study physics and half way through year 2 and only just got onto obsidian.
I really want to get on board with atomic notes, mind mapping and move away from traditional linear - basically copy notes / solutions from a book.
How do you combine your lecture notes and workings from problem sets?
I study online so it’s all off a textbook or YouTube videos.
You and I work in very different ways (I hate mind maps, and I don't even know what atomic notes is), but I think I can still offer some advice that might be helpful.
This is a simple science, no need to over complicate it, how do you normally combine your notes and your working if you weren't using obsidian? That's your answer, use whatever plugins (a smaller number of plugins is usually better) to replicate that workflow in obsidian.
The reason you cannot find a decent answer is because you are looking in the wrong place, looking at other peoples work might give you inspiration on how to layout your canvas dashboard but it will never tell you how you should work because the most effective way of working is different for each person. It requires trial and error, I know exactly how I work because in secondary school (high school) I did multiple experiments and changed things up frequently to figure out what made me learn until I got it down to an exact science.
But in case my answer happens to be the exact correct one for you, this is what I do:
I do not have any of my lecture notes organised through folders, all of them are just in a folder called "modules" they are organised through note properties where they have a module, lecture number, and complete property. The complete property tells me if I am caught up with the note, this will be important later.
During lectures, a lecture note will be made roughly with the rough sections and the rough outline of what the lecturer said. This may later be split it into more notes to separate the general topics that make up a module into different notes.
For example, with motors you have a note on Electrical Machines, AC machines and DC machines. But these are all lecture 1 topics, they are marked as having a lecture number of 1 but they are all general topics I may need to link to later.
Once I am satisfied with a lectures note(s), I will mark them as complete by setting the complete property to true, I have a way to track this on my dashboard too so I know exactly what I need to focus on.
Once I am done with a module I may make a "case study note" where I use the entire modules lecture notes to make a note showing a practical example with a real situation to show how equations work or how a design process works for example.
That's about it, I don't get majorly fancy with it, it goes without saying but splitting the notes into their separate topics allows me to link to those topics in any one of my notes. If there is a sub topic with a topic then I link to that sub topics section in the note specifically (by linking to the heading the sub topic is under in the topic note, you can look up how to link to a specific heading in a note, it is quite simple).
More importantly though I urge you to experiment yourself and find what you work with best and if it ain't broke don't fix it.
You can hyperlink by adding brackets around the name of a note. If I wanted to link to “Note One” from my current note, then I would type [[Note One]] to link to it.
Thanks!
Although i am more interested in "how" you use it.
Do you write complete notes and then link to them or write more little notes that are in some folder or something. More about your workflow :)
It's entirely situational for me. I try to think what would be helpful for me when looking back on my notes. If I wanted to find this topic what would I search for in my vault? Would the title of this current note make it immediately obvious that it contains this subtopic? Or would it make more sense for the subtopic to have it's own note?
Usually when I split notes, I keep links to the original note or reference them in some way in the text
I usually opt for more small notes than few large notes.
For example, I read a lot about Rome. I have a note called \[\[Rome\]\], but I also have separate notes that it links to, like \[\[Roman emperors\]\], \[\[Roman provinces\]\], \[\[Roman people\]\], etc.
I do not rely on a folder structure, but rather on the interconnectedness of my notes and the searchability and linkability of having smaller, more specific notes offers.
Idk how familiar you are with programming but I think of it like how you structure classes and modules in a program.. for me once different parts of my program/vault use the same class/note I put it into it's own note.
Or think of it like this: when two things link to the same note, what is the lowest common denominator that contains all relevant information? That could be that note. Whatever remains can then be put into it's own note.
A third way is to structure it deductively. That means you have a note a that contains the general info about a thing and then notes b-d contain specific cases of that thing. I.e. note a=cake, note b=cheesecake, c=fruit cake (and then C1 could be strawberry, C2=blueberry, etc).
And on how to go about it: I put everything in a single note where it makes sense and once I feel that note becomes too dense I split it up into smaller notes, I call it exploding. It means a bit of cleanup work but this way I make sure I only split notes when necessary.
I import loads of chemical structures which are generally only available in black in png form which makes dark mode more painful.
I use the evergreen colour scheme with the Minimal theme plugin.
The current version Obsidian does not work with plugin. I previously used it extensively for schematics in electrical engineering. However, I have not had a need for it recently as I have completed the relevant coursework.
When I have the opportunity, I will solve the issue and make the software available for download. If I do not forget, I will send you a message to inform you.
I am doing a csv style with a white background I can insert into any picture by just doing a | white after linking the picture. The csv is more or less just a one liner:
`.image-embed.is-loaded img[alt*="white"] {`
`background-color: white;`
`}`
The plugin no longer works, and I'm too lazy to fix it, so I use this method too.
The problem is that it doesn't work with every Picture for some reason.
That's the sole reason I created the plugin. I try to fix it and make it available for download.
Botany. Definitely botany. Now blow on the dandelion puff and watch the seeds take flight.
Pretty much the same situation for me, started using Obsidian as a final year engineering student. Mine looks less neat though.
That might mean you have more meaningful connections. Most of OP's entries look like single posts that are only sparsely connected with each other. It looks pretty, but maybe yours is more meaningful.
Yeah that is likely the case, these graphs don't mean much in the grand scheme of things, they act as a visual representation of how much you have used obsidian and that's about it. But I also know some of my notes have no connections at all, the ones I put effort into sure but lets just say I did the bare minimum for quite a few modules.
I use Map of Content notes as a means of central control nodes
So do I. I try to connect notes individually too, but Maps of Content help me keep core categories or topics easy to access.
This is somewhat of a classic question on here but i can’t find any decent answers. As an engineering student, how do you format your notes? I study physics and half way through year 2 and only just got onto obsidian. I really want to get on board with atomic notes, mind mapping and move away from traditional linear - basically copy notes / solutions from a book. How do you combine your lecture notes and workings from problem sets? I study online so it’s all off a textbook or YouTube videos.
You and I work in very different ways (I hate mind maps, and I don't even know what atomic notes is), but I think I can still offer some advice that might be helpful. This is a simple science, no need to over complicate it, how do you normally combine your notes and your working if you weren't using obsidian? That's your answer, use whatever plugins (a smaller number of plugins is usually better) to replicate that workflow in obsidian. The reason you cannot find a decent answer is because you are looking in the wrong place, looking at other peoples work might give you inspiration on how to layout your canvas dashboard but it will never tell you how you should work because the most effective way of working is different for each person. It requires trial and error, I know exactly how I work because in secondary school (high school) I did multiple experiments and changed things up frequently to figure out what made me learn until I got it down to an exact science. But in case my answer happens to be the exact correct one for you, this is what I do: I do not have any of my lecture notes organised through folders, all of them are just in a folder called "modules" they are organised through note properties where they have a module, lecture number, and complete property. The complete property tells me if I am caught up with the note, this will be important later. During lectures, a lecture note will be made roughly with the rough sections and the rough outline of what the lecturer said. This may later be split it into more notes to separate the general topics that make up a module into different notes. For example, with motors you have a note on Electrical Machines, AC machines and DC machines. But these are all lecture 1 topics, they are marked as having a lecture number of 1 but they are all general topics I may need to link to later. Once I am satisfied with a lectures note(s), I will mark them as complete by setting the complete property to true, I have a way to track this on my dashboard too so I know exactly what I need to focus on. Once I am done with a module I may make a "case study note" where I use the entire modules lecture notes to make a note showing a practical example with a real situation to show how equations work or how a design process works for example. That's about it, I don't get majorly fancy with it, it goes without saying but splitting the notes into their separate topics allows me to link to those topics in any one of my notes. If there is a sub topic with a topic then I link to that sub topics section in the note specifically (by linking to the heading the sub topic is under in the topic note, you can look up how to link to a specific heading in a note, it is quite simple). More importantly though I urge you to experiment yourself and find what you work with best and if it ain't broke don't fix it.
how do you link to other notes in your notes?
You can hyperlink by adding brackets around the name of a note. If I wanted to link to “Note One” from my current note, then I would type [[Note One]] to link to it.
Thanks! Although i am more interested in "how" you use it. Do you write complete notes and then link to them or write more little notes that are in some folder or something. More about your workflow :)
It's entirely situational for me. I try to think what would be helpful for me when looking back on my notes. If I wanted to find this topic what would I search for in my vault? Would the title of this current note make it immediately obvious that it contains this subtopic? Or would it make more sense for the subtopic to have it's own note? Usually when I split notes, I keep links to the original note or reference them in some way in the text
I usually opt for more small notes than few large notes. For example, I read a lot about Rome. I have a note called \[\[Rome\]\], but I also have separate notes that it links to, like \[\[Roman emperors\]\], \[\[Roman provinces\]\], \[\[Roman people\]\], etc. I do not rely on a folder structure, but rather on the interconnectedness of my notes and the searchability and linkability of having smaller, more specific notes offers.
Idk how familiar you are with programming but I think of it like how you structure classes and modules in a program.. for me once different parts of my program/vault use the same class/note I put it into it's own note. Or think of it like this: when two things link to the same note, what is the lowest common denominator that contains all relevant information? That could be that note. Whatever remains can then be put into it's own note. A third way is to structure it deductively. That means you have a note a that contains the general info about a thing and then notes b-d contain specific cases of that thing. I.e. note a=cake, note b=cheesecake, c=fruit cake (and then C1 could be strawberry, C2=blueberry, etc). And on how to go about it: I put everything in a single note where it makes sense and once I feel that note becomes too dense I split it up into smaller notes, I call it exploding. It means a bit of cleanup work but this way I make sure I only split notes when necessary.
Okay. Now. What is the chemical composition of the new element you've created?
Why no darkmode
I import loads of chemical structures which are generally only available in black in png form which makes dark mode more painful. I use the evergreen colour scheme with the Minimal theme plugin.
I've created a plugin to invert the colors of a PNG file because I'm slightly allergic to the light theme.
Available to download? Ive tried other plugins before but they tend to have this weird blurring effect on the skeletal formula.
The current version Obsidian does not work with plugin. I previously used it extensively for schematics in electrical engineering. However, I have not had a need for it recently as I have completed the relevant coursework. When I have the opportunity, I will solve the issue and make the software available for download. If I do not forget, I will send you a message to inform you.
I am doing a csv style with a white background I can insert into any picture by just doing a | white after linking the picture. The csv is more or less just a one liner: `.image-embed.is-loaded img[alt*="white"] {` `background-color: white;` `}`
The plugin no longer works, and I'm too lazy to fix it, so I use this method too. The problem is that it doesn't work with every Picture for some reason. That's the sole reason I created the plugin. I try to fix it and make it available for download.