I think it’s trying to be a markdown-based Obsidian/Logseq zettelkasten with built-in support for (1) interfacing with reference managers and (2) exporting/publishing with LaTeX/pandoc.
If you want to see it and get an idea about what it does and how it’s supposed to be used, go here:
Finding that information took some digging — although there is a visual on the homepage after scrolling several screens down (at least on mobile).
Constructive feedback for the team: I find the website and documentation difficult to use because they present details first and main ideas later. See if you can put the bottom line on the top line.
Also, as I navigated through the site, every time I followed a link I got asked, again and again, whether I wanted to opt out of cookies and data collection. Answering once should be enough.
> I think it’s trying to be a markdown-based Obsidian/Logseq zettelkasten
Zettlr is older than both of them. It has no plugins, and not sure about Logseq, but Obsidian is not really in the zettelkasten-cult. So besides also using Markdown and being notes-managers, there is very little resemblance between those apps.
Obsidian isn’t opinionated on the system you use, but it’s trivial to implement a zettelkasten system - I’ve been using a modified one (inspired by Andy Matuschak’s evergreen notes [1]) for several years now.
I ended up on Zettlr after a long search for a note taking application that would allow not only easy note taking but retrieval and linking as part of the process of creating larger rigorous documents. I especially wanted something that wasn't about a gimmick, was operable without a cloud, was reliable, and was open source. I've found Zettlr wonderful for personal note taking, academic note taking, and putting that together in creating academic and professional use papers.
For me: It fits the Zettlekasten method as far as I want to take that. However the tools in doing to don't impose that. Tools I like in particular:
Configurable left pane with files and folders similar to a code editor like VSCodium or SublimeText.
Quasi WYSIWYG markdown. It helps, especially for things like quotes.
Inline tags, inline references via linked bibtex (for me, from Jabref), timestamps.
Another pane on the right I configured summarising links, references. These panes can be hidden for full screen editing too.
Exports in a wide range of formats.
Zettlr facilitates the creation of knowledge better than any other note taking application I've tried. On top of that, it's open source.
Apologies in advance if this sounds like an ad. I have no affiliation with the project other than as a user.
I use Zettlr somewhat often. Honestly my favorite features are just:
- inline markdown preview
- VIM Keybinds (with some issues, as many implementations have)
- mermaid and LaTeX math support built in
(Notice that 2/3 of these are easily done on many other editors via plugins/extensions)
It has some other nice things too but I find it to be kind of slow and clunky. Still I come back for the way markdown works there because it feels like WYSIWYG but without so much mouse clicking. I have minimally used the pandoc and other publishing features but wasn't blown away by them vs just using pandoc
I'm trying this out on Linux but for the life of me I can't get the split window stuff to work. The Flatpak for some reason wouldn't even open files - but the Debian package seems to work fine.
"The Flatpak cannot access your file system by default. To give it access to your documents, you must first configure that with a package like, for example, Flatseal. In case of problems, please get in contact with the Flatpak maintainer on the corresponding GitHub repository. Do not file reports on the main repository – we won't be able to help you."
I might be wrong but you'd need to install pandoc-crossref and add it as a filter in Zettlr, somewhere in the pandoc preferences. Then use pandoc-crossref's syntax on the equations.
If you want to see it and get an idea about what it does and how it’s supposed to be used, go here:
https://docs.zettlr.com/en/core/user-interface/
Finding that information took some digging — although there is a visual on the homepage after scrolling several screens down (at least on mobile).
Constructive feedback for the team: I find the website and documentation difficult to use because they present details first and main ideas later. See if you can put the bottom line on the top line.
Also, as I navigated through the site, every time I followed a link I got asked, again and again, whether I wanted to opt out of cookies and data collection. Answering once should be enough.