I *really* wanted @RoamResearch to be my digital garden/pseudoblog, but it's not built for it. Will do something resembling @anthilemoon's digital garden. Instructions linked. Thread explains limitations of Roam/why I wish it worked for this 👇nesslabs.com/digital-garden…
Why I wish I could do it: Thoughts are atomized on the block level rather than the page level. Searches through the linked references on people's Roam's can be a very engaging pattern for users to explore. Love doing this in @ErikTorenberg's public Roam. roamresearch.com/#/app/eriks_th…
Encourages positive meta-thinking patterns if using block references. Whenever possible, I abstract out specific concepts to another page, and then drag in those more abstract blocks of text, adding in a layer of commentary on top to make it apply to the specific situation.
Writing in Roam is an incredibly frictionless experience. Hyperlinking things together works better here than anywhere else. Really, Roam is awesome. I've been writing more in my public Roam in the last two weeks than I have blogged in months.
Block/page references allows all of the threading value/more that twitter allows for content curation.
After a week or two of using it actively, here's what's holding me back from using Roam as my digital garden:
-Slow load time. Casual readers aren't so patient.
-Not indexed by google searches. The only way people are going to see what I write is if they are linked to it.
-Can't pick a starting point for users. Sidebar helps, but doesn't fix the problem of people seeing a blank DN page.
-Not indexed by google searches. The only way people are going to see what I write is if they are linked to it.
-Can't pick a starting point for users. Sidebar helps, but doesn't fix the problem of people seeing a blank DN page.
Need to onboard readers in navigation skills who don't already know how to use Roam, and many who do. People need to know things like linked references filtration, expanding context on a block, hover over markdown aliases for preview, opening up and doing this in right sidebar...
No social feedback. No likes or comments- right now it's either giving people edit access or read only access. Would love for permissions to allow block reactions/comments, and to have comments be something separate from block references for the sake of navigability.
If someone builds a static website exporter that maintains the data structure of Roam, that would be glorious. I may still be updating my public roam at times, but for now a switch for my public facing thoughts to @TiddlyWiki seems best. Until then: roamresearch.com/#/app/Rob-Hais…
To be clear- I'll still be using Roam for my private personal knowledge management. It's unbeaten for that. But for sharing, it's just not there yet.
Some UX adjustments that could help the problem of navigability by newcomers- fluid navigation is a skill that people need to learn in Roam just as much as effective Roam writing.
