Currently, Tinderbox ziplinks let you make links [[like this]]. This inserts a link anchor like this that links to a note named “like this”, and creates a note if necessary. Various extensions are implemented too,. That’s great for some styles of rapid note-making.
It’s also a bit arcane. Here’s another idea.
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After you type “[[”, Tinderbox deletes the brackets and an overlay window appears:
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The focus initially falls in the Link field. Type the name of the anchor you want. Pressing Return or ]] dismisses the overlay and creates the link. Pressing Esc cancels the overlay and returns to the text pane.
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The Destination field is red if the destination does not yet exist, and black if it does exist.
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If the text in the Destination field is identical to the text in the Link field, changing the link field also changes the Destination. If the fields differ, each can be edited separately.
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If Append Backlink is checked, a link to this note is appended to the destination note.
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A menu the left of the text pane continues to present a list of potential destinations whose names contain a substring of the current link text. This, if you had typed [[book the menu might contains “Books and Journals” and “Booker T. Washington”. Choosing from this menu autofills the Link field; if the text of the Destination field is identical to the Link field, it is replaced as well.
Advantages:
- No need to remember arcane syntax like [[<anchor|destination>]]
- Slightly fewer keystrokes than at present
- No mouse clicks are required
- …
Cons:
- The text pane is partly obscured
- More development work in support of a feature whose utility remains uncertain; the current implementation is good enough
- Cleaner code in TbxTextView
- Arguably more idiomatic for Macs
- …