Steph Ango

It's not so much that OPML is the interesting part here, it's that it's a file. A few weeks back Andrej Karpathy had a twitter thread[1] about blogging software and shared this link on 'File vs App' - https://stephango.com/file-over-app - and that really was great for ecosystem interoperability. I can download the file using whatever tool is appropriate, store it however I want, and then upload it somewhere else using whatever tools is appropriate. I have the OPML export I took of my subscriptions from the day Google Reader shut down and there's still a fighting chance that other services could actually import that file.

It's also worth noting that OPML is only the container format here. Agreeing on a container format is obviously important and we won't get very far for interop if we can't even agree on the container format, but OPML is supposed to be a generic tree of 'outline' format, and conveniently RSS subscriptions (and folders) look like a tree.

I sorta expected that there would be a second standard that says "here's how you use this generic OPML container format to represent RSS feed subscriptions" but oddly that's actually included right in the OPML spec[2]. In fact RSS subscriptions are the only application format defined in OPML - there's a 'type' field defined for <outline> element and if type is set to 'rss' then there's also a required xmlUrl of the feed and optional things like the html link for the blog, the version of RSS used. This is the data and part of…

1) reading lists in Goodreads and pinboard (moving to self-host that one, because the service isn't really stellar anymore sadly), watching lists in Letterboxd and Imdb along with sonarr/radarr, listening list is just my podcast subscriptions in Overcast with a smart playlist ordered so that the most "important" ones are on top.

2) Obsidian web clipper[0] and a Keyboard Maestro powered hotkey that opens up either my daily note with two taps or creates a new Second Brain note with three

3) When I need it. I'm pretty good at keeping an index in my head of stuff I've seen "sometime somewhere". By having everything in Obsidian I don't need to start searching browser/search engine histories to figure out what was that one site with that bit of knowledge.

4) Obsidian Second Brain. When I spend too much time (by feel) solving something, I spend a few minutes writing the solution down along with links to the sources I used. The solution is generalised so that it's not infringing on any employer copyrights.

5) Consistency and not bikeshedding about knowledge base systems too much.

I've used Evernote (one of the OG Mythbusters recommended it like 15 years ago or something). The OCR system was a life-saver in a few occasions. Then they did some stupid Silicon Valley crap and I moved between OneNote (amazing if you have a laptop with a stylus), Emacs (org-mode bikeshedding took way too much time), Joplin (open source, but the storage format is meh), Notion (pretty and the DB stuff…

+1

While I don't think this approach meets OP's requirements (they seem to be looking for something a little more turn-key), I hope other readers of this thread will fall down this rabbit hole.

I'm now in my 5th year of tracking every penny in and out of my life with hledger[0], with a mostly manual approach. Some benefits:

- as noted by a spreadsheet user, it adds friction to spending money, which has curbed frivolous/ unplanned expenses for me (and double entry accounting makes it impossible for money to "disappear")

- if you subscribe to Files over Apps[1] hledger and its ilk (beancounter, gnu cash) are hands down your most mature, stable options

- I've learned a great deal about accounting and how money works in general

- the reports I can generate from my ledger give me a decent starting point at tax time

Happy accounting!

[0]: https://hledger.org/index.html

[1]: https://stephango.com/file-over-app

Obsidian's philosophy is file over app [1] and releasing a spec for their Canvas feature is fulfilling that promise. It's a strictly positive 'today is better than yesterday' thing for them to have done so.

You shouldn't need to ask permission or consult anyone to do this. That's a silly bar, 'egregious' even. When markdown was created, Gruber wasn't asking all his friends making text editors whether they'd support it. He just released it, and others chose to adopt it on its merits.

I don't meant this to sound harsh, but just to call it as I see it - your comment is basically creating a 'damned if you do, damned if you don't' scenario and an example of why people building things shouldn't worry much about comments in forums.

[1]: https://stephango.com/file-over-app

https://practicalbetterments.com A collection of one-off actions that improve your life continuously — however marginally.

https://stephango.com Steph Ango, CEO of Obsidian, writes about the simplicity and usefulness of plain-test, plain but powerful ideas. @kepano at HN.

https://marksblogg.com Mark Litwintschik on GeoSpatial, Satellites, Machine Learning. @marklit at HN.

https://simonwillison.net and of course, Simon Willison’s daily blog with high-quality content. @simonw at HN.