Simplifying and automating the mundane task of creating, organizing, and finding your static notes so that you can focus on their actual content. It does not alter the way you would otherwise interact with your org files, like other widely used packages.
Now, I’m sorry that this section is under-developed, but I haven’t experimented
a lot around package managers. This is an automated solution using straight.el
as your package manager:
(use-package klp
:straight (:host github
:repo "chatziiola/klp")
:init
(setq klp/static-notes-dir "~/path/to/dir"))If you are a doom user you can also use this snippet in your packages.el:
(package! klp :recipe (:host github :repo "chatziiola/klp"))Obviously, you can also download klp.el, place it in your emacs configuration
directory ($HOME/.emacs.d), and load it in your init.el file using:
(load 'klp.el)At this point (and I think that ideally it should be kept like that), not many
configuration options are available. The package is simple and straight forward.
The only thing you need to set upon installation is the klp/static-notes-dir
variable, so that klp looks at the right directory for your notes (and creates
them there).
(setq klp/static-notes-dir "~/path/to/dir")This small package is to help you keep a clean and organized directory structure, easily find your notes and bootstrap the note-creation process.
To achieve this functionality, the package utilizes two basic rules:
- A file-naming standard:
notes_(category_)title.orgYou, obviously, can tailor[fn:2] that to your needs, but I haven’t had, so far a single reason to do so. Its structure allows for note files to be grouped up together when navigating the notes-directory manually.
Why don’t you include date in the filename? Including the date in the filename is an organizing technique that is righteously widely used. The problem with it is that it does not group files up properly. If you’re manually navigating that directory (happens to the best of us), you will not be able to immediately find all your notes files grouped together - they will be grouped by creation time (the date part of the filename) and not by type.
- A file-properties standard:
#+<PROPERTY>: <VALUE>This can also be modified, even though it is tricky and (as a tip), should be done gradually and not at once. Just because a feature exists it does not mean that it should be used
As you can see on the examples below, taken from my personal configuration, I think that the greatest quality this package has to offer is its ability to segment your set of notes, which size can become overwhelming after some time, into smaller parts (categories), without however, falling in the trap of creating more locations to search, when looking for a file.
This must be one of the most widely used functions in my arsenal when I perform
system administration tasks (and not only then). If I know that this job can be
done with a tool, yet I do not remember the exact syntax I do <space>lT (the
keybinding I have assigned to it), write the tool’s name and quickly look up my
notes on it. If that info is missing… well it won’t be missing for long ;)
(defun chatziiola/open-tools ()
"Macro to use `klp/open-note' to open all `notes_tool_title.org' files."
(interactive)
(klp/open-note "tool" '("TITLE")))Sadly, it has been too long since I used this function, but I place it here as an alternative: I have used numerous times the format of this package to document my findings in a TryHackMe room, while I was in it, allowing me to:
- quickly organize the available data and my thoughts at the moment
- go back to rooms that challenged me (yet contain useful info) to … steal something from there
(defun chatziiola/open-thm-room ()
"Macro to use `klp/open-note' to open all `notes_thm_title.org' files."
(interactive)
(klp/open-note "thm" '("DATE" "TITLE")))
This is not only my first Emacs package, this is my first attempt in converting a set of personally indispensable scripts to FOSS.
As a result of the two above, I’m afraid that certain qualities that have long been implemented in well-maintained packages, might be missing from here, and since I learnt elisp through experimentation, without the need to dig deep, the lisp code will not be sophisticated either. Feel free to open pull-requests and issues.
This package was developed using literate programming: There is a literate.org
file in the directory, containing all of klp source code within lisp source
blocks, in sections so that it decreases the mental effort one needs to put into
it to learn the package, and with (sometimes) insight why certain decisions were
made. If you intend to contribute, please edit the literate programming source
file, and add comments on why you approached things a certain way.
Obviously, too much info is at times as harmful as no info, and if it becomes a problem it will be dealt with. However, I find it hard to believe that this will be the case for a package of this size.
Why not denote? I’m sure that denote is a beautiful notetaking package, one
which I have not tried using; I have something that works just the way I want.
This package, as stated above, focuses on the creation, look up and organization
of files, so that you can keep your notes organized and easily searchable (even
if you do not have any fancy packages).
Why not org-roam?: Static notes are meant to be thought of as reference notes: One may seek them to quickly look some (specific) information up, write down a set of notes that they think they may look again, but they do not aim to build on this knowledge, by linking it to other pieces of knowledge. Thus static notes are *notes that would be a waste of space inside one’s Zettelkasten*[fn:1]
Well, when I set off to rewrite this section of my personal configuration so that it can be published, I could not think of any good package names, so I asked a friend of mine: Dimitris Kosmidis. After suggesting a couple of names, he said klp, “και λοιπά”, which is the Greek equivalent of etc.
Since I did not want to name the package org-sth or notes-sth, I settled on klp.
[fn:2] Ehm, I think I may have messed that up :P, this feature is not available at the time being. I will make sure to add it when I find the time (and a nice solution)
[fn:1] Of course, I am not an expert on the matter, this is just what I have
come to believe, having done my fair share of research on the topic. I actually
use org-roam, and really like the features that it offers, but (for a lot of
stuff), I find this, more manual solution, much more helpful.