More than the name, IMO it’s the ui, the simplicity/clarity of the showcase on their website, the fact that it is available on google play and IOS as an official app, that it is in a traditional software format rather than a html file requiring special tools for saving (especially for syncing).
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Ciao @telumire, I don’t think that entirely obviates the points about the “TiddlyWiki” name @Mark_S made though.
But your point about Joplin is right, I think, it is well pitched to a discernible userbase and the UI is very simple.
Footnote, FYI: THB, I think now, and have for a couple of years, that TW is so flexible; that you can do so much with it, it has kinda stymied market fits???
Joplin is far more limited in its published scope but seems more immediately accessible. In that sense it has, I think, far clearer marketing aims than TW.
Just thoughts. I don’t really know. Just guesses.
TT
I agree that providing one recommended method of saving would greatly reduce the friction for new users.
Would it be possible for TiddlyWiki to adopt the new filesystem API that Logseq uses?
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A working version of it is here: slaymaker1907's TiddlyWiki Plugins — a non-linear personal web notebook
You can see it puts a few menus in the user’s face. It is also only for Chrome.
For the desktop, the best way hands down is Timimi. But does it make sense to have a 3rd party project be the recommended method of saving?
So that leaves TiddlyDesktop for the desktop environment. But for the user it isn’t the most polished approach, and you lose the ability to quickly flick between browser tabs.
Each saving solution has its problems.
So whenever this discussion comes up, we go around in the same circles. The obvious solution is to make Timimi a part of the official distribution. But I don’t see that happening.
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I acknowledged the perceived issue on TW’s name but I do not agree with it, I think a quirky name is a very good thing to have because it draw attention and is easy to remember.
TiddlyWiki reach is international : it’s in english, it contains the word “wiki”, which is universal thanks to wikipedia. Tiddly means extremely small - a small wiki, seems good to me.
My first language is french however, so that may be the reason why I fail to see how ridiculous the name is - and that is the reason why I avoided to talk about that.
I dont think that the comparison to Joplin is fair either, because of it’s availability on many platform, form factor, design, etc. These are Joplin’s strong points, and what’s lacking to tiddlywiki - not the name but the features & marketing efforts.
@Mark_S Timimi is what I use too and I agree, it would be great if it was made part of the official distribution ! This discussion is about how to stimulate user growth, and I think that having an official, effective and simple saving solution would be a very good first step.
Another great thing would be to make the development fund link more accessible, it’s not on the github page nor the front page of the official website. I’d bet many new users dont know it even exist : TiddlyWikiDotOrg - Open Collective
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It’s not quirky. Quirky is fine. It’s a childish turnoff to some 100 to 300 million people who grew up hearing “TiddlyWinky” as a pejorative term used to describe activities that are a waste of time. It’s not something you would want to bring up in a board meeting.
One of the things Joplin does is have statistics. We don’t seem to have any statistics on downloads or activity. There is immense uptake of TiddlyWiki in certain places, but glaring omissions in others. But I’m basing this on a memory of a chart that we used to have but I guess was eliminated after the removal of Google Analytics.
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Ansewr ? No !
Actually @Mark_S I think you are on to something here. Not only could Timimi or a version of it be preeminent but we could bend over backwards to point to and even contain the necessary components within a tiddlywiki distribution available with a click.
In fact a few other empty + saver setups could be made available to facilitate download and saving. I may have a play with a few today.
For people of a certain age, perhaps somewhat younger as well, Joplin is memorable because of Janice.
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With respect… while you clearly have a very strong opinion about the “TiddlyWiki” name, I think you are doing your argument a huge disservice by offering up “facts” that have no demonstrable basis.
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“100 to 300 million” is an unprovable number that comes across as “… let me pick a number that sounds really huge, because I want to be persuasive, even though I have no idea what the actual number is.”
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I searched (using Google) for the term “TiddlyWinky”. It found NO matches. Not as a slang term… not as a perjorative… not ANYTHING at all.
I did find numerous matches for “TiddlyWinks”, including links to:
There is a minor connotation of “trivial” mentioned here: https://grammarist.com
“…often used as a negative comparison to an item or situation to stress the importance or difficulty of that item or situation in contrast to the triviality of tiddlywinks.”
and the Urban Dictionary (which is hardly a definitive source of meaning) notes:
“…used today to disparagingly call something trivial…”
Even so… the primary problem with “user growth of TW” has very little to do with it’s NAME. There are many other words (especially on-line) that started out with “trivial” meanings, such as “Google”, “Twitter”, “Yahoo”, etc… and let us not forget the origin of “Wikipedia”… a fanciful portmanteau of the Hawaiian word “wiki”, meaning “quick”, and “pedia” (from the word “encyclopedia”).
-e
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Actually, I developed tiddly-gittly/TidGi-Desktop with multiple-wiki switching support, and is polished as a clean desktop app. Mainly for solving the saving problem for new users.
When telling people about tiddlywiki, I directly introduce the TidGi, and it seems to make it easier to convince users to switch from Notion to Tiddlywiki. And some of user will switch to other saving mechanism when they get fremillar to how tw works, TidGi won’t lock their data, because it is still build on TW.
But the pure empty edition will really hold some new user’s step, it will need too much to download and setup, before they write down a first note. So I never recommend download an empty edition.
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@linonetwo I am really excided about your work here and this in particular;
Like you I think empty.html should be regulated to an edition you can get if needed and the default download should be saving enabled version, however we do it. Even if it includes guidance to install a saver.
- Mario has a downloads folder solution for autosave
- I have a local storage plus changes backup method
- You seem to be getting there with TidGi
However I am trying too keep up with your contributions to the community and struggling a little, both because of your advanced skills, and my not so advanced skills and the appearance of Chinese in many of your solutions. I understand and I am very grateful you speak/read both languages and are really promoting this into the Chinese language users (That is fantastic) but I have to be honest and say as a result I find it hard to understand all of your great work.
I just tried tidGi for windows and unfortunately once changing languages need to contyend with this;
then
and how do I
- Check the ~TiddlyWiki command line for a message confirming the tiddler has been saved
What you are doing seems so amazing, but I just cant make use of it yet.
None of these are embarrassing to say in a meeting. Yahoo and Google were both introduced at a time where there were few competitors. There are at least 2 dozen competitors to TW now. Plus they advertised. If you can advertise, you can overcome any name.
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So to sum up what I am reading:
- If we change the name to something less goofy, like totallywiki,
- package empty.html with Timimi or some similar easy to use saving method,
- make the onboarding cleaner and with a video
- Advertise
We will be awash with new users. Can we get this done by the end of the month and move on? 
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If the Admins agree to act as judges (they are already having to decide how to allocate the $ that are donated), I could put up a bounty that pays if the end of month target is met, $1,000 to the top contributor, $500 to the second and $250 to the third.
Thoughts?
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Like Tony, I can’t really understand what I’m seeing. Is TidGi another version of Tiddlydesktop? The biggest problem with TD is that the user experience outside a browser simply isn’t as rich, universal, or versatile as when used inside a browser.
Edit. Ok. Have had time to slow down and look a bit.
It seems to be a TiddlyDesktop style tool that uses node.js (separate tiddlers) and saves directly to Github. I think anything with Github is going to be too advanced for getting people onboard. I can see why developers might like it – if I understand correctly, developers could write widgets that use Electron components.
Since you’re writing in Electron, let me ask you. Do you think it would be possible to have an Android version of TD (or TidGi) ?
Ciao @Mark_S & @EricShulman
I noticed your exchanges on the naming issue.
IF I get time I will research the linguistic use of “tiddly” & “tiddler” & post it to our Café.
It is not so simple to get clear answers as one needs consider also the “reception environment” (i.e. who and where folk considering TW are coming from?)
Briefly, my current sense is that in English speaking countries the words are multi-valent, often in a negative way. Though there are, I think, variations in use between English speaking countries.
For instance, in the United Kingdom, “Tiddly” can definitely be associated with being “slightly drunk”. And “Tiddler” is used both descriptively for something “very small / tiny” and in derogatory usage as a diminutive.
Just a comment
TT
I am trying too keep up with your contributions to the community and struggling a little, both because of your advanced skills, and my not so advanced skills and the appearance of Chinese in many of your solutions
Surely I always want to make my plugins i18n, but I haven’t found a clear guide to do i18n, as discussed in Proposal : integrate a translation macro into the core · Issue #4179 · Jermolene/TiddlyWiki5 · GitHub
Some of your confusion about that dialog, and the expanded sidebar, are common I think. (first dialog is because nodejs wiki creates a net connection, second is just sidebar on the top, you just need to widen the window.)
I’m planning to have a help workspace shown when app is open, like how Obsidian does it:
I think I can answer many FAQs in it and help new TidGi user get around any confusion, and learn how to use more resources of tiddlywiki.
This is what I learnt from Obsidian, and Joplin app may have something I can learn from too. By getting good parts from them, I think we have a chance to catch them up.
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Do you think it would be possible to have an Android version of TD (or TidGi) ?
There is already a GitHub - donmor/Tiddloid: Tiddloid is an app to work with locally stored TiddlyWikis.
And I have made a plugin GitHub - tiddly-gittly/tw-mobile-sync: Sync data between Mobile HTML (Tiddloid) <-> Desktop App (TidGi) . So there is no need for me to write another Android App!
It seems to be a TiddlyDesktop style tool that uses node.js (separate tiddlers) and saves directly to Github.
Yes, but you can create a local wiki, then you won’t need to know what Github is. Do you agree with that? Seems many of its new users will still try to connect to Github and bump into troubles…
And there are some API exposed to tw side from electron, like open file at location and get old version of file from git history. So some js plugin can use them.
Ciao @EricShulman and @Mark_S
A footnote on the “naming issue”.
The fact is that USER reports can matter despite what you look-up on the net. (Please do not ask me to forage around in the prior GG swamp of posts about the name to prove that it has been a recurrent issue.)
Linguistic analysis of real language usage is always partial. A net search on it is often wrong.
IMO, the often occurring disquiet with “Tiddly” and “Tiddler” has an anthropological (observed) reality. To me that is ground zero on naming.
Just a comment
TT
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Sure, and there’s also Quinoid.
But neither of these look like the desktop TW. With Electron, a user can have the same experience on the desktop, iPhone, and Android. I think this is the approach used by Joplin and Standard Notes. It wouldn’t have to be you personally that writes this – I was just wondering if you thought it was possible.
Right. Quinoid I thought super.
Now I’m out of my depth 
Briefly, from “end-user” angle, anything that works seamlessly cross-browser may win???
TBH, the “stimulation of growth” maybe looks like the SALT of UNIVERSAL?
Just a comment, TT.