(if a link doesn’t work; i haven’t created a note for it yet!)
What is “linking”?
Linking goes beyond just pasting a URL. It’s turning a word or phrase into an internal or external link. This makes going in between notes or other websites seamless. When publishing a site, search engines find it more valuable when you use linking.
Linking: Blogs vs Digital Gardens
Bloggers; their always told to create links on their posts. The more connections the better. But traditional websites aren’t tailored for connecting notes the same way digital gardens are.
I make the notes for my digital garden using a markdown editor software called Obsidian. With both the markdown language and the internal link syntax; connecting notes has become effortless.
Imagine you’re typing an essay. The same amount of effort it takes for you to capitalize a letter or add punctuation is the same amount of effort it takes me to turn a word or phrase into a link.
When I used to blog I had to go out of my way to create a link, it could not be done mindlessly, it was a tedious process. But with digital gardening it is as simple as typing a symbol that correlates with the command that’s needed.
The Pink Links
I use both internal links and external links across my digital garden.
Internal Link: These are most common. As I write or read back my material I find words or phrases that I want to later dive deeper into. As I find them I highlight it for later reference, I don’t rush to create these notes. This allows me to make a reminder for future note ideas efficiently so it doesn’t interrupt my focus on the current note I’m writing. Coming across an inactive pink link tells me that this is a topic that I want to expand on.
External Link: These are links pointing to other websites. I add these links when I’m quoting or citing sources I have used when conducting research. (These links are yellow.)