1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
|
[[!meta title="Zettelkasten for Regular Emacs Hackers"]]
[[!meta copyright="Copyright © 2025 Christian Tietze"]]
[[!inline pages="internal(2025/info/zettelkasten-nav)" raw="yes"]]
<!-- Initially generated with emacsconf-publish-talk-page and then left alone for manual editing -->
<!-- You can manually edit this file to update the abstract, add links, etc. --->
# Zettelkasten for Regular Emacs Hackers
Christian Tietze (he) - [@ctietze@mastodon.social](https://mastodon.social/@ctietze) <https://christiantietze.de> <https://zettelkasten.de>, <mailto:hi@christiantietze.de>
[[!inline pages="internal(2025/info/zettelkasten-before)" raw="yes"]]
There's this one thing you can do with your Emacs that is not chiefly a technological problem to solve: thinking through writing.
Emacs offers a malleable environment where you can tweak every key stroke, and every pixel on screen to your needs. Since we're all here at EmacsConf, the intention is clear: to use and enjoy Emacs, and spend our lives in this amazing environment.
While it's easy to ditch modern UI conveniences and pull technology like email, chat, database and server management, and editing book drafts into Emacs – well, these are tasks that have been implemented, for which there exist alternatives, and which you can teach Emacs to do in a similar way. Oversimplifying, we can copy and tweak existing solutions.
Now everyone's approach to <mark>thinking</mark> is a bit different, and there's no cookie cutter solution to merely rewrite in Emacs Lisp. Everyone needs to figure out how to do this on their own, and then find an implementation that suits their needs. (Including using paper, but we're not talking about paper here.)
This is where I offer you one simple method to deep thinking, understanding, and problem solving: create yourself a Zettelkasten, an environment of linked notes that scales well over decades, so that you can take it with you into retirement and beyond for a lifelong journey of learning.
For this talk, I assume that writing improves the quality and depth of thought. I also assume that you know how to type and move around in Emacs. The rest is just convention, and we'll walk through a couple of examples and exercises together so that after this talk, you're equipped with the simple tools that help you unlock new insights in your future.- Talk description (<= 500 words):
There's this one thing you can do with your Emacs that is not chiefly a technological problem to solve: thinking through writing.
Emacs offers a malleable environment where you can tweak every key stroke, and every pixel on screen to your needs. Since we're all here at EmacsConf, the intention is clear: to use and enjoy Emacs, and spend our lives in this amazing environment.
While it's easy to ditch modern UI conveniences and pull technology like email, chat, database and server management, and editing book drafts into Emacs – well, these are tasks that have been implemented, for which there exist alternatives, and which you can teach Emacs to do in a similar way. Oversimplifying, we can copy and tweak existing solutions.
Now everyone's approach to <mark>thinking</mark> is a bit different, and there's no cookie cutter solution to merely rewrite in Emacs Lisp. Everyone needs to figure out how to do this on their own, and then find an implementation that suits their needs. (Including using paper, but we're not talking about paper here.)
This is where I offer you one simple method to deep thinking, understanding, and problem solving: create yourself a Zettelkasten, an environment of linked notes that scales well over decades, so that you can take it with you into retirement and beyond for a lifelong journey of learning.
For this talk, I assume that writing improves the quality and depth of thought. I also assume that you know how to type and move around in Emacs. The rest is just convention, and we'll walk through a couple of examples and exercises together so that after this talk, you're equipped with the simple tools that help you unlock new insights in your future.
About the speaker:
Creative macOS/iOS developer with a strong focus on user experience and clean architecture. Driven by a passion for accessibility and performance, I have published six apps and authored three technical books and 895 blog posts and counting. I help developers world-wide to realize their app ideas with a deep understand for the technologies they use.
[[!inline pages="internal(2025/info/zettelkasten-after)" raw="yes"]]
[[!inline pages="internal(2025/info/zettelkasten-nav)" raw="yes"]]
|
