I itereated (yet again) my DailyURL Obsidian tracking process used to track random links and sites encountered on a daily basis. As a result, the functionality shifted from existing as a basic tracking tool with plain-text links to something that allows per-URL tagging and clickable URLs.

Background

As a proponent of continuous improvement (a la Atomic Habits), I was well aware of the lasting effects functionality modifications can have on overall system usability and longevity. To be blunt, past changes were made too ensure my PKM system remained relevant, interesting, and most important, not discouraging.

The DailyURL system had already been modified severaI times with each iteration providing slightly better functionality:

  • Initial implementation was a simple ‘DailyURL’ note
  • Iteration two involved tagging URLs with inline properties, then pulling those into a page with a DataView query.
  • Iteration three required entering the URL summary and site address as a single entry into a Daily Note YAML list property

Iteration three worked well enough, but there were issues with the approach:

  • A description/summary of each URL added to the URL disabled the clickability of the URL and limited character selection (like colons)
  • Tagging on a per-URL basis wasn’t possible to allow grouping of like subjects and concepts.
  • Continued dependance on the DataView community plugin, resulting in slower queries combined with unclear future support

Iteration Four

I came to the realization that the best solution for my DailyURL implementation requirements involved using a separate Obsidian note for each URL I wanted to track, then using Bases to present the data. Each URL note would then have as many YAML frontmatter properties as desired, and the view I chose could determine tag grouping, sorting, and display characteristics. Clickable links were restored, a separate summary property was utilized, and per URL tagging was implemented.

Auto-generated description: A digital note titled Daily URLs lists instructions for managing Daily URL notes along with a table of entries containing dates, tags, summaries, and corresponding YouTube video links.

I don’t use a large number of folders in my vault, but I chose to use one to house all of the URL notes to keep the notes away from the mass of evergreen and in-process notes in the main Notes vault folder.

This approach will add additional notes to my Obsidian Vault, but not a large enough number to realistically put any stress on the vault as a while.