The Vivaldi web browser has some pretty unique and useful abilities. But you can greatly expand on Vivaldi’s (or most any other modern web browser) capabilities with this elegant HTML document, called TiddyWiki.

First, what is TiddlyWiki, you ask? Well, according to it’s Wikipedia page:

TiddlyWiki is a personal wiki and a non-linear notebook for organizing and sharing complex information. It is an open-source single page application wiki in the form of a single HTML file that includes CSS, JavaScript, and the content. It is designed to be easy to customize and re-shape depending on application. It facilitates re-use of content by dividing it into small pieces called Tiddlers.

Basically, what it boils down to is this: Tiddlywiki is a self-contained HTML document that is stored on your PC, which you then open up with your favorite web browser (Vivaldi). You then use it like your own personal – and dynamic – notebook, or word processor, or journal, or information wiki database; all within your web browser.

Like any other wiki database on the Internet, all the information you store in TiddlyWiki can be organized in all sorts of different ways, and then easily searched for and located later on. It really is a powerful yet flexible way of storing information and organizing text.

I use it for jobs, like creating blog entries for sharing on social media, keeping a journal of important events, and cataloging information (like my movie collection). Here’s a brief overview of some of the features and abilities I find particularly useful.

An easy to use word processor

TiddlyWiki‘s built-in word processor is very easy to understand and use. If you can create content in WordPress, you will be right at home here. In fact, TiddlyWiki is even easier to use than WordPress, but still has many features for formatting text. The thing to remember is that, TiddlyWiki will first format text with code and you will not see the finished product until you click the “save” icon (the check mark) and view it in your web browser.

For example, if you wanted something to appear as bold text, TiddlyWiki will enclose the text you highlight (with your mouse) in double quotation marks. When you save the document, your web browser will then interpret the quotation marks and display the text between them in bold typing.

When creating your Tiddler pages, you have the option of either creating a “blank” page or a “journal” page. The journal page automatically creates a Tiddler with the current date as the title. This way, it’s very easy to use the Wiki to record your daily journal entries.

Tiddler Page Organizer

There are many ways that you can manage and sort the “Tiddler Pages” you create. You can sort by tags, or create listings, or even keywords. But I prefer to use the built-in “Tiddler Manager”. It’s a simple interface that lists all of the pages that have been created and allows you to easily filter and preview them. From here, you can either view the page you’re looking for or go right into edit mode.

I use it as my “home page” view, so I can easily get to work as soon as I open up my TiddlyWiki HTML page.

Create Page Lists

As you use TiddlyWiki more and more, you may find out (as I have) that you wind up making a lot of Tiddlers. One of the easiest way I learned to organize them is with the use of Lists.

For example: I’ve created a listing for my Blog pages, as well as one for my Journal pages. I flag each of the pages accordingly when I created them. Then, when I want to see all of my blog entries, I just look up the appropriate listing and I get them all displayed for me, grouped nicely together.

Easy Printing

TiddlyWiki makes it really easy to print the documents contained within. You can either print a single Tiddler page, or several of them, one after the other. All you need to do is open up the Tiddlers that you want to print, then click the print tool. It’s just that simple.

Vivaldi also handles the print job wonderfully.

Built-In Image Editor

And last, but not least, I was really surprised to see a simple image editor included in this latest version of TiddlyWiki. If you want to make notations on screenshots of your favorite application software, for example, all you need to do is use the Import tool to load it in to your TiddlyWiki. When the image is loaded up into it’s own Tiddler, simply click the Edit icon and you have a simple paint program you can use to make all of your notations.

After you’ve done all of your updates and edits, you simply use your browser’s Save function and save TiddlyWiki to your hard drive (or storage device). What this means is, you can make as many TiddlyWiki HTML files as you wish – you don’t have to save everything in one file. Make a TiddlyWiki for work and another one for personal matters. Store it to a USB stick and you can take your TiddlyWiki where ever you go. All you need is a web browser (any modern web browser) to view and edit your TiddlyWiki.

This is probably the biggest advantage of TiddlyWiki. For those people who use multiple computers and operating systems, you don’t need to have any particular office suite or word processor software installed on your systems. All you need is a web browser!

To give TiddlyWiki a try for yourself, download your blank TiddlyWiki template at: https://tiddlywiki.com/

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