diff --git a/website/index.md b/website/index.md index 13590ec3..acefb9d0 100644 --- a/website/index.md +++ b/website/index.md @@ -1,27 +1,27 @@ # Silver Bullet ## Markdown as a platform -Silver Bullet (SB) is highly-extensible, open source **personal knowledge management** software. Indeed, that’s fancy language for “a note taking app with links.” +Silver Bullet (SB) is highly-extensible, [open source](https://github.com/silverbulletmd/silverbullet) **personal knowledge management** software. Indeed, that’s fancy language for “a note taking app with links.” -At its core SB is a Markdown editor that stores _pages_ (notes) as plain markdown files in a folder referred to as a _space_. Pages can be cross-linked using the `[[link to other page]]` syntax. This makes it a great tool for [Personal Knowledge Management](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_knowledge_management). However, once you leverage its various extensions (called _plugs_) it can feel more like a _knowledge playground_, allowing you to annotate, combine and query your accumulated knowledge in creative ways, specific to you. +At its core, SB is a Markdown editor that stores _pages_ (notes) as plain markdown files in a folder referred to as a _space_. Pages can be cross-linked using the `[[link to other page]]` syntax. However, once you leverage its various extensions (called _plugs_) it can feel more like a _knowledge playground_, allowing you to annotate, combine and query your accumulated knowledge in creative ways, specific to you. To get a good feel for it, [watch this video](https://youtu.be/RYdc3UF9gok). Cool, no? -What does Silver Bullet look like? Well, have a look around. **You’re looking at it at this very moment!** +What does Silver Bullet look like? Well, have a look around. **You’re looking at it at this very moment!** 🤯 -Note that this is not a fully functional version, because the back-end is read only. However, it should give you some feel for what it’s like to use SB before making that massive commitment of running a single `npx` command (see below) to run it locally in its fully functioning mode. +Note that what you’re looking at is not a fully functional version, because the _back-end is read-only_. That said, it should give you some feel for what it’s like to use SB before making the commitment of running a single `npx` command (see below) to download and run it locally in its fully functioning mode. -Feel free to make some edits in this space. Don’t worry, you won’t break anything, nothing is saved (just reload the page to see). +So, feel free to make some edits in this space. Don’t worry, you won’t break anything, nothing is saved (just reload the page to see). -Things to try: +Here are some things to try: -* Click on the page name at the top, or hit `Cmd-k` (Mac) or `Ctrl-k` (Linux and Windows) to open the _page switcher_. Type the a name of a non-existing page to create it (although it won’t save in this environment). -* Click on the run button (top right) or hit `Cmd-/` (Mac) or `Ctrl-/` (Linux and Windows) to open the _command palette_ (note not all command will work in this quasi read-only mode). +* Click on the page name at the top, or hit `Cmd-k` (Mac) or `Ctrl-k` (Linux and Windows) to open the **page switcher**. Type the a name of a non-existing page to create it (although it won’t save in this environment). +* Click on the run button (top right) or hit `Cmd-/` (Mac) or `Ctrl-/` (Linux and Windows) to open the **command palette** (note not all command will work in this quasi read-only mode). * Select some text and hit `Alt-m` to highlight it, or `Cmd-b` (Mac) or `Ctrl-b` to make it bold. -* Click a link below to navigate there -* Start typing `[[` somewhere to insert a page link (with completion) -* [ ] Tap this box 👈 to mark this task as done -* Start typing `:pa` to trigger the emoji picker 🎉 -* Type `/` somewhere in the text to use a _slash command_. +* Click a link somewhere in this page, to navigate there. +* Start typing `[[` somewhere to insert a page link (with completion). +* [ ] Tap this box 👈 to mark this task as done. +* Start typing `:party` to trigger the emoji picker 🎉 +* Type `/` somewhere in the text to invoke a **slash command**. * Open this site on your phone or tablet and… it just works! ## Explore more @@ -41,19 +41,22 @@ More of a video person? Here’s two to get you started: ## Principles Some core principles that underly Silver Bullet’s philosophy: -* **The truth is in the markdown.** And markdown is simply text files stored on disk. No proprietary formats or lock in. While SB uses a database for indexing and caching some data, all of that can be rebuilt from its markdown sources at any time. +* **The truth is in the markdown.** Markdown is simply text files, stored on disk. Nothing fancy. No proprietary formats or lock in. While SB uses a database for indexing and caching some data, all of that can be rebuilt from its markdown source at any time. * **What you see is what it is.** No magic or hidden content. * **Single mode.** SB doesn’t have a separate view and edit mode. You’re always in edit mode, and you like it that way. * **Extend it your way**. SB is highly extensible, and you can customize it your liking and your workflows. -## Installing and running Silver Bullet -Like what you’re seeing? Install it yourself locally or on your server! It’s free. +## Running Silver Bullet +Do you like what you’re seeing? Are you ready to take that next step? Install it yourself locally or on your server! It’s free. -To run a release version, you need to have a recent version of [node.js installed](https://nodejs.org/en/) (16+) as well as some basic build infrastructure (make, cpp). Silver Bullet has only been tested on MacOS and Linux thus far. +To run a release version, you need to have a recent version of [node.js installed](https://nodejs.org/en/) (16+). Silver Bullet has only been tested on MacOS and Linux thus far. It could also run on Windows, let me know if it does. -To install and run, create a folder for your pages (can be empty or an existing folder with `.md` files) and run: +To install and run SB, create a folder for your pages (can be empty or an existing folder with `.md` files) and run the following command in your terminal: npx @silverbullet/server -Optionally you can use the `--port` argument to specify a HTTP port (defaults to `3000`) and you can pass a `--password` flag to require a password to access. Note this is a rather weak security mechanism, so it’s recommended to add additional layers of security on top of this if you run this on a public server somewhere (at least add TLS). Personally I run it on a tiny Linux VM on my server at home, and use a VPN (Tailscale) to access it from outside my home. +Optionally you can use the `—port` argument to specify a HTTP port (defaults to `3000`) and you can pass a `—password` flag to require a password to access. Note this is a rather weak security mechanism, so it’s recommended to add additional layers of security on top of this if you run this on a public server somewhere (at least add TLS). Personally I run it on a tiny Linux VM on my server at home, and use a VPN (Tailscale) to access it from outside my home. +That’s it! Enjoy. + +If you (hypothetically) find bugs or have feature requests, post them in [our issue tracker](https://github.com/silverbulletmd/silverbullet). Want to contribute? [Check out the code](https://github.com/silverbulletmd/silverbullet). \ No newline at end of file