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Lattics
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Posted by Dormouse
Jan 26, 2025 at 03:51 PM
Darren McDonald wrote:
>Will it be able to replace Scrivener and (possibly Obsidian)?
Scrivener, yes.
Obsidian, maybe. It depends on how you use Obsidian and which features and plugins you depend on.
I semi-describe my long journey here - https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=54676.0
Effectively I started with replacing the writing app, and then gradually moved to putting nearly all my notes in it.
You can’t necessarily import all your Obsidian notes without effort. Text notes move easily but local images have to be tackled directly; not a problem if you only use links to an external source.
>How will the learning curve be?
Well, there’s the learning curve AND adapting your workflows. I found the learning curve okay, but adapting slow. But that probably depends on how well your workflows already fit. There’s quite a few minor niggles if you try6 to go off what they consider the path. But once you get to know how the fundamentals work, it is pretty straightforward.
>How good are the online learning materials (especially video)?
Patchy. They’ve made a big effort and the online guides and user manuals are mostly updated with new features. But they’re not comprehensive and there’s no functioning user community, unless it’s a secret channel in China. (I may have missed it; I would be grateful to be pointed towards anything that works.) They usually respond to the inapp queries within two or three days.
The reviews etc I’ve seen are predominantly rubbish. Mostly well out of date and usually by wannabe and actual ‘influencers’ who try the program for review but aren’t actual users; it’s as if they made an effort at some point to reach out to potential reviewers, but without the same drive and money that Amplenote have put in.
The speed with which they have been updating and adding major features makes it easier to learn incrementally than absorb it all in one go from a few videos. What Obsidian did in its early days was generate an enthusiastic community who made numerous videos. Amplenote have had a slow progressive strategy. idk if Lattics would have had more obvious success if they had been more plugged into the culture of potential English speaking users - I’m not sure if any of their developers are fluent English speakers. And they seem to have given up on running their Discord.
>How will the output confirm to the fussy requirements of the journals I publish in?
I’d expect it to be fine. And it’s pretty easy to tweak their templates if you need something slightly different.
>How well does it integrate with reference managers?
It’s only set up for Zotero. When their Discord had to-and-fro communication they were putting a lot of effort into getting that right.
I haven’t tested this out yet myself - I don’t use Zotero and what I’m doing rn doesn’t require it. I have thought about moving to Zotero.
Posted by Darren McDonald
Feb 1, 2025 at 05:33 PM
Thank you, Dormouse, for your detailed comments on some of my questions about Lattics and for sharing insights into how you use the app and how it fits into your workflow.
For the recent conceptual paper I wrote, my workflow primarily involved Zotero and Obsidian as preparation tools before writing up in Scrivener. Since the paper was conceptual, I mainly drew from existing research. I find Zotero incredibly helpful for reading and annotating research papers—after years of trying different reference managers, Zotero works best for me. When I want to focus on a specific theme or topic, I use Obsidian to write mini-essays. I’ve experimented with other apps for this purpose, but there’s something about Obsidian’s user interface that makes it particularly conducive to this kind of writing. Initially, I spent a lot of time customizing Obsidian with various plugins and themes, but I’ve since cut back significantly and now use it primarily as a note-taking tool. I still need to spend more time exploring connections between notes to spark new insights, though I found that many of those connections emerged during the actual writing process in Scrivener. The phrase “writing is thinking” really resonates with me. During moments of “writer’s high,” I wrote pages of thinking that didn’t make it into the final paper but were saved in a Scrivener folder I named “future research.” I plan to revisit these notes in Obsidian for further development.
Interestingly, I used Dynalist and Bike to brainstorm the flow of the paper in the early stages, even though Obsidian has outline features and was created by the same developers.
For other papers based on fieldwork, I’ve relied on Word documents for PDFs of interview transcripts and field notes. I have access to dedicated qualitative analysis software like Atlas.ti, but I haven’t yet put it to proper use. The learning curve seems excessive for what I want to use Atlas.ti for, but, then again, the software might help me uncover new connections I hadn’t realized were there.
I’m currently exploring Lattics, and its features seem like a great fit for my needs. I’ll need to spend more time using it before I can share any meaningful feedback, but I’ll be sure to update here once I’ve made some progress. :)
Dormouse wrote:
>
>Darren McDonald wrote:
>
>>Will it be able to replace Scrivener and (possibly Obsidian)?
>
>Scrivener, yes.
>Obsidian, maybe. It depends on how you use Obsidian and which features
>and plugins you depend on.
>
>I semi-describe my long journey here -
>https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=54676.0
>Effectively I started with replacing the writing app, and then gradually
>moved to putting nearly all my notes in it.
>
>You can’t necessarily import all your Obsidian notes without effort.
>Text notes move easily but local images have to be tackled directly; not
>a problem if you only use links to an external source.
>
>
>>How will the learning curve be?
>
>Well, there’s the learning curve AND adapting your workflows. I found
>the learning curve okay, but adapting slow. But that probably depends on
>how well your workflows already fit. There’s quite a few minor niggles
>if you try6 to go off what they consider the path. But once you get to
>know how the fundamentals work, it is pretty straightforward.
>
>
>>How good are the online learning materials (especially video)?
>
>Patchy. They’ve made a big effort and the online guides and user manuals
>are mostly updated with new features. But they’re not comprehensive and
>there’s no functioning user community, unless it’s a secret channel in
>China. (I may have missed it; I would be grateful to be pointed towards
>anything that works.) They usually respond to the inapp queries within
>two or three days.
>
>The reviews etc I’ve seen are predominantly rubbish. Mostly well out of
>date and usually by wannabe and actual ‘influencers’ who try the program
>for review but aren’t actual users; it’s as if they made an effort at
>some point to reach out to potential reviewers, but without the same
>drive and money that Amplenote have put in.
>
>The speed with which they have been updating and adding major features
>makes it easier to learn incrementally than absorb it all in one go from
>a few videos. What Obsidian did in its early days was generate an
>enthusiastic community who made numerous videos. Amplenote have had a
>slow progressive strategy. idk if Lattics would have had more obvious
>success if they had been more plugged into the culture of potential
>English speaking users - I’m not sure if any of their developers are
>fluent English speakers. And they seem to have given up on running their
>Discord.
>
>
>>How will the output confirm to the fussy requirements of the journals I
>publish in?
>
>I’d expect it to be fine. And it’s pretty easy to tweak their templates
>if you need something slightly different.
>
>
>>How well does it integrate with reference managers?
>
>It’s only set up for Zotero. When their Discord had to-and-fro
>communication they were putting a lot of effort into getting that right.
>I haven’t tested this out yet myself - I don’t use Zotero and what I’m
>doing rn doesn’t require it. I have thought about moving to Zotero.
>