Changelog

Update RemNote Help pages to explain links vs references

As a newbie, I’m going to point out some things that are (unnecessarily) confusing to newcomers. Many of these could be corrected with small updates or additions to the RemNote Help pages.

The first recommendation would be to add something like this…

  • Rem References vs. Links

    Rem References are similar to but distinct from links. Links are underlined rather than just shown in a different color. Unlike Rem References, links can have arbitrary text, and they can link to external websites in addition to Rems in your knowledge base. Otherwise, they work similarly.— from Rem References | RemNote Help Center

    or….

  • Essentially, the practical choice is between using links as on the web, i.e. any text can link to anything, and you can only see which thing that is on hover, or being more explicit and treating references as transclusion that unambiguously shows the target (so you insert the verbatim reference after the relevant text or use verbatim references to build up new sentences around them), i.e. the same exact thing that is accessible from multiple points (this is the category portals fall into as well). — from Reference vs Copy Link to REM - RemNote /Create cloze within code block

to this Help Page → Links | RemNote Help Center

The motivation for this request should be self evident. The Links help page does not explain why there are these two things (Links and References) that do nearly the same thing, nor guidance on when to use one or the other.

This is an issue that is encountered early by newcomers because there are two very different interfaces (dialog boxes) to edit Links vs References. The visual difference prompts the obvious question, “What is the difference between these two things? There appear to be some feature differences between them, but it’s not clear exactly what those are. Why would I use one vs the other?” The answer is not easily found.

Please reduce this barrier to entry for newcomers to RemNote by improving the Help Pages that explain the difference.

Thank you for considering this request.