[inbox] Ideas, links and loose TODOs

[rufuspollock]

Rolling inbox for loose ideas, links, and TODOs that don't yet deserve their own issue. Add in comments or edit the list; graduate items to sub-issues of the current epic when they get real. (Migrated from docs/INBOX.md.)

Links / research

• Markdown Databases concept overview: https://chatgpt.com/share/6a5ac1ef-a670-83eb-b4fb-0b5d26fe1a63
• Beginning of a "How to make a Markdown-based Notion setup" discussion: https://chatgpt.com/share/6a5ac512-2d64-83eb-a343-e44aead93935
• TODO: coggle links for overview done 2/3y ago …
• TODO: dig out where Content DB ideas ended up (datahub notebook??)

From markdownmanifesto.com repo (migrated 2026-07-18)

• "X ❤️ Markdown" unofficial slogan/badge — communities/tools stick the image on their site, links back to the manifesto (e.g. "Obsidian ❤️ Markdown")
• WhatsApp markdown support (➕2026-02-18) — for "Markdown in X" / kb
• Mini-demos of markdown (under 30s): editing in Substack, WhatsApp, Google Docs, Discord…; markdown for docs. Poke a little fun at hold-outs e.g. Apple Notes.
• Showcases of legendary/awesome projects: Obsidian (markdown PKM for everyone), GitHub (markdown in issues + jekyll publishing)
• Video interviews — the "markdown podcast": John Gruber, …
• Timeline of markdown history

[rufuspollock]

Absorbed from legacy-issue triage (#56):

• kb howto candidate: How to debug and fix 404 errors (rough steps preserved in How to debug and fix 404 errors? #10)
• kb howto candidate: How to format a perfect markdown page — old draft exists at https://github.com/datopian/portaljs/blob/main/site/content/howtos/how-to-format-a-perfect-markdown-based-page.md (from [inbox] FAQs / Howtos to answer #11)
• Possible howtos from old inbox [inbox] Existing materials as of Dec 2023 #2: add redirects; add a signup form; hide a page without removing it (isDraft frontmatter) — mostly Flowershow-product docs territory, take only if generalisable
• Design-history reference: excalidraw sketch from 2023 catalogs docu-thon (link in [inbox] Existing materials as of Dec 2023 #2)
• From Outstanding tasks to revisit towards the end of the project #20, for the portaljs repo (not this one): old tutorial/howto content on portaljs.org was meant to be removed/redirected to this site — @rufuspollock to decide if still worth doing

[rufuspollock]

From Rufus 2026-07-18:

• https://www.portaljs.com/blog/create-a-simple-catalog-of-anything-using-markdown — we already have this (same Harry Potter/Dataview tutorial, full 1140-word version) at learn/howtos/create-a-simple-catalog-of-anything; it was migrated back in 2023 (old issue Transfer here "create a simple catalog of anything using markdown" #19). Remaining opportunities: (a) it still teaches Dataview — modernise to Obsidian Bases (or show both); (b) the portaljs copy is a live duplicate competing for the same search queries — fold into the portaljs-redirect decision already logged above from Outstanding tasks to revisit towards the end of the project #20.
• Decision: dated posts vs wiki KB — see discussion in session 2026-07-18; proposal: evergreen guides + visible last-updated dates + a lightweight blog stream for announcements/essays.

[rufuspollock]

Parked idea (Rufus 2026-07-18): landing-page engagement — the current landing is fine but the real hook should be something visual: a slice of the visual roadmap, or the planned 'why markdown is awesome' visual one-pager, plus a line or two of manifesto. Location/combination TBD — revisit after the visual roadmap experiment settles.