How to design a public "thought space" for yourself and others (note-taking tips)

A “mind garden” built in Craft is presented as a practical way to turn reading and ideas into a searchable, navigable knowledge system—one that supports curiosity, faster recall, and new connections. The core pitch is that cultivating curiosity and producing new thoughts can be driven by a single habit: growing a personal knowledge “garden” where notes are organized like a website, not a folder.

The walkthrough starts with a tour of a small Craft setup called a “mini mind Garden.” The homepage acts as the entry point, featuring a cover image and content that can be browsed by topic or by “booknotes.” Craft’s interface uses “cards” as subpages, and those cards sit under headings (specifically H2s) that populate a left-side table of contents. That table of contents doubles as navigation: headings expand into subpages, and the structure mirrors the note hierarchy. Search is positioned as another key capability. Typing a keyword (the example uses “story”) returns matching notes across the entire mind garden and shows the specific note attached to each result, letting users jump directly to the relevant passage.

Navigation is designed to reduce friction as people move deeper into ideas. Subpages open while keeping the previous page visible, and breadcrumbs show exactly where a reader is in the structure. A “back” link at the bottom of pages helps users return without scrolling—especially useful on mobile. The system also supports multiple viewing modes: dark/light themes and layout options such as classic and column views, with the theme preference applied to the shared link so anyone accessing the mind garden can switch modes.

The tour then zooms into how individual notes are structured. Each note is treated as an “atomic note,” with a specific, concept- or principle-based title, the core content (thoughts and reflections), and optional resources and related links back to sources. Notes can be connected through Craft’s linking features using inline links or “related notes” sections at the bottom. A key constraint is emphasized: linked notes should live inside the same Craft document (e.g., within “Greg’s second mind Garden”), otherwise external links may point to notes viewers can’t access.

Under the hood, the setup process is framed as straightforward. After signing up for Craft (with a free plan for testing and paid plans for longer-term use), the user creates a new document that functions as the homepage. Craft integrates cover images (including Unsplash integration) and provides two main homepage patterns: “Doors by Links,” where the homepage uses descriptive text and hyperlinks to send readers into rabbit holes, and “Doors by Topics,” where headings and pages act as the entry points. The hierarchy is built by creating H2 headings for topics, then adding cards for subpages, and finally adding cards for individual notes within each subpage.

Overall, the emphasis is on Craft’s out-of-the-box features—table of contents, breadcrumbs, search integration, and theme/layout controls—so the mind garden feels responsive, attractive, and usable across devices without coding. The result is a publishable “thought space” that turns reading into a living network of ideas rather than static highlights.