Todo
- Revamp the front page, add an animation like a 2D game describing the site map
- Add Subscribe CTA to Mobile and Tablet Viewport
I created Garden as a fork of a project called Quartz, built by Jacky Zhao in December 2023.
I was already aware of Knowledge Graphs due the products like Roam Research and Obsidian. Roam Research was very popular on Twitter back then, however it was paid. So people would use Obsidian as a free alternative.
Obsidian was a great place to write by itself. With Quartz, Jacky built a way to deploy Obsidian Vaults as websites!
Before Garden, I had another forked project as my blog - updating posts over there required me to write HTML and post. That was cumbersome, so I knew the value of having Quartz, write as Markdown in a system that acts like your CMS (no need to build a CMS) - and then deploy every time for Quartz to automatically script markdown files into HTML and make them suitable on browser. Also ensuring all Obsidian features like Tags, Dates, Markdown Formatting, and the very main the Graph could also be part of the website.
So now the website itself can function as a Knowledge Graph.
The name Garden
I started calling it Garden because I imagined curious people visiting this website to simply explore. Like you visit a Garden, sometimes you have a specific goal like running but otherwise you would just look at the trees, birds and flowers around you. And stay as long as you wanted impromptu going wherever excites you.
Upgrading the Version 4
I recently updated Quartz to version 4. This allowed a default Explorer section on right side on desktop and within hamburger menu for mobile. So users no longer need to click on my folders to explore.
Due to this update I do not really need the first page to be all link-y like it is right now. My primary goal when someone visits this Index page is that they Subscribe to my RSS feed which sends a list of all writings in past 7 days via email.
Every Sunday morning - you get to read some philosophy, my new projects or ideas, and adventures if I am travelling.
I did some custom development to make Garden more focused on this goal.
Other than explorer, the version 4 of Quartz brought Table of Contents visible on right side of desktop viewport. However this is not default available on mobile/tablet.
Custom Developments
-
I added a Subscribe CTA — it is currently visible on the top right section on Desktop. If you are using mobile, you will not see it. I need better design ideas to launch this for mobile and tablet viewports.
-
Created an RSS Feed using the default Quartz functionality and integrated it with Mailchimp. Thanks to Mailchimp’s rss campaign, I did not need to do any coding.
Future custom developments I wish to do:
- Add Subscribe CTA to Mobile and Tablet Viewport
- Update the Index Pitch to make more people Subscribe
- Communicate Post Modifications via RSS feed - many articles I simply update, I do not write new every time. But I may one control on which updates are worth sharing.
- Create a new People and Conversation folders
Marketing
Post launching in December 2023, I did not market immediately as Garden did not have a lot of content. However now it does - hence I am actively drawing some strategy.
A few ideas,
- Instagram Stories: started onboarding my followers. Got a few making total audience 6 as of November 2025
- X Posts: Has not worked yet, my posts get only 30 to 50 views. The potential is either posting in communities or in reply.
- X Profile Viewers: I am planning the send X profile viewers to my portfolio website where I can have a popup sliding in to Subscribe.
- X DMs: I can DM 500 people per day with premium should make use of it.
- LinkedIn: Maybe a post once a week - have tried once put did not work. Even LI posts just get a few likes for me.
- Create Youtube videos for each blog - this I believe has the most potential