RoyHJ

Explain the problem as you see it

When tagging or adding a reference to a node, I tend to think in an directed graph manner that reflects the context of the reference (what links to it / what was I doing when I created this node / what does this tag extend).

For example, let's say that I'm tagging a quote or a thought and I want to choose the right #topic to tag it with. At this point in time, the most straightforward thing for me to do is start writing a parent tag (say, "#topic") and I would like to have Tana show me all the tags the extend (inherit) #topic (more generally, all of the backlinks, in this case, the tags first, then the other links to the tag, because I'm tagging).

Similar examples for regular @references are easy to think about, e.g. I'm looking for a note I wrote while summarizing some paper, so I'll start with the @paper_name and traverse the graph via backlinks (would be nice to also suggest notes directly under the paper note in the outline structure in the autocomplete menu, maybe after "tabbing/traversing into it").

Partial workaround: The search pane is quite powerful, and can solve some cases without explicitly traversing the graph (no way to limit the results to backlinks of a specific node rather than a semantic search).
Would be great if it could be integrated with the autocomplete menu (I'm not finding a natural way to insert a search result as a link/tag to my current cursor location after ctrl+s).

Why is this a problem for you?

Creates friction while linking and tagging that could be easily solved.

Suggest a solution

Example using tags:
When tagging, add suggestions of backlinks (including "extending tags") based on a current "traversing location in the Tana node graph" the first node would be selected using auto complete of the name being typed and using Tab to select a node.
i.e. after selecting #topic with tab, suggest the tags that extend/inherit #topic, then when selecting a sub-tag (tab or mouse click) update the suggestions based on the sub-tag location... allowing the user to traverse the tags graph in an easy way.

Another way to put it, is to allow traversing the Tana graph while linking via backlinks (tag being a special case of a backlink).

Explain the problem as you see it

Since fields add semantics to metadata/links, they should blend naturally with the flow of writing text.

This is especially useful for stand-alone fields (not attached to supertags) common throughout the workspace.

Why is this a problem for you?

Blending-in fields within the note helps keeping the flow of writing, reduces friction in editing existing information (changing the relation in-text while reading) and the exact context is useful to pinpoint the field to the source context in the note.

Suggest a solution

For example, in a note about "Smaug" I might start with something like this:

Smaug is a (instance of:: Dragon) in [[Tolkien]]'s book [[The Hobbit]] (has question:: are there other dragons in middle-earth?).

with an option of linking notes a little more through the field values:

Smaug is a (instance of:: [[Dragon]]) in [[Tolkien]]'s book [[The Hobbit]] (has question:: are there other dragons in [[middle-earth]]?).

This kind of syntax should add "dragon" to the field "instance of" of this note (and the question...) similarly to setting it in a separate line as a field.

Example implementations of this approach are obsidian/dataview and semantic mediawiki.