I never thought anyone would be solving this kind of problem. I had the same problem last night while writing a paper for an online course. I think in outline first then elaborate over several iterations. I tried using a wiki (sphinx-doc.org) but it got in my way immediately. To find this new paradigm, today, in HN, made me immensely happy and hopeful about the future. I agree, this is the way we'll read and write in the future. And the future is now! Thanks guys.
Show HN: Gingko, a tree-document editor
111–120 of 141 posts
Re: Show HN: Gingko, a tree-document editor
#112If anyone thinks serious academics will adopt something stupid and flashy like this in place of "old-fashioned, dry PDFs" when it isn't even free or publicly specified, they're seriously deluded.
Fuck start-ups and capitalism.
Re: Show HN: Gingko, a tree-document editor
#113If anyone thinks serious academics will adopt something stupid and flashy like this in place of "old-fashioned, dry PDFs" when it isn't even free or publicly specified, they're seriously deluded. Fuck start-ups and capitalism.
> Fuck start-ups and capitalism.
Did you perchance take a wrong turn on the interweb tubes, and arrive at this website by mistake?
You are right, though; nothing proprietary and costly is ever going to 'change the world' of something so basic as reading and writing...
Re: Show HN: Gingko, a tree-document editor
#114Far from identical, but along similar lines: http://treesheets.com/ "It's like a spreadsheet, immediately familiar, but much more suitable for complex data because it's hierarchical. It's like a mind mapper, but more organized and compact. It's like an outliner, but in more than one dimension. It's like a text editor, but with structure. " You can nest spreadsheet-like cells within cells within cells within cells.. a…
That's great, definitely bookmarked.
An in-browser, collaborative version would be a serious killer app.
Re: Show HN: Gingko, a tree-document editor
#115If anyone thinks serious academics will adopt something stupid and flashy like this in place of "old-fashioned, dry PDFs" when it isn't even free or publicly specified, they're seriously deluded. Fuck start-ups and capitalism.
> Fuck start-ups and capitalism. Did you perchance take a wrong turn on the interweb tubes, and arrive at this website by mistake? You are right, though; nothing proprietary and costly is ever going to 'change the world' of something so basic as reading and writing...
I certainly did. I started with HN when I was messed up and depressed and wanted to fill my mind with crap that was completely contrarian to everything I believe as a form of self-destruction.
Every once in a while there's something important that I get from HN, which is why I've kept coming back since starting to get better. Some time ago I decided it really wasn't worth it, and I haven't yet quit because I'm just on auto-pilot and come here when I'm bored. I'll get around to quitting soon though. Thanks for the reminder.
Re: Show HN: Gingko, a tree-document editor
#116If anyone thinks serious academics will adopt something stupid and flashy like this in place of "old-fashioned, dry PDFs" when it isn't even free or publicly specified, they're seriously deluded. Fuck start-ups and capitalism.
> Fuck start-ups and capitalism. Did you perchance take a wrong turn on the interweb tubes, and arrive at this website by mistake? You are right, though; nothing proprietary and costly is ever going to 'change the world' of something so basic as reading and writing...
That said, my being in the wrong place doesn't change the fact that startups and capitalism are both lame and evil and retarded.
I think you should still consider and perhaps respond to the point instead of just discounting it because its out of place.
Re: Show HN: Gingko, a tree-document editor
#117Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Fuck start-ups and capitalism. Did you perchance take a wrong turn on the interweb tubes, and arrive at this website by mistake? You are right, though; nothing proprietary and costly is ever going to 'change the world' of something so basic as reading and writing...
That said, my being in the wrong place doesn't change the fact that startups and capitalism are both lame and evil and retarded. I think you should still consider and perhaps respond to the point instead of just discounting it because its out of place.
Well, I thought I did, but I interpreted your point more narrowly: that no proprietary app from some startup would ever be able to revolutionize authoring and reading works, replacing PDFs and their ilk for academics and research. I agreed.
If your point is the much broader contention that capitalism is lame and evil and retarded in general, that's a little beyond the scope of what can be resolved on HN.
Re: Show HN: Gingko, a tree-document editor
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Fuck start-ups and capitalism. Did you perchance take a wrong turn on the interweb tubes, and arrive at this website by mistake? You are right, though; nothing proprietary and costly is ever going to 'change the world' of something so basic as reading and writing...
I certainly did. I started with HN when I was messed up and depressed and wanted to fill my mind with crap that was completely contrarian to everything I believe as a form of self-destruction. Every once in a while there's something important that I get from HN, which is why I've kept coming back since starting to get better. Some time ago I decided it really wasn't worth it, and I haven't yet quit because I'm just o…
>I'll get around to quitting soon though.
dont do it, i think is healthy to any community to have people with different perspectives..
also i dont consider HN a reddit for startups.. once in a while there are something about it.. (thanks god) but are not the majority view, unlike the previous post may picture
startup culture its way off its limits.. and some people should get back to sanity again..
the only people making something with this hyped culture are VC´s buying and selling things that dont even have a good business model just for the sake of its own profit..
but this look like a US zombie virus, that every 20 years start to happen all over again.. until the bubbles explode markets blows up.. and really hard working people have to pay for all the damage this greedy people creates..
sometimes i fell just like you..
Re: Show HN: Gingko, a tree-document editor
#119Hopefully this criticism is helpful. I find this really hard to read, sorry. I can't just scroll through or scan read, and I'm met with a variety of different things all at once. Everything's always visible, so I don't know what I'm looking at. I've scrolled down on the lowest level, and read a bit but have no understanding of the context. Clicking on it makes me realise where I am but I've skipped over a load of stu…
I agree, the UI needs improvement. No one feels the gaps more than I do. But they say, "launch before you're ready!" ;) For one thing, scrolling on its own (with mouse scroll), doesn't automatically highlight whichever card is now centered. So it breaks the flow. Clicking, or scrolling with keyboard are the only way right now to keep the context clear. > the hyperbole is a bit of a turnoff for me. I know, it's a big…
I think what you've done is pretty cool. Obviously it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but for me, I think it's more useful than those "distraction free" writing tools that are so popular today. My challenge when writing long documents isn't the noise around the screen, it's simultaneously managing a whole pile of thoughts related to the structure.
I really like the simple approach you've taken to the UI, but that's subjective. My main criticism about the app would be that I'd rather pay $20-$30 for a native app than subscribe to a web app.
In any case, good luck, I hope your app is successful.
Re: Show HN: Gingko, a tree-document editor
#120I'm a bit confused by the keyboard navigation. I open the sample document and hit the down arrow. It scrolls. I hit the down arrow again and the background color changes and it scrolls in the opposite direction. If I keep hitting the down arrow it scrolls up and down and up and down with a color change each time. And of course if I hold down the down arrow it starts flickering as it jumps back and forth between the two directions and colors.
Is that a bug or is that how it's supposed to work? I often scroll to the end of a short document by holding down the down arrow until things stop moving.