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Show HN: Gingko, a tree-document editor

gingkoapp.com

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Re: Show HN: Gingko, a tree-document editor

#71

Post by AYBABTME »

adriano_f wrote: post #17
dscrd wrote: post #15

Reminds me of Ted Nelson's Zigzag, only he had N dimensions and a cell structure. http://xanadu.com/zigzag/

Yes, Ted Nelson has some similar work in this line. But I think he went too far with the N dimensions... Text is linear, Gingko text is 2-dimensional. With it, we can represent more than two dimensions, by simply "slicing" along any two we choose (e.g. text & comments)... not sure I'm explaining this properly :-/

I think Nelson's use of a more general graph has some value. I could see an encyclopedia or a program being edited/viewed in Gingko with circular references. With some tweaks on the UI (being able to put more emphasis on the card currently viewed, maybe by partially sliding out of view the parent cards or shrinking them when they're not focused).

I think this project is pretty cool and the idea is awesome. It would make a lot of sense on a tablet/phone and as a generalized editor.

Re: Show HN: Gingko, a tree-document editor

#72

Post by adriano_f »

jstsch wrote: post #70

I think this is quite a nice experiment in UI. However too small and simple to start charging for (but please proof me wrong!). 1) What I miss is the possibility to attach files. This would be essential in typical collaborative environments. 2) I don't want to give you my data. So localstorage or export/import is essential.

We attach files using dropbox links. It's a workaround, but it's been useful so far.

Offline & import/export are features in the pipeline.

Re: Show HN: Gingko, a tree-document editor

#73

Post by IanCal »

adriano_f wrote: post #31
mgualt wrote: post #27

I'm certainly drawn to the idea and am inclined positively towards it. I'm even willing to overlook the ridiculous hubris of "This new medium will be the way most text is read and written in the future." However, there are many confusing things to me as a person who arrived at the site through HN. Since one of the developers is promoting the "app" here, it might be useful to hear from him on these points: 1. Is this…

The hubris of the statement is not lost on me, but what should a founder be but delusional and optimistic :) 1. It's both a viewer and a word processor. It relies on Markdown (and LaTeX through extensions). We export to Md, but will be adding more import/export options in the future. We hope to create a publication standard for it. 2. The structure of the document is an "outline of index cards". Each card can have on…

> It relies on Markdown (and LaTeX through extensions). We export to Md, but will be adding more import/export options in the future. We hope to create a publication standard for it.

Do we need a new standard for structured documents? Would a not be sufficient?

Re: Show HN: Gingko, a tree-document editor

#74

Post by sweetdreamerit »

Matti wrote: post #30

Far 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…

seems nice, but I have a question: can it import - export to other formats? Latex, markdown, csv ....

Re: Show HN: Gingko, a tree-document editor

#75

Post by Matti »

sweetdreamerit wrote: post #74
Matti wrote: post #30

Far 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…

seems nice, but I have a question: can it import - export to other formats? Latex, markdown, csv ....

You can export/import views as XML or CSV. The generated XML is UTF-8 encoded and it only has three element types in total for the cells and rows so the structure of the file isn't complicated at all.

Re: Show HN: Gingko, a tree-document editor

#76

Post by adriano_f »

codezero wrote: post #69
adriano_f wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's a bug that someone's reported before (through Twitter). Working on fixing it. No one can see your trees. The "bunch of text" bug has never happened before, will try to track it down. Probably due to the flood of traffic from HN! UPDATE from my cofounder: "fyi: I fixed that bug weird one" - Aleksey Kulikov

by "bunch of text" I mean several list items. I took screenshots if there is an email I can send them to (assuming that's helpful, I understand if it's not) let me know.

Thanks. You can contact me through main menu in app (gear at top right).

UPDATE: My cofounder has just found the bug and deployed a fix. Refresh and it shouldn't happen again.

Re: Show HN: Gingko, a tree-document editor

#77

Post by defilade »

adriano_f wrote: post #46
defilade wrote: post #44

Interesting idea. Can you make it so that when I click in the card it automatically goes into edit mode? Having to click an "edit" button really slows things down.

You can double-click the card to go into edit mode. Single click would be easier, but since we have drag-and-drop, and sometimes use clicking just for navigation, we have to use double-click to edit. (unless you have a better approach in mind?) PS: Also, once you get used to them, the keyboard shortcuts lets you navigate & edit pretty quickly.

Thanks.

Also, just now I was seeing other people's cards showing up in my tree. When I switched trees, it corrected itself.

Re: Show HN: Gingko, a tree-document editor

#78

Post by codezero »

adriano_f wrote: post #76
codezero wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

by "bunch of text" I mean several list items. I took screenshots if there is an email I can send them to (assuming that's helpful, I understand if it's not) let me know.

Thanks. You can contact me through main menu in app (gear at top right). UPDATE: My cofounder has just found the bug and deployed a fix. Refresh and it shouldn't happen again.

Thanks!
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