11–20 of 46 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Relevant: https://www.xkcd.com/378/
That comic is on the programming/IDE-side of Emacs though, which isn't what I'm talking about here. Quite seriously, Emacs is really excellent for non-program writing too, which is mainly what I use it for.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Relevant: https://www.xkcd.com/378/
That comic is on the programming/IDE-side of Emacs though, which isn't what I'm talking about here. Quite seriously, Emacs is really excellent for non-program writing too, which is mainly what I use it for.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Relevant: https://www.xkcd.com/378/
That comic is on the programming/IDE-side of Emacs though, which isn't what I'm talking about here. Quite seriously, Emacs is really excellent for non-program writing too, which is mainly what I use it for.
I don't mind paying the subscription since I wasn't a customer before they switched business models.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
That comic is on the programming/IDE-side of Emacs though, which isn't what I'm talking about here. Quite seriously, Emacs is really excellent for non-program writing too, which is mainly what I use it for.
The joke is really just that emacs users are so consistently evangelical it becomes amusing and endearing. I love that a piece of software can be so good that it inspires people to do so.
Emacs is seriously the best 'app' for anyone working with text, including writers. And if its (default) looks put you off, have a look at extensions (and Emacs is designed to be extended) like the Poet theme: https://github.com/kunalb/poet
Another extension that's great for writing/note taking is Deft [1]. Give it a directory (optional recursing) of .md, .txt, .org, etc. files, and it will let you filter through them instantly. I've been using this for a few years now and it's still my primary digital note-taking system.
Here's a behind the scenes look into how I've used Blurt to help me create a writing habit (50+ day streak ongoing!) https://blurt.app/@awaxman11/creating-a-writing-habit/5c60ed...
The founder is running the business openly.Here are his Feb '19 results: https://twitter.com/corey_gwin/status/1109565231510900736
I wonder how many of these see actual real use. As a writer, I can't stand distractions or additional input when I know that all I really need is pen and paper, or Pages / Google Docs if talking computers. I am also struggling to get over the Gutenberg editor that WordPress introduced. I feel like Matt is being an immature brat for not introducing a simple 'writers mode' for the editor. People think it doesn't matter…
Emacs is seriously the best 'app' for anyone working with text, including writers. And if its (default) looks put you off, have a look at extensions (and Emacs is designed to be extended) like the Poet theme: https://github.com/kunalb/poet
Amen to that. I read a blog post somewhere (sorry, lost the reference) about a writer (non-programmer, mind you) who switched to Emacs for Org-Mode. Another extension that's great for writing/note taking is Deft [1]. Give it a directory (optional recursing) of .md, .txt, .org, etc. files, and it will let you filter through them instantly. I've been using this for a few years now and it's still my primary digital note…
Another great Emacs extension for writing is writeroom-mode: https://github.com/joostkremers/writeroom-mode
You may laugh but I am serious. Language has moved on and it has been moving on for as long as there has been recorded history.
With HTML5 you get the extra markup for 'section', 'article', 'aside' and there are other semantic elements that already exist - 'em' is not the same as 'i', it infers emphasis rather than making the letters italic.
See the elements as punctuation. Yep, that means writing 'p' tags around sentences. An IDE autocompletes the tags but it is gentle about spelling mistakes and grammar is unknown to it.
You can fully typeset a book in HTML, if you want to comment bits out then you can. With an IDE you can close sections between tags up.
Then there is good old version control. Compare your changes.
The medium has other creative opportunities. I might not finish my book that starts out with 'In 2019 we should be...' until 2021. I could just code that in so the year is correct.
So long as you have some fluency in HTML5 and know the tag vocabulary then the markup in the original document does no harm. Screenplays and plenty of other written forms have a format, tidy HTML5 is now mine.
The semantic tags and the 'outline friendly' structure also help writing. No longer does text just have to be text.
We are so used to 'div soup' style HTML churned out by a machine that we have forgotten what real HTML5 looks like. There is no need for the div, span and other coder-only elements, there is also no need for classes and ids if writing actual content in neat HTML5. With CSS Grid one's copy can be styled with a few basic rules on 'section', 'aside', 'figure' and other top level elements.
Proof reading is pretty good too - refresh the page in the browser. Plus, in text nowadays one does need to cite sources. Links are easy in HTML5, not so easy in other things.
Try it, you will be surprised. Plus, if you should be coding and you are working on your novel, most people will just see a programmer IDE on screen...