This is the most hipster project I've ever seen.
The Plain Text Project
41–50 of 208 posts
Re: The Plain Text Project
#42I think more and more people are realizing that simpler is almost always better, and not only when it comes to software. I've found that this approach works best for nearly all aspects of life. The hard part is simplifying complex things. We have so many odd pieces (usually due to legacy reasons or conflicting designs) which don't quite fit into an otherwise simple solution. Plain text could probably work for most fo…
I'm skeptical any such trend exists. Are you sure you're not misinterpreting your anecdotal experience? I'm not sure if it's a result of the fact that most people are tech savvy Most people aren't tech savvy. Again, maybe you are extrapolating inappropriately from your personal experiences, the people you hang out with, etc?
I'm mostly referring to the younger generation(s) and the apps most widely used by them. Think of the simplicity of applications like Instagram and Snapchat. There isn't much to the interfaces for most user interaction - some images, videos, text, an input or two, and a few buttons. There may be some advanced touch interactions (pinching and swiping), but overall, applications these days tend to be relatively simple.
Older generations definitely struggle using software though, so I think they may be a good metric for how simple and easy to use software can be.
Anecdotal experiences could certainly play a role in my opinion here, but I do think I've recognized a pattern over the past couple of decades where winning software interfaces have made a transition from being overly designed and complex to much simpler designs with (usually) predictable interactive element positions and flows.
Think of what software was like when there were "shiny" buttons and small text everywhere with confusing visual flow, and then think about what it is now, usually composed of flat buttons (e.g., the "material-ui" standard) and easy to digest visual flow with predictable interactions. This transition is likely a natural result of figuring out over time what works best and what doesn't.
By tech savvy people, I mean the end users who interact with software on a regular basis. These people (i.e., most people in the modern world, a number steadily increasing) will naturally gravitate towards the easy-to-use, predictable design patterns to which they've become accustomed.
Re: The Plain Text Project
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
Books don't have links.
Sometimes I forget that even HN has people who will happily argue about absolutely anything. Plain text is printed in a physical surface by mechanical or manual means, but you don’t seem to have a problem with pixels. Footnotes, figures, and bibliographies all refer to material out of time and space. Frequently you had to bust ass to make use of them but they were there. And they were replaced with something demonstr…
The point is that this site is literally about plain text files, i.e. not using a markup format or other adornments.
Re: The Plain Text Project
#44Plain text is great when I am on my laptop, but not as well as soon as I want to, for example, check or update my todo list on OneDrive/Google Drive on my phone or on my work computer.
I have found myself moving back into proprietary formats like docx and xlsx because of the above.
All I want is a folder full of markdown files (and other files that need to stay in their original format), but I not could find a way to make it work on mobile.
Re: The Plain Text Project
#45I didn't see any mention of in a quick look through the linked website, but the book "The Pragmatic Programmer" is one of the best resources you'll find for making the most out of text-based tools. PP goes a little beyond that, too, it's not the book's sole focus, but it's a major one, and the book is a classic:
https://www.amazon.com/Pragmatic-Programmer-journey-mastery-...
Re: The Plain Text Project
#46Plain text is great when I am on my laptop, but not as well as soon as I want to, for example, check or update my todo list on OneDrive/Google Drive on my phone or on my work computer. I have found myself moving back into proprietary formats like docx and xlsx because of the above. All I want is a folder full of markdown files (and other files that need to stay in their original format), but I not could find a way to…
Markor works well on Android.
Re: The Plain Text Project
#47Recently I decided that I was going to solve the problem of: I easily write inline TODO comments while I work on code, but then have difficulty keeping track of them and getting my head back into the state of things later. While there is IDE support for such things, it's usually not exactly the right interface I want. So I made a tiny CLI app that scans the source for TODO and FIXME lines and presents a menu of files…
Nice idea. The JetBrains family of IDEs (RubyMine, IntelliJ, etc.) even have this as a built-in TODO panel that shows files with TODO and FIXME comments (syntax is configurable).
Visual Studio does the same ("Task List")
Re: The Plain Text Project
#48Plain text is great when I am on my laptop, but not as well as soon as I want to, for example, check or update my todo list on OneDrive/Google Drive on my phone or on my work computer. I have found myself moving back into proprietary formats like docx and xlsx because of the above. All I want is a folder full of markdown files (and other files that need to stay in their original format), but I not could find a way to…
That seems odd... at least on iOS, aren’t there a million markdown editors? What problem did you run in to?
Re: The Plain Text Project
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nice idea. The JetBrains family of IDEs (RubyMine, IntelliJ, etc.) even have this as a built-in TODO panel that shows files with TODO and FIXME comments (syntax is configurable).
Visual Studio does the same ("Task List")
I really like JetBrain's Resharper for Visual Studio -- they have a very nice, flexible, and configurable 'TODO' window. For example, on our team we try to put TODO followed by our name or initials. The TODO window can then partition those out into separate lists.
Re: The Plain Text Project
#50I recently just upped my StandardNotes subscription (the Black Friday ad is still active), and I'm now locked in for ~5.5 years. It's a very plain-text webapp/mobile app that aims to be simple and long-lasting, yet feature-full by means of optional extensions. It's not perfect, but I've been using it for a few months now without any data loss/major bugs encountered, and was excited to use it to ditch Google Keep/Goog…
I tried to love standard notes but I had several times where note contents were overwritten or missing between machines. I looked at the API for syncing and it did not give me confidence. Using pass + git now. Works great.
Do you recall when this was? This kind of feedback is highly unusual for us. Most users love SN precisely for its reliable sync. Our syncing engine underwent large-scale changes in June/July of this year to solve an edge case with opening out-of-date clients. If you experienced any issues after this date with updated clients, I'd be very surprised, but would love to hear more if you can spare a moment.
The only other issue we have heard of precisely one other time has to do with Firefox pinned tabs + some assortment of Firefox browser extensions. To be clear, any reproducible issues with syncing are 100% fixed as quickly as possible.
Lastly, regarding our API for syncing, while our encryption specification is described in plain text detail, you'd have to inspect our source to see how syncing works.