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The Plain Text Project

plaintextproject.online

61–70 of 208 posts

Re: The Plain Text Project

#61
post #33

Recently 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).

I use IntelliJ as well for years, but don't underestimate

   grep -r "# TODO" .

Re: The Plain Text Project

#62
post #29

Related: https://plaintextaccounting.org/ In particular, the beancount community is pretty strong, judging by the frequency of posts in the mailing list and the Telegram group I'm in.

[deleted]

Re: The Plain Text Project

#63

not to be That Guy, but: all those things listed under each bullet are very nearly just org-mode documentation chapter titles. Org is very clearly Just Plain Text, but there is a nontrivial caveat, which is "... backed by LISP, so text is also data is also code is also text". Most of the real goodies (babel, refile, capture) will not (ever, probably) work outside of emacs. I agree that plain text is rad, though!

Furthermore, the templates provided are basically proto-org-mode syntax probably re-invented by someone who has never seen org-mode in the first place.

To me, that speaks to how natural much of (but certainly not all of) org-mode syntax is.

Re: The Plain Text Project

#64
post #36

Plaintext email is great too, cuts out a lot of superfluous junk. https://useplaintext.email/

They do not list Heirloom-mailx, which is what I use. Heirloom-mailx uses a command-line interface, uses plain text email, and does not use top posting. It also supports entering pipe commands.

Re: The Plain Text Project

#65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Give Rider a go. I'm a complete convert; previous attempts were very unpleasant, but its a complete experience now, very similar feel to VS + RS, without the awful latency.

Re: The Plain Text Project

#67
post #50
post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Is it possible to use VIM as a text editor in the terminal with SN? Or are users required to use a text editors supported by SN? This seems like an application I'm looking for but I can't ditch my vimrc and plugins

Re: The Plain Text Project

#69
post #15

I 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…

> in terms of software UX, I would say plain text should be used as a starting point while adding interactive elements (e.g., buttons) and layouts only as necessary. By layouts I mean visual separation of categorized information via whitespace and/or color variations. I've found that this results in extremely intuitive interfaces that are both easy for users to digest and developers to maintain.

Is there any software that you think stands out as an example of this approach?

Re: The Plain Text Project

#70
post #13
post #11

I 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.

I've switched to pass + git for my task list, diary, notes, creative writing. And of course passwords. It's working far better than the mix of things I was using previously.
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