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Show HN: A spreadsheet for writers

zeminary.com

41–50 of 58 posts

Re: Show HN: A spreadsheet for writers

#41

I feel like I'm sitting behind a control panel of a nuclear reactor. I press a button, and something (or nothing) happens...I read the text and don't understand 90% of it. I'm afraid to press any more buttons and I have no idea what I'm doing. I quite literally feel like https://i.imgur.com/57bKUlt.jpg However, if this works for you...then great :-)

Are you using it on mobile? It's meant to be used on desktop.

Re: Show HN: A spreadsheet for writers

#42
I love the idea of giving instructions with a live document, but you lost me already at this second step:

> "hover the topright of this grid to see the mark button, then click it to mark this grid, then right click the mark sidebar item to edit this grid in the free editor"

I don't see a grid anywhere on the screen. I tried hovering in various top-right corners to figure out where a "mark" button might come up, but to no avail.

I suspect the word "grid" means something else in this application than the usual visual meaning (a regular network of orthogonal lines). You should probably define it first.

Re: Show HN: A spreadsheet for writers

#43
post #42

I love the idea of giving instructions with a live document, but you lost me already at this second step: > "hover the topright of this grid to see the mark button, then click it to mark this grid, then right click the mark sidebar item to edit this grid in the free editor" I don't see a grid anywhere on the screen. I tried hovering in various top-right corners to figure out where a "mark" button might come up, but t…

Sorry. Cell would be better. Thanks for catching that.

Straight from Excel.

Re: Show HN: A spreadsheet for writers

#44

Intriguing, interesting idea but I have no clue how to use it. You might want to create a video showing how to solve a problem.

Thanks.

A video would take a really long time. I'll make one when I'm done fixing everything. One thing you could try right now is making a 10x10 grid, then clearing the borders of the 2nd column from the left. Everything on the right would be inspiration or raw material. The leftmost column would be the actual draft.

Andy Matuschak talks alot about peripherals. I don't know if you know his writings.

Re: Show HN: A spreadsheet for writers

#46

This reminded me of [TreeSheets]( https://strlen.com/treesheets/ )

Zeminary was heading down that direction. But then I realized it might be better to maintain separate apps.

For starters, Matrix (Classic) is only 2000 lines of code right now. This makes the codebase easy to maintain, and easy for developers to grok/mod.

Other than that, I think limitations are a good thing. You don't need 3D or 4D or XD when 2D is enough. Freedom can mean the freedom to fuck up.

Re: Show HN: A spreadsheet for writers

#47

This looks like something I thought of last week! It's like I am dreaming :) It seems to mimic how I take notes: I make sections on a blank piece of paper (ordered by subject/context) and I have never found a good way how to translate this to an editor, where everything is top to bottom. This way I can organize my screen with notes much more like I would organize a piece of paper.

Thanks! Glad to finally have someone have a use for this. Can you tell me more about your usecases?

Well, that is basically it :) Being able to order and group blocks of text as I would on paper.

Re: Show HN: A spreadsheet for writers

#50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also: Alt-Q is a horrible shortcut for "Full Editor" on MacOs/Chrome.

Off the top of your head, what might be a better shortcut scheme for Zeminary?

Almost anything else would be better. Apple-Q closes chrome.
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