Did anybody else just narrow down your browser to try HN that way?
Write thin to write fast
21–30 of 146 posts
Re: Write thin to write fast
#22Surprised no mention of distraction free mode, sometimes called Hemingway mode: everything except the current sentence is faded out.
Actually how I do most of my bulk writing.
Re: Write thin to write fast
#23Thinner columns allow for more of a "Z" pattern of reading, where you can kind of scan-read backwards when your eye scans back to the left, as opposed to the standard "E" style of reading of reading an entire line, returning to the left, then moving to the next and repeating.
Writing in thin columns allows you to keep an eye on what you just wrote more easily as well.
Re: Write thin to write fast
#24I will add that it’s also useful to have as much text as possible so you can see the flow, the context and the “context of the context.” But I find this insight more or less convincing so I guess the ideal writing screen is thin and tall. Sadly, that’s the opposite of what horizontal monitors encourage. This might be another benefit of physical notebooks.
Some screens can be rotated to be tall and thin. If yours doesn't, you can probably buy a mount for it.
Re: Write thin to write fast
#25Interesting. The tradeoff is of course that the wider columns are the more you're able to see at once, which is also important for editing. I wonder whether it would be useful to be able change the column width with a keyboard shortcut. That way you could use small columns when you want to focus on the details and bigger columns when you want to focus on the big picture, both in writing and reading.
Interesting - I think wider columns produce exactly the opposite outcome. Too much space to cover and width to contemplate, hampering my ability to edit quickly. I don't think the width extra width helps you ingest and manipulate the words more efficiently.
The horizontally-condensed version of the same text allows me to see all of those same words, by the way. Just laid out in a format that isn't quite so exhausting to handle.
I even narrowed the HN editor while writing this reply and editing it for mistakes/grammar.
Re: Write thin to write fast
#26This seems to be kind of a complex topic, with a number of variables.
Here is a study:
How physical text layout affects reading from screen https://www.researchgate.net/publication/220208446_How_physi...
A quote from the Discussion section: "Most of the studies on line length report faster reading with longer lines, and point to the number of characters as the variable responsible for the differences, rather than physical line length (visual angle)."
The OP thinks that humans read thinner columns faster. Generally, this seems not to be the case, so maybe we should treat his main conclusion with some skepticism. In any case, it's probably best to refer to the scientific literature.
Re: Write thin to write fast
#27Thinner columns allow for more of a "Z" pattern of reading, where you can kind of scan-read backwards when your eye scans back to the left, as opposed to the standard "E" style of reading of reading an entire line, returning to the left, then moving to the next and repeating. Writing in thin columns allows you to keep an eye on what you just wrote more easily as well.
I find this to be super important for noticing when my writing is getting repetitive; when I'm reading in that "Z pattern," it's easier to pick up repeated words or phrases in the last few lines of text.
Re: Write thin to write fast
#28Great insight ... most Bibles are formatted with thin columns as well. Maybe why it is easier to memorize as well. I got to try this for writing! I don't know why I didn't think of this.
That goes back at least to the Gutenberg Bible, which was two columns per page with generous margins for annotation or hand-drawn decoration.
Re: Write thin to write fast
#29Interesting. The tradeoff is of course that the wider columns are the more you're able to see at once, which is also important for editing. I wonder whether it would be useful to be able change the column width with a keyboard shortcut. That way you could use small columns when you want to focus on the details and bigger columns when you want to focus on the big picture, both in writing and reading.
Interesting - I think wider columns produce exactly the opposite outcome. Too much space to cover and width to contemplate, hampering my ability to edit quickly. I don't think the width extra width helps you ingest and manipulate the words more efficiently. The horizontally-condensed version of the same text allows me to see all of those same words, by the way. Just laid out in a format that isn't quite so exhausting…
I don't mean that the extra width itself helps, I just mean that assuming vertical space is limited, then extra width means more words fit on the screen.
Re: Write thin to write fast
#30Cool take.
I just checked, and it looks like Ulysses has a default width of 64 characters. Swapped it to 50. Let's see what happens.