Vale is awesome. I used it to proof-read my documentation for Halfmoon: https://www.gethalfmoon.com/docs/
Vale.sh – A Linter for Prose
81–89 of 89 posts
Re: Vale.sh – A Linter for Prose
#82My favorite is a tool called write-good https://github.com/btford/write-good
I'm curious what "native" means in write-good's description: "Naive linter for English prose for developers who can't write good and wanna learn to do other stuff good too." It appears to require a node server.
It says “naive”, not “native”…
Re: Vale.sh – A Linter for Prose
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
Are you using a text only browser? They are ([apple icon], [windows icon], and [linux icon]).
I get the same issue on regular up to date android stock browser.
Maybe you are blocking custom fonts? The icons are apparently loaded from FontAwesome.
There should definitely be an accessibility text on these
Re: Vale.sh – A Linter for Prose
#84Have tried to use this a few times but it's a big lift. Like adding unit tests to an existing application, it's a good idea to start small. And vale doesn't make this super easy (at least I couldn't figure out an easy way to do this). If I could wave my wand, I'd want a way to: * apply vale to just the doc I was working on * have a minimal set of rules * add to them over time At $curjob, we have a detailed public lis…
In the first bullet point of the linked document, there is an inconsistency in the very style it’s trying to enforce, namely capitalization. UUID vs Id. Consistency is hard!
I don't know why we use `Id` for identifer, but that's consistent across our codebase and documentation (we may have missed a few spots, but that's an error on our part).
Not sure why it is inconsistent to have UUID be all caps and Id be title cased? They feel different to me. But maybe I'm missing something.
Re: Vale.sh – A Linter for Prose
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I strive to write with a very neutral tone, and without any strong words, so it really helps me. Curious, why? I would think this would make your writing more "boring", which would make it less likely for people to pay attention to.
First of all, why not give that blog a go, and share your opinions of it here or via e-mail, if you prefer? Now, on to your question. I don't believe words have to be strong or provocative or divisive to be true. Life is not black and white, neither my choice of words. Also, I practice zen in my daily life, so my writing is both a reflection of my inner state and the state I aspire to be in, at the same time. Yes, as…
I have no disagreement on the truthiness of words, my comment was really only about the enjoyment of your readers. Regardless, it sounds like you have a vision for what you want your writing to be, and so far as I know, it's working well for you.
As for feedback, since you asked, I'll be honest and say that it does read pretty boring... Very monotone with too many idioms. Feels like what you read from schoolchildren writing about a topic they're not really interested in.
I'll also say, there's no _you_ in this writing. Reviewing the latest entry, "Practice and Experience" - no stories, metaphors, or even examples of real events to impress your point. People understand a lot through storytelling, often the only takeaway we will have will be a story or metaphor. More importantly though, they are an opportunity to identify with the reader and share something about you and your life.
Apologies if that felt harsh.
Re: Vale.sh – A Linter for Prose
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm curious what "native" means in write-good's description: "Naive linter for English prose for developers who can't write good and wanna learn to do other stuff good too." It appears to require a node server.
It says “naive”, not “native”…
It should come as no surprise that I'm not a native English speaker.
Re: Vale.sh – A Linter for Prose
#87I saw Vale earlier today. The tool helps you comply with technical style guides like those by Microsoft and Google, and the out-of-the-box Vale rules (the extent of the Vale rules I am unsure; I got way more suggestions when installing the Microsoft and Google extensions). A few notes while getting it set up for macOS: 1. brew install vale 2. Create .vale.ini (in root dir, I think) 3. A minimal setup that lets you li…
The built-in rules only include spelling according to the docs: https://vale.sh/docs/topics/styles/#built-in-style
Re: Vale.sh – A Linter for Prose
#88Earlier quoted context omitted.
First of all, why not give that blog a go, and share your opinions of it here or via e-mail, if you prefer? Now, on to your question. I don't believe words have to be strong or provocative or divisive to be true. Life is not black and white, neither my choice of words. Also, I practice zen in my daily life, so my writing is both a reflection of my inner state and the state I aspire to be in, at the same time. Yes, as…
I have no disagreement on the truthiness of words, my comment was really only about the enjoyment of your readers. Regardless, it sounds like you have a vision for what you want your writing to be, and so far as I know, it's working well for you. As for feedback, since you asked, I'll be honest and say that it does read pretty boring... Very monotone with too many idioms. Feels like what you read from schoolchildren…
Thanks for your honest feedback. I greatly appreciate and value that, and there are no hard feelings, and no, it wasn't harsh.
> I'll also say, there's no _you_ in this writing.
It's intentional to remove myself from my writing, because it's not about me. I'm not trying to put myself out there, and say "look at me". These are distilled mind notes. A way of sharing what I learnt about life, without me.
The writings I publish are intended to make readers to reflect themselves upon and see themselves, or get some personal insight about themselves or life. Maybe they also fascinated by this, or they never observed that angle about the life. If they think 5 seconds about the subject itself, that's nice. If they say it's boring, that's fine.
On the other hand, what I'm sharing there is highly personal. It's just devoid of bells, whistles and blinkenlights. Much like a Dieter Rams or Bauhaus design, in a sense.
> Feels like what you read from schoolchildren writing about a topic they're not really interested in.
That's an interesting take. It's true that I'm not aiming for a literary tour de force there, but it's not true that I'm not interested in the subject, it's actually the contrary. The language is simplified to that point to make it straightforward and direct.
Making indirect statements, and slowly approaching points while not quite touching them is very easily accomplished by constructing freight-train long sentences by chaining seldomly used vocabulary end to end with small punctuation marks, as if they were small fragile cotton strings knotted meticulously, and with care, if one decides to write in that way.
However, writing with no fillers have a feel of density and directness, which makes things appear with no fanfare. It's up to the reader to process this "thing" they just encountered.
> no stories, metaphors, or even examples of real events to impress your point.
"Practice and Experience" is a distillation of at least two decades of observation and self-reflection. If I decided to add the stories and examples paved the way to the realizations made in that piece, it'd be a novella. Not that I remember every detail of it, either.
That blog lives true to its tag line "tail -f /dev/brain0". When I understand something, I draft an entry. It sits and simmers for some time, refined occasionally, and when it reaches a density and purity I like, I publish.
However, thanks again for your honest feedback. I'll be saving this.
Re: Vale.sh – A Linter for Prose
#89But what is it? Is this like Grammarly? Maybe LanguageTool? I paged through most of the docs and I’m still not entirely sure what this does or why I might want to use it.
My understanding is that it is like LanguageTool, but where you can define your own rules using some YAML file (?).