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The Most Dangerous Writing App

maebert.github.io

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Re: The Most Dangerous Writing App

#151

Post by 1337biz »

jiggawatts wrote: post #41
mirimir wrote: post #4

This reminds me of early versions of Microsoft Word. Edit: And more generally, DOS, FAT and CHKDSK. You never knew, when there was a power interruption -- or when the system just crashed for whatever mysterious reason -- just how bad it would be. NTFS was such an improvement.

I still have a habit of pressing CTRL-S intermittently...

Some online editors are still struggling with that. Lost a whole day of work just because I had an IP change and Thrive Architect for Wordpress did not save my edits.

Re: The Most Dangerous Writing App

#152

Post by cspags »

omarhaneef wrote: post #128

There is a whole tradition of these apps. Perhaps you have heard of "Write or Die" or the countless variations? https://v2.writeordie.com https://writingstreak.io http://writtenkitten.co And, yes, the most dangerous writing app. The idea is that it is easier to edit once done, so it is important to get everything out quickly and then go back and edit. Edit: Someone should come up with an Atom plugin that does the sam…

https://blurt.app is awesome.

It doesn't delete your text, it just blurs it as you're writing. So like you said, you can get everything out on the page without self-editing.

I use it to write all of my blog posts and then export them to markdown when I'm finished and ready to publish on my static site.

Re: The Most Dangerous Writing App

#153

Post by ska »

mirimir wrote: post #79
bocklund wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

git is a local program that doesn’t require that you put anything online. It sounds like you might be unfamiliar with it and I suggest that you check it out - it might be just what you’re looking for!

OK, right. I jumped to GitHub. But if it's local, what's the advantage vs saving as a file? Simple revision history management?

Also less simple revision history.

For some long lived documents I keep a "release branch" and make branches for playing around. If a direction or section isn't fruitful I can leave it on a branch without fear of losing "something good", and go back to mainline. I can also tag shared/published versions easily.

Oh and push a backup to another machine easily or automatically.

Re: The Most Dangerous Writing App

#154

Post by seandougall »

jiggawatts wrote: post #41
mirimir wrote: post #4

This reminds me of early versions of Microsoft Word. Edit: And more generally, DOS, FAT and CHKDSK. You never knew, when there was a power interruption -- or when the system just crashed for whatever mysterious reason -- just how bad it would be. NTFS was such an improvement.

I still have a habit of pressing CTRL-S intermittently...

Yup. A few years ago I tried to reduce my dependence on the computer by writing more things down by hand, only to discover my left hand had developed a nervous tic that resulted in me attempting to hit command-S on the paper.

Re: The Most Dangerous Writing App

#155

Post by astrodust »

stevewodil wrote: post #83
larntz wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this an age thing? I do the exact same thing. Every time I stop typing I hit ctrl-s between 2-5 times. I don't eve think about it anymore. My kids are getting to the age where they are doing projects on a computer and I'm constantly telling them to "save early, save often." I guess it's some form of PTSD from computing in the 90's.

It's not an age thing I don't think. I'm 22 and after I finish any tiny section of code I format it and then save. I don't know why, it's just habit now

Yeah, but do you save several times before you're finished that tiny section?

Re: The Most Dangerous Writing App

#156

Post by DjangoReinhardt »

iraldir wrote: post #10

3 minutes typing: This is me writing a comment for this app using hardcore mode which right now I realise is having the text co clompletely blurred and it is quite hard indeed I can barely come back a word if I write a type. Although it doesnt seem to be based onmy typing speed so I guess if you are good at typing it's not as bad as if you are bad at it. Well I don't what to say more than that the interface is nice a…

3 min, hardcore mode (w/ proofreading):

---

Hardcore mode blurs every thing you type, so you have no idea if you are writing correctly. All you have to go by is your judgement and the belief that you do not misspell your words. And even if you did, you are willing to edit it all out later.

I can see the appeal of doing this for people who worry too much about what they are writing and constantly go back to edit their words and spellings. However, this is a stupid idea because going back to make minor edits allows the brain to formulate the next thought and frame it into better sentences.

By vomiting everything in one flow, you are simply increasing the amount of work required in terms of editing and re-writing the incorrect parts. Not to mention the large amount of proof-reading work that will inevitably follow all your work.

Does hardcore mode allow pauses? Let's see. Five potatoes to figure it out... Yes it does. Same five-potato time-limit.

Ah, too many potatoes.

-------

I was sweating buckets the whole time. I hate the idea of my writing vanishing, so the pressure was quite high to keep typing...

Re: The Most Dangerous Writing App

#157

Post by gmueckl »

_underfl0w_ wrote: post #144
gmueckl wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And then you work on an interface like Confluence's page editor where for no good reason, Ctrl+S is mapped to exiting the edior. It saves your edits in the background while you type, so you don't lose anything. But you get interrupted in a big way. Changing that would be trivial, but Atlassian deprioritized it to the bottom of the stack.

That one unorthodox hotkey mapping is just the tip of the iceberg. Confluence's interface is a super special, highly unique dumpster fire of an editor. God forbid anyone actually know what Markdown syntax is. Plus, you can only disable some of the hotkeys - you're stuck with several awkward site-wide ones. There's an open Atlassian support ticket filled with souls wistfully begging for the ability to disable ALL Conf…

On the contrary, Atlassian PMs who actually respond to these requests seem to consistently double down on the status quo.

Re: The Most Dangerous Writing App

#158

Post by Someone »

gmueckl wrote: post #120
jiggawatts wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I still have a habit of pressing CTRL-S intermittently...

And then you work on an interface like Confluence's page editor where for no good reason, Ctrl+S is mapped to exiting the edior. It saves your edits in the background while you type, so you don't lose anything. But you get interrupted in a big way. Changing that would be trivial, but Atlassian deprioritized it to the bottom of the stack.

Outlook for Windows has alt-S and control-Return mapped to ‘Send’. The Mac version ‘betters’ that by using command-S and command-Return. Luckily, one can change that.

Re: The Most Dangerous Writing App

#159

Post by foobiekr »

jiggawatts wrote: post #41
mirimir wrote: post #4

This reminds me of early versions of Microsoft Word. Edit: And more generally, DOS, FAT and CHKDSK. You never knew, when there was a power interruption -- or when the system just crashed for whatever mysterious reason -- just how bad it would be. NTFS was such an improvement.

I still have a habit of pressing CTRL-S intermittently...

My wife is a user of Illustrator and Photoshop. A high cadence routine of SaveAs and Command-S on a regular basis has saved her from having to re-do hours of work so, so many times in 2019 alone.

Re: The Most Dangerous Writing App

#160

Post by _v7gu »

Typing on an ipad will makes this easier I hope. Having correct punctuation and stuff takes quite a long while using the virtual keyboards. Maybe this writing app is not for fast, lighting-speed thoughts; but for seeing how bottlenecking your interaction with the writer allows you to construct flows in a more coherent way. I mean, having five seconds to find where a key is not a difficult task and when writing a sentence takes quite a while, you find it easy to construct a continuation of it. Thus, you are able to write sentences flowing freely from your mind. If I was doing 150 words per minute on a real keyboard, I would have less than a second to think about what follows my current thought. When the sentences flow slowly, my mind searches deeply in the background, expanding my train of thought. I mean really, having a slow keyboard is like cheating here.
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