Query: Full-face minimalist interface for writers?

[@TiddlyTweeter]

There was a very interesting comment on Twitter about why the user wasn't going for TiddlyWiki ...

... it's really useful! i was seduced by the utter simplicity of plain text files though. i really enjoy stark, stripped down interaces (especially for writing)

... for me it was more textural than anything. that's one of the challenges for me in finding a replacement. it seems there are similar tools (zim, etc.) but all of them have a similarly busy interface.

 

@lorenschmidt

It raises a great point about need for a design for the minimalist interface possible, optimised for writers who want to write *first*, and organise later.

Any thoughts?
Josiah

[Dave Gifford - http://www.giffmex.org/]

Like an idiot I was going to just say, "Just change the theme to seamless and hide the sidebar." But that only makes reading TW distraction free.

This is a really revolutionary idea for me. The idea of a distraction free edit mode. Because really, edit mode is ugly and cluttered. And maybe that is one of the reasons I gravitate to Dynalist and Google docs, so I have more space to write without having to scroll. I really never thought about this, and I can't believe I never noticed this.

Here, I think, is all that would be needed:

1. A more-edit-actions button to the left of the three buttons in the top right corner of the tiddler in edit mode. Clicking the more button would show a popup box with the up to four components: tiddler title editor, tiddler tag editor, tiddler type editor, and tiddler fields editor.

2. The user could toggle the visibility of those four components, whether to display them inside the popup, or display them the way they display presently in the tiddler layout.

Advantages of doing this:

1. Reduce clutter / free up writing space: All that would be left when hiding the four components in the more-edit-actions popup box would be the four buttons (more, delete, discard, save), the editing toolbar, and the text area. That, combined with "change theme to seamless and hide the sidebar", would give an almost distraction-free writing experience. A very significant screen real estate gain for the text area! See my attached example image.

2. Flexibility: those who use tags and fields frequently could keep them visible. Those who do more with writing could hide them.

3. No new learning to do: this would be just like toggling visibility of other elements in TiddlyWiki.

Thanks, TiddlyTweeter, for the inspiration. Now I did my part: Dave the designer came up with a fairly simple solution. Now it's the engineers turn, to make it happen! Woo hoo! Next prerelease, here we come!

[Dave Gifford - http://www.giffmex.org/]

And then someone could just come up with a 'writer's edition' of TiddlyWiki that has the seamless theme, hidden sidebar, hidden four more-edit components, and maybe zoomin mode, so writers can download a copy and jump right in without having to set it up.

On Saturday, September 15, 2018 at 9:07:20 AM UTC-5, @TiddlyTweeter wrote:

[Mark S.]

TW is pretty minimalist already. Here's some code I use sometimes:

<$select tiddler="$:/state/side-edit-tiddler" tag="input">
<$list filter="[!is[system]tag[Mine]sort[title]]">
<option value=<<currentTiddler>>><$text text=<<currentTiddler>>/></option>
</$list>
</$select>

<div class="tc-tiddler-frame">
<$edit-text tiddler={{$:/state/side-edit-tiddler}} class="tc-edit-texteditor"/>
</div>

I added the tag "Mine" because I was reviewing on TiddlyWiki.com, but you can remove that for an empty TW file.

The advantage of this is that you can "open in a new window" and have pretty much the entire real estate to yourself, with no distracting tool bars or controls. Just be sure to go back to the TW to save from time to time. If distractions are actually wanted, someone could add back in the toolbar features they most like.

-- Mark

[Dave Gifford - http://www.giffmex.org/]

Where do you put that code, Mark? I think I am missing a step. Just putting it into a blank tiddler doesn't help too much to create space, and I am not seeing an 'open in a new window' option even when I right click.

[Mark S.]

Hi Dave,

You create a tiddler to be edited. If you use the code as is, then tag the tiddler "Mine" and close.

You put the code in a tiddler and call it what you want. Save (view the tiddler). Use the Open in a new Window option. From the dropdown menu, select the tiddler you want to edit (the one you just created). In my example code, I only display tiddlers tagged with "Mine" because I was re-testing on TiddlyWiki.com where there are too many tiddlers. But in an empty TW you might not need to tag.

-- Mark

[@TiddlyTweeter]

Ciao Dave

Thanks for your enthusiastic reply! Really what is needed is likely not so far away. But I think its well-worth thinking through, particularly the UI, that writers who want to "write first" might benefit from a lot.

You may be interested in a related thread about a writer oriented tool for "placeholders" BTC commented on & then Mark S. made substantial concrete contributions to: https://groups.google.com/d/msg/tiddlywiki/B0VGpW27MC4/PyWpMucvBAAJ

Best wishes
Josiah

On Saturday, 15 September 2018 19:09:51 UTC+2, Dave Gifford - http://www.giffmex.org/ wrote:

Like an idiot I was going to just say, "Just change the theme to seamless and hide the sidebar." But that only makes reading TW distraction free.

This is a really revolutionary idea for me. The idea of a distraction free edit mode. Because really, edit mode is ugly and cluttered. And maybe that is one of the reasons I gravitate to Dynalist and Google docs, so I have more space to write without having to scroll. I really never thought about this, and I can't believe I never noticed this.....