Writing Apps

My current favourite writing app is this one, iA Writer. There is a £2.49 iPad app called “enso Writer” that looks promising also. It supports preview for Markdown and simple drawing or scribbling. The extended keyboard supports arrows and the “*”, which is important for Markdown. iA Writer doesn't do this. But iA Writer does now support preview for Markdown.

Other new stuff in Writer includes more export options, for example it will export (Open in) to SkyDrive or Evernote. However, Evernote holds it as a text file, not as note text. Although you can copy and paste the text within Evernote. I think this is Evernote's fault and not Writer.

Looked at Good Docs on the iPad. It seemed over complicated, unreliable and with annoying upgrade pop ups. Uninstalled it.

My kindle is my net book

My kindle is my net book from her induction, I am playing with the browser on my Kindle.
oh, you can update a post from Android - I'm using Dolphin - but you have to use the html view. As well as put up with the horizontal scrolling!

What to do with a brand new Windows PC

1. Install Linux Mint, taking the "Use entire disk" option.
   All your Windows problems and viruses will disappear.

OK, though this is good advice for most casual users, it's not always practical. I need a Windows 7 machine so that I can test websites in Internet Explorer 9, for instance. Other people have to run business software that's Windows only - although you might be able to run it under Wine.
So, if you really must have Windows...

1. Make sure it's at least Windows 7. Windows XP is an overpatched relic and Vista was only ever slightly less smelly and infected than an open sewer.
2. Delete all the bloatware the manufacturer put on there. Likely candidates include:
   - Trial anti-virus software that wants you pay after 30 days
   - Trial Microsoft Office software - there's no need to pay for commercial quality office applications
   - Free games, that probably cease being free after a month, or x plays
   - Proprietary cloud services  for backup or additional storage
   Contol Panel>Uninstall applications is your friend.
3. Install Google Pack. This will give you a whole bunch of useful stuff in one go, including free and sensible replacements for the stuff you just removed. Just take your pick from the list.
   Note that you don't need more than one anti-virus product, if in doubt pick Avast.
4. If you installed Avast at step 3, register it right now.
5. If you are a serious wordsmith or spreadsheet user, download and  install Libre Office.
   This will let you read and write Microsoft Office documents so you can exchange files with all those 20th century throwbacks who still imagine it's a good idea to mail around bloated Word documents or vast Excel spreadsheets. (Try and persuade them to share using Google Docs, it will save duplication, bandwidth and time)
   Libre Office is the worthy descendent of  OpenOffice.org that has already extended with some useful features and is not bound up in Oracle's pursestrings. It will have all the features you need, is well documented and as easy to use as anything.

Now you have a sensible PC.

Save a page web apps

Pen.io has a very simple premise: think of a page title, give it a password, type. You can even embed a video. There's no formatting toolbar, but it accepts HTML.

Writer is if anything, even simpler.

Maybe you could have a similar app to showcase Whizzzywig. The files would be small, so bandwidth and storage requirements would be modest, providing you don't offer to  host videos or pictures. And you could integrate with an image host like ImageShack.

Needs a URL: whizzywig.org? 1stNote.net? jot2.net? jotgo.net/.org? jotpad.info?

Self Help and Happiness

The Self Help book industry is vast  and New Year is its prime season. Of course, if self-help books actually worked, there wouldn't be an industry - an idea lampooned in the novel Happiness TM.

Is any advice worthwhile? Do people lap it up without actually taking it? There's even a self-help book on how to write self-help books.

Is there a blog called How to be Better? Better than what? How is the government going to measure whether we are happier? Is setting measurable goals helpful?

Target: I will make a a million dollars this year. Nope. I only made $994,000. What a failure.

Termplate Designer

Whizzy CMS needs a template designer. Easy templating is a killer function for a simple CMS.
Blogger designer is a good model and has nice results.
See also http://cooltemplate.com/

But it needs to be even simpler, I think.
Also the generated code could be clearer and less bloated.

Was That My Cue?

What about a blog about acting and directing? Posts I'd like to write:

1. Block the scenes, learn the lines, practice until memorised: a shitty rehearsal process. Why a "books down" date does not always help.
2. "My character wouldn't say that". Its not your character. 
3. Director's notes. Why do we get defensive? Acceptance not justification. Public vs Private. Getting and paying attention. I just want to go home. Talk to listeners. Stop/start vs. Let it Run.
4. The Actor and the Target. Be specific. Can't act what do you want in life, but can act what you want right now.
5. Pace and urgency. Listening is a part of it.
6. It's part of the show: scene changes, curtain call.
7. Anyone can act. Everyone does.
8. Shakespeare - how to say it.

What to call it? 

• How long is the interval?
• Unperfect Actor
• Saw the Air
• Passion to Tatters
• The Ears of the Groundlings
• Was That My Cue?

12 Days to Save the World, says this article in The Independent. How is it that so many people can deny the reality of global warming? Not so many deniers in the Maldives.

Supposing there were a really simple CMS; as simple as CMSimple, which you could buy for just $10? If it got 10,000 downloads, it would earn $100,000. Or you could buy hosting, with the thing already set up, for $10/month. If you sold 2 a week, after a year you'd have an income of $1040/month, $12480/year. (these numbers are arbitrary). Really easy to install, no database required, WYSIWYG, gallery, blog/news.

Looked at Artisteer for template design. Not bad but bloody slow in my HP2133. Not paying unless they speed it up. Maybe can create similar thing with php style sheets. Pick a

• layout (header, menu,columns,footer)
• color scheme (inc bullets?)
• font scheme
• page bg
• sheet bg
• header bg

Then save the combination of these as a stylesheet.

Looking at CMS options for web development business:

• Wordpress - as a CMS over a blogging tool. Zillions of inmstallations, well documented and supported.Lots of templates and plug-ins. Good if only 1, or a few, site editors and not a lot of static pages. More than 20? try something else? CNN use it.
• Joomla - most widely used CMS today, so lots of themes and plugins, but quite difficult (some say infuriating) to add your own. Not quite easy enough to walk away and leave the users to it. Also the structure of Sections >Categories >Articles seems quite restricting.
• Drupal - 2nd most widely used, probably. Not so rich in themes and uses arcane conepts like taxonomy. Very flexible but probably takes longer to get going. Easier to get a stucture you want than with Joomla.
• MODx - Very elegant and upcoming. Templating looks easier than either Drupal or Joomla. Fewer extras available because of shorter history.
• Whizzery - Jorogo's roll your own. Really simple to template . File manager. No DB required. Unfinished.

Looking at javascript frameworks for Whizzery came across Meteora (excellent) and then Textmotion. looks promising, lovely back-end - a compromise between MODx and WP? They also use silk icons. But also looks abndoned. No users So maybe simplify Whizzery, add Meteora and silk.

The Taming of the Shrew in Reading Abbey Ruins. Opening night tonight.

Rethinking aBitAbout, again.

1. Front page is a post form: Title Type some stuff Email
2. We know you? Check password, post it and go there.
3. We don't know you? Ask for space name, template? and password, create space and go there. Send email with further instructions.

Today I switched to the new blogger beta. I don't get much excitement really. It's Tuesday.

I wonder what this does?

Saw this haiku on an office wall today. I was calmed.

Stay the patientcourse
Of little worth is your ire
the network is down

CJ landing in Hong Kong about now. Can't sleep. Worried about money, even though it never worries about me. Jumble of thought, incoherent. Unverse.com front page - replace google ads with something more useful. Frontpage needs to have something new more often. Maybe a 2 column blog with mini review of items?

Must-see site, now, more than ever and no mistake about it. Having said that, click the link, red in color, for a site that's really got game. Enough said.

Banished Words List :: Archived Lists :: 2003

Got too many websites and mail adresses so I'll be dropping john.goodman.net and the email address John@Gooman.net. You can reach me at (join the lines up): john.goodman@ unverse.com