first draft
Productivity
writing tool
SHOW HN2019
224points
91comments
#167of 2,195 in 2019
Top 8%of 2019 by points
How HN took it
MixedNo clear lean
6 positive, 14 neutral or asking, 2 mixed, 13 critical, out of 35 comments about the project. Thread score -0.12.
Idea: 5 for, 10 againstDesign: 1 for, 1 againstExecution: 0 for, 2 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Minimal and elegant design
From 1 comment
I saw other options, but I love how minimal this is. Really.
jpincheira on HN
Useful for overcoming editing urges while drafting
From 1 comment
Love this so so so much.
Justindiamond on HN
Objections
Hiding past text prevents needed context and continuity checks
From 4 comments
All the various "let me save you from editing" programs I've seen over the years have been well-meaning, but... Okay. Look: here's an actual snippet from the first chapter of a…
chipotle_coyote on HNHiding the paragraph seems extreme to me. I'd like to refer back to what I wrote to get a sense of what I still need to write. Would it be better to instead make the previous…
city41 on HNIt certainly accomplishes the intended goal of hiding what you've just typed in a slick and quick way. I'm not sure why this is a good thing though. Often times I find I need to…
oblib on HNThis strategy seems like it makes it very difficult to write. What if you lose track of what you've already said? It seems like a better solution is to just disable backspace.
zacharycohn on HN
Editing while drafting works well for many writers
From 3 comments
This might be an unpopular opinion but I always edit while writing my first draft. This is how I've written 250+ technical blog posts and over a million words worth of course…
nickjj on HNYeah, I work like that. I don't like writing, and haven't done a lot of it professionally, but this has always been my process when I've had to write.
mortivore on HNI work like that too for small stuff but I guess the advice of not editing while drafting is more geared towards longer forms (books, scripts, etc).
pier25 on HN
Technical writing differs from creative writing in drafting needs
From 2 comments
The "never edit while drafting" advice comes from the creative writing community. It might be of limited use in cases like technical writing, where you already might have a solid…
john-radio on HNThis. Technical writing is a different species entirely. You know beforehand all of the pieces, or at least reason about them. Creativity doesn't work that way. You'll literally…
tyre on HN
Requests
Keep previous paragraphs visible or greyed out instead of hidden
From 3 comments
I love the idea behind this. It only disappears when I'm done writing the para, i.e. when I move to next para. Which renders the feature obsolete when I'm writing big paras.…
harshil9968 on HNHiding the paragraph seems extreme to me. I'd like to refer back to what I wrote to get a sense of what I still need to write. Would it be better to instead make the previous…
city41 on HNAll the various "let me save you from editing" programs I've seen over the years have been well-meaning, but... Okay. Look: here's an actual snippet from the first chapter of a…
chipotle_coyote on HN
Make previous text uneditable rather than hidden
From 2 comments
How do you reference what you've already written? Why not just make it uneditable?
chadlavi on HNHiding the paragraph seems extreme to me. I'd like to refer back to what I wrote to get a sense of what I still need to write. Would it be better to instead make the previous…
city41 on HN
Questions
How do you reference what you have already written?
From 1 comment
How do you reference what you've already written? Why not just make it uneditable?
chadlavi on HN
Alternatives named
Writing Streak typewriter and blurred modes
From 1 comment
Shameless plug - my app, Writing Streak, has the "typewriter" mode (Alt+T) that prevents you from editing the text you wrote, and a "blurred" mode (Alt+B) that hides the text you…
rayalez on HN
Cold Turkey Writer
From 1 comment
Yet another shameless plug - my app, Cold Turkey Writer, forces you to write for a certain amount of time or word count before letting you close the app. The pro version also…
fbelzile on HN
Draftin Hemingway mode
From 1 comment
https://draftin.com/ also has a hemingway mode that disables editing.
voiper1 on HN
Ulysses sonnet writing tool
From 1 comment
Ha, this is so cool! I'm working on a very similar problem atm: https://ulysses.sonnet.io/ My approach is slightly different though: - you can see the previous lines (the last 4…
rpastuszak on HN
BantamScribe word sprint tool
From 1 comment
I wrote something for myself that removes the editor entirely. This gives a word sprint of 15 minutes with a visible goal of 1000 words. Hitting ESC leaves it ready to paste…
SteveJS on HN