compress
Dev tools
text expansion
SHOW HN2023
815points
313comments
#11of 3,109 in 2023
Top 1%of 2023 by points
How HN took it
CuriousMostly questions and neutral comments
22 positive, 55 neutral or asking, 3 mixed, 26 critical, out of 106 comments about the project. Thread score -0.04.
Idea: 20 for, 19 againstDesign: 0 for, 4 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
Useful text expansion idea; saves time
From 3 comments
I also wrote a blog post with video about the project: https://erikschluntz.com/software/2023/08/26/compressing-my-typing.html This has been one of the rare side projects that…
eschluntz on HNThis is really cool! I did something similar on Mac, but completely manually. I'm using Espanso now, but I suffix every shortcut with an ";" character which causes the expansion.…
edanm on HNPretty cool and very useful, as long as you can remember all of the shortcuts (I guess it comes with time!) It kind of reminds me of stenography in a way
KomoD on HN
Objections
Shortcuts may hurt spelling and typing skills
From 2 comments
Years of autocomplete has already made my second language i.e. English poorer. I know words but I often forget to pronounce them because I can no longer remember their spelling.…
SpacePortKnight on HNThere is no advantage in doing this. Typing words fully and correctly, with correct spelling and grammar, is a skill worth preserving.
nitin-pai on HN
Remembering shortcuts costs mental effort
From 3 comments
Speaking personally, I feel like any time I save by reducing keystrokes would be lost by having to think about shortcuts (or making corrections). However, I Once believed the…
ughitsaaron on HNWe have finite brain power. The power you dedicate to thinking about what hotkey (/combination of) to press for niche tasks, is not, per say, wasted. But it definitely isn't…
alhasaniq on HNOut of curiosity...sure you type less, but do you need to think more about which abbreviation was which word? In iOS I maintain a small list of abbreviations (@@ expands to my…
leokennis on HN
Typing speed is rarely the bottleneck
From 2 comments
I feel like typing is never really the bottleneck for me except maybe in some chat interactions would have benefited from the extra bandwidth of video or audio. Do you actually…
MobiusHorizons on HNWhile this is a cool idea, is typing speed really the bottleneck for anyone who uses a keyboard for a living?
xormapmap on HN
Requests
Support for other tools like Espanso, AutoHotkey, or keyd
From 3 comments
This is great. Is it possible to somehow use it with keyd, as I don't use autohotkey? https://github.com/rvaiya/keyd/
botanical on HNThis is really cool! I did something similar on Mac, but completely manually. I'm using Espanso now, but I suffix every shortcut with an ";" character which causes the expansion.…
edanm on HNI have a windows computer as well (mainly for EE tools and gaming) and have been thinking about extending this to also generate configs for AutoHotkey
eschluntz on HN
A universal shortcut set rather than personal one
From 1 comment
This is a very clever idea. However, I realize that I would never want to use something like this that would change over time. E.g. if I ran it every 6 months and last year "db"…
crazygringo on HN
Questions
Does it actually save time in practice?
From 1 comment
I feel like typing is never really the bottleneck for me except maybe in some chat interactions would have benefited from the extra bandwidth of video or audio. Do you actually…
MobiusHorizons on HN
How to avoid shortcuts firing on normal words
From 2 comments
Out of curiosity...sure you type less, but do you need to think more about which abbreviation was which word? In iOS I maintain a small list of abbreviations (@@ expands to my…
leokennis on HNFirst, I have to make a personal confession — I never liked the SMS short-hand thingy that worked with pre-iPhone phones. That was one of the reason I seldom use…
Brajeshwar on HN
Alternatives named
Espanso
From 1 comment
I use a tool called "Espanso" to accomplish something similar at work. It only runs locally, so no weird data scraping issues to worry about. And it's easy to update as things…
UtopiaPunk on HN
AutoHotkey hotstrings
From 1 comment
On Windows, better fit is Autohotkey and its hotstrings for people wanting to use this. It's much better for that as it supports full programming language so you could use…
majkinetor on HN
TextExpander
From 1 comment
First, I have to make a personal confession — I never liked the SMS short-hand thingy that worked with pre-iPhone phones. That was one of the reason I seldom use…
Brajeshwar on HN
Plover steno
From 1 comment
https://www.openstenoproject.org/plover/ If you want to go the extra mile.
coldblues on HN