App idea: a word processor that doesn’t expose every single possible possible formatting option permanently in a huge top bar. Create headings, write text, mark important sections, insert images, and that’s it. Export as a PDF and move on. In contrast to a note taking app / markdown editor, this would actually be intended as a simpler and more focused alternative to #Word, #LibreOffice and such.
I personally think the current word processor paradigm, and the resulting underlying technology, performs badly UX-wise: many of the formatting options don’t have any semantics at all, and have to be applied manually. What’s the semantic difference between bold and italic text? Why are both options exposed at all? The current state-of-the-art apps are full of quirks like this, and I think it’s time to challenge the decades-old workflow that has lead us to this.
#LaTeX has already addressed a lot of this, so I guess what I would really like to see is a modern, general-purpose app incorporating the same ideas.
Introducing Sentence: an adaptive word processor for the 21st century. The intention of this is not to fully replace every single thing you can do with a traditional word processor, but I'm confident that the vast majority of things you've used them for can be done way quicker and more conveniently with this.
It's currently only at the mockup stage, but @fkinoshita is exploring the technical aspects of it. What are your thoughts?
@bragefuglseth @fkinoshita I really appreciate the design but honestly if it doesn't have a few more options like text alignment, advanced formatting (colours, strikethrough, underlining..) or image attachment, it will never replace my regular word processor
@ireneethirion Image attachment is a goal with this! The plus button is for inserting things. As for "advanced formatting", that's the kind of thing we're trying to avoid here, as the core idea of the app is that most people don't really need it. I could see some kind of global styling for the document happen, though, e.g. changing the font, global alignment and header color through a dialog. The most important thing is to avoid this happening inline.
@bragefuglseth I totally agree that most word processors are too complicated for the average user. More simplicity and efficiency wouldn't go amiss
However I wonder if not highlighting some fairly basic formatting options in the UI might be a barrier for many users... for example in my class many students frequently use highlighting / italics / underlining / colors to make lectures clearer and more pleasant to read (and the more you have to type, the more formatting becomes an advantage)