4 ms·

A text editor that only allows the top 1000 most common words in English

33 points by kawera 11y ago

DrScump 11y ago
I think that an editor that didn't allow any term but the magic 1000 words would be utterly useless (crashing on proper names, tech acronyms, etc.) At least there's an option to highlight rather than disallow.
- jack9 11y ago
  The concept is very powerful. Disney's MMO tried a variation, which was only preapproved conversational phrases. Solving forum trolling could be brutally curbed by this method and would probably be effective with an extensible whitelist. Simplewriter includes "ostensibly" but omits "is" and "for". So good luck with that.
  - qbrass 11y ago
    >Solving forum trolling could be brutally curbed by this method and would probably be effective with an extensible whitelist. Sounds like a recipe for a forum full of sarcasm and passive-aggression.
DanBC 11y ago
I like the editor. There's obviously interest in this after XKCD. It'd be really cool if people had a look at "Easy Read", and how to make it easier to translate stuff into easy read. Easy Read is a system aimed at people with a learning disability (UK definition), but it's used by more people. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-ouch-26836091 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-ouch-26836091 http://www.ohb.scot.nhs.uk/article.asp?page=252 http://www.ohb.scot.nhs.uk/article.asp?page=252 https://www.mencap.org.uk/sites/default/files/documents/2008-04/make%20it%20clear%20apr09.pdf https://www.mencap.org.uk/sites/default/files/documents/2008... http://www.effortmark.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/4008_286_Easy-read-DRC-How-to-use-easy-words-and-pictures.pdf http://www.effortmark.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/4008_...
jimrandomh 11y ago
This is similar to xkcd simple writer: https://xkcd.com/simplewriter/ https://xkcd.com/simplewriter/ .
- throwaway2016a 11y ago
  Not sure why he got down voted. It is very similar. Perhaps people think he is linking to a XKCD comic but he is actually linking to a web app hosted on the XKCD website. I found this comment interesting.
kstenerud 11y ago
Wow, this is double plus good!
SixSigma 11y ago
I use http://hemingwayapp.com/ http://hemingwayapp.com/ to help me make my writing clear.
- WizardlySquid 11y ago
  I put a big chunk of Finnegans Wake in and said it was at a grade 7 reading level. What does it consider the hardest?
jhbadger 11y ago
Although I find "Thing Explainer" funny, the idea that the problem with English is just that it has a lot of words is misguided. In the 1930s when artificial languages were big there was one called "Basic English" that was based on the top 800 English words. The problem is that even with a small vocabulary you can get very complicated sentences and idioms, and those are more confusing to language learners than just words (which after all, can be looked up or figured out from context).

33 points by kawera 11y ago

I think that an editor that didn't allow any term but the magic 1000 words would be utterly useless (crashing on proper names, tech acronyms, etc.) At least there's an option to highlight rather than disallow.

jack9 11y ago
The concept is very powerful. Disney's MMO tried a variation, which was only preapproved conversational phrases. Solving forum trolling could be brutally curbed by this method and would probably be effective with an extensible whitelist. Simplewriter includes "ostensibly" but omits "is" and "for". So good luck with that.
- qbrass 11y ago
  >Solving forum trolling could be brutally curbed by this method and would probably be effective with an extensible whitelist. Sounds like a recipe for a forum full of sarcasm and passive-aggression.

DanBC 11y ago

I like the editor. There's obviously interest in this after XKCD. It'd be really cool if people had a look at "Easy Read", and how to make it easier to translate stuff into easy read. Easy Read is a system aimed at people with a learning disability (UK definition), but it's used by more people. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-ouch-26836091 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-ouch-26836091 http://www.ohb.scot.nhs.uk/article.asp?page=252 http://www.ohb.scot.nhs.uk/article.asp?page=252 https://www.mencap.org.uk/sites/default/files/documents/2008-04/make%20it%20clear%20apr09.pdf https://www.mencap.org.uk/sites/default/files/documents/2008... http://www.effortmark.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/4008_286_Easy-read-DRC-How-to-use-easy-words-and-pictures.pdf http://www.effortmark.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/4008_...

jimrandomh 11y ago

This is similar to xkcd simple writer: https://xkcd.com/simplewriter/ https://xkcd.com/simplewriter/ .

throwaway2016a 11y ago
Not sure why he got down voted. It is very similar. Perhaps people think he is linking to a XKCD comic but he is actually linking to a web app hosted on the XKCD website. I found this comment interesting.

kstenerud 11y ago

Wow, this is double plus good!

SixSigma 11y ago

I use http://hemingwayapp.com/ http://hemingwayapp.com/ to help me make my writing clear.

WizardlySquid 11y ago
I put a big chunk of Finnegans Wake in and said it was at a grade 7 reading level. What does it consider the hardest?

jhbadger 11y ago

Although I find "Thing Explainer" funny, the idea that the problem with English is just that it has a lot of words is misguided. In the 1930s when artificial languages were big there was one called "Basic English" that was based on the top 800 English words. The problem is that even with a small vocabulary you can get very complicated sentences and idioms, and those are more confusing to language learners than just words (which after all, can be looked up or figured out from context).