4 ms·

I rather enjoy writing longhand, and closest in feel to it is Dasher[0]. Don't get me wrong, keyboard entry is, in my opinion, a superior option for moving acro

I rather enjoy writing longhand, and closest in feel to it is Dasher[0]. Don't get me wrong, keyboard entry is, in my opinion, a superior option for moving across large amount of text; and Dasher is indeed an accessibility writing system, but I like it's single-handed interface and _ex tempore_ feel that I also get from writing by hand. And the fact that the right hand side of the GUI is in fact a Borges' Library of Babel, is extremely suggestive to my mind. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dasher_(software) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dasher_(software)

yorwba 6y ago
I tried the Dasher app available on F-Droid: https://f-droid.org/packages/dasher.android/ https://f-droid.org/packages/dasher.android/ Not updated since 2013, but I guess that just means it's in a stable state. Trying to write with it was a trippy experience: just forging ahead without steering generated some interesting nonsense text, but even then it felt quite slow. Getting it to write exactly what I intended was rather challenging. (I did not have the patience to try writing this comment in Dasher.)
- novosel 6y ago
  Well, it's vocabulary grows to accommodate your writing habits. And nothing is ever erased, there is a txt file containing everything you've written. You can jump-start it with a txt collection of your particular writing style/lexicon. For me, the speed is not an issue. I feel like the speed/responsiveness of the medium is inversely related to the length of the final text. Speed of light for the poetry, longhand for a novel. There is a reason why old prose is such a lengthy affair, and why it so often flirts with the letter writing trope. (That is probably anchored in the rhetoric schooling of the writers of old.) N.B. I have been using only the desktop version of the Dasher. Nor did I use it to write this reply.

yorwba 6y ago

I tried the Dasher app available on F-Droid: https://f-droid.org/packages/dasher.android/ https://f-droid.org/packages/dasher.android/ Not updated since 2013, but I guess that just means it's in a stable state. Trying to write with it was a trippy experience: just forging ahead without steering generated some interesting nonsense text, but even then it felt quite slow. Getting it to write exactly what I intended was rather challenging. (I did not have the patience to try writing this comment in Dasher.)

novosel 6y ago
Well, it's vocabulary grows to accommodate your writing habits. And nothing is ever erased, there is a txt file containing everything you've written. You can jump-start it with a txt collection of your particular writing style/lexicon. For me, the speed is not an issue. I feel like the speed/responsiveness of the medium is inversely related to the length of the final text. Speed of light for the poetry, longhand for a novel. There is a reason why old prose is such a lengthy affair, and why it so often flirts with the letter writing trope. (That is probably anchored in the rhetoric schooling of the writers of old.) N.B. I have been using only the desktop version of the Dasher. Nor did I use it to write this reply.