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If this article is giving writing advice I find that somewhat ironic, since it does nothing whatsoever in the early sentences to make me want to read it or inde

If this article is giving writing advice I find that somewhat ironic, since it does nothing whatsoever in the early sentences to make me want to read it or indeed have the faintest idea what its subject or aims are.

benhoyt 5y ago
That's odd: personally, I was drawn in. And the first two paragraphs convey its subject and aims pretty explicitly, don't they?
- da39a3ee 5y ago
  Seems like several others here felt the same way as me, and this isn't a long comment thread: > This might be the most boring thing ever written about writing. > The problem is (imo) that he's writing for himself and not an audience. It reads like a stream-of-consciousness journal entry, not a thoughtful attempt at relaying information to another mind. A good start would be learning to self-edit; the length could be cut significantly with no real loss of content. > There isn't much more to this article than an author clarifying for himself how he thinks about things. He succeeds at that, sure, and is better off for it, but it's dreary for the rest of us!
  - barry-cotter 5y ago
    And that's fine. You hate his writing (style) so you don't read it. Others feel differently, enough that he has many, many readers. Clearly there's room for many different styles of writing to find an audience.
spekcular 5y ago
Also: This website desperately needs to limit the number of characters per line instead of just going to the side of the screen and wrapping. It's an abomination on a widescreen monitor.
- benhoyt 5y ago
  I agree that it'd be easier to read with wrapping, though "abomination" is rather too strong. You can just click "reader mode" in your browser, or size the window down to something readable.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- foxbarrington 5y ago
  Agreed. I love many of the articles, but I always have to use Firefox's reader view.
- lmm 5y ago
  No it doesn't. I like having my text be wide thank you very much. If you want it to be narrow, can't you just make your browser narrow?
  - spekcular 5y ago
    I like my text wide too. I think the usual advice of 80–100 characters per line is much too conservative. But as one wide text lover to another: this is clearly beyond the bounds of good taste. Regarding your second question, I don't feel I should be responsible for fixing the formatting mistakes of other people's websites.
    - lmm 5y ago
      > as one wide text lover to another: this is clearly beyond the bounds of good taste. I disagree. I like it as it is. Maybe a small amount of margin (HN-style) would help, but I certainly wouldn't want to see it introduce a maximum width. > Regarding your second question, I don't feel I should be responsible for fixing the formatting mistakes of other people's websites. I think websites should be created ready to be reflowed at the user's convenience - that's the whole point of using HTML over things like PDF. If the user wants a particular max-width, they should have their user agent apply it. Whereas if the website makes its own choice of max-width, it's virtually impossible for the user to "undo" that. (I did try setting "body max-width: undefined !important" in Stylish for a while, but that breaks too many pages)
mountaineer 5y ago
For some context, the likely reason that this is on the front page is that most of his essays, which are many, do very well on HN[1]. If you consider that body of work, this may be a more interesting insight into writing to explore. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=danluu.com https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=danluu.com
- mattowen_uk 5y ago
  [Off-topic] His aversion to employing a max-width CSS[1] on his site make it really difficult for those of us with any level of dyspraxia/dyslexia to actually read it. I shouldn't have to resize my browser window because of his stubbornness[2]. --- [1] A simple: body {max-width: 60em; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;} would fix it. [2] I also shouldn't have to install an extension. Books are [mainly] a standard size for a reason.
- mattowen_uk 5y ago
  My other comment here is flagged. Really?! If you don't agree with what I say, be polite and state why. If that's still to much of a bother, vote me down and move on... But flagging?! c'mon.

benhoyt 5y ago

That's odd: personally, I was drawn in. And the first two paragraphs convey its subject and aims pretty explicitly, don't they?

da39a3ee 5y ago
Seems like several others here felt the same way as me, and this isn't a long comment thread: > This might be the most boring thing ever written about writing. > The problem is (imo) that he's writing for himself and not an audience. It reads like a stream-of-consciousness journal entry, not a thoughtful attempt at relaying information to another mind. A good start would be learning to self-edit; the length could be cut significantly with no real loss of content. > There isn't much more to this article than an author clarifying for himself how he thinks about things. He succeeds at that, sure, and is better off for it, but it's dreary for the rest of us!
- barry-cotter 5y ago
  And that's fine. You hate his writing (style) so you don't read it. Others feel differently, enough that he has many, many readers. Clearly there's room for many different styles of writing to find an audience.

spekcular 5y ago

Also: This website desperately needs to limit the number of characters per line instead of just going to the side of the screen and wrapping. It's an abomination on a widescreen monitor.

benhoyt 5y ago
I agree that it'd be easier to read with wrapping, though "abomination" is rather too strong. You can just click "reader mode" in your browser, or size the window down to something readable.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
foxbarrington 5y ago
Agreed. I love many of the articles, but I always have to use Firefox's reader view.
lmm 5y ago
No it doesn't. I like having my text be wide thank you very much. If you want it to be narrow, can't you just make your browser narrow?
- spekcular 5y ago
  I like my text wide too. I think the usual advice of 80–100 characters per line is much too conservative. But as one wide text lover to another: this is clearly beyond the bounds of good taste. Regarding your second question, I don't feel I should be responsible for fixing the formatting mistakes of other people's websites.
  - lmm 5y ago
    > as one wide text lover to another: this is clearly beyond the bounds of good taste. I disagree. I like it as it is. Maybe a small amount of margin (HN-style) would help, but I certainly wouldn't want to see it introduce a maximum width. > Regarding your second question, I don't feel I should be responsible for fixing the formatting mistakes of other people's websites. I think websites should be created ready to be reflowed at the user's convenience - that's the whole point of using HTML over things like PDF. If the user wants a particular max-width, they should have their user agent apply it. Whereas if the website makes its own choice of max-width, it's virtually impossible for the user to "undo" that. (I did try setting "body max-width: undefined !important" in Stylish for a while, but that breaks too many pages)

mountaineer 5y ago

For some context, the likely reason that this is on the front page is that most of his essays, which are many, do very well on HN[1]. If you consider that body of work, this may be a more interesting insight into writing to explore. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=danluu.com https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=danluu.com

mattowen_uk 5y ago
[Off-topic] His aversion to employing a max-width CSS[1] on his site make it really difficult for those of us with any level of dyspraxia/dyslexia to actually read it. I shouldn't have to resize my browser window because of his stubbornness[2]. --- [1] A simple: body {max-width: 60em; margin-left:auto; margin-right:auto;} would fix it. [2] I also shouldn't have to install an extension. Books are [mainly] a standard size for a reason.
mattowen_uk 5y ago
My other comment here is flagged. Really?! If you don't agree with what I say, be polite and state why. If that's still to much of a bother, vote me down and move on... But flagging?! c'mon.