Natural ways to \"type\" - danger smells like clean socks

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May 20, 2004

Natural ways to \"type\"

I know sometimes you guys get scared about my boring drivel regarding technical issues to Tabulas... but I really need your help here. The less tech-savvy you are, the better you can help me out :)

One of the things I'm very interested in is extending the textform that you type your entry in so autoformatting is done; for example, you would type things in a certain way and Tabulas would automatically format things in a certain way.

For example, I notice that when I want to emphasize words in a certain way, I might do *this*. Wouldn't it be grand if I typed: "Roy *really* has a big crush on Kate Beckinsale" and Tabulas converted it to: "Roy really has a big crush on Kate Beckinsale"?

Maybe to do the emphasis tag in HTML you might do: "Roy _really_ has a big crush on Kate Beckinsale" which would do "Roy really has a big crush on Kate Beckinsale."

Things could get really complex as you could type in lists that would autoformat:

*Movies Kate Beckinsale has been in:*
- _Brokedown Palace_
- _Serendipity_
- _Underworld_
- _etc._

This would look like:
Movies Kate Beckinsale has been in:

Brokedown Palace
Serendipity
Underworld
etc.

So my question(s) to you are:
1.) Would you want to see something like this?
2.) If so, what shortcuts would you like to see and how would you like them to be triggered?

The problem here is not creating a replacement to HTML but rather extending the natural way we type to give you more power... kind like how the smileys work... the basic ones are autogenerated off the natural reaction of us to type in :) ...

Posted by roy on May 20, 2004 at 03:30 AM in Web Development | 15 Comments

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Responses by roy August 7, 2004

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Comment posted on May 22nd, 2004 at 09:48 AM

The thing is, is that the angle brackets and reverse soliduses are naturally near the keys we want to type.

I think it\'s great, and it <em>has</em> worked for forums, but I think that most Tabulas users are used to highlighting the words they want and pressing \"<strong>B</strong>,\" or \"<em>i</em>.\"

I remember that when I had a <a href=\"http://www.cafelog.com\" title=\"I lost it when my host cancelled PHP\">b2</a>, there was an array of text options. I\'d let people stick to the XHTML codes, and then have an interface at the top offering <strike> and <u> and such.

I don\'t think many Tabulas users really want to adopt a new system after they\'ve been using buttons or manually typing out the text effects for so long.

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roy

Comment posted on May 24th, 2004 at 04:56 AM

That\'s true, but it\'s still a lot on the UI to add those buttons... hmm...

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Comment posted on May 22nd, 2004 at 09:18 AM

shortcut\'s would be nice, but i suggest that you use other characters for shortcuts because a lot of people use * and others to put some effects/style to their writing.

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bert

Comment posted on May 21st, 2004 at 08:21 AM

no =) If they want bold... \"<b></b>\"
italics..

basically you\'re letting people be lazy.

but my *GRIN* is rendered useless and I have to go the extra step *grin*

see? =P

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Comment posted on May 21st, 2004 at 05:25 AM

I\'d prefer manually setting the styles; that way I can control what styles my friends use in my style sheet. Web standards people!

And I doubt most of the people on Tabulas would really understand an idea like this, it\'s kind of awkward when you\'ve been typing out the XHTML for so long. It\'s a great idea, but I\'ll stick to <> and <strong>.

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MacDaddyTatsu (guest)

Comment posted on May 21st, 2004 at 01:09 AM

Yes

Banner for list = _TEXT GOES HERE_
This would result in bolded text. Double understoke would result in an underlined selection (Looking like __TEXT GOES HERE__)

Bulleted list items = *ITEM GOES HERE
This would result in bullet text.

Numbered list items = #ITEM GOES HERE
This would result in a numbered list of items.

Graphic list items = Ghttp:URL G_ITEMS GOES HERE
This would result in every item with \"G_ITEM GOES HERE\" item having the \"Ghttp:URL\" image in front of it as a bullet.

Does that make sense?

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phantompenguin

Comment posted on May 20th, 2004 at 06:15 PM

and with my english teacher\'s poor attempt at one of these new-fangled forum things. trust me. it wasn\'t pretty.

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Comment posted on May 20th, 2004 at 05:02 PM

It\'s been done.

<a href="http://textism.com/tools/textile">http://textism.com/tools/textile</a>/

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roy

Comment posted on May 20th, 2004 at 08:51 PM

I know ... but Textism\'s doesn\'t seem very intuitive. I\'m trying to see if people have a natural tendency; i\'m trying to extend, not create a new language.

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Comment posted on May 20th, 2004 at 04:12 PM

that\'s a little too technical for me

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Comment posted on May 20th, 2004 at 02:07 PM

Like everyone else, i\'d rather prefer a more standard way of doing things. Not everyone uses what you propose. Sure, the smiley is now standard, and it had to start somewherere, but it was more intuitive. _bold_ isn\'t very intuitive to me.

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phantompenguin

Comment posted on May 20th, 2004 at 12:59 PM

I would prefer to just be able to format things either through the WYSIWYG editor or the time-tested method of tagging [<b> and such].

Say I want the word \"_bolded!!!\" to appear the way I\'ve typed it? Having it bolded might just become a nuisance.

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Comment posted on May 20th, 2004 at 12:25 PM

agreed with the posts below.

we need to get a poker game going. i\'m itching to play!

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Anonymous (guest)

Comment posted on May 20th, 2004 at 06:55 AM

Oh and you also forgot my favorite:

Laurel Canyon

Except that it gives me blue balls ;-)

I think the problem is that the first example actually is a common way of emphasis, but as you work to the second and third they make less and less sense and become less and less common.

If everyone typed that way it would make perfect sense to do that, but not everyone does.

And by the third example you actually have to think about what is what and how to get what you want on the screen, and by that point it\'s not natural at all.

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PM5K (guest)

Comment posted on May 20th, 2004 at 06:51 AM

It\'s a cool idea but I simply prefer more standard techniques.

Your first example makes great sense, however the second makes less and the third hardly makes any...

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