I've been using Drummer to edit JavaScript source these days, and find that it's more comfortable if I can change the font and size to something more code-like. So I've added a feature where you can set the font, size and line-height for a whole outline. #
There are three new optional head-level attributes:#
I've heard of people having tabs that weren't working properly but just got a report from a user about this a couple of days ago, so I implemented a fix. If you're having the problem, check out this comment, and follow the instructions carefully, being sure to do a backup before anything. Please report on whether it worked. #
It's been a while since I posted a change note here.#
Basically things got quiet on the support and rfc forums. I had just started a project to hook up LogSeq to Drummer, and it had considerable momentum, and then basically everyone went their own way. Crickets. ;-) #
Anyway I took that as a signal from whoever that it was time to check out for a while, I'm doing other projects. I assume everyone is happy with Drummer. I know I'm using it every day for all my projects. I hope you all are too. #
In the meantime, Stephen Waters is having trouble with PagePark, and is asking for help. I wonder if anyone can pitch in. PagePark is not supported like Drummer. I am just sharing an app that I developed for myself. I don't think it's a project for poets, wasn't designed to be. It was designed to approachable, and documented -- so if you have had success with PP, congratulations, it's because you are able to break a problem down into its components and figure out what you want to do, and then patiently try to figure out if or how the product can do it. That's how it works for me, when I use someone else's software. I do the work to organize the problem, and if I don't -- I find I don't get help. Even when I do carefully specify the problem there's no help. That's the way it works.#
I've reworked the user interface for tweets.opml.org. It was too verbose and didn't make it clear wtf it was doing. Not uncommon for a first release of something like this. Now, before you've logged on there's a very simple dialog and a button that lets you log on. #
Then once logged on, you can see your own outline in a Concord outline display that is hooked up as an instant outline. And there also is a People menu so you can look at the outlines of other users of tweets.opml.org.#
There are obvious enhancements that could be made beyond this, but I only wanted to spend a couple of days on prettying up this UI, other fish to fry as they say. #
To begin with I want to open it up to people who are already in the loop on Drummer. It's public, but for today am only pointing to it from the change notes outline.#
Here's the getting started directions, that walk you through the demo, and how to set up your own tree chart demo. #
If you have any questions or comments, or see problems, please post a note in this thread. #
This, based on our experience with MORE 1.1c in 1986 is a key part of the evolution of outliners. Renderings of outlines. New interactive experiences. It's like adding chocolate to milk, it makes it taste a little better. ;-)#
Back in 86 we sold the idea, to get started with this slogan: "The C stands for color!" Everyone loves color. #
As we're starting to test the Linux and Windows versions of Electric Drummer there have been some basic questions. I thought it would be a good idea to publish the answers here and on my blog. #
The getting-started page is here, if you're interested in helping out, finding glitches, reporting them, verifying they're fixed when fixes ship.#
Scott Hanson has new test versions of Electric Drummer for Windows and Linux. #
He's started a thread on Drummer Support with details. #
I've been using the Linux version, it's pretty much exactly like the Mac version.#
For me this is liberating, I've been wanting to write on Linux because all my server stuff is running there. Having it all on the same systems will make things less complicated, and of course that's good.#
I thank Scott for picking this up as a labor of love. He's doing something very empowering for Drummer users. #
Video demo: A new demo app called TreeChart interactively displays beautiful SVG trees as you edit them in the Drummer outliner. This is a seat-of-the-pants preview. I hope to release the app tomorrow so people can see how it works for themselves and hopefully it'll give developers and users some ideas. #
I'm going to post links to the technology as I document it tomorrow in this thread. #
My longtime friend Scott Hanson has been working on getting build scripts working for Electric Drummer on Windows and Linux.#
I spent a few hours today using the Linux version, and it's taking some getting used to, Linux is different from the Mac, but I have to say it's remarkable that it works so well. I'm not entirely surprised, but then again, it's always surprising when software works without much effort. The JavaScript platform really does work well for what it does. #
If you have an immediate need to use one of these versions, let me know, and we can possibly get you into the private test group.#
It's possible to do this if you're a good system programmer.#
I outlined how it works to a longtime programming buddy Eric Kidd, who just showed up in the thread about hooking Drummer up to LogSeq. You never know who's lurking around in the shadows at any time. Glad to see him here, I wonder how long it'll be before he discovers the Change Notes outline. :-)#
I've at least tried to do it at this time, and have a set of builds, but I haven't yet been able to run any of them in a Ubuntu virtual machine in VM Ware. #
Having Linux and Windows versions of E/D has become important. #
One of the best things that came out of it is that an old friend Eric Kidd, who worked with me on lots of projects in the late 90s and early 00s is back in the loop. He's a LogSeq user, his use-case is (as he puts it) Narrate Your Work, which is a slogan I came up with for outliners. So I fully understand the application. There are lots of things we can do to help. #
It appears the first interop project will be to hook up LogSeq to Drummer blogging, so Narrate Your Work can be public if you want it to.#
It also seems that one user can create more than one LogSeq folder, so you can have a private work narration space and a public one.#
I think my use-case will be to write a LogSeq blog using LogSeq about the things we're doing to connect our products.#
I am also in touch with the team at LS, I have been for a fairly long time, but I had to get Drummer to a place where interop made sense.#
At first I assumed the interop would be based on OPML, but it turned out to be easy to get some interop based on Markdown. #
You may not post links to your projects, products, websites, blogs, whatever. #
You can of course post links to examples, sites you're having trouble with, docs, etc. #
This is a hard rule, no exceptions. If we didn't have this rule we'd have to start a new support forum where spam was not allowed. So we just don't allow spam there. #
The rules aren't quite as tight in the RFC site. There maybe the conclusion of a thread is something available for people to use. But even there, don't be overtly commercial. #
I think a standard may be emerging, Markdown used as a way to store outlines. It plays a similar role to the one OPML plays. I still believe OPML is the best choice for interop between outliners, and Drummer will continue to use OPML as its file format, but there is now a way to use Markdown. #
The main reason for supporting this format is interop with other products. #
It's a little awkward because the format doesn't have a name, as far as I know. It's a very small subset of Markdown. I don't think it makes sense to use the .md extension, but that's what LogSeq uses, so we will too, for now. I've been calling the format markdown/outline where I've been writing about it in docs and development notes. However this is just a name I made up. There also does not appear to be a spec. At some point I will write one if only to document what we're producing and consuming in Drummer. #
Important: Many Drummer features will only work with the OPML-based format. #
The feature is already in web Drummer in an experimental form. The code will change, this is not a final or frozen format. #
There is not yet a release of Electric Drummer with this support.#
We now support "idea" in addition to the other types that indicate a node should be indexed. This was the type Fargo used, and we want to be able to include OPML files that Fargo generated in this system. #
Daytona will only index nodes that have a created attribute. Time is an essential part of this application. Also the created attribute is used to identify nodes within an outline. The eye icon in Daytona would not work without it. #
Another big chunk of my archive is in Fargo, which used OPML as its file format as does Drummer. #
As was pointed out by Frank McPherson, in Fargo our blog posts had type "idea" -- I'm going to check this out. Might be a good idea to have Daytona understand that type as well, save Frank some time. Happy to do that.#
I've noticed people posting notes about the file-overwriting problem in their blogs, which of course is fine, but it would be good to cross-post those observations to a thread on the Support site. I don't know what the problem is, so any idea is worth considering. But let's not treat theories as bug reports.#
For example, I read that people think it might be related to autosaving and switching tabs. The theory is that Drummer initiates an autosave on one tab, the user switches to another tab and in the process the file text is saved to the wrong file. I think this is so unlikely as to be impossible. The file saving happens inside a JavaScript closure for the tab. It couldn't get confused about what file it's writing to, the only file it knows about is the one it's managing. Think about it this way. I'm at the supermarket and use my credit card to pay for groceries. Then while the transaction is still being processed there, I go to the hardware store and buy a hammer. I use the same credit card. It couldn't accidently charge the hammer to Mookie Wilson's credit card. I simply don't have his credit card in my wallet. #
But it was still worth considering for a bit of time. And I could put code in to verify a save after it happens. To see if the file it wrote is the same as the file you're editing. #
I also saw a feature request that we add a Save command to the File menu, and I assume also add an option to disable Autosave. If enough people really want that, I'll take a look at implementing it. #
Jim Grisham posted a detailed report on something wrong with the bookmarklet. #
I'm going to cross-post a link to his post in an earlier thread on the bookmarklet, hoping to re-convene the Bookmarklet Brain Trust or BBT for short. #
If you open a copy of Drummer in a new window or tab on the same machine, or on a different machine, a dialog will appear on the old copy. Remember this is the version you're not using. When you come back you'll see the dialog. #
It says "Drummer is running in another tab. You must reload this one, or -- you can safely close it." #
Here's an RFC. It'll be a pretty straightforward thing. #
I want to do it, because it's useful for programmers, and it's good to have more of them using Drummer. Better bug reports, and possibility of help in branching-out projects. #
I've been using Drummer to edit JavaScript source these days, and find that it's more comfortable if I can change the font and size to something more code-like. So I've added a feature where you can set the font, size and line-height for a whole outline. #
There are three new optional head-level attributes:#
I've heard of people having tabs that weren't working properly but just got a report from a user about this a couple of days ago, so I implemented a fix. If you're having the problem, check out this comment, and follow the instructions carefully, being sure to do a backup before anything. Please report on whether it worked. #
It's been a while since I posted a change note here.#
Basically things got quiet on the support and rfc forums. I had just started a project to hook up LogSeq to Drummer, and it had considerable momentum, and then basically everyone went their own way. Crickets. ;-) #
Anyway I took that as a signal from whoever that it was time to check out for a while, I'm doing other projects. I assume everyone is happy with Drummer. I know I'm using it every day for all my projects. I hope you all are too. #
In the meantime, Stephen Waters is having trouble with PagePark, and is asking for help. I wonder if anyone can pitch in. PagePark is not supported like Drummer. I am just sharing an app that I developed for myself. I don't think it's a project for poets, wasn't designed to be. It was designed to approachable, and documented -- so if you have had success with PP, congratulations, it's because you are able to break a problem down into its components and figure out what you want to do, and then patiently try to figure out if or how the product can do it. That's how it works for me, when I use someone else's software. I do the work to organize the problem, and if I don't -- I find I don't get help. Even when I do carefully specify the problem there's no help. That's the way it works.#
I've reworked the user interface for tweets.opml.org. It was too verbose and didn't make it clear wtf it was doing. Not uncommon for a first release of something like this. Now, before you've logged on there's a very simple dialog and a button that lets you log on. #
Then once logged on, you can see your own outline in a Concord outline display that is hooked up as an instant outline. And there also is a People menu so you can look at the outlines of other users of tweets.opml.org.#
There are obvious enhancements that could be made beyond this, but I only wanted to spend a couple of days on prettying up this UI, other fish to fry as they say. #
To begin with I want to open it up to people who are already in the loop on Drummer. It's public, but for today am only pointing to it from the change notes outline.#
Here's the getting started directions, that walk you through the demo, and how to set up your own tree chart demo. #
If you have any questions or comments, or see problems, please post a note in this thread. #
This, based on our experience with MORE 1.1c in 1986 is a key part of the evolution of outliners. Renderings of outlines. New interactive experiences. It's like adding chocolate to milk, it makes it taste a little better. ;-)#
Back in 86 we sold the idea, to get started with this slogan: "The C stands for color!" Everyone loves color. #
As we're starting to test the Linux and Windows versions of Electric Drummer there have been some basic questions. I thought it would be a good idea to publish the answers here and on my blog. #
The getting-started page is here, if you're interested in helping out, finding glitches, reporting them, verifying they're fixed when fixes ship.#
Scott Hanson has new test versions of Electric Drummer for Windows and Linux. #
He's started a thread on Drummer Support with details. #
I've been using the Linux version, it's pretty much exactly like the Mac version.#
For me this is liberating, I've been wanting to write on Linux because all my server stuff is running there. Having it all on the same systems will make things less complicated, and of course that's good.#
I thank Scott for picking this up as a labor of love. He's doing something very empowering for Drummer users. #
Video demo: A new demo app called TreeChart interactively displays beautiful SVG trees as you edit them in the Drummer outliner. This is a seat-of-the-pants preview. I hope to release the app tomorrow so people can see how it works for themselves and hopefully it'll give developers and users some ideas. #
I'm going to post links to the technology as I document it tomorrow in this thread. #
My longtime friend Scott Hanson has been working on getting build scripts working for Electric Drummer on Windows and Linux.#
I spent a few hours today using the Linux version, and it's taking some getting used to, Linux is different from the Mac, but I have to say it's remarkable that it works so well. I'm not entirely surprised, but then again, it's always surprising when software works without much effort. The JavaScript platform really does work well for what it does. #
If you have an immediate need to use one of these versions, let me know, and we can possibly get you into the private test group.#
It's possible to do this if you're a good system programmer.#
I outlined how it works to a longtime programming buddy Eric Kidd, who just showed up in the thread about hooking Drummer up to LogSeq. You never know who's lurking around in the shadows at any time. Glad to see him here, I wonder how long it'll be before he discovers the Change Notes outline. :-)#
I've at least tried to do it at this time, and have a set of builds, but I haven't yet been able to run any of them in a Ubuntu virtual machine in VM Ware. #
Having Linux and Windows versions of E/D has become important. #
One of the best things that came out of it is that an old friend Eric Kidd, who worked with me on lots of projects in the late 90s and early 00s is back in the loop. He's a LogSeq user, his use-case is (as he puts it) Narrate Your Work, which is a slogan I came up with for outliners. So I fully understand the application. There are lots of things we can do to help. #
It appears the first interop project will be to hook up LogSeq to Drummer blogging, so Narrate Your Work can be public if you want it to.#
It also seems that one user can create more than one LogSeq folder, so you can have a private work narration space and a public one.#
I think my use-case will be to write a LogSeq blog using LogSeq about the things we're doing to connect our products.#
I am also in touch with the team at LS, I have been for a fairly long time, but I had to get Drummer to a place where interop made sense.#
At first I assumed the interop would be based on OPML, but it turned out to be easy to get some interop based on Markdown. #
You may not post links to your projects, products, websites, blogs, whatever. #
You can of course post links to examples, sites you're having trouble with, docs, etc. #
This is a hard rule, no exceptions. If we didn't have this rule we'd have to start a new support forum where spam was not allowed. So we just don't allow spam there. #
The rules aren't quite as tight in the RFC site. There maybe the conclusion of a thread is something available for people to use. But even there, don't be overtly commercial. #
I think a standard may be emerging, Markdown used as a way to store outlines. It plays a similar role to the one OPML plays. I still believe OPML is the best choice for interop between outliners, and Drummer will continue to use OPML as its file format, but there is now a way to use Markdown. #
The main reason for supporting this format is interop with other products. #
It's a little awkward because the format doesn't have a name, as far as I know. It's a very small subset of Markdown. I don't think it makes sense to use the .md extension, but that's what LogSeq uses, so we will too, for now. I've been calling the format markdown/outline where I've been writing about it in docs and development notes. However this is just a name I made up. There also does not appear to be a spec. At some point I will write one if only to document what we're producing and consuming in Drummer. #
Important: Many Drummer features will only work with the OPML-based format. #
The feature is already in web Drummer in an experimental form. The code will change, this is not a final or frozen format. #
There is not yet a release of Electric Drummer with this support.#
We now support "idea" in addition to the other types that indicate a node should be indexed. This was the type Fargo used, and we want to be able to include OPML files that Fargo generated in this system. #
Daytona will only index nodes that have a created attribute. Time is an essential part of this application. Also the created attribute is used to identify nodes within an outline. The eye icon in Daytona would not work without it. #
Another big chunk of my archive is in Fargo, which used OPML as its file format as does Drummer. #
As was pointed out by Frank McPherson, in Fargo our blog posts had type "idea" -- I'm going to check this out. Might be a good idea to have Daytona understand that type as well, save Frank some time. Happy to do that.#
I've noticed people posting notes about the file-overwriting problem in their blogs, which of course is fine, but it would be good to cross-post those observations to a thread on the Support site. I don't know what the problem is, so any idea is worth considering. But let's not treat theories as bug reports.#
For example, I read that people think it might be related to autosaving and switching tabs. The theory is that Drummer initiates an autosave on one tab, the user switches to another tab and in the process the file text is saved to the wrong file. I think this is so unlikely as to be impossible. The file saving happens inside a JavaScript closure for the tab. It couldn't get confused about what file it's writing to, the only file it knows about is the one it's managing. Think about it this way. I'm at the supermarket and use my credit card to pay for groceries. Then while the transaction is still being processed there, I go to the hardware store and buy a hammer. I use the same credit card. It couldn't accidently charge the hammer to Mookie Wilson's credit card. I simply don't have his credit card in my wallet. #
But it was still worth considering for a bit of time. And I could put code in to verify a save after it happens. To see if the file it wrote is the same as the file you're editing. #
I also saw a feature request that we add a Save command to the File menu, and I assume also add an option to disable Autosave. If enough people really want that, I'll take a look at implementing it. #
Jim Grisham posted a detailed report on something wrong with the bookmarklet. #
I'm going to cross-post a link to his post in an earlier thread on the bookmarklet, hoping to re-convene the Bookmarklet Brain Trust or BBT for short. #
If you open a copy of Drummer in a new window or tab on the same machine, or on a different machine, a dialog will appear on the old copy. Remember this is the version you're not using. When you come back you'll see the dialog. #
It says "Drummer is running in another tab. You must reload this one, or -- you can safely close it." #
Here's an RFC. It'll be a pretty straightforward thing. #
I want to do it, because it's useful for programmers, and it's good to have more of them using Drummer. Better bug reports, and possibility of help in branching-out projects. #