21 votes

The unreasonable effectiveness of plain text

11 comments

  1. [9]
    vildravn
    Link
    I really like this video/talk as I already intuitively mostly stick to the principles at least for personal projects and this video talks about it more eloquently than I ever could. There seems to...

    I really like this video/talk as I already intuitively mostly stick to the principles at least for personal projects and this video talks about it more eloquently than I ever could.

    There seems to be one point that's nagging me a bit and that's a bit of a lock-in when it comes to GitHub or other similar services. Perhaps you could use various APIs to potentially export issues, projects, milestones etc. but it does seem to be a bit against the whole plain-text, portable philosophy. Maybe it's a tradeoff that is worth it, maybe there are other solutions to that problem?

    8 votes
    1. [8]
      Pioneer
      Link Parent
      I love a bit of plaintext. I am endlessly frustrated at how so few tools are compatible with formatting these days. I've recently started writing and I use a tool specifically to do that properly....

      I love a bit of plaintext.

      I am endlessly frustrated at how so few tools are compatible with formatting these days. I've recently started writing and I use a tool specifically to do that properly. Copying that into Wordpress? Absolute carnage.

      Ever tried to copy from Word to Teams or Slack? It's mayhem. Hell, don't even try and copy from Jira or Confluence to anything else... it just ends up a nightmare.

      6 votes
      1. [6]
        vildravn
        Link Parent
        On topic of copying and formatting, good old Ctrl+Shift+V should paste without any formatting at all. It's not 100%, there's still some frustration with that for me, but most of the time it works...

        On topic of copying and formatting, good old Ctrl+Shift+V should paste without any formatting at all. It's not 100%, there's still some frustration with that for me, but most of the time it works fairly well :)

        11 votes
        1. [5]
          Pioneer
          Link Parent
          Oh it works wonders. But sometimes you need that formatting! The amount of times I've had entire paragraphs squashed together with bullet points everywhere, simply because Wordpress or Word can't...

          Oh it works wonders. But sometimes you need that formatting!

          The amount of times I've had entire paragraphs squashed together with bullet points everywhere, simply because Wordpress or Word can't fathom what you want it to do can be infuriating.

          3 votes
          1. vildravn
            Link Parent
            Yeah I know exactly what you mean. If only everything accepted Markdown

            Yeah I know exactly what you mean. If only everything accepted Markdown

            6 votes
          2. [3]
            TanyaJLaird
            Link Parent
            There's probably a more elegant way to do this, but I've somehow ended up with a very peculiar workflow detail. I know in word you can right click, to through the pop up menu, and click paste...

            There's probably a more elegant way to do this, but I've somehow ended up with a very peculiar workflow detail. I know in word you can right click, to through the pop up menu, and click paste without formatting. But since I'm often copying from a webpage, I will often just use what's quick and in front of me. If I need to copy a short bit of text from a webpage into word, without formatting, I'll first paste it into the browser's address bar. This clears the formatting. Then I'll quickly recopy it and paste it into word.

            1 vote
            1. Plik
              Link Parent
              I do this, but with notepad as the middleman.

              I do this, but with notepad as the middleman.

              5 votes
            2. Minty
              Link Parent
              Many people use Notepad for this, or just ctrl+shift+v

              Many people use Notepad for this, or just ctrl+shift+v

              4 votes
      2. Plik
        Link Parent
        ctrl c, Windows key, "not", enter, ctrl v, ctrl a, ctrl c, alt tab, ctrl v .... Probably the longest "shortcut" ever just to get plain text into something without touching the mouse (until maybe...

        ctrl c, Windows key, "not", enter, ctrl v, ctrl a, ctrl c, alt tab, ctrl v

        ....

        Probably the longest "shortcut" ever just to get plain text into something without touching the mouse (until maybe the last alternative tab).

        2 votes
  2. gazoo
    Link
    I didn't realize that the actual phrase "The unreasonable effectiveness of" was a thing. Makes for additional good reading.

    I didn't realize that the actual phrase "The unreasonable effectiveness of" was a thing. Makes for additional good reading.

    2 votes
  3. Rocket_Man
    Link
    My reaction is "What a crock of absolute shit". It's pretty ironic, the video mentions jumping between tools as being a problem (it usually isn't) and then suggests jumping to their generic...

    My reaction is "What a crock of absolute shit". It's pretty ironic, the video mentions jumping between tools as being a problem (it usually isn't) and then suggests jumping to their generic solution. From my experience in software the issue is almost never the tool. I've done complex planning using Googles shitty Jamboard (now shut down) and it works fine.

    The issue is always people, and the video even focuses on that more than plaintext as an idea. With more generic advice about stand-up meetings. So what if you ask people if they have blockers? I have work right now that is blocked and it wont change a god damned thing who I tell. I don't have a solution to make people actually care, plan, and work together. I don't think anybody really does. The only lesson should be if you do find yourself in a working team or workflow. Don't have the hubris to think you know why it's working.