Ask HH: Does this app exist? (robust virtual scratch paper)
1) I love to scratch out thoughts on paper while rotating the orientation so that multiple thoughts are all in one place but distinguished by their orientation.
2) At the same time, I also love the convenience of typing on my keyboard.
The key benefits are:
* Able to organize and visualize many thoughts in close proximity without wasted screen space
* Convenient to the workflow of laptop users (ie. no paper, fast typing)
* Liberating -- no imposed structure, no pressure to do something clean, easy to trash
* Fast
* Fun/attractive/natural
I'll describe my deal app to give an idea of what I'm looking for (and because it's fun to conceptualize apps).
As I see it, the salient features would be:
* Able to change text size very quickly (i.e. mouse scroll wheel)
* Able to rotate paper very quickly and smoothly to any degree while the text is maintained
* Able to rotate cursor orientation very quickly and smoothly up to 45 degrees above or below the horizontal
* Super-easy to shift into low-res drawing mode (bonus points if jankety mouse movements are averaged into something that looks like a confident stroke with a pen/pencil - this doesn't need shape and line and curve tools etc, just render what the mouse traces)
* Easy to strike through text (not via formatting, via a slightly different drawing tool -- I imagine you pick the strike out tool, select the area, get a zoom in, and then use the normal drawing mechanism only at the more granular level)
* crumple up the sheet of paper in a really satisfying way to get a new sheet
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In short, it's a more robust facsimile of virtual pen and paper.
I would love an app like this for thinking, but I would use it just as much as a teaching/communicating aid.
Does this or something with similar functionality exist?
If not, how hard would it be for the right person to build? (just out of curiosity)