adriano_f

With better support mobile devices (including eReaders and whatever comes after them), we hope it'll be less of an issue as time goes on.

Right now, we simply export the Markdown to flat text (breadth-first). But we will be adding PDF export options, for exporting the whole document, or one column.

That way, you can still end up with a traditional document at the end, if you want.

Any other ideas?

Cool, I hadn't seen that.

Personally, I think that things like this Lens reader are evolutionary advances, but science communication needs a revolutionary change.

I don't expect actual journals to be using Gingko any time soon, but there are already grad students collaborating on research papers right now :)

Cool, hadn't considered having a tag list at top. Thanks.

Collapsing to "header only" is something we might have to add, after we implement infinite columns (so we can get a quicker overview of large trees).

Thanks for the feedback.

> This hits a lot of points that I've been looking for in an app/service.

Glad to hear that, Jeremy.

I've tagged you with "infinite-columns" in Intercom, so I can update you when we add that feature.

> That prevents this from being useful enough to me to start using it.

I agree, I struggle with this limit too, and it's my #1 most desired feature too... we're working on it!

Let me know if you have any other questions or comments.

Yes, that's a feature we have planned. Similar to the "Zen mode" in github.

That will let you write a group of cards as one flow, and it'll split it into individual cards once you leave fullscreen.

You can double-click the card to go into edit mode.

Single click would be easier, but since we have drag-and-drop, and sometimes use clicking just for navigation, we have to use double-click to edit.

(unless you have a better approach in mind?)

PS: Also, once you get used to them, the keyboard shortcuts lets you navigate & edit pretty quickly.

Understood. We're planning on adding offline support, and a "Chrome Packaged App" version, so you could use Gingko offline entirely, and our servers will never touch your data.

As for the format, we simply export to flat Markdown. We will be supporting other formats (including XML, and the OPML standard for hierarchical/outline text).

Thanks for your feedback!

Great, thanks for the feedback Zemi.

We have the ability to filter, using the Search feature. You can just type @tags, and searching them will hide all cards that don't containt that text.

Let me know if you have any other questions or suggestions.

It's great to have a film insider's take on this.

The screenplay examples do only go up to the "scene card" level, but we plan to have more columns so you could add the script there as well. That way you could go start-to-finish, or have overviews as well.

> I do think this would very useful for film students doing analysis.

Interesting, thanks.

A question: would this be useful for pitching a film? Say if there were concept art sections, character descriptions, and additional notes, as well as the script itself (from logline down to linear form) ??

> BTW I also feel that if you offer people the opportunity to try it, you should let them try it

Again, sorry about this. It's what we've got, and we're trying to make the best of it.

Works on all modern browsers. Soon, will work on mobile as well.

I've even been testing it on my Kindle this morning, and was surprised to see it (almost) works there too!

Thanks Kiro!

I should have used "Evernote + Workflowy" in the title, since that seems to be what people immediately understand about Gingko.

Get in touch if you ever have any thoughts or questions.

True, hierarchy is not a panacea. But I argue that it's better for new comers to have context & overview, and hierarchy helps with that.

The hubris of the statement is not lost on me, but what should a founder be but delusional and optimistic :)

1. It's both a viewer and a word processor. It relies on Markdown (and LaTeX through extensions). We export to Md, but will be adding more import/export options in the future. We hope to create a publication standard for it.

2. The structure of the document is an "outline of index cards". Each card can have one or more children. Source content (in markdown) is edited by toggling edit mode on that card.

3. Yes, we are extracting parts of this as open-source. The rest remains proprietary (for now, at least).

> I apologize if any of the above seems harsh

No need to apologize. Thoughtful criticism is what we need.

Thanks!

Thanks for your feedback!

Yes, the idea of simply embedding parts of other people's papers right there, instead of citations, is something I'm excited about.

Literature review is such a pain, and could be a lot better.

As for smaller screens, we have plans for allowing this to be read on mobile, by collapsing columns and letting you scroll left-right to navigate the tree.

We considered adding "lazy registration", but we're a team of just two, and decided to focus on improving the product and helping our users.

Might do in the future, but for now, that's what we have.

Yes, Ted Nelson has some similar work in this line. But I think he went too far with the N dimensions... Text is linear, Gingko text is 2-dimensional.

With it, we can represent more than two dimensions, by simply "slicing" along any two we choose (e.g. text & comments)... not sure I'm explaining this properly :-/

Yes, we're definitely working on adding arbirary depth. We are starting with three because it's enough to realize the benefits.

Infinite depth is coming (as well as other exciting features).

Thanks!

Screenwriting was one of the initial inspirations for the UI, because screenplays are naturally hierarchical (logline > Acts > Sequences > Scenes > Beats).

Agreed. And I think we greatly underestimate how much this is holding Science back.

Yes, it has similarities to WorkFlowy. We sometimes say "Evernote + Workflowy = Gingko" :)

Yes, it might take some getting used to.

It's a new word processor, that's a mix between an outliner and index cards. (think of it as "Workflowy + Evernote").

If you're still confused, maybe this (<90 sec) video can clarify things: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=egCKZHsICm8

- Adriano (founder, CEO)

I just posted a link to the Hyperloop spec, written as a "tree document"... Makes it easier to quickly absorb the main points.

https://news.ycombinator.com/newest http://gingkoapp.com/hyperloop

I have to say, that was a good talk.

Not flashy, no bullshit, and she seens very down-to-earth and approachable, for being the CEO of a multi-million dollar company.

A lot of what she said reminded me of "Good to Great".

I agree with you completely.

I go as far as putting technologies like social media, smartphones, and immersive never-ending game worlds into the same category as recreational drugs. These things make it far easier to artificially trigger our reward circuits, than to create valuable interactions in the real world.

It is terrifying in the long term as well, because I think if we keep on this road, we will lose all interest in external reality. (there is a great article making the argument that this explains the Fermi paradox, but can't find the link)

Still, part of me wants Glass, because I have terrible memory and forget life events. :-/

I like the idea of making sure your tasks have a certain amount of "stretch" (i.e. push yourself a little with every task you give yourself).

We focus so much on our skill level that we forget that the "flow" state requires challenging yourself: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)#Conditions_f...

I agree.

I think picking the "top 50" projects is just asking for trouble. Those are victims of their success, and have to scale from 0 to mass production on a tight schedule.

Going from zero to a few hundred early adopters is much more feasible.

Interesting experiment. Reminds me of Borges's "The Library of Babel".

Would be interesting to see all tweets using only lower-case alphabet plus spaces. (~ 2.5e200)

You are right.

My thinking is that, especially for beginners, it's too easy to get into a tight write-compile-debug loop without thinking in broader terms about the problem. It's just an exercise in thinking about the structure of your code.

Also, you can do, or not do, whatever you want :)

We are of one mind, davidtate!

I posted this today, too: http://adrianoferrari.com/essays/silence-compelling-creativi...

For those who say that reading can inform creation, I think neither David nor I would disagree.

It's just that the balance is so weighted on the consumption side that we need go to the other extreme once in a while to redress the balance.

That's a great read, silverstorm. Thanks!