Thoughts/2023-01-22
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- Create a site with universal schemas / taxonomies / etc.
- similar site for open-source 3D models and 2D diagrams / layouts
- Group similar items and version control (allow redaction of short-lived mistakes, though; long-lived mistakes, once discovered should be maintained but with errata and links to a corrected or improved version)
- functional patent database
- e.g. show every iteration of a mousetrap as a tree, so improvements and evolution over time can be explored
- visual browser for linked data with parametric data display / search
- e.g. show all species of trees, allowing display / sorting by genetics, physical characteristics, commercial characteristics, geographic distribution (current, projected, or historic), etc.
- allow marking which entries have been 'seen' by a particular user, and when
- tree-based browser history
- Record all pages for each tab separately, and record which tabs spawned from where (hierarchical, not graph?)
- algorithmicly-generated mind-maps / concept-maps from text, voice input, outlines (e.g. OPML files), etc.
- outline format for WikiText or Markdown-like formats that is easy to type (what would a mid-20th century librarian / secretary / scientist have used, for example, on an IBM Selectric electric typewriter?)
- meta-format (or macro system) for creating structured text such as HTML or WikiText using simpler markup.
- 'one user-friendly markup to rule them all'?
- perhaps this has to be an app, with customizable input and output 'modes' that can be switched in real-time (imagine an old-style keyboards with physical buttons that input control codes for various markup features (e.g. bold, outline child, outline parent, etc.)
- possibly support arbitrary data structures (for non-programmers)
- an application of easy-to-use stylesheets
- e.g.: the benefits of using stylesheets in computer programs such as Microsoft Word are well-known, but usage is low among casual users. How can the UI be improved / 're-imagined' to increase user benefits?
- How did text-based word-processors, such as Ami Pro, WordPerfect, or WordStar, handle stylesheets, and are there any lessons (positive or negative) to be learned from the past?
- Check vendor documentation, trade publications, instructional books, patent applications, and academic research for leads
- structured document software
- each page (or partial-page section, or multiple-page section) is effectively a mail merge template displaying one record of a flat-file database table
- no manual template editing is necessary. As data is added to one record (or it is formatted), placeholders (collapsable or not) are automatically created on all other pages
- records / pages with unique fields should be able to be identified, but a 'field' should not be able to be deleted
- this can be done manually today in Microsoft Word or FileMaker Pro, but it should be easier and more collaboration-friendly
- see also: automatic form generation; real-time schema generation
- chart / database of which data formats can convert (lossless-ly) to another format
- also for file formats, programming languages, printer PDLs, etc.
- Add synonyms / thesaurus entries to software auto-spellchecking highlighting pop-ups
- (along with grammar suggestions?)
- simple app / desk accessory for simple custom user databases,
- built-in auto-save, versioning, and cloud-sync features
- optimize for performance / usability / data integrity
- examples:
- user-generated thesaurus, dictionary, or custom PIM
- flashcard or list data
- automatically generated (or 'hinted') concept maps based on typed words / phrases over time
- base on temporal proximity, geographical proximity, or logical proximity (e.g. phrases are on consecutive lines in a document/outline/etc., or are contained in files in the same computer folder, regardless of when they were added or in what order they were added)
- won't replace manual outlines, but could supplement them (much as web search engines have supplemented web directories)
- 22nd-century WikiText
- 'If we were to start over today, from scratch, what would we do?'
- Any topic (computing, alphabets, numbers and number systems, mathematical notation, music and music theory and musical notation, electrical distribution and electrical devices, hypertext, water infrastructure, shipping containers, online marketplaces, automobiles, steam engines, railroad gauge, doorknobs, …), reimagined from scratch, with a long-term mentality
- Mark / tag a word / phrase / hyperlink in a document or web browser for (using a contextual menu entry or macOS / NeXTStep 'service')
- further review
- patent search (live or queued)
- addition to one or more temporary or persistent list / stack / grouping
- processing by a user-controlled data detector-type plugin or script
- 'Multi-level' hypertext system, where the 'clickable' words are in 'multiple sets
- different sets activated by a keyboard modifier key or third mouse button
- reference footnote links could be hidden by default, but easily exposed
- another modifier key could allow any word (or selection) to be treated as a hyperlink / search term
- Hover 'pop-ups' (like Wikipedia page previews or iOS Safari link previews) with various information automatically displayed (in tabs? with a 'favorites' section displayed like character browsers)
- language: definition, synonyms, part of speech, translations, etc.
- search: other instances in the same document (could even be used, e.g. to make sure one isn't repeating the same word too often in an e-mail message)
- computer programming: explain purpose of a command or symbol, or even an entire line/function, when possible
- synonyms in one or more alternate languages
- mathematics: result of a simple calculation, or the results of an equation entered into Google Search or Wolfram Alpha
- geography: map, weather and climate, postal code, demographics, political boundaries, fire district, utility companies, geological information, etc.; when an address or coordinates are selected
- basically, what an intelligent co-worker or research librarian could do if you pointed at something and asked a question!!!
- see also: tooltips, 'classic' Mac OS help bubbles (an example that toggles on and off easily)
- Programming code browser pop-up
- Classic Mac OS 'show'/'do' help procedures (with steps and UI elements highlighted / circled)
- Mind-map auto-generated based on the order in which elements of a document or outline were added / edited (i.e. new lines or paragraph appended or inserted; words or phrases changed; allow toggling off to allow copyediting)
- a-la 'track changes', but with a temporal component
- Track a copied (and changed) piece of data, such as a paragraph or outline item, through time and space
- Manually typed entries are excluded. If I copy one paragraph to an e-mail, regardless of whether I subsequently make changes to it, that relationship is tracked / recorded / browsable (much as the human brain does)
- In recording ideas for knowledge management / work, am I really (in an inadvertent and 'round-about' way) trying to record / understand / analyze something about human cognition (or perhaps just 'my' experience of my own cognitive processes)?
- Custom iOS keyboard for entering common text markups, such as WikiText, Markdown, HTML/XML/SGML/SVG, LaTeX, bbCode etc.
- Best way(s) to organize (both for a human and programmer) 3D (or even 4D) tabular data?
- GUI editor that produces (and imports) plain-text tables from graphical ones?
- What comes next, after:
- macOS, Linux, and Microsoft Windows
- iOS and Android
- Google Chrome, Firefox, and Safari
- Slack and Microsoft Teams
- HTML5 and Javascript
- text-based programming languages, in general
- Symbolized programming environment (like the FileMaker Pro script editor
- Are these already available?
- Record intention, not syntax ==> facilitates automatic upgrading or downgrading over time!
- Separate control flow / data / syntax / naming
- Something to automatically sort / categorize/ 'make sense of' the list above! 👆