
Proseline – Git for prose, in the browser - cdubzzz
https://writing.kemitchell.com/2018/03/06/Proseline.html
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__s
There's also [https://www.gitbook.com](https://www.gitbook.com)

I was looking to move off fiction.wikia.com, was looking into using gitbook,
ended up only applying to their job listing, since it was easier to convert
mediawiki into markdown[1] & dump it into a repo. Less than an hour going over
the typesetting with a friend & GH pages was able to have the legible
minimalism I sought[2]

[1]
[https://github.com/serprex/serprex.github.io/blob/master/w/m...](https://github.com/serprex/serprex.github.io/blob/master/w/mwmd.py)
[2]
[https://serprex.github.io/w/A%20Knight's%20Left%20Sword](https://serprex.github.io/w/A%20Knight's%20Left%20Sword)

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onion2k
_Proseline is the collaborating parts of Docs without the complex, Word-like
parts of Docs._

Google Docs has 'Full Screen Mode' in the View menu that hides all the Word-
like menus and functions as a very useful distraction-free UI.

~~~
kemitchell
That's true. But there's way more of Word that I'd rather do without.

Comments and edits are complex in Word. There's no clear way to do the
starting point - comment - edit - resolution flow that we're familiar with as
pull requests or traditional document turns. Track Changes works as intended,
but creates complex mismatches between the state of a document and the state
of a document to which a comment referred. Versioning is difficult. Almost
everyone does it with multiple copies. Clean and redline copies. And so on.

I prepare and negotiate legal documents every day. That practice is almost
entirely Word based. Most tech-savvy practitioners have a brief spree with
features they discover and master---automatic numbering, cross-references,
style separators, tables of contents, and so on. In time, we tend to work back
to a lowest common denominator, for simplicity and ease of collaboration. The
best way to prepare a transaction document is often to treat Word as much like
a typewriter as possible. As a rule of thumb, if you can't safely export to
RTF, someone will mangle your document at some point. It may be you.

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marijn
Did proseline.com do anything for anybody? Is it supposed to? Trying to
create/open an actual draft crashes for me on both Firefox and Chrome (with
different errors).

~~~
icedchai
I was intrigued, but could not get it to work. I found the UI very confusing.

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RobertRoberts
I really like new projects like this. It's simple, it's got a neat idea and I
like GIT (use it every day), but I couldn't even figure out how to edit my
original document, and when I tried multiple browsers, the interaction was
confusing. I hope he improves this, because I like the concept.

~~~
kemitchell
Thanks for your note.

My first commits on this project were in November of last year, and I only
really started developing it actively last month. I didn't post here on HN,
and I think that's premature.

To fill in with a hint that the UI itself should provide: There's no such
thing as changing text of a draft in Proseline. Rather, you can create a new
draft based on an old one, edit, and save. The relevant "Start a new draft
based on this one." button is buried a bit at the bottom of draft pages right
now.

~~~
RobertRoberts
Yes, it would be good to tweak the layout a bit to make it more obvious on how
the workflow should be.

Starting over from a new copy every time doesn't fit with my understanding of
either normal document editing or even GIT. This almost seems like "block-
chain" <sigh>, it's that's appropriate. Therefore, it wasn't intuitive
automatically on how to use the tool.

I have a friend who edits my work, and it's good to have someone help you see
the forest through the trees, especially on interface design. (though I often
don't like the suggestions, they are mostly right)

~~~
kemitchell
I've had some wonderful feedback from other folks, both for what to do about
the editor experience, and also what to do about the UI, to make things more
intuitive. Looking forward to spending more time on it soon.

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mosselman
I like the typography of the site where the article is on. Is there an open-
source CSS stylesheet for it?

~~~
kemitchell
The typefaces are Matthew But­t­er­ick's
[Equity]([https://typographyforlawyers.com/equity.html](https://typographyforlawyers.com/equity.html))
and
[Concourse]([https://typographyforlawyers.com/concourse.html](https://typographyforlawyers.com/concourse.html)).
Matthew sells broad licenses for a pretty reasonable fee, as custom type goes.

~~~
mosselman
Thanks for the information! It makes for a readable and professional look.

