
A text editor that only allows the top 1000 most common words in English - kawera
https://github.com/mortenjust/cleartext-mac
======
SixSigma
I use [http://hemingwayapp.com/](http://hemingwayapp.com/) to help me make my
writing clear.

------
jhbadger
Although I find "Thing Explainer" funny, the idea that the problem with
English is just that it has a lot of words is misguided. In the 1930s when
artificial languages were big there was one called "Basic English" that was
based on the top 800 English words. The problem is that even with a small
vocabulary you can get very complicated sentences and idioms, and those are
more confusing to language learners than just words (which after all, can be
looked up or figured out from context).

------
DanBC
I like the editor. There's obviously interest in this after XKCD.

It'd be really cool if people had a look at "Easy Read", and how to make it
easier to translate stuff into easy read. Easy Read is a system aimed at
people with a learning disability (UK definition), but it's used by more
people.

[http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-
ouch-26836091](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-ouch-26836091)

[http://www.ohb.scot.nhs.uk/article.asp?page=252](http://www.ohb.scot.nhs.uk/article.asp?page=252)

[https://www.mencap.org.uk/sites/default/files/documents/2008...](https://www.mencap.org.uk/sites/default/files/documents/2008-04/make%20it%20clear%20apr09.pdf)

[http://www.effortmark.co.uk/wp-
content/uploads/2015/03/4008_...](http://www.effortmark.co.uk/wp-
content/uploads/2015/03/4008_286_Easy-read-DRC-How-to-use-easy-words-and-
pictures.pdf)

------
DrScump
I think that an editor that didn't _allow_ any term but the magic 1000 words
would be utterly useless (crashing on proper names, tech acronyms, etc.) At
least there's an option to highlight rather than disallow.

~~~
jack9
The concept is very powerful. Disney's MMO tried a variation, which was only
preapproved conversational phrases. Solving forum trolling could be brutally
curbed by this method and would probably be effective with an extensible
whitelist.

Simplewriter includes "ostensibly" but omits "is" and "for". So good luck with
that.

~~~
qbrass
>Solving forum trolling could be brutally curbed by this method and would
probably be effective with an extensible whitelist.

Sounds like a recipe for a forum full of sarcasm and passive-aggression.

------
jimrandomh
This is similar to xkcd simple writer:
[https://xkcd.com/simplewriter/](https://xkcd.com/simplewriter/) .

~~~
throwaway2016a
Not sure why he got down voted. It is very similar. Perhaps people think he is
linking to a XKCD comic but he is actually linking to a web app hosted on the
XKCD website. I found this comment interesting.

------
kstenerud
Wow, this is double plus good!

