Virtual Graph Paper
virtual-graph-paper.com
virtual-graph-paper.com
Started out as a COVID side project (not mine, just a fan) and seems to be turning into a solid business.
I also love https://www.tldraw.com, worth following its creator on Twitter (https://twitter.com/steveruizok). He posts loads of interesting thoughts and insights into designing this sort of app.
minimalistic, you called it
Surely a decimal-compatible subdivision is more usual as a default? A nice subtle 5/10 thin thick variation would be great.
These are not useful choices for graphing decimal data or plotting metric measurements - which is why most graph paper I have ever encountered has 5 or 10 subdivisions.
I certainly wouldn’t use it that way most of the time but I waswaiting in line somewhere and was able to create a doodle with just one finger.
The key idea/feature was ability to put icons/colors/text (from a palette) into the squares. You could create maps and schematics with it. So it was like a crossover between a spreadsheet and a drawing program.
1. Selection is a mode, not the default state. Similarly, move is a mode, not the default state.
2. Selecting non-closed shapes (lines, curves, arrows) is challenging, and the highlight of selection is a nausea-inducing animated pattern.
3. Move doesn't grab the object where the mouse grabbed it, it picks up at the upper left. Move requires so many more clicks than something where you just click and drag, and then after you click into position, you have to reselect move mode to move again.
4. Scale goes from upper left to some place in the middle of the object. "Stroke should be scaled" mode is not sticky. Scale seems to try to keep objects sized by the grid, but it doesn't always work that way.
5. There's no way to edit a curve other than the transformations of the whole shape - you can't move the end points or the middle control points. Also, curves are all just degree-2 Béziers (AKA parabolas).
What problem is being solved here by re-inventing so many wheels?
...it's simple drawing software, not sure there is really a need to indulge in the rigorous critique format. IMO simple software and credential-pulling critiques are a kind of unwarranted match. Logically you'd think it'd also be better to keep it upbeat and maybe incentivize the author as opposed to measuring them against all of vector drawing history.
You can draw with it, I tried it myself!
Some of the coolest things about reinventing wheels are A) it's your wheel and thus motivation levels tend to be higher that way, and B) maybe you find new standards that work for you and reveal new leverage points. Otherwise the wheel critique also starts to converge with new-idea / new-opportunity critique.
I don't see those items as fixes so much as alignments that are optional. Maybe those changes are made to console you, great, but you can also use many other drawing tools if you want that type of configuration.
That is nice reason for somebody to create a solution to scratch once own itch. But it is completely relevant to others. As a user, I have no benefit if somebody reinvents a wheel per se.