Show HN: A web typewriter where backspace only strikes through | Hacker News Reader

Show HN: A web typewriter where backspace only strikes through

ouachitalabs.com

2 pointsfaxmeyourcode5 comments

This is "typewriter". A little POC I built with the help of claude code. I wanted something that had similar constraints as a typewriter (with some modern affordances here and there). These constraints have been argued to help get people into the flow state easier.

- No formatting choices. You get monospace black and white fonts, no italics, no bold, no formal headings, and no images or tables.

- Most importantly, no backspace key. Only a -strikethrough- option.

In a world dominated by A.I. generated text, it is more important than ever to get the rough draft of your own thoughts down yourself, before they're interpreted and twisted in subtle ways by a large language model. A typewriter-esque experience like this, with no backspace allowed, frees yourself from the endless self-criticism and rewriting things before they're ready. By all means edit your writing, but don't do that until you've got _something_ *ANYTHING* down on the page.

This is the number one mistake I make myself. It's the best procrastination tactic. So here it is, an app to help avoid that. :-)

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It is not sufficient to disable backspace. This thing fails the authenticity test as follows:

    * Type a few letters
    * Use the left arrow several times to go to the beginning of the line
    * Type something else

Expected result: overlapping letters, or, if the same letter has been typed twice, bold letters.

Actual result: new letters are inserted - something that a typewriter cannot do.

Yeah it's not truly a typewriter simulator, more of just a constrained editor that forces you to either live with mistakes or think more deeply about your words as you type.

I played around with overlapping letters and got it working somewhat well, but everything else like printing got more complicated.

It's also got auto word wrap that wouldn't be available on a conventional typewriter. I think some electronic typewriters that had a buffer of letters to fill before it "printed" them had word wrap, but that's not what people usually think of.

You'd also be able on a typewriter to do more creative things like type literally anywhere on the vertical axis, not just in lines like I've enforced here.

Doesn't seem to work in Firefox.

I only use Firefox and it works for me, I wonder what the issue is?

Are you unable to type or is it something else?

I can type, and am expecting backspace to strike through instead of erase, but backspace does nothing. Firefox 141.0.3 Windows 10 Home 22H2 19045.6216

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