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ralph_r

82 karma · joined April 2, 2024

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ralph_r··on Show HN: Stempad – Fast Online Scientific Writing
Thanks for the feedback! Do you mind me asking what machine and browser you were using it with?
ralph_r··on Show HN: Stempad – Fast Online Scientific Writing
Glad you like it :)
ralph_r··on Show HN: Stempad – Fast Online Scientific Writing
Fixed! Thanks for the suggestion
ralph_r··on Show HN: Stempad – Fast Online Scientific Writing
Sounds good, I'll work on adding comments and annotations (that can lock in place) and update you when that happens.
ralph_r··on Show HN: Stempad – Fast Online Scientific Writing
That's correct
ralph_r··on Show HN: Stempad – Fast Online Scientific Writing
Glad to hear you're interesting in trying it. For your use case, I'm curious, are you referring to general use annotations (ex. highlighting, text boxes, commenting, drawing), or are you specifically interested in scientific annotations (ex. Adding an annotation with math or code in it)?

Regardless, it's definitely a realistic feature to have. I'm thinking of it as a block right now, perhaps a file block, that can be resized and annotated freely. Maybe annotations can be mini, floating, moveable and resizable editors. Would that make a big difference for you?

ralph_r··on Show HN: Stempad – Fast Online Scientific Writing
Only with an iframe at the moment unless I open source the editor at some point.
ralph_r··on Show HN: Stempad – Fast Online Scientific Writing
I totally get where you're coming from, maybe I could have worded the title differently. In contexts such as publishing scientific papers and journals, patience and attention to detail are really important.

There are however many other contexts where I would argue speed and a simple UX makes a big difference.

* Notes that need to be taken on the fly: class notes, lab notes, field observations, general notes

* Prototyping, brainstorming, ideation sessions, especially collaborative ones

* Drafting outlines

* Creating presentations on work you've already completed

* Doing schoolwork, such as assignments or lab reports

* Creating teaching material on content material you're a subject matter expert in

That's a few examples but there are plenty more. The goal isn't to rush the scientific process. The goal is to have a tool that doesn't get in your way and enables speed-of-thought writing for science. This can be helpful in many ways, especially for students, but also for scientists.

ralph_r··on Show HN: Stempad – Fast Online Scientific Writing
I have not. At a glance, it seems really useful if someone needs to have plaintext documents be able to export to many different formats.
ralph_r··on Show HN: Stempad – Fast Online Scientific Writing
Hey! The LaTeX feature is still brand new and I'm looking on improving it, thanks for the feedback. The PDF export seems to be misinterpreting the code blocks, I'll have a fix out tonight! (Edit: done!)

I would describe it as more than a math-enabled notepad with support for 6 other scientific block types and the ability to run code. However, I agree that it's definitely not built to write full blown scientific papers at this stage :)