# What would be pretty cool is if I could get the new post and edit forms working through AJAX so that the page didn't need to reload. I've done a few searches and got some basic ideas but it's a whole new area that I haven't touched on before.
# I've got a post updating via an AJAX call but it still requires a page reload. Besides being able to say I've done it, I think the work involved for something that only I will see is probably too much for any benefit it may provide - read almost none. Still, you know what I'm like. ?
# It really is too much effort and I'm not entirely sure what I'm trying to achieve is possible without making some radical changes to the theme so I'll leave it as it is.
# My notes app has crashed and taken all the notes and ideas with it.
Not happy.
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# I suppose there are lessons to be learnt regarding always ensuring that backups are up to date (and working) and not relying solely on one thing, especially a mobile app.
To be fair, there was only one note that I wanted to hang on to: the planning and thoughts around something I've been working on for a while. I say working but I really mean putting off again and again, adding little bits to it here and there to convince myself I was still serious about it.
Maybe I just have to be pragmatic, anything else in the app was either an archive or very probably something I wasn't actually going to use or I would have by now. Perhaps an enforced clear out will cause me to refocus on something that I will work on.
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# I know I wasn't impressed with iA Writer when I tested it before but that's because it didn't do what I expected with regards publishing direct to WordPress. As a straight Markdown editor it's fine.
In light of the calamitous failure of One Jotter I've decided to switch to another app. I don't really get on with Pure Writer anymore so have opted for iA Writer synced straight to Dropbox.
My subscription runs to August next year there's no issue on that front and, who knows, they may have improved the WordPress integration in that time.
I'll be treating iA Writer just as I have any other app: copying the text manually or sharing it to the WordPress app. I just want to ensure there won't be another issue like earlier today.
@colinwalker Yikes! Condolances.
Ah, local backups. Nope, took them with it. But at least I've got backups synced to the cloud, right? Looks like that turned itself off a while ago.
@colinwalker Jeepers. What app?
One Jotter (formerly Cola Notes) on Android.
@colinwalker Jeepers! I am so sorry. I had a similar experience a very long time ago now. Since then, I have refused to save anything written on a computer unless it can save in plain text. Thus, not only portable but also future proof.
All mine is now going to be automatically saved as .md files in Dropbox. No more local files for me.
@patrickrhone This is my main problem with Ulysses and other otherwise-excellent apps that store your text in a database...
@danj Yep. I don’t believe in databases for things I trully care about. Been burned too many times. Even everything I post to my blog is created first and a markdown formatted plain text file.
Over the past couple of weeks I have been thinking about how to move forward with the blog or, rather, with writing in general after the Great Notes Catastrophy. The way the blog operates has changed over time but there's more that can be done to make it more individual, more personal. With that in mind I've been reading about digital gardens again. If you've been reading for a while you may remember that I tried this before, using a wiki plugin but it didn't work out at the time. I've said so many times about being a fast writer but feel that I'm finally ready to slow down. Updating my notes over a period of time (even if it was just to convince myself I was still interested) showed me that I could return, adding new thoughts without the pressure of having to finish or hit publish. I didn't want to do something as intense as a wiki (I installed Obsidian on my MacBook a while back but just haven't touched it) but wanted to do something more permanent than a blog post whilst still being just as casual. I don't think a notes app on my phone is really the ideal place for this so wondered about something on the blog; it would have to be simple enough to manage in a mobile browser. What if I took the inline editing from the blog and applied it to pages? Over the past couple of days I've, therefore, come up with a rudimentary solution which includes the following features:
new page templates for the "garden" the ability to create and delete pages programatically the same inline editing as with posts wiki style links between pages using "[[ ]]" delimiters that are automatically translated to working HTML tags on display. a parent/child system (so far only one layer deep) to group pages correctly
Home/Index:
Page:
As with the Post functionality, all controls are hidden if you don't have permission to use them. I plan to increase the number of child layers once I work out the logic for multiple nested queries but this will do for a start. I'm really happy with how it's come together in such a short space of time and hope that I'll make use of this more as it's a "roll your own" solution. I imagine it being the staging area for thoughts that could become posts as well as a resource to link to from elsewhere.