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Scott Antipa

10/01/2022, 2:33 AM
Made a new teaser video for my keyboard-centric flowchart editor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y56TwNTxB3w

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Kartik Agaram

10/01/2022, 3:04 AM
The keyboard shortcuts seem awfully node-centric. How do I create an edge between two nodes?
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Scott Antipa

10/01/2022, 3:18 AM
You can use the "staging" feature
towards the bottom of the 'Shortcuts' menu. And its the ribbon icon in the toolbar.
Like:
Above -- select the node, cmd-option-s (or ctrl-alt-s) stages the node. Then selects the next node, then Tab to move the staged node after the selected node. Also works with Shift-Tab to move it before.
I'm still trying to think of better ways to do this. It works, but "staging" is kind of an invented concept that probably isn't intuitive.
And to disconnect nodes you select them and then Shift-Delete.
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Kartik Agaram

10/01/2022, 3:35 AM
I see what you mean. This is quite similar to the notion of "grab" I invented over at https://futureofcoding.slack.com/archives/C03RR0W5DGC/p1661835473383259 It might not be too bad if you rarely create complex graph structures. For example I can imagine a conditional node is just <tab> <left> <tab>, which is quite nice. Which brings up the question of what sorts of use cases you're targeting that got you to build this. Is this something you're using all the time?
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Scott Antipa

10/01/2022, 3:42 AM
I use it for project management
Basically task dependencies
I've also seen people use it: • hardware design • doctors mapping out a prognosis plan • business folks doing issue analysis • personal knowledge management
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Breck Yunits

10/08/2022, 9:34 PM
scott this is getting so good!
why the name knotend?
Things I love: 1) no login. 2) so fast. 3) The import/export. 4) The fast examples
i signed up for a pro account but dont really need or want online storage. have you tohught about doing like the watermark thing (pro accounts you remove the watermark?)
also you could maybe have a buy an annual or 2-3 yr license instead of monthly billing
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Scott Antipa

10/08/2022, 10:39 PM
Thanks for the signup and support @Breck Yunits !! Im still experimenting with different price models, the watermark is a good idea. There will also be features that are only pro.
When you say you dont need online storage — how would you prefer to do the storage? The free version stores it in the url, so you can save that url. Im also working on more extensive import/export options.
In terms of the name “knotend” — I wanted a short name with an available .com and I liked the interplay of knot and end. Like, knots are found in graphs, the end of a knot are where threads come together. Or you could read it like “an end to knots”, eg knots in your process that you get rid of. But, Id like to hear how the name resonated with you.
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alltom

10/09/2022, 12:01 AM
Knotend looks fantastic. I use Flying Logic a lot but its editing operations are all clumsier.
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Scott Antipa

10/09/2022, 12:05 AM
Thanks! Im familiar with flying logic, it definitely looks cool. Can I ask what kind of graphs you make with it?
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Breck Yunits

10/09/2022, 12:54 AM
@Scott Antipa URL storage is by far my favorite mechanism for storage
So simple and provides so much optionality.
I wouldn't base64 encode it though (not sure if thats what youre doing). Instead I would plain text encode it. I wrote this for OurWorldInData to help with that: https://github.com/breck7/patch
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Scott Antipa

10/09/2022, 1:37 AM
Very cool. My goal is to have as short of urls as possible. Lots of environments cap the url length. I had this issue with notion iframe embeds cutting off the url at something like 3k characters.
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Breck Yunits

10/09/2022, 3:25 AM
Yes I'm with you. Have you reduced your DSL to minimum size possible @Scott Antipa?
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Scott Antipa

10/09/2022, 4:09 AM
Well its not really a dsl, but Its workable for the size of graphs I'm trying to support, for now.
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Breck Yunits

10/09/2022, 8:47 PM
@Scott Antipa I haven't looked at this yet, but https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JSON%E2%86%92URL might be relevant too
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Scott Antipa

10/09/2022, 9:10 PM
Super interesting, Ive never seen that. I like having a standard instead of inventing my own serialization format.
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alltom

12/07/2022, 7:15 PM
@Scott Antipa I missed that you asked about this, sorry! My top two use cases are flowcharts (for describing processes to others) and dependency-based project planning (answering “and to do that I need…” to identify milestones, shortest paths, etc).
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Scott Antipa

12/07/2022, 7:17 PM
Thanks @alltom, if you ever want to chat to know more just post here. If you make any graphs I’d love to see them.
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alltom

12/07/2022, 7:25 PM
It’s unfortunately pretty difficult for me to get approval for web apps from my employer. :/
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Scott Antipa

12/07/2022, 8:13 PM
Bummer
Theres a free version and you dont even need an account. Thats the default. No need to ask employer for credit card or anything.
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alltom

12/07/2022, 8:38 PM
It’s more about exfiltration of corporate secrets. 🕵🏻 A local binary is easier, since it’s not a moving target for security. Anyway, I won’t forget your project. :)