[codethief]

Took me a while to understand what this is about – the website calls it a "library" but shows a GUI(?!) As far as I understand it is:

  - a plaintext file format (.urtext), 
  - a Python library to parse & manipulate said file format,
  - a SublimeText plugin,
  - a GUI for visualization.

[nbeversluis]

The documentation should be made clearer in that case. A priority was to make setup and trial easy for non-technical users. It seems now that to technical users it is unclear what is offered.

From your list it is first and mostly:

1. a plaintext file format (.urtext) - specifically, a syntax

2. a Python library to parse & manipulate said file format (syntax)

These in turn require some implementation within an editor. Sublime Text was chosen for its built-in Python interpreter, its package install system, and its GUI features that together comprise a low barrier to entry.

Thanks for the feedback, we will try to make this clearer.

[slooonz]

> A priority was to make setup and trial easy for non-technical users

That’s a very strange priority. Why would non-technical users would be interested in a file format and a Python library ?

[nathan_compton]

Seems like a very concise pitch would be "org-mode for Sublime" and that would explain it adequately for most emacs users.

[cbarrick]

It would also explain it for non-emacs users.

I am not and never have been an emacs user, yet I still know of org-mode.

[zahlman]

I've heard of it many times, but have basically no conception of what it actually is.

[codethief]

It's a file format / markup language (think Markdown but more feature-rich) with excellent editor support in Emacs.

[coldtea]

That's like describing a swiss army knife as a "beer opener"

[nbeversluis]

It was inspired partly by org-mode, but org-mode can be quite difficult for non LISP-users. This project has the priority of low barrier to entry, with a lot of the Python-specific functionality coming out-of-the-box, and abstracted away underneath the syntax of "frames and calls." Even those are can be used only as desired; as another poster mentioned, the project has wiki-like functionality without going any deeper than the basic syntax.

[mmooss]

Is it 'org-mode'?

[nbeversluis]

Similar, thanks for asking. Org-mode was one of many inspirations.

[zahlman]

I think you really need a separate pitch and documentation for "technical" and "non-technical" users. The editor system (GUI + Sublime Text integration) is effectively a separate project from the underlying format + library.

[nbeversluis]

This is helpful feedback, thank you. We are working on this possibility, and explaining a clearer separation between, as another poster mentioned, the Python library (which is headless) and a specific implementation (which requires some sort of text view that may have GUI features).

[em-bee]

i searched for examples but could not find any. i found the syntax page which describes the elements, but it doesn't tell me what i can do with them or why i would use them. each element links to a separate page with more details, but even there i feel questions are left unanswered.

you explain the syntax but not the semantics.

i suppose that maybe if i had tried some alternatives then i would not need the semantics because i'd be already familiar with them.

[nbeversluis]

This was helpful, thank you. We have replaced the home page video with inline examples of the syntax instead, and will be adding some real-world use examples in addition.

[nottorp]

Funny maybe, but when I opened the site and the movie of that GUI opened and started to play I got very confused, tried to click on things and even maybe got a bit motion sick because it was going along independently of what i clicked :)

Edit: damn spell checkers. It typed “the movie of that guy” instead of “the movie of that GUI”.

[nbeversluis]

This was helpful feedback, thank you. Removed the video and added examples instead, and will be adding more.

[nobodywillobsrv]

Is urltext a bit like what tiddlywiki was back in the day?

[nbeversluis]

It was inspired by that and similar wiki-like tools.