I’d like to write an article. Note: I use a computer.

June 26, 2015

The way we write these days is a nonsense. We write our articles, books and other stuff in software that shows faux paper pages. Word processors show us the paper that never gets printed in the way it is shown.

If I want to print it for myself only, it does not matter much exactly how it looks on paper. Ideally it should look nice without much energy spent on making it nice.

If I want to publish my article, another person is going to typeset it in most cases – differently than it looks in the word processor. Why should I care about the looks of my text then?

There’s actually a reason for it. The looks determine meaning and importance of parts of the text. Well, what if we cared about the semantic structure in the first place?

Maybe I’m a dreamer (and hopefully not the only one), but I care more about what I’m saying than about how it looks on my computer screen. It’s even possible that my imperfect knowledge of typography hinders my efforts at expressing my ideas.

I’m concerned more about semantics than about the specific visual representation of my thought – as long as it conveys the meaning I desire to express.

That’s why I need a new text editor for writers.