This post was originally posted at 2020-12-17.
Hi friend,
In recent weeks, I discovered Craft.do. It is a document writing iOS and macOS software.
I first heard about Craft from MacStories.
https://www.macstories.net/reviews/craft-review-a-powerful-native-notes-and-collaboration-app/
My first thought was: Oh, yet another Notion-like tool. But since it is recommended by MacStories, I gave it a try. And I’m glad that I tried it rather than skipped it. It becomes my daily writing tool now.
What makes Craft shines is the carefully implemented features. They are polished and native. Most iPad and Mac gestures and features come with its initial release. For example, pointer in iPad and drag-and-drops, and keyboard shortcuts.
Craft doesn’t want to become a hybrid database that complete with AirTable or Notion. What Craft does well is to write long-form documents with sub-pages. Each paragraph (or block) can have more content expanded. That paragraph will become a sub-page within the document. This document can also be shared via a secret link. The following screenshot is the shared view of my Web Accessibility course material with sub-pages. The shared URL has a nice layout when viewed in web browsers on both desktop and mobile.
Currently, I’m using Craft for two purposes: Teaching material and knowledge base wiki.
Teaching material writing
The sub-page grouping allows me to write course material and book material fast. I can write snippets and then group them together into sub-pages. The first page acts as a cover page and table of content. I can hide any details into further sub-pages to keep the document short and target-oriented.
The exporting feature also allows me to export the entire document, including sub-pages into PDF, DOCX, or Markdown with attachments. And most often, sharing the document to read-only web version fulfills my needs to share the material with my students. And whenever I made changes or updated the content, my students always get the latest material via the same link.
Knowledge base wiki
I record knowledge wiki and lessons learned in Craft. For example, I can scan books and write notes about what I learned. Then I can link separated notes together by linking the keywords. I can also find links from the keyword thanks to the back-links.
Here is an example web version of the Craft document.
https://www.craft.do/maccatalyst-guide
Links worth sharing
→ Apple's M1 Chip Benchmarks focused on real-world programming
https://tech.ssut.me/apple-m1-chip-benchmarks-focused-on-the-real-world-programming/
→ Understanding ProRAW
https://blog.halide.cam/understanding-proraw-4eed556d4c54
→ On when to use Flexbox and Grid
I reach for Flexbox when I need more controlled space distribution.
I find myself reaching for Grid for 98% of my layouts — page layouts, component layouts, two-dimensional layouts, one-dimensional layouts.
→ What if GUI elements were not limited to boxes?
https://uxdesign.cc/what-if-gui-elements-were-not-limited-to-boxes-2f73a9ff9ec4
→ 83% of the web (still) uses jQuery
There are many facts and statistics in the Web Almanac too.
https://almanac.httparchive.org/en/2020/table-of-contents
→ Making Websites Easier To Talk To
https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2020/12/making-websites-accessible/
Web Inspiration
The background is a space scene. When I mouse hover on the call-to-action button, it becomes hyper-speed animation.
Until next week,
Thomas Mak
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