This is a short review. There's so much information provided by these articles, I can't really quantify this for everyone. I'll give you some scores and let you figure it out for yourselves :)
Usefulness: 4 out of 5
Lots of options here. So many different things to learn. Definitely an article for everyone.
Fun: 3 out of 5
I like learning. Stop judging me >.<
Hipster: 5 out of 5
I found these searching the web for how to make mead. So, yeah. Not exactly easy to find.
Showing posts with label usefulness=4. Show all posts
Showing posts with label usefulness=4. Show all posts
Monday, November 19, 2012
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Review: One Page Per Day
First of all, hello everyone. Sorry I've been gone for a little while. I had a bunch of tests and papers to get done, and I had to pick between the blog, the mini-Nano and the rest of my work. I'm on a 6 day streak on 750 words, which is awesome. I'm loving the cute little badges they give me :)
This is for a 5 day streak.
Cute little penguin!
Second, and most importantly, my review of One Page Per Day! It's touted as an "online typewriter". You are only expected to write one page, hence the title. Supposedly "you are free from the tyranny of the infinite page".
Usefulness: 3/4 out of 5
Now, technically I could just say 3.5. But if I start using decimals, my "search by score" tag list will be way too long. Plus, the different scores are under different circumstances.
I gave OPPD a 3 for use during NaNoWriMo. Writing only one page is not entirely useful when you need to write 1667 words a day. (Which, by the way is 6 pages long in Courier New size 12 and 5 pages in Times New Roman, size 12). Writing one out of 6 pages online doesn't seem particularly valuable.
However, I do think this site is totally worthwhile for year-round use. Writing one page a day would be great to keep you in practice, something that practically every article about writing suggests you do.
Fun: 1 out of 5
Yeah, so, there isn't much fun about this site. In fact, it kind of makes me angry. At the bottom of the front page are the "Rave Reviews". These are lies. The quotes from Toni Morrison, Mark Twain and Norbet Platt have nothing to do with the site, but instead are about writing in general. This is cheating and I do not approve of it. If you want to include reviews, include real, actual reviews from your users, so people can have a complete understanding of how this is supposed to work.
Hipster: 2 out of 5
Another one of those "I have no idea what this is, but someone suggested it, so I'm gonna review it!". It seems quite nice and, like I said, a 4 for anything outside of Nano. But you have to find it first.
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Review: Write or Die
Write or Die was created by a man called "Dr. Wicked" so you know something nefarious is going on. Like other online writing tools, this one is about motivation. It is about getting you to sit down and write and write and write until you can't write no mo'. It does this by deleting your words. Yes, that's right. It makes you write by threatening to unwrite what you've already written. If you're not writing constantly, Write or Die will delete, word by word, everything you've done. Better finish in time then, no?
I am reviewing WoD as a web app. However, for those of you who want all the evil that it entails without the "giant kitten of distraction that is the internet", there is an iPad/iPod/etc. app and a desktop version that works on Mac, PC and Linux.
Usefulness: 4 out of 5
Write or Die is really useful. This is because it cracks the proverbial whip in getting you to get your words down. It has 4 difficulty settings: Gentle, Normal, Kamikaze and Electric Shock. Gentle and Normal don't really count, in my opinion. Gentle simply gives you a pop-up box suggesting you keep writing and Normal plays an annoying sound, which can easily be avoided by turning your speakers off. Kamikaze and Electric Shock are the truly useful modes. Kamikaze is the mode everyone hears rumors about, the one that deletes all your hard work. Electric Shock, well, that doesn't even have a description on the webpage, so you know it must be the purest of evils.
You can also set a grace period. This is the amount of time you have before Write or Die imposes its evil motivational techniques. You can chose between Forgiving, Strict and Evil. As a personal suggestion, Evil may be too evil for most.
The true usefulness of Write or Die, however, is found in its time limit and word count goal. You decide how hard this is supposed to be. If you need a leisurely stroll, try 1000 words in 30 minutes. If you want breakneck speed, try that same thousand in 10 minutes. You plug in how much needs to get done, in how long, and Write or Die makes damn sure that you do it.
It does lose points for the lack of export capability. To save your work, you must copy and paste it into your own text editor. It would be quite nice if I could save it online or it would export as an already formatted file.
Fun: 4 out of 5
This is fun for masochists everywhere. I really don't think people use it angrily. It's not only fun to race against the clock, but its fun to see your words disappear and scramble to replace them. That being said, that could just be me.
Hipster: 2 out of 5
This is a pretty well-known site. The author created desktop and iProduct versions because he had such a big following.
I am reviewing WoD as a web app. However, for those of you who want all the evil that it entails without the "giant kitten of distraction that is the internet", there is an iPad/iPod/etc. app and a desktop version that works on Mac, PC and Linux.
Usefulness: 4 out of 5
Write or Die is really useful. This is because it cracks the proverbial whip in getting you to get your words down. It has 4 difficulty settings: Gentle, Normal, Kamikaze and Electric Shock. Gentle and Normal don't really count, in my opinion. Gentle simply gives you a pop-up box suggesting you keep writing and Normal plays an annoying sound, which can easily be avoided by turning your speakers off. Kamikaze and Electric Shock are the truly useful modes. Kamikaze is the mode everyone hears rumors about, the one that deletes all your hard work. Electric Shock, well, that doesn't even have a description on the webpage, so you know it must be the purest of evils.
You can also set a grace period. This is the amount of time you have before Write or Die imposes its evil motivational techniques. You can chose between Forgiving, Strict and Evil. As a personal suggestion, Evil may be too evil for most.
The true usefulness of Write or Die, however, is found in its time limit and word count goal. You decide how hard this is supposed to be. If you need a leisurely stroll, try 1000 words in 30 minutes. If you want breakneck speed, try that same thousand in 10 minutes. You plug in how much needs to get done, in how long, and Write or Die makes damn sure that you do it.
It does lose points for the lack of export capability. To save your work, you must copy and paste it into your own text editor. It would be quite nice if I could save it online or it would export as an already formatted file.
Fun: 4 out of 5
This is fun for masochists everywhere. I really don't think people use it angrily. It's not only fun to race against the clock, but its fun to see your words disappear and scramble to replace them. That being said, that could just be me.
Hipster: 2 out of 5
This is a pretty well-known site. The author created desktop and iProduct versions because he had such a big following.
Sunday, September 23, 2012
Review: 750words.com!
750words.com is a site that I love. It is set up as an online way to write your "morning pages"- 3 pages written every day, generally long hand, as a way to clear your mind and get ready for the day ahead. This site has a word processor that notifies you when you've written approximately 3 pages, or 750 words. Not only is that rather nice, but it gives you badges for each "streak" of days you get- a turkey, for example, is three days in a row. It also allows you to track "metadata". Structured as "WORD: answer", it can track how many drinks you have a night, how happy you are feeling, whatever you decide to score. (It generally works best on a numerical scale, as the metadata is graphed for you. I, however, also track what books I am reading. It doesn't graph well, but it's interesting to see what I write based on what I'm reading, or if they even correlate at all).
Usefulness: 4 out of 5
Because 750words has a specific premise (write 750 words a day), it may not be perfect for everyone. However, the word processor and the premise are not why I find this site so useful and so dear to me. Those badges are incredibly motivating. Seriously. They are a great idea. In a similar vein to fitocracy, the fitness site that "levels you up" based on how much you work out, 750words badges for day streaks is something that keeps you going. If you have, say a 100 day Pheonix badge, you are NOT going to want to break that streak and lose it all.
The metadata is also really cool, as it plays to my sciency side. I like the idea of being able to track certain values over the course of your writing.
The 750words site also breaks down each day's work into percentages. It tells you how happy what you wrote was, which words you used the most and whether you were feeling introverted or extroverted (or more accurately, whether your WRITING was so). The statistics make for a really interesting understanding of your creative work.
Fun: 3 out of 5
Seriously, it's the badges that make me happy. Nothing else is really fun. (Well, I mean, I find the data fun, but I feel that's not an overwhelming majority in the opinions of most writers.)
Hipster: 3 out of 5
It's pretty obscure. I mean, most online writing tools can be pretty obscure. A lot of 750words problem is that it ends up used more like a diary and less like a creative writing tool. Not that that's a problem, necessarily. It just changes the demographic and means that you hear fewer writers' voices in the discussion of the product.
Usefulness: 4 out of 5
Because 750words has a specific premise (write 750 words a day), it may not be perfect for everyone. However, the word processor and the premise are not why I find this site so useful and so dear to me. Those badges are incredibly motivating. Seriously. They are a great idea. In a similar vein to fitocracy, the fitness site that "levels you up" based on how much you work out, 750words badges for day streaks is something that keeps you going. If you have, say a 100 day Pheonix badge, you are NOT going to want to break that streak and lose it all.
The metadata is also really cool, as it plays to my sciency side. I like the idea of being able to track certain values over the course of your writing.
The 750words site also breaks down each day's work into percentages. It tells you how happy what you wrote was, which words you used the most and whether you were feeling introverted or extroverted (or more accurately, whether your WRITING was so). The statistics make for a really interesting understanding of your creative work.
Fun: 3 out of 5
Seriously, it's the badges that make me happy. Nothing else is really fun. (Well, I mean, I find the data fun, but I feel that's not an overwhelming majority in the opinions of most writers.)
Hipster: 3 out of 5
It's pretty obscure. I mean, most online writing tools can be pretty obscure. A lot of 750words problem is that it ends up used more like a diary and less like a creative writing tool. Not that that's a problem, necessarily. It just changes the demographic and means that you hear fewer writers' voices in the discussion of the product.
Saturday, September 22, 2012
Review: Donjon
This site is completely new to me. Or, more accurately, a good DEAL of this site is completely new to me. In fact, anything that is not the Fractal World Generator is a whole new world. (I can be very obnoxious sometimes.) I decided to go through this generator, by generator, by generator, by generator. Y'see, unlike the other generators, that I had either seen before or were very small and could be understood rather quickly, Donjon is similar to the Sanctum or Chaotic Shiny in that it is a conglomeration of a multitude of generators.
Usefulness: 4 out of 5
Donjon is very focused on Dungeons and Dragons and Dungeon Mastering. That makes it "sort of" useful for writers (you have to make sure you're not archetyping too hard, which DnD tends to do). However, unlike many of the generators I normally frequent, this has a nice set of SciFi world/system generators. It'll give you planets! That's so convenient if you want to write a SciFi but don't want to worry about all the planets you're not ACTUALLY writing about.
The naming generators are pretty intense, about as hardcore as Rinkworks. You pick a main group of names (like "Outsiders") and then a subgroup (like "Earth Elementals"). There are so many options as far as names go, plus he separates them into Fantasy and SciFi.
Fun: 1 out of 5
This is a boring website. Oh god, it's so boring. The design is bland, there is no humor involved. It's not fun. I can find literally no redeeming qualities in it, as far as fun goes.
Hipster: 5 out of 5
I've been on this site a multitude of times and never realized that there was more than one generator. That should be answer enough.
Usefulness: 4 out of 5
Donjon is very focused on Dungeons and Dragons and Dungeon Mastering. That makes it "sort of" useful for writers (you have to make sure you're not archetyping too hard, which DnD tends to do). However, unlike many of the generators I normally frequent, this has a nice set of SciFi world/system generators. It'll give you planets! That's so convenient if you want to write a SciFi but don't want to worry about all the planets you're not ACTUALLY writing about.
The naming generators are pretty intense, about as hardcore as Rinkworks. You pick a main group of names (like "Outsiders") and then a subgroup (like "Earth Elementals"). There are so many options as far as names go, plus he separates them into Fantasy and SciFi.
Fun: 1 out of 5
This is a boring website. Oh god, it's so boring. The design is bland, there is no humor involved. It's not fun. I can find literally no redeeming qualities in it, as far as fun goes.
Hipster: 5 out of 5
I've been on this site a multitude of times and never realized that there was more than one generator. That should be answer enough.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)