Amin, minor deity of the legume realmJun 1, 2025

Since #NaNoWriMo's website just went down, I think it's a good time for me to start up a second round of development towards #WritingMonth, my free and open source alternative goal tracking/sharing site.

To help me prioritize my work, what features would y'all like to see the most? Here are a few commonly-requested features I have on my list:

Any of those that stand out?

Allow progress update with direct delta

People should be able to set "words added" instead of "total words", for example.

Codeberg.org
Show threadfbievan (powered by REAL polymaths)Jun 1, 2025
@amin idk
Show threadAmin, minor deity of the legume realmJun 1, 2025

@fbievan

thank you for your valuable feedback

Show threadfbievan (powered by REAL polymaths)Jun 1, 2025

@amin

Idk man words is an important asset...

So with that out of the way...

I'd like to see more ways to track projects other than just words...

Like percentage done (or)

Plot written

Idk I'm not much of a writer

Show threadAmin, minor deity of the legume realmJun 1, 2025

@fbievan

Percentage could be useful, I guess, though only if someone already has some other way to mark their progress, in which case they could just use that.

I already support these goal types:

  • words
  • pages
  • scenes
  • chapters
  • stories
  • poems
  • lines
  • blog posts
  • entries
Show threadAuthor Help
@amin @fbievan I'd like to have hours on that list, especially if it could accept a floating point number (one decimal point would be enough for me).
Jun 1, 2025 at 7:55amWeb
Show threadAmin, minor deity of the legume realmJun 1, 2025

@office @fbievan

Yeah, that's been brought up… https://codeberg.org/Freedom-to-Write/writing-month/issues/72

Floats would be… interesting to implement, technically-speaking. Minutes (as integers) could definitely be done with almost no effort, but adding support for floats when almost every other goal type is based on integers would need some refactoring, and probably won't be first-priority.

Feature request: time-based goals

Could we please have goals based on time (ie minutes or hours spent). I might use Writing Month to push myself to do more research, but none of the existing goal types really fit. One based on time would make much more sense.

Codeberg.org
Show threadAuthor HelpJun 1, 2025
@amin @fbievan minutes would also work 🙂
Show threadAmin, minor deity of the legume realmJun 1, 2025

@office @fbievan

Awesome, that one I can do in five minutes. XD

Show threadAmin, minor deity of the legume realmJun 1, 2025

@office @fbievan

Done! "minutes spent" is now an option.

Show threadHelen in WalesJun 1, 2025
@amin @office @fbievan Thank you for adding "minutes". Logging time spent is really useful at the editing stage. That's how I measure progress when revising a draft.
Show threadAmin, minor deity of the legume realmJun 1, 2025

@Dewines @office @fbievan

Good, glad that works well!

Show threadRussell PhillipsJun 1, 2025
@Dewines @amin @office @fbievan I wanted it for research, but that's s very good point re editing.
Show threadAuthor HelpJun 1, 2025
@amin @fbievan "can be done in five mknurrs" is the best kind of feature request 😀
Show threadAmin, minor deity of the legume realmJun 1, 2025

@office @fbievan

I love "mknurrs". ;)

Show threadAmin, minor deity of the legume realmJun 1, 2025

@office @fbievan

But yes, I simplified the setup at some point such that adding units and project types is a simple matter of editing the config.toml file.

Show threadAuthor HelpJun 1, 2025
@amin @fbievan oops 😆
Show threadR.L. Dane    🍵 Jun 1, 2025

@amin @office @fbievan

fry_narrow_eyes_meme_unsure_if_Aussie_slang_or_typo.png

Show threadAmin, minor deity of the legume realmJun 1, 2025

@rl_dane @office @fbievan

Definnitely a tpyo; the letters are right next to the correct ones. ;)

Show threadAmin, minor deity of the legume realmJun 1, 2025

@rl_dane @office @fbievan

From the particular letter pattern I expect it was typed on a phone.

Show threadAuthor HelpJun 1, 2025
@amin @rl_dane @fbievan yep. I'm not very good at typing on a phone 🫤
Show threadAmin, minor deity of the legume realmJun 1, 2025

@office @rl_dane @fbievan

Who is?

Show threadR.L. Dane    🍵 Jun 1, 2025

@amin @office @fbievan

Precisely 😄

Show threadDušan MitrovićJun 1, 2025
@amin @office @rl_dane @fbievan This is why I leave autocorrect on. It's usually right.
Show threadAmin, minor deity of the legume realmJun 1, 2025

@dusnm @office @rl_dane @fbievan

This is why I turned autocorrect off completely (except for some hard-coded replacements I added for contractions); it's less often right than I am, particularly in tech-adjacent topics.

Show threadR.L. Dane    🍵 Jun 1, 2025

@amin @dusnm @office @fbievan

Wait a minute, you have otto-cow-wrecked turned OFF?!?!????

Frickin' LEGEND

Show threadAmin, minor deity of the legume realmJun 1, 2025

@rl_dane @dusnm @office @fbievan

Well, my average screen time on my phone for the last couple weeks has been two minutes per day. But yes, I do.

Show threadKrafterJun 1, 2025
@amin @rl_dane @dusnm @office @fbievan i have autocorrect off too. it still underlines things when its not a valid word, which can be helpful, but i like to type informally in lowercase and omit apostrophes and intentionally misspell things sometimes, so autocorrect doesnt help there
Show threadAmin, minor deity of the legume realmJun 1, 2025

@krafter @rl_dane @dusnm @office @fbievan

Yeah haha, for contrast I'm one of the few people using em dashes in my text messages. (like, actual em dash characters and not just "--")

Show threadNick (Alatar the Blue)Jun 1, 2025

@office @rl_dane @dusnm @amin @krafter @fbievan

I miss the physical keyboard on my #crackberry. I could type accurately on it with my eyes closed / looking the other direction just by tactile field. It was fantastic. I don’t mind autocorrect because it doesn’t tend to get in my way, but with the real keyboard I didn’t need it.

I always type with “proper” English grammar - at least sentences and capitals. Code switching is a thing of course, but I generally consider being able to type a sentence table stakes for respect for the other party in communication. I’ve always typed fast enough that it actually takes me longer to type “shortcuts” than just using real words.

Show threadR.L. Dane    🍵 Jun 1, 2025

@alatartheblue @office @dusnm @amin @krafter @fbievan

I've been tempted to get either a LilyGo t-deck or a hackberry, just for the crackberry keyboard experience.

Show threadR.L. Dane    🍵 Jun 1, 2025

@amin @dusnm @office @fbievan

Mine... Has been more than that. 🤣

Show threadmirabilosJun 1, 2025
@rl_dane @amin @dusnm @office @fbievan second thing I turn off on a new device, just after vibration.
Show threadGuy who's trying his best :(Jun 1, 2025

@amin @dusnm @office @rl_dane @fbievan

I have to have autocorrect turned on to compensate for the fact that my screen is so shattered it has continuous phantom touches.

Show threadR.L. Dane    🍵 Jun 1, 2025

@amin @office @fbievan

The 8-bit era called, they said fixed point is your friend. (Just store it as an integer and move the decimal point manually.)

Show threadAmin, minor deity of the legume realmJun 1, 2025

@rl_dane @office @fbievan

Yeah, I figure that's how it'll end up needing to be implemented; even so, it'll take a fair amount of refactoring.