h1. GitHub system for writers

People discussing a collaborative, version control system for writing projects and non-programmers. Some fascinating ideas and user experiences exist in these posts. Good ideas. It's an interesting area of software development that  includes the Web and native apps for desktop and mobile. 

I'm most interested in Web/native apps for writing, collaborating, and managing content. So that would includes software programs such as blogs, message boards, wikis, editors, content management systems, and knowledge management systems.

* Aug 29, 2013 - "Github For Writers":http://madebyloren.com/github-for-writers
* Hacker News "discussion":https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6296630 - --137 comments--

more.

br. 2012 Wordpress activity

* http://ben.balter.com/2012/02/28/github-for-journalism-what-wordpress-post-forking-could-do-to-editorial-workflows/
* http://postforking.wordpress.com/2012/10/01/introducing-post-forking-for-wordpress/

http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2012/02/github/all/1
https://github.com/WiredEnterprise/Lord-of-the-Files
http://www.wired.com/wiredenterprise/2012/02/github-revisited/


h2. Excerpts

From the original post by Loren:
http://madebyloren.com/github-for-writers

Some barriers make it intimidating for non-developers to jump in, even if the platform can technically handle it:

* *Tech jargon:* non-developers don't understand branches, forks, commits, rebasing, cloning, etc.. and they don't care to learn.
* *Command-line first:* while GitHub is slowly moving Git functionality into the browser, the primary focus is still on the command-line. The in-browser features are meant to supplement the command-line, not replace it altogether.
* *Diffs:* GitHub diffs (changes in a file) are designed for code: line-by-line diffs instead of words, sentences, and paragraphs.

GitHub is built by developers for developers. 

* "The Limitations of GitHub for Writers":http://chronicle.com/blogs/profhacker/the-limitations-of-github-for-writers/48299
* "GitHub for Teachers":http://coding2learn.org/blog/2013/07/12/github-for-teachers/
* "We Need a Github of Science":http://marciovm.com/i-want-a-github-of-science/

So, I've been working on this crazy idea - I'm calling it "Penflip.":http://www.penflip.com/

The goal is to build a platform with the primary features of GitHub (teams, issues, pull requests, discovery, project management, built on Git) but with an interface optimized for writers, along with some other useful features:

* In-browser editor
* Auto-generated project structure
* LaTeX support: math and science need it.
* One-click publishing: one click to convert to PDF/ePub/mobi/etc, complete with layout and styling.
* Mobile-friendly: because writing can happen anywhere.
* Diffs for writers

Oh, and did I mention that all of this happens in the browser, from any computer, anywhere? And because Git is running beneath the surface, the technically inclined can clone projects onto their computers and use desktop editors instead. But it's not required. 






 #writing - #github - #collaboration - #blog_jr