- Getting users to post text instead of screenshots of text.
There’s ALT text.
Would be cool, if we could cross-post Mastodon posts…
[mbin has entered the chat]
If only there was a way to copy text, and then paste it someplace else. Sigh… unsolved problems.
Yeah, really unfortunate that that’s not possible. Always having to take a screenshot and then type out letter by letter what’s on the screenshot, that can be quite annoying.
But even if copying text was possible, the reason people post pictures of text is to give proper attribution, but also to distance themselves from the content, so that it’s clear that they don’t necessarily hold the exact same opinion or that they might not have all the knowledge to defend the statements in the post.
Cross-posting could fill that same roll without screenshotting text.
the reason people post pictures of text is to give proper attribution, but also to distance themselves from the content,
If only we had some way to reference an original source. Something like a figurative link, if you will.
That would be cool, but human brains are weirdos. If you’re already copying text, you could’ve edited or annotated it, for example. For example, if it’s an opinion you don’t entirely agree with, you might feel obliged to say so, because you have the ability to do so when it’s a text post.
If you want to call that irrational, I’m not arguing against that. I’m just saying it’s the reality we live in and I’d like to have tooling to deal with that better, because I would also prefer text to not be screenshotted.
human brains are weirdos.
Truer words were never said. :)
deleted by creator
As with all open problems in computer science, we solved these back in the 80s.
- Yes I hate this so much.
- Use a better window manager.
- Use a better web stack.
- Don’t most browsers support this?
- https://wormhole.app/
My own pet peeve is UI components whose associated action is divorced from the components interaction feedback.
For example, a button that seems visibly pressed (even lights up! Maybe there’s even audio or haptic feedback!) but once you release, nothing actually happens because you were supposed to press it or hold it down for slightly longer.
This even happens with physical controls: in some elevators you can press a floor button such that it lights up momentarily, and even beeps, and yet the elevator doesn’t register the command and you have to press again, longer.
I’ve actually noticed this exact thing with elevators before… I was kind of amazed the beep and light were hooked up completely independently from the actual floor selection logic.
It sort of makes sense that the light in the button would just be hooked directly up to the button contacts. The computer would then be polling the buttons separately and it’s possible to miss a button press… These sorts of buttons shouldn’t need a debounce period since pressing any of them a second time doesn’t do anything. If the buttons were interrupt based, this probably wouldn’t happen.
For 2, one of the few pieces of Windows software that I haven’t been able to replace in Linux is GetRight. Many HTTP servers support downloads starting at an offset from the beginning of the file, and GetRight uses that to allow download pausing and resumption.
It was a real life saver back when I had an extremely flaky Internet connection.
EDIT: Thanks for all the suggestions, I’ll definitely take a look at them. Simply resuming downloads is why I initally started using GetRight, but it also came with a bunch of other useful tools that I came to rely on. While I’ve been able to replicate some of the basic functionality with individual browser plugins or programs, I haven’t seen anything that integrates it all so well, with such a smooth interface. I haven’t looked for a long time, though, so maybe one of your suggestions will be the one!
Firefox does that out of the box.
Wow, getright! That’s a throwback. I used that in the 90s.
On linux I use aria2c for similar tasks. It can resume http downloads, as well as split them up into multiple threads for faster downloading.
It’s cli-based and powerful (therefore perhaps a bit confusing at first), but there are UIs for it as well for a more get-rightty experience.
I think jdownloader also has some application here, though it’s mostly for getting things from those ad-filled file hosting sites frequently used by those on the high seas
Why would you multithread it except for heaving mutiple paths of entry to your home connection or you are getting a throttle from the file hoster?
Basically that. I don’t do it much anymore, but it used to be helpful.
I recently wanted to send a file from Linux to an old tablet over Bluetooth. Can’t be done apparently. I can send it to my phone, a windows laptop can send it to the tablet, but my Linux PC apparently can’t. Still baffled about it.
Applications that steal focus more than once in their startup are the real devil
for 1: kdeconnect or warpinator
Honestly, when I open a new application I normally want to interact with it now. Always drove me nuts , when I opened a Powershell window in a folder and then had to click on it again.
Until its a popup and you’re entering a password.
Or it took several seconds to load.
I think it’d be nice if there was an OS-app version of the web browser middle-click. I never feel confused about whether an opened link is or is not taking focus because I shared my intent by which mouse button I used (left: open and switch, middle: just open).
My favorite way to share files is to compose an email and attach the file. I then save it as a draft and then go to another computer and open that draft and download the file. Its the best method and it has worked for at least a decade. Sometimes you have to send it to yourself but the method is perfect
My other pet peeves besides these:
- Android locking screen a second before I jab the screen, every single time
- YouTube app. Android and smart TVs. What’s wrong with it? (Vague overall gesturing) It’s garbage. How is one of the biggest tech companies in the world able to ship this and expect people to pay money for subscriptions is beyond me.
Android in general is trash.
