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Friction vs. Features
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Posted by Cyganet
Mar 17, 2023 at 12:47 PM
I agree with Satis that frictionless means making it easy to quickly get things down. For me, the most frictionless app for capturing ideas is Freemind (on Windows). Even its fork Freeplane has more friction (although I couldn’t pinpoint exactly why). Freemind has the perfect combination of keyboard shortcuts and responsiveness to be able to write things down at my speed of thought.
Another frictionless app (on mobile) is Logseq, which I use for journaling. Just open it and write at the bullet. I don’t try to do lots of organising afterwards, although Logseq does have that power I haven’t climbed the learning curve there yet. I previously used Simplenote in that way, but found its tag-only organisation of notes cumbersome and it lacks the features that are the second half of Steve’s question.
At the other end of the spectrum: Notion. Great features, extremely slow and too many clicks to get anything down. So I use it sparingly for specific use cases only.
Then there is your familiarity with the application as a source of friction reduction. I tried out My Life Organized and found it very difficult to navigate. I’m used to InfoQube, and it’s less friction for me because I know how to use InfoQube. That won’t apply if your familiarity is the other way around.
Posted by Amontillado
Mar 18, 2023 at 04:36 PM
Some friction can be eliminated with helper apps, like Keyboard Maestro or AutoHotkey. I don’t mind an application benefitting from a little automation. KM is universally useful, so if an app needs the help, it’s already in place.
Paul Korm makes a great point about familiarity begetting ease of use. I find it difficult to use algebraic input calculators. If I work your navigational calculations on an algebraic calculator your landing on the moon may be more of an E-ticket ride than respect for mortality demands. RPN, I fly and never make mistakes.
Well, of course I make mistakes. But with RPN I make them much more efficiently.
Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
Mar 18, 2023 at 05:44 PM
Stephen Zeoli wrote:
>But what exactly is friction? I guess it is anything that impedes the
>smooth collection or writing of notes. Having to select a folder, or
>decide on a tag, or lift fingers from the keyboard to format text or
>anything like that.
I have reMarkable (1) and I will usually think of opening it just when someone is saying something worth noting. If I want to keep my note in context, I have to navigate through the folder structure, find the right location, create a notebook which involves typing the name by pressing the virtual keyboard keys with the stylus, confirm, and then begin notetaking. By that time, I’ve probably missed or forgotten what was said; at least I have the notebook ready for the next notes.
Alternatively, I can just open a nameless “Quick sheet”, but I will then need to remember to move it to the right location once I’m finished, or I will never even remember that I have those notes.
That said, once the notebook is open, I find there is no ‘friction’ (in the sense used in this thread) at all in the actual writing.
>But it might be more than that. It might be your
>relationship to the interface.
Familiarity with the interface, as mentioned by others here is of course a key factor. I find Brainstorm absolutely frictionless but I’ve been using it around 20 years.
>Is it uninspiring?
I think the inspiration itself is most useful when initially getting acquainted with the interface. If it inspires one, they are most likely to invest in learning it, up to the point of becoming familiar with it, especially with time savers such as keyboard shortcuts or mouse/stylus gestures.
>Or confusing? Do you
>have to stop and think about what to do next, once you’ve made your
>note?
I think that in this regard, the importance of a powerful search function –so often emphasised by Bill / Madaboutdana– cannot be overestimated.
>Anyway, I am interested in other recommendations for low-friction
>note-management apps.
One programme I would call frictionless –at least in respect to note-taking; I’ve barely scratched its surface in coding, which is what it is intended for– is Sublime Text: fire it up (in less than a second) press ctrl+N to start a new file, and start typing. Don’t worry about saving it; ST will keep it and open it next time you start the programme. If you try to close it, it will warn you that the content hasn’t been saved and encourage you to do so.
Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
Mar 18, 2023 at 05:55 PM
I’ve met people who swear by Tex for presenting mathematical functions. I understand it took them quite some time to learn it, but now it’s as frictionless as it could be for them.
Amontillado wrote:
>Paul Korm makes a great point about familiarity begetting ease of use. I
>find it difficult to use algebraic input calculators. If I work your
>navigational calculations on an algebraic calculator your landing on the
>moon may be more of an E-ticket ride than respect for mortality demands.
>RPN, I fly and never make mistakes.
>
>Well, of course I make mistakes. But with RPN I make them much more
>efficiently.
Posted by steveylang
Mar 22, 2023 at 10:55 PM
For me, friction is the amount of time and effort spent on the app itself actually working with your content.
So that includes the interface, how easy the interface is (for me) to use and remember, and response time of the app. Having too many different info apps also increases friction, as I have to remember where I stored or wrote something, and remember too many commands or interfaces for various apps. Too many features can bog down an app and increase friction, too few features and I don’t want to bother adding the app to my computer or phone.
So it’s the sum total of a bunch of somewhat objective and completely subjective factors, which ultimately cause me to buy/commit to an app or decide it’s not for me.
I switched to Obsidian for almost all of my PKM/outlining about a year ago and have never looked back, for me it’s a jack of all trades, and also a master of many.
Stephen Zeoli wrote:
>But what exactly is friction? I guess it is anything that impedes the
>smooth collection or writing of notes. Having to select a folder, or
>decide on a tag, or lift fingers from the keyboard to format text or
>anything like that. But it might be more than that. It might be your
>relationship to the interface. Is it uninspiring? Or confusing? Do you
>have to stop and think about what to do next, once you’ve made your
>note?
>
>I am thinking that Mem might be an example of a relatively frictionless
>app, and yet, I find it uninspiring. That’s probably just me.
>
>Anyway, I am interested in other recommendations for low-friction
>note-management apps.
>
>Steve