Sunday, September 9, 2007


What do you think about how I blog in ink? Ever at least wondered how I do it? I have made a little screencast (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screencast) with Camtasia Studio ( http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia.asp)that shows the rather tedious, but highly rewarding process that I go through to create a blog in ink with searchable text and hyperlinks using Build 52 (http://sumocat.blogspot.com/2007/07/build-52-v2-beta-is-online.html). I realize that ink blogs will never be anything more than a novel idea with limited market penetration, (http://jkontherun.blogs.com/jkontherun/2007/08/you-have-spoken.html) but I think ink or more specifically handwriting is more conceptually congruent with the very personal, self-reflective nature of most blogs. I mean a blog is really like a web diary, and when you think of a diary you don't think of text you think of ink. Then, most people don't have tablet pc's (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/tabletpc/default.mspx)or umpc's (http://umpc.com/Devices.aspx) which are
almost essential to be able to ink blog. As the tablet pc gets more and more mainstream (http://direct2dell.com/one2one/archive/2007/05/18/15193.aspx)maybe ink blogging will pick up few more adherents until then I guess its just you and me, Sumocat.

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4 Comments:

Sumocat said...

Hey Michael,

I tried replying to your email, but I got a bounce so I'm posting here...

Good stuff! I like that you had most of the demo material prepared ahead of time, like a good cooking show. Cuts to the point quickly. I like it. Just blogged the word out.

BTW, as you've seen, Build 52 prefers a certain speed when moving and resizing the link boxes, especially when something is eating up processing power (like screen capture video). Has to do with the way I set up the movement. The cursor movement causes the boxes coordinates/dimensions to change, which in turn moves/resizes the box. It seems backwards, but the coordinate and dimension data are what make the Links in Ink work.

Have not done any further work on Build 52 since tooling the unlimited links interface. The hard part is figuring out how to get the code generation part to pick up all those fields. I previously avoided that by setting the number at nine. But now I have to figure out how to do it with non-sequential fields of indeterminate number. Haven't yet had the eureka moment to overcome that obstacle, but I have no doubt it can be done.

Mark

Gustavo Ocampo B said...

Hello Michael:

My name is Gustavo and I live in Colombia South America, I just want to thank you for teach us how to blog with ink, you are the coolest.
Sorry for my English my native spoken languish is Spanish.

Adios y gracias ( bye and thank you )

Gustavo Ocampo B

Hugh Sung said...

Terrific tutorial video! i hadn't gotten around to trying Sumocat's excellent Build 52, but now you have me curious!
i also found your use of Flickr as an image repository really innovative - this makes for a potentially cost-saving procedure for those folks who don't want to pay for their own site's hosting costs.
Take care, and keep blogging! Oh, and thanks for posting my own video for ink blogging - wow, hadn't seen that in ages! Almost forgot i had made that one!

Unknown said...

Thanks Michael for the great tutorial! I watched it and realised I can integrate it in my work flow for my German ink blog :-)
http://www.tintenblog.de/277/sumocats-build-52