I assume development time right now is focused on Taskpaper 3 and Folding Text.
Is there a plan to pick up work on FTA again at some point?
There’s a thought/hope, but no plan as of yet.
Much of the code that was FTA is now in TaskPaper 3. In fact all the JavaScript code is still developed as an Atom package and I run all the tests from within Atom. But as the code has changed I’ve broken the Atom view layer in major ways, instead focusing on the OS X native view layer that I’m using in TaskPaper.
After TaskPaper 3 is ready one possibility is that I’ll go back and rebuild that view layer so that “TaskPaper 3” becomes cross platform. IE you can use the native Mac app, or you can use the Atom package.
I really like that scenario because it would allow me to keep the native app relatively simple: no plugins, file browsers, etc… because for users who wanted that sort of thing I could push them on to Atom.
There are two problems with this scenario. First it means I’m developing two platforms, not impossible, but does complicate things. Second I’m not sure it helps sales much.
I won’t make a decision on this until after TaskPaper 3, and likely I’ll also do WriteRoom 4, then figure out what the next big step is for TaskPaper.
imho yes, that scenario would seem the best, as forcing your users onto atom is a poor choice, since it’s viewed as a “dev tool” (and not even all kinds of devs).
running atom just for ft is a bad commercial argument; it implies a bigger memory footprint, maintaining / updating atom is a bigger burden too, not to mention the non-native feel of it.
i can understand the attraction of having a single platform and being able to touch a wider public (os-wise), but maybe you need to also keep in mind a less/none techie public.
you’d be present on multiple platforms / oses, but you’ll always carry the burden of a “dev-tool-plugin” label / category.
That would really hurt sales.
As I recall the plan was to have two version, one as a stand alone Mac version, and an Atom version that could be used across platforms. Which made more sense from the sales perspective. The non-tech side wouldn’t have to carry the burden of using Atom just for one element, but those of us who do have to switch platforms could keep consistency in files and make use of a very nice tool.
I’m fine paying twice for that capability. I’m sure I’m part of a small subset willing to run Atom and pay twice though. Especially when there are similar alternatives, like PlainTasks with Sublime–which I’m currently using. I do, however, really miss the outlining elements of FTA - PlainTasks doesn’t really have that capability, now was it designed to.
FTA still works fine for now and I still make use of it when the feeling strikes. Ultimately I’d love to see a native version of Taskpaper 3 for Windows. TP3 is just so easy and smooth to use–just a far better experience than using PlainTasks or FTA.
I have tried a few Windows programs that tried to be compatible with Taskpaper directly, but none of them worked well.
I suppose my other option is changing jobs and moving away from these Windows only environments.