If you’re writing some text which you don’t really want to keep long term, but might want to save a few times along the way, where do you write it? Think, for example, text you are going to paste into some sort of web form in the end, but don’t want to have to write over if something dies along the way.
For quite some time, I’ve found myself mostly writing this sort of stuff in my email client (Apple Mail for what it’s worth). It’s got spell-checking etc, but then so do the 1001 other places I could write, but I’m just now realising the real reason.
- I don’t have to decide where to save the file, because it will just go straight into my drafts email folder.
- When I’m done, I don’t have to swap programs, or search around to find what to delete. Luckily I don’t usually have too many drafts.
In short, if I write in Mail, I don’t have to deal with the file system.
Both iTunes and iPhoto hide the file system as well, giving you a ‘library’ (list of everything) and the option to create some playlists/albums (selected subsets) instead. I’m sure there are plenty of note taking apps I could be using to fill the same niche for text, but I find it interesting that avoiding the presenting the file system seems to have become so natural.