https://notes.mmm.page/paper

An Internet Canvas

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Source: Nina Cosford

April 2023

An Internet Canvas

Wouldn't you want a digital medium with the expressive ease of paper?

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paper.mmm.dev

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I started mmm.page two years ago. This is an early draft of my
long-term vision for mmm.page.

Also, so I'm walking the walk, this page is fully editable. Read once
normal, then try editing it.

Websites are the most expressive medium I know, but they're used
today in such a tiny narrow way.

The thing is, they could be like digital paper: back-of-napkin notes,
moodboards, journaling, letters, toy apps, lists, sprawling canvases.

Something with the ease of paper, but the expressiveness and
capabilities of software.

Here are a few ideals...

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1

Intuitive as paper. It shouldn't require a manual or tutorial. Poke
around. No coding knowledge required.

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2

Genuinely mixed media. Add anything you want: images, text, videos.
Embed services too: maps, music, IDEs, iFrames of other websites.
Even draw directly on it.

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3

Easy to reference. The URL is the pointer. Short and memorable. Let
people name pages within their namespace so it becomes a portable
handle.

"Why are you spending so much time making a website builder?"

"Uh... well, I put some thoughts down at notes.mmm.page/paper"

4

Flexible for any use. It should feel natural for a wide variety of
uses. The medium itself shouldn't imply any use. E.g., the same
8.5"x11" can be a handwritten note, or a flyer, or scratch paper.

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5

Preservable and lasting. Serious art requires serious labor, but why
spend years on something if it's not guaranteed to last? Link rot,
dead embeds, broken dependencies, etc.

Ideal: ability to export the entire file as a single .html. Inline
styles, scripts, images, assets, even localized copies of tweets,
YouTube videos, etc. And it needs to be easy to do so, not just 
possible.

Also, don't invent a new set of protocols. Rely on web technologies:
imperfect, but inertial.

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"PICO-8 cartridges can be saved in a special .png format and sent
directly to other users."

6

Interactive and dynamic. Every block has properties. A small library
that handles reactive state. Script using Javascript with live
reloading.

Something like a Flash/HyperCard/Visual Basic lite. Easier said than
done, of course.

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Let people pop the hood. Peek underneath. Shouldn't you be able to
"view source" and see how websites are made? Like this page itself?

Like this spur-of-the-moment moodboard?

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Anyway.

Right now I'm translating these loosey-goosey ideals into real tools
that are fun to use, feel good, & create the conditions for people to
make internet canvases. As it turns out, it's a lot of work...

Feel free to reach out if you have ideas.

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mmm.page

 
twitter.com/xhfloz
 
[email protected]

P.S. Sorry if this page downloads too many files. I haven't gotten
around to the performance/bundle optimization part of the project
yet...

Made on mmm
Made on mmm