This post is about an app I just released into beta called MotoDiary, at motodiaryapp.com.

Early Journaling

I've recently begun keeping a journal again.  In the process, I've had some insights about writing and the internet.  My grandmother gave me my first journal when I was 11 years old.  It was called "the Dinosaur Journal." The pages were blank except for sketches of stegosaurus, tyrannosaurus rex, or other species on every other page.  In this journal I kept a log of my daily activities.  "Practiced my violin for 50 minues,"  "Got an A on my spelling test."  It seemed the obvious thing to do at the time.  The last time I kept one was perhaps over ten years ago while I was in college.  A lot has changed since then, including a massive onslaught of new ways to express one's self, including blogs, Facebook, and Twitter.  Up until recently a blog, in my mind, was just an online version of a journal.  However, I have come to see that it is not.  In fact it is the opposite.  A blog is for public expression, while a journal is for private expression.  

Blogs are different

The motivation for these two types of writing are completely different.  When I write a blog post, my mindset is different than when I write an entry in a journal.  For a blog post, the audience is not me, but perhaps my friends, reddit, or Hacker News.  When I write a journal entry, my audience is myself, now and at a later time.  It is my chance to crystalize the thoughts and doubts that have been circling around in my mind, here one minute, gone the next.  It is the one venue through which I can be completely honest without worrying about repercussions, professional or personal.  There is nothing I can't say, no editor in my head scratching out this or that for fear that no one will be interested, or that I will offend someone.  This is not to say that what goes into a journal might not eventually end up in a blog post.  The insight I've had is that I forgot about keeping a journal and the value it provides.

Writing in a diary allows freer expression

While keeping this journal, I noticed a few things.  Writing in a physical journal is sort of a meditative experience.  There are few distractions.  It's just you, the pen, and the paper.  It's also very permanent.  I write in ink -- I can't go back and change past entries.  I have to leave them as they are, unedited and raw.  When looking back, I think this gives a clearer picture of my thoughts at the time of writing than something I may have edited a few days or weeks later.

The Downsides

There were also a few disadvantages to writing in a physical journal as opposed to a blog.  It's a pain to carry around a moleskine and pen wherever I go.  I can update a blog from my iPhone or any computer.  Also, anyone can read my journal if they find it.  I think this is always there in the back of my mind, causing me to edit my thoughts just a bit in case someone else does find and read my journal.

Why not just mark a blog as private?  Well, in that case, whoever has access to the server my blog resides on can read my entries if they wish -- not that I think anyone would care to.  The thought still bothers me a bit, however.  Also, I have to be online to update a blog, or else install some special software that allows me to write a post offline, then upload it later.  

Blogs have a lot of formatting tools that are unnecessary.  A journal should really be just about the words, not the font, justification, color, or any special formatting.  I want something as close as possible to just me, my pen, and the page.

Why use MotoDiary?

MotoDiary runs in browsers on PCs, Macs, and smart phones.  It has a simple, clean design that is as close as I could come (so far) to simulating writing with just pen and paper.  It encrypts entries in the browser before sending them up to the server, so no one can read what I've written, not even the guys hosting my server at Heroku :)  I've been using it for about a month now and have found the opportunity it provides me to keep a daily record to be invaluable.  I hope it will provide that same value to others.  Enjoy.

One thing that I've found frustrating as a web developer over the years is the work flow between design, css layout, and programming.

Typically the workflow (from my perspective as a programmer) will go something like this:

1.  Designer creates layout in Photoshop.

2.  CSS/HTML Guy cuts up design. 

3.  Web developer inserts dynamic content, ajax.

Sometimes I'm the CSS guy, sometimes I'm not.  I've never been the designer (at least not in professional situations).  The most friction is between the design phase and the css/html phase.  If a slice contains errors, a new one must be requested from the designer.  Turnaround times can vary, but usually there is an interruption to the work flow.  Common causes of errors are slices that are not suitable for use with CSS tricks such as repeating 1px vertical or horizontal gradients, images related to rounded corners that are not formatted correctly due to transparancy issues, etc. Communicating the exact requirements necessary for image slices to the designer can be time consuming as well.

So, in order to solve this problem and speed up development, I've taken some time to learn the rudiments of Adobe Fireworks.  With Fireworks, I can import a psd and retain all of the layer and textual information.  In this way I can make my own slices without the turnaround times required in requesting them from the designer.