Di tori about FlowSaga

Why I build FlowSaga

Di first time wey I use anoda person Flow extenshon, I sit down dey look am for ten full minutes. I no understand am. No be because e ugly. I really no fit know wetin e dey do — I no fit recognize di button names, di order no make sense, and when I click somtin, I no know wetin happen.

I hold my teeth and go through am one time reach di end. Not even one wahala solve. I sabi wetin I want. Di image dey my head clear clear. I just no fit bring am come out.

I sit down for front of dat screen, and di frustration dey grow for my chest. No be say I vex for di tool — na myself I vex for. I start wit hope say one tool go make me better for am. I end am dey feel like say I dey foolish.

Later, I come understand somtin. E no be my fault.

Before yu fit sabi somtin well, one door dey for yu front. Yu must fit read am and want to use am before any practice even start.

If dem set di door too high, e no matter how talented yu be. Yu go still stand outside. My English no strong. Dat extenshon na onle English, wey no be my language, and di interface dey complicated; I no fit read am. So I decide to build my own. One wey I fit read, and yu fit read too. Na because of dat day I build FlowSaga.

Where di name come from: Saga, di goddess of stories

For Norse mythology, one place dey wey dem dey call Sökkvabekkr — «di stream wey sink». Cool waves dey flow pass there and e no dey ever stop. Odin dey go there every day.

One woman dey wait for am. Two gold cups. Dem dey drink. Dem dey talk. Every day, dem no ever miss one day. Wetin she talk? Nobody write am down.

Long time after, somebody write di Norse gods for inside book. Inside dat book, list of goddesses dey — sixteen of dem. Di first na Odin wife. Di second na her: Sága. Di book keep onle one sentence about her: she dey live for Sökkvabekkr, and na big place.

Till today, scholars still dey argue wetin her name mean. One side talk say to see. Di oda side talk say story. She talk every day. Not even one of her sentences survive.

Idea wey nobody ever do, wey nobody ever write down, na like say e neva exist at all.

Saga for Old Norse mean «story». Flow na Google Flow, where yu dey make vidiyos, and also di stream where Saga dey live. Our sign na longship like di one for di myths: raise di sail and di wind dey yu side; when yu no need am, e go fold enter yu pocket like piece of cloth. Di S for di sail na Saga.

One hundred and thirteen calves

Na three o'clock for afternoon, but darkness full everywhere. Dis na Iceland one thousand years ago. No king. No palace. No city. Na onle fire and di pipul wey sit round am. Somebody start to tell story: fight between families, court case, murder.

For dat century, story wey dem tell one time go just lost. Tell am again di next winter and di details go shift; after one generashon di person wey dey tell am go die, and dem go bury di story wit am.

Di Iceland pipul no gree accept dat. Dem decide to write am down. But paper no dey. To write mean say yu go kill calf: remove di skin, scrape am till e thin, then dry am. One skin, if yu fold am for middle, go give yu onle two pages. Di biggest handwritten book for medieval Iceland na Flateyjarbók: two hundred and twenty-five pages — one hundred and thirteen calves.

And for dis island, milk cow no be wealth. Na im dey decide weda yu pikin dem go survive di winter. For oda places for Europe, for dat centuries, dem dey spend dis kind costly writing on Latin: Bibles, saints and di history of kings. Di Iceland pipul spend am on dia own words, dia own pipul, dia own stories.

No be just so di story go dey. Na so e go really live.

No strike

Di thirteenth century. One Iceland man wey dem dey call Snorri Sturluson notice somtin wey dey fear person: young poets no fit read di old poems again. Di art wey don pass from one generashon to anoda for hundreds of years wan break for di hand of im own generashon.

E fit just sigh. Na wetin most pipul dey do. E no do am like dat. E sit down write one book. No be poetry. Na guide: wetin dis word mean, where dis image come from, how yu go use am. For di pipul wey still wan write but no fit read.

Wetin e build na door. And e lower am.

Di year 1241. Twenty-third of September. Night. Some pipul force enter im house. Im last words, na onle three: Eigi skal höggva. No strike.

E no survive. Di book survive. Almost evritin wey di world sabi about Norse mythology come from dat book. Di list of goddesses too. Dat one line about Saga too.

Wetin FlowSaga dey do

Now na yu turn. To make story no dey cost calf again. Type small lines and image wey dey move go show.

But di hard part neva ever be di typing. Di hard part na to get good idea but yu no fit find how to make am sharp or take di next step. And when yu finally make di vidiyos, yu open di «Downloads» folda and di file names na pure confusion — yu no fit tell which one be which.

FlowSaga dey lower di door, then e go do di binding work by itself.

Di highest door na language. No be say di interface complicated. Di tool just no get yu own words. FlowSaga dey speak 91 interface languages. One thousand years ago, Europe keep writing for Latin; di Iceland pipul use di words wey dem really dey speak take write dia stories. We dey di Iceland pipul side.

Di second door na time. Thirty seconds, na di measure wey I dey hold: open am, and inside thirty seconds yu suppose know how to start. After dat, plenti ideas at once go make one by one, each one go save neat for di folda wey yu pick, wit di title wey yu give am. Dat folda go slowly turn yu own personal book.