http://cutup.joshuaevensen.com

just something i always thought should exist.  i'm gonna clean it up a bit more.  maybe make multiple selectable

do you guys think flash would be a better platform?  or java or something?

are you planning on having it randomly take quotes from a quote database? you should do that

i'm sure you know this but:
- cut it up needs to clear/reset the screen each time you click it, otherwise it piles on more and more words in a column down the page
- you could add some simple microsoft paint functionality if you give people some more creative freedom to underline/circle/cross out words, make backgrounds, etc
- you might consider allowing the words to "snap" to each other if they are aligned and only a few pixels away. not a big deal though
- i'm not sure what your logic is for layering. it seems to be kind of random. maybe the currently selected word should always be allowed to be placed on top?

random quotes is a great idea.

- the idea was to have a separate tray for words and a separate work area.  the tray would be scrollable.  I did this because i wanted to let you add words to your word bank.
-mspaint functionality is interesting but a bit more complicated.  cool idea though.  but that would probably mean i'd need to go to flash.
- snapping is a good idea.  but maybe if youa re holding control or something
- there is no logic for layering.  or rather i didnt write any.  i just slapped in a jquery plugin for making html elements draggable.

Doesn't work at all

maybe its your browser.  i've only tested in firefox.

Works for me, I think this is pretty rad.  My uni's English department has a huge whiteboard with those magnets.  I desperately looked for the word spill so I could write SPILL ON YOU TABLE CLEAN IT UP

cool man!  guys suggest features!

figure out some way to make this into an MMO like Minecraft --> become obscenely rich

Firefox has even less market share than internet explorer, make it work on chrome

done.  and you can submit your own too.  maybe not the best idea but easier to build up a bunch of quotes etc.

and i will at some point mince.  i'm probably not even gonna keep it as javascript.

This topic brings back memories. When I was younger, I made a rudimentary cut up machine in qbasic that flipped around the current text entry and randomly injected entries from a five hundred word/phrase list. By the time I got tired of messing with it, I had subroutines that generated new lists as it was working. That way, not only did it make random cuts, it did them a random number of times, picking from, as the process went on, up to ten different files. It was strange, because every now and then, the program appeared to perform a blind sort and spit out lines and phrases that managed to congeal back into their original forms.

I haven't used an online cut up machine in years. I think the last one I played around with had, among other banked quotes, Ren and Stimpy's Log Song, which strangely enough slots in nicely with certain selections of Einstein and Hawking.

I'm still partial to doing them by hand. I made a cut up titled "Hopes" with random newspaper quotes regarding the election back in 2000. The one phrase I remember best from it was "an activist in a pink pig costume ordered and a foot of rain fell." I recorded a sound file of me reading the whole thing, layered with an electric guitar rendition of the star spangled banner behind it, but unfortunately that was lost to the ether three hard drive crashes ago. I did find some cut up and anti-writing files left on my backup drive though.

this is pretty cool people are adding sources!!!

added a bitbucket bug/feature tracker link.  if anyone is interested in this project, feel free to throw some things up there.

fixed up a bit.  now words are light gray if they are in the tray and white if htey are in the "art".  and the clear art / clear tray buttons work now.

now you can save things sorta

http://cutup.joshuaevensen.com/index.php?load=3