Introduction
NUU Surf is the reading application of NUU. It is built for high performance reading. You use it when a document is long, and you still need both the shape of the argument and the original wording.
NUU Docs holds your documents and parses them. Surf takes one parsed document version and runs a surf. A surf is one pipeline run over that version. The pipeline writes a stack of summary layers. The reader shows those layers as cards. You start at the top layer. You zoom into one section at a time. You can reach the original text.
This is how Surf fits the other NUU products. NUU Docs is the library and the parser. Your NUU account is how you sign in. Surf is the reader. You move from the library into the reader when a surf is ready.
Who it is for
You read reports, papers, books, or long notes. You need a map of the whole document. You also need a way to drop into a passage and work with it. Surf gives you both.
You can read as a signed-in person. You can also open a shared document as a guest. A guest can zoom and read. A guest cannot save notes or questions to an account.
The problem it solves
A long document forces a bad choice. You can skim and miss the claim you need. You can read every line and lose the shape of the argument. Surf keeps the shape in view.
Each card stands for a section. The card body is a summary of that section. When you zoom in, that card is replaced by the cards under it. Other sections stay at the depth you left them. You do not lose your place.
What you can do
In the reader you can:
- Zoom through layers, from the top summary down to the original text.
- Open an outline of headings and summaries.
- Select a span of text and highlight it.
- Write a note on a span, or ask a question about it.
- Play a passage in firehose, as a fast stream of words.
- Change reading aids, such as text size and typeface.
Sharing is a separate path. A wave is a shared collection of documents. A public reading link lets a person open one surfed document. Both can use a password. See Waves and Public Reading.
How to use this guide set
Read the concepts first. They define the nouns you will use in every flow.
- Core Ideas names surf, layer, span, note, highlight, outline, firehose, wave, and public reading link.
- Layers and Zoom explains why the document is a stack of cards.
- Spans Notes and Questions explains work on a selected passage.
Then follow a guide for the flow you need.
- Surf a Document from Your Library starts a surf from your library.
- Read by Zooming Through Layers is the main reading motion.
- Ask Questions and Take Notes covers work on a span.
- Open and Read a Wave covers shared collections.