20 September 2026No more blank page

Welcome: no more blank page on day one

Tell Xale what you're working on, and your first day starts with a week of examples to keep, change or remove: a way past the blank page problem, not a template to live inside.

What you can do with the welcome

Start with what you're working on. Pick one or more of six pursuits: a quieter mind, a business in flow, work and life in step, healthier and kinder days, big dreams and clear goals, or steady through a big change.
A week of examples, made for it. Each pursuit brings a mind map, notes, a list, tasks, habits and a few blocks on your day, already tagged with the Areas that fit.
See it before it's made. Review every example first, and take out anything you don't want.
Choose how it feels. Pick one of the four looks, the hours you're usually up, and whether new thoughts open as a note, a list or a mind map.
Examples don't use up your Free space. They sit outside the Free limits, and stay free when you change them.
Keep them, change them, or clear them out. Remove all the examples at once whenever you're ready; your own records are untouched, and everything can be restored from Recently deleted.
Or start with your own. Skip the examples, and Xale opens on an empty note, list or mind map, whichever you chose.
Add them later. Already using Xale? Add a week of examples for any pursuit from the Guide.

Why I didn't want you to start with a blank page

A new workspace can feel empty before you know what to make of it. A blank page asks you to already understand the app.

I wanted a few doors instead of one empty room: say what you're working on, and see how notes, maps, tasks and habits fit together in something close to your own life. Then keep what helps and let the rest go.

Rachit, founder of Xale

The ideas behind the welcome

Something to change is easier than nothing to fill

A rough start gives you something to push against.

Worth reading: Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird (1994). Every good piece of work starts as a rough first draft, and the draft's job is simply to exist.
The usual way: a blank screen and a tour of buttons.
In this release: a week that's already started, ready for you to rewrite.

We learn faster from examples than from instructions

Seeing a finished thing shows how the parts fit.

Worth reading: John Sweller and Graham A. Cooper, "The use of worked examples as a substitute for problem solving in learning algebra" (1985). Studying worked examples helped learners more than solving problems cold.
In this release: the examples show a map turning into tasks, and tasks landing on your day.

A good default is a suggestion, not a rule

Most people keep what's already set, so what's set should be gentle.

Worth reading: Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein, Nudge (2008). Defaults shape choices, so they carry a responsibility.
In this release: every choice has a sensible default, and every one can be changed later in Settings.