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Hi everyone,
I'm looking for the perfect software ;), so I figure I ask here, and see how close can OO can come. This is what I want. I want to be able to gather clippings from the web, and other places, text, pictures, links, drag and drop them into pages inside the application for my research into stories. I want software that allows me to outline, that allows the outline to be visible at the same time as I see the full text, and be able to move around the outline sections at the same time that I see the text, so the editing is real-time and as quick as possible. I want to be able to do all this without touching the mouse. Once I have a strong outline. I want to be able to go in either one of two directions. An essay, so I want a full rich text editor, or a screenplay, so I want a full context editor that can switch from character to character and scene to scene in a seamless manner and without touching the mouse. I would like to keep the outline portion of the software in sync with the essay or the screenplay so I can always change my mind and re-arrange the order of either. Editable real-time index cards would be a plus. Can OO do this?
Best regards,
Steven
 
Simple answer, IMHO, much as I love OO, which I've been using for years ... no it won't.

Try Scrivener
http://www.literatureandlatte.com/dl...er_1_1b109.dmg
Don't worry that it's a beta; it's more stable than the last official release and is probably due for full release within a week or so according to the developer. It's also fully Leopard ready.

Just a very happy user of both bits of software!

:)

Mark
 
Hi,
I'm also looking for the perfect software to gather and organize my notes for writing projects. So far I haven't found one do-everything application and I've even started plans to write my own. I've worked on large multi-year, multi-programmer software projects so the warning in the back of my head is: trying to write perfect software is a tar-baby trap. So I'm following two tracks: first-the programming project and the second-building on OmniOutliner. OmniOutliner already provides about 80-90% of what I want. Can I get the rest using AppleScript and 'manual' techniques. I'd also like to figure out how to integrate OmniGraffle with Outliner for a second graphical interface. If you're interested, I'll let you know how it works out--or, even better, we could share ideas.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by xiamenese View Post
Simple answer, IMHO, much as I love OO, which I've been using for years ... no it won't.

Try Scrivener
http://www.literatureandlatte.com/dl...er_1_1b109.dmg
Don't worry that it's a beta; it's more stable than the last official release and is probably due for full release within a week or so according to the developer. It's also fully Leopard ready.

Just a very happy user of both bits of software!

:)

Mark
I was curious about how you (or anyone else) use both Scrivener and OO. I'm just trying out Scrivener for the first time, so I searched the forum to see if anyone had commented.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by FredH View Post
I was curious about how you (or anyone else) use both Scrivener and OO. I'm just trying out Scrivener for the first time, so I searched the forum to see if anyone had commented.
I don't think I'm typical, but I use them for different things.

As a lecturer, I tend to prepare my lectures in OO because I can then export the outline to Keynote and tweak the presentation there ... I sometimes think about trying the presentation in OmniGraffle Pro, which I also use. I have also been exporting the outline to RTF so that I can import it into InDesign to produce printed handouts for each lecture which will perhaps eventually structure into a coursebook. I often use Nisus Writer Pro as an intermediate stage between OO and InDesign, particularly to make use of its very powerful Search & Replace to remove things like bullets. That said: (i) I am basically giving the same courses I have given for the third year running, most of anything I have to do with lecture materials is small changes/additions to what exists, so I tend to do them directly in Keynote/InDesign, rather than firing up OO; (ii) given the fact that Scrivener only came out in January this year, all of the heavy lifting on the lectures was done prior to its launch ... had Scrivener been available at the time, I would probably have been working directly in that.

On the other hand, I do a fair bit of editing of translations from Chinese to English. Scrivener is the essential piece of software for that, as I can split the window to have the original text in one half and the English version I am editing in the other. The outlining ability is of no significance in this ... I just know it's there. Lack of time and energy, the result of multiple demands on me from colleagues and students means that I haven't yet used many of the features like notes, keywords, etc., and there is much I want to do in it in organisational terms. I am also using Scrivener to bring together many other disparate but related documents together in single Scrivener projects, rather than keeping them as separate files on disk within an appropriately named folder.

Over the Chinese Spring Festival holiday, and the following months, I will be co-writing a couple of papers with a Chinese colleague. I will be doing my end of the writing work in Scrivener, there is no question, no doubt using many more of the facilities that Scrivener has to offer. However, I suspect I will plan outlines in OO, export them to RTF, import them into Scrivener and then split them up into folders and text blocks Scrivener-style to match the OO outline structure for the writing part. I have the feeling that I will get the planning done better where I can create and see the initial outline as a single document in OO ... than in terms of a structure of folders and text blocks in Scrivener.

I have to say that since I started using Scrivener, my use of OO, and indeed of Nisus has gone down ... I tend to do more work in Scrivener. I would also definitely recommend the Scrivener forum. There are many writers on the forum who use both Scrivener and OO in combination, and who are very helpful and generous with their advice.

HTH

Mark
 
I would love it if Scrivener could just read OPML files and OmniOutliner and Scrivener would provide two views to the same data.
 
Thanks for the reply xiamenese, Scrivener is a really cool app, I'm not sure if I could replace OO with it but it's got a lot of features that OO is missing in some form (especially various uses of meta-data). Hint hint

I agree netvisionary, I wish it could read OPML, I couldn't figure out the whole MultiMarkdown thing, but I haven't tried very hard.
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by netvisionary View Post
I would love it if Scrivener could just read OPML files and OmniOutliner and Scrivener would provide two views to the same data.
I can't remember if this has come up on the Scrivener forum, but you could have a look and if not you could post a feature request. But my guess is you'll get an answer, at best, of "Not until v. 2 at some nebulous point in the future". Since Keith wrote it as the environment he wants for being able to get on with his novel, and it's just grown from there, I don't know how interested he would be in going down that road.

I think I'm quite happy using the two the way I mentioned. That said, I'm just deciding to completely re-write one of my courses for next semester, and am thinking of doing it the other way round perhaps ... doing the writing in Scrivener, exporting the synopses to RTF for import into OO and then exporting them to Keynote from there.

Mark
 
 


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