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WriteMapper 4 is out for Mac and Windows
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Posted by Dormouse
Dec 13, 2023 at 11:28 PM
satis wrote:
>
>If suddenly we’re talking about a new cross-platform app I’d bet it’s
>an(other bloated, relatively slow) Electron app
I’m not sure we are. The Mac version will, as usual, be coming out before the Windows one.
I’m also not sure that Electron apps need to be bloated or slow. Some are pretty fast.
I’m sure it will be reasonably priced too.
My big question about it is ‘what’s it for?’, followed by ‘what new feature will it have that will make people want to buy it?’ I can appreciate that there’s no appetite for a Scrivener 4.
satis wrote:
>> Scrivener Windows users typically get features long after
>Mac users, and Windows users have dealt with a lot of bugs over the
>years.
I think part of the issue is that it’s a Mac app and there’s an insistence on trying to make the Windows version copy the Mac version exactly, which means features and optimisations are lost and none are gained because the Windows version is only a shadow.
Which is quite different to the approach taken by iAWriter where its Mac and Windows versions have somewhat different feature sets, with the Windows version even being ahead for a (brief) period.
Posted by satis
Dec 14, 2023 at 02:36 AM
We’ll see. I’d certainly prefer a native Mac app that takes advantage of UI practices (menu bar, file management, full screen, Dock menus, widgets) over a least-common-denominator Electron app. Generally, if you’re deploying Mac/Windows cross-platform apps and you’re not a big company like Adobe it seems increasingly cost-prohibitive not to make your apps web-based services with common front-ends, or have them be Electron apps.
Spotify, Discord, Slack, Notion, Figma, Telegram, 1Password 8 and Zoom are all Electron apps, and I cannot stand them. They are bloated, their UIs are often a mess, and they are often slow, or at least slower than native apps. The best Electron writing app I’ve ever seen has been Typora, but it took them over five years of tweaking to get in shape and out of beta. It’s not easy to make a good Electron app.
Someone in the L&L forum listed what he says are what we know about the app from devs and beta testers, and it seems that the Mac app at least is using Apple APIs like TextKit:
- A rich text editor - not markdown
- A ‘binder’ on the left that lets you view and organise your documents, chapters and research files
- items in the binder can be moved around manually
- Create new sheets & chapters using the plus button in the binder (not clear that you can create new folders too but would seem to indicate you can)
- Different icons for your project manuscript folder, chapters, sheets and research folders to make it easy to distinguish between them
- The binder doubles as the outline structure - there is not separate outlining tool
- Chapters, folders, Bin can be expanded and collapsed in the binder
- Each document can have a title that is separate from the text within the document
- The title has a character limit of at least 68 characters. This allows the title to also be used as a synopsis for the document
- There is not separate place for a synopsis
- Each section (document?) can be as large or small as needed.
- Features targets, writing streaks and milestones
- Can view research files from within the app - not clear what formats supported
- You can output to Word, PDF, ePub, Markdown and other formats not yet announced.
- There is a ‘Bin’ or ‘Trash’ folder where you can put documents (and chapters and folders?) that you no longer need.
- The app appears to be project based - on book, one project. No one whole database to keep all your writing in.
- Word count at the bottom of the editor
- A formatting menu (Aa in the screenshot).
- A quick and easy way to switch formatting - details of how this is done are not shared
- Text can be formatted as a heading, bold, italic and can be in different colours. Indented quotes. First line paragraph indent, with the first line of the first paragraph not indented.
- Different styles can be applied to the text in the editor
- An inspector (i in the screenshot) that at least can keep a place for notes related to the document in the editor.
- The ability to navigate to previous documents used (
< >in the screenshots.
- Desktop versions of the new app can export to Scrivener format
- iCloud sync
- Using TextKit under the hood, using a different text system from a user perspective in terms of how it works
- iOS, iPadOS, MacOS and Windows versions
Posted by tberni
Dec 14, 2023 at 06:43 AM
Well, Satis, this new application you speak of could almost be called Ulysses bis!
Don’t you think that it is basically an experiment in the search to replace Scrivener in the medium term?
Posted by MadaboutDana
Dec 14, 2023 at 10:23 AM
I think Keith’s been pretty clear on its place in the Scrivener constellation – it won’t replace Scrivener, but it’s another tool for people who don’t want/need Scrivener’s “kitchen sink” approach (as Keith puts it, a “scalpel to Scrivener’s Swiss Army knife”).
I’m absolutely sure it’s a response to Ulysses and similar apps. Apart from the interesting list provided by @satis (thanks for that!), there are two other things worth mentioning:
a) it’s been in development for three years (so even if it is Electron, it’s being taken seriously!)
b) it would appear – at least, there’s a hint – that it will support customised (presumably CSS?) stylesheets (again, very like Ulysses/other writing apps)
He also emphasises that it will have iCloud synchronisation, and this suggests to me that he’s very aware of Scrivener’s less-than-satisfactory cross-platform performance, and is making this a tool capable of operating efficiently across multiple devices, including smartphones.
All these things make good sense to me. I’d love to know if he’s contemplating an Android version, too? Or even a Linux version (I’ve just scrobbled my 2013 MacBook Air and turned it into a Linux Mint machine!)?
Posted by Dormouse
Dec 14, 2023 at 11:47 AM
There’s no longer a need for all the old Scrivener features; I’m not sure what % of Scrivener users ever use the compiler.
And, L&L certainly seem keen to update their codebase..
But there’s nothing on the list that many other apps don’t have now. I’d hope it’s not just a Ulysses clone. Scrivener and Scapple both had innovative features for their day, and I’d hope there’s something more than this list to the new app.