There is a new beta open for a new Ulysses release - https://ulysses.app/blog/

There is going to be an editor split view, which is probably more of a big deal for IOS than on the Mac. You can already open multiple windows into a file (or multiple files).

I don't like the in-app storage in Ulysses. I would greatly prefer to store my text in Devonthink with my other notes and files.

Ulysses always draws me back, though. I like the fluid sync and consistent features between IOS and MacOS.

Side-by-side views of the different parts of the same document would be welcome, although in Ulysses I've trained myself by this point to break down long documents into numerous smaller sheets.

There is a beta program for Ulysses 15.

https://ulysses.app/beta

I took a pass on this because of the compatibility

The Ulysses beta accesses the same library as the released version of the app. If existing sheets are edited with the beta version, they may be updated to a new file format, making them unreadable for older Ulysses versions.

satis wrote:

Side-by-side views of the different parts of the same document would be
welcome, although in Ulysses I've trained myself by this point to break
down long documents into numerous smaller sheets.

If you're talking about IOS, you're right. I didn't realize when I first started using Ulysses that this can be done in the Mac version. File -> New Window does the trick.

I hear such positive things about Bear and Ulysses, and I have tried each in my workflow without really liking either. I keep reading about how "beautiful" Bear is, but it looks pretty much like Ulysses to me.

There are big differences if you look a little more carefully.

Ulysses keeps everything organized with groups and filters, Bear has elected to go with tags.

Ulysses gives you freedom to completely customized your choice of font, size, font colors, background etc. Headings/images/code_blocks, whatever - you can customize it to how you want it to look. And they have a site where users can share and download styles (and then customize them on their own machines). Any font you choose in Ulysses/Mac will sync over to the iOS app.

https://styles.ulyssesapp.com/

Bear limits you to only 5-6 select fonts, one built-in for people with dyslexia. Pro version unlocks a dozen dev-made themes, no other customization.

Bear is more of a notes app that has some Evernote-like features. Ulysses is more of a writing app, with text that can go right to a WordPress post to an eBook to a Word document, with file groups/hierarchies, version control, two types of comments (inline but won't get printed, or in sidebar), has typewriter- and focus-modes, writing goals, and more.

Thanks for the quick comparison. It sounds like Ulysses is more aligned with my workflow. I don't like the "one long document" paradigm. Neil Larson of MaxThink used to compare that to a single, long roll of toilet tissue. Is either of these a continuous document (to make syncing easier), or can the files be saved individually?

Each Ulysses 'sheet' is a separate Markdown document, but you can view sheets in a Group (folder) as one document if you like with the 'glue' command (which shows one long document with horizontal dividers indicating the end/beginning of a sheet). You can also easily split one sheet into more than one if it's too long. Writers often make chapters or sections within chapter their own sheets, and that lets them easily rearrange them.

Good overview here:

https://zapier.com/blog/ulysses-markdown-writing-guide/

And here's thriller writer Matt Gemmell (who write in Ulysses on his iPad Pro) discussing how he uses the app:

https://ulysses.app/blog/2018/12/write-a-novel-with-ulysses-organization-and-the-writing-process/

Thanks much. I’ll give Ulysses another shot. I’m using the iPad much more these days, so it makes sense.

I have criticisms of both Bear and Ulysses.

I like Bear's design. But I don't like its substitution of tags for a traditional folder and files hierarchy. It's fundamental for me that long-term I can file my notes away in a traditional file system (or in DevonThink), and, because the tags aren't Finder tags, I can't easily do that with Bear.

I also like Ulysses' design and the ease with which one can slip from using it to write on a laptop or desktop to writing on an iPad and back. But I'm an unreconstructed plotter; I like to plan, and Ulysses currently has virtually no features for doing so (which is slightly odd, for a tool designed for writing long-form). At the very least, I'd like it to import OPML, so that I can plan a structure in, say, OmniOutliner and have it headlined in Ulysses sheet by sheet.

Hugh wrote:

But I'm an unreconstructed plotter; I like to plan, and Ulysses
currently has virtually no features for doing so (which is slightly odd,
for a tool designed for writing long-form). At the very least, I'd like
it to import OPML, so that I can plan a structure in, say, OmniOutliner
and have it headlined in Ulysses sheet by sheet.

Maybe you should blame OO for not exporting to Markdown. People have been talking to Omni about this for a long time:

https://discourse.omnigroup.com/t/still-interested-in-markdown-support-in-omnioutliner/29545/7

One person created an OO plugin to export to text (which could be read, or transformed into Markdown elsewhere):

https://github.com/fletcher/Markdown.ooxsl

On the Mac you could install Pandoc:

https://pandoc.org/

Here's a Mac GUI for it:

http://panconvert.sourceforge.net/

Or just convert OPML to Markdown separately. Someone who uses Carbonfin Outliner on his iPad figured out a way to go back and forth here:

https://thomasborowski.me/2014/02/converting-markdown-to-opml-and-back-on-an-ipad-sort-of/

satis wrote:

Hugh wrote:

>But I'm an unreconstructed plotter; I like to plan, and Ulysses
>currently has virtually no features for doing so (which is slightly
odd,
>for a tool designed for writing long-form). At the very least, I'd like
>it to import OPML, so that I can plan a structure in, say, OmniOutliner
>and have it headlined in Ulysses sheet by sheet.

Maybe you should blame OO for not exporting to Markdown. People have
been talking to Omni about this for a long time:

https://discourse.omnigroup.com/t/still-interested-in-markdown-support-in-omnioutliner/29545/7

One person created an OO plugin to export to text (which could be read,
or transformed into Markdown elsewhere):

https://github.com/fletcher/Markdown.ooxsl

On the Mac you could install Pandoc:

https://pandoc.org/

Here's a Mac GUI for it:

http://panconvert.sourceforge.net/

Or just convert OPML to Markdown separately. Someone who uses Carbonfin
Outliner on his iPad figured out a way to go back and forth here:

https://thomasborowski.me/2014/02/converting-markdown-to-opml-and-back-on-an-ipad-sort-of/

satis, thanks for this. I'll explore your suggestions. One point: to be of real help, the OO OPML export needs not only to be converted to Markdown but also to be distributed amongst Ulysses sheets, one row per sheet, and, possibly, with sheets at separate OO levels grouped. Will your suggestions do this?

There is, I think, one integration that will do it - OO > Scrivener > Ulysses. But it would be so much simpler if Ulysses could import from OO at one row per sheet, or if, as you say, OO could export Markdown on the same basis.

Workflowy and Checkvist already support (GIT-flavored, I think) Markdown, and it's on Dynalist's Trello roadmap. Omni needs to get it together.

Have just found this fairly recent discussion by Australian author and blogger Chris Rosser of whether OmniOutliner and Ulysses can be made to talk fruitfully to each other: https://chrisrosser.net/posts/2018/08/11/review-omnioutliner/