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Posted by MadaboutDana
Sep 12, 2019 at 09:41 AM
Hi Satis, just a couple of updates:
satis wrote:
After playing with the app I deleted it (again). It seems okay, like
>Ulysses without cross-platform support or sync.
Well, you can put a library anywhere you want, including synced folders in Dropbox, iCloud etc. I’ve set my own system up with Datto Desktop (formerly AutoTask, formerly Soonr).
>No themes.
True. Not a priority for me. But it does have light/dark modes, and you can edit the Editor background yourself in the ‘Advanced’ section of Preferences (using your own colours/images). If you want external themes (for exports), you can also input your own custom CSS (or JavaScript) into the ‘Advanced’ section of Preferences. Oh, and it also supports document templates, although there isn’t much discussion of how to create them.
>No bracket autocomplete.
True; again, not a priority for me as a touch typist; note that it does support standard keyboard shortcuts (Cmd/Ctrl+B etc.)
>No typewriter scrolling.
Yes, in fact it does have typewriter mode, both under the ‘View’ menu and as a keyboard shortcut.
>No spellcheck or support for macOS’s built-in spellcheck.
No, that’s true. Perhaps a shortcoming, but I tend to use multiple (external) spellcheckers anyway.
>No choice of font (although I thought I saw screenshots using a
>Courier-like mono font).
On the contrary, you can change the default fonts for both UI and Editor in Preferences. A mono font is used automatically for code blocks (set using the standard Markdown characters).
>It’s a 69Mb Electron app. Sigh. (That was probably what most made me
>originally delete it.)
True. But it’s neat, responsive and clever, and does at least come in well under 100MB (unlike e.g. Joplin and other Electron notetakers with far fewer features). So it’s a tidy piece of Electron programming.
>No support for Services. (Maybe that’s a limitation of Electron apps?)
True. But the (impressive) range of export options does, I suggest, partially make up for this shortcoming. As soon as it’s finished exporting something (an individual document, a group of documents etc.), it gives you the option of opening and viewing it.
>It’s $40 cheaper than Scrivener, but much less full-featured. It’s
>cheaper than Ulysses, but with Ulysses part of the excellent Setapp.com
>service suite I’d still choose Ulysses. And these days I really want to
>use something cross-platform so I can easily use/sync with iOS, or at
>least a web-view.
Of course this is all about personal preferences, and yes, I’m sad there isn’t an iOS app - I prefer iOS/macOS combinations myself. But for a cheap’n’cheerful writing app that runs across Windows, Mac and, as Alexander has pointed out, Linux, I think it’s an interesting (non-subscription-based) find.
Oh, and it’s worth mentioning that each library also supports its own kanban board, which is a selectable view. It’s a very simple kanban board, clearly designed as a straightforward way to keep track of an author’s to-dos. It’s not the same thing as Scrivener’s/StoryMill’s index cards, just a simple planner. But as I said, it’s horses for courses…
Thanks for giving me the opportunity to clarify a few more features!
Cheers,
Bill
Posted by MadaboutDana
Sep 12, 2019 at 12:54 PM
… just to add to my last update on WonderPen, I’ve just discovered the little shirt-shaped icon in the bottom status bar, which allows you to customise the font colour, width of the document, line height, opacity of the document, paragraph spacing and various other things. So despite the austere appearance, WonderPen can actually look very, very different, depending on what you want.
I believe the settings are applied on a “per library” basis, so you could have different settings for different libraries. Only one library can be open at a time.
Cheers!
Bill
Posted by Alexander Deliyannis
Sep 13, 2019 at 11:28 AM
MadaboutDana wrote:
>>No spellcheck or support for macOS’s built-in spellcheck.
>No, that’s true. Perhaps a shortcoming, but I tend to use multiple
>(external) spellcheckers anyway.
Can you mention some of those external spellcheckers? How do they integrate? Are they only for Mac?
Posted by MadaboutDana
Sep 13, 2019 at 02:44 PM
Hi Alexander,
Ah, I have a somewhat idiosyncratic approach to my own writing - while I use integrated third-party spellcheckers (such as PopClip; macOS only), I also use a variety of tools to double-check my text as I near final output, checking not just the spelling but also things like grammar, word frequency, clarity etc.
I don’t regard any of them as definitive; they simply offer alternative “opinions”, spotting potential weaknesses and allowing me to hone the final result.
They include e.g. Word, LibreOffice, Hemingway Editor, Refly Editor, Novellus, Liquid|Author, Scrivener and others.
It’s a finicky way of working, but since I act as my own copy editor, I like to view my text from as many different “angles” as possible. I will often generate PDFs or ePubs and read through my text on different platforms (e.g. iPad), using various fonts. It’s amazing how different text “feels” in different formats.
This isn’t an approach I would necessarily recommend to others!
Cheers,
Bill