David Hewson just wrote an article about using Scrivener when collaborating with multiple authors. He points out some nice tricks—especially good when the other authors use something like Word. Check it out:
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Saturday, December 11, 2010
Tree Outliner
If you are a Mac-user then you may want to consider adding Tree, the outliner software program, to your toolkit. There are several outlining programs available, including the great OmniOutliner. Tree offers a lesser number of features than OmniOutliner, but the features it does offer are implemented spectacularly well.Tree is an outliner, but with three key twists.
First, you can easily set up the default fonts for outlines and nested notes, colors, and other options. Once this is done the whole look-and-feel of Tree is elegant and simple. It's a joy to use functionally and aesthetically.
Second, traditional outliners are vertical in nature: first level entries, second level entries, and so on. Tree can do that if you want, but the default behavior is horizontal. First level entries are all to the far left, second level entries indented to the right, and so on. I can't really explain why, but the resulting outlines are much easier for me to view and "see" the big picture. Literally to see the tree from the branches.
Third, Tree uses tabs. A small, but incredibly useful feature. This means in my main Tree window I can have three, five, seven outlines open all at the same time in an organized manner. Just click on the relevant tab to go to another outliner to work on. In my job I develop a few outlines that continually need to be updated or refined. This tab structure works beautifully. Typically I'll have no more than 4 or 5 outlines open in tabs. Fortunately Tree remembers what tabs you had open at your last usage of the software, so when you start Tree up it will automatically open all the previously opened tabs. This is very efficient and a great time saver.
Any disadvantages? A few. Tree does not offer as many options as OmniOutliner Pro, but instead offers different features. Cost: the program costs about $38. (You actually pay in Japanese Yen.) Third, the documentation is sufficient but probably could do with some additional examples and elaboration.
In a way the Tree outlines look something like mindmaps. This makes sense as mindmaps are essentially visual outliners. If all you were typing in were essentially "labels" (one or two word descriptors) then a mindmap might do as well or better. But for true outlining I find Tree to be the better choice.
Tree may be a revelation for you (as it was for me) or simply "who cares." But if you're a Mac user you owe it to yourself to check it out and take Tree for a test drive.
First, you can easily set up the default fonts for outlines and nested notes, colors, and other options. Once this is done the whole look-and-feel of Tree is elegant and simple. It's a joy to use functionally and aesthetically.
Second, traditional outliners are vertical in nature: first level entries, second level entries, and so on. Tree can do that if you want, but the default behavior is horizontal. First level entries are all to the far left, second level entries indented to the right, and so on. I can't really explain why, but the resulting outlines are much easier for me to view and "see" the big picture. Literally to see the tree from the branches.
Third, Tree uses tabs. A small, but incredibly useful feature. This means in my main Tree window I can have three, five, seven outlines open all at the same time in an organized manner. Just click on the relevant tab to go to another outliner to work on. In my job I develop a few outlines that continually need to be updated or refined. This tab structure works beautifully. Typically I'll have no more than 4 or 5 outlines open in tabs. Fortunately Tree remembers what tabs you had open at your last usage of the software, so when you start Tree up it will automatically open all the previously opened tabs. This is very efficient and a great time saver.
Any disadvantages? A few. Tree does not offer as many options as OmniOutliner Pro, but instead offers different features. Cost: the program costs about $38. (You actually pay in Japanese Yen.) Third, the documentation is sufficient but probably could do with some additional examples and elaboration.
In a way the Tree outlines look something like mindmaps. This makes sense as mindmaps are essentially visual outliners. If all you were typing in were essentially "labels" (one or two word descriptors) then a mindmap might do as well or better. But for true outlining I find Tree to be the better choice.
Tree may be a revelation for you (as it was for me) or simply "who cares." But if you're a Mac user you owe it to yourself to check it out and take Tree for a test drive.
Friday, December 10, 2010
10 out of 10
Today a new review of Scrivener came out in AppStorm. Rating: 10 out of 10! I'd like to say this happens once in a blue moon, but it's much more infrequent than that.
Beyond getting a high rating, the reviewer does a great job of describing the key features of Scrivener 2. Perhaps more importantly, the reviewer focuses on some key features of Scrivener that I haven't and that many other reviews haven't. Well written, complete, and very helpful. Check it out:
Beyond getting a high rating, the reviewer does a great job of describing the key features of Scrivener 2. Perhaps more importantly, the reviewer focuses on some key features of Scrivener that I haven't and that many other reviews haven't. Well written, complete, and very helpful. Check it out:
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
iThoughts
About a month ago I discovered a mind-mapping app named iThoughtsHD. While I use visual models a lot, I'm not a particular fan of mind mapping software. However, iThoughts works beautifully with the iPad. Simple, intuitive, quick.
The only downside to the app is that it costs $9.99. However, it's worth every penny and more if you plan on using it as part of your workflow.
There are currently four ways that I use iThoughts. First, I sometimes use it just to create a visual model. I export my final product as a PDF—in turn this allows me to upsize the image (if necessary) in something like Keynote with no loss in quality. Second, more often I use it as a way to brainstorm an initial outline structure—after all, mindmaps are essentially visual outlines. iThoughts allows me to export in the OPML format (or Outline Processor Markup Language)—in turn this means I can import my work into almost any dedicated outliner program (such as OmniOutliner, Tree, and several others). Third, I export in the MindManager format (as you can see, there are lots of different formats you can export) and then import into Curio for the Mac. Curio will read this file as a mindmap which I can further develop in that software program. Finally, and most importantly for me, I also export as OPML and then bring into Scrivener (the writing software). When you bring an OPML file into Scrivener's binder area then it will create an automatic structure to your binder area complete with files, sub-files, and so on. Since you can add "notes" to any node in an iThoughts mindmap, these notes get imported into Scrivener as the regular "text" for a particular file in the binder area.
Put differently, a lot of the power of iThoughts isn't just in what it makes, but also in the many ways you can take advantage of its various export formats to further refine your work in a variety of different software applications on your computer.
Check it out for yourself at the iThoughts website. What will be particularly useful to many is the tutorial movie they provide:
The only downside to the app is that it costs $9.99. However, it's worth every penny and more if you plan on using it as part of your workflow.
There are currently four ways that I use iThoughts. First, I sometimes use it just to create a visual model. I export my final product as a PDF—in turn this allows me to upsize the image (if necessary) in something like Keynote with no loss in quality. Second, more often I use it as a way to brainstorm an initial outline structure—after all, mindmaps are essentially visual outlines. iThoughts allows me to export in the OPML format (or Outline Processor Markup Language)—in turn this means I can import my work into almost any dedicated outliner program (such as OmniOutliner, Tree, and several others). Third, I export in the MindManager format (as you can see, there are lots of different formats you can export) and then import into Curio for the Mac. Curio will read this file as a mindmap which I can further develop in that software program. Finally, and most importantly for me, I also export as OPML and then bring into Scrivener (the writing software). When you bring an OPML file into Scrivener's binder area then it will create an automatic structure to your binder area complete with files, sub-files, and so on. Since you can add "notes" to any node in an iThoughts mindmap, these notes get imported into Scrivener as the regular "text" for a particular file in the binder area.
Put differently, a lot of the power of iThoughts isn't just in what it makes, but also in the many ways you can take advantage of its various export formats to further refine your work in a variety of different software applications on your computer.
Check it out for yourself at the iThoughts website. What will be particularly useful to many is the tutorial movie they provide:
Sunday, December 5, 2010
RapidWeaver 5 Released
This past week RealMac software touted a major upgrade to RapidWeaver, their template driven website design software (Mac only). I love RapidWeaver and used it to design this website as well as all my course websites.
The big question for some is: Should I upgrade to version 5? In general my answer is "No." However, in some cases there are likely people who do want to upgrade right away. There are a few current problems with RapidWeaver 5: (1) the upgrade is $39, (2) there aren't a lot of obvious beneficial features, and (3) the various third-party plugins, themes, and stacks haven't all updated themselves to be version 5 compliant. In addition, version 5 is demonstrating a fair number of bugs (depending on your specific computer set up and plugins).
The second question is: Should I ever upgrade to version 5? In general my answer is "Yes." I'd suggest waiting until the various bugs have been squashed, and all third-party add-ons have been updated to work with the new version. In addition, the current version has paltry documentation, but proper documentation should come along in the next month or two. Perhaps around March or April would be a good time to update.
RapidWeaver 5 mainly has a lot of under the hood improvements that end-users won't benefit from until third-party add-ons take full advantage of them. So further down the road upgrading (and thus paying $39) may be worth it.
I think there may be an exception to the "wait to upgrade" approach. If your current version of RapidWeaver is unstable (i.e. it crashes a lot) then an upgrade may help. In my initial testing RapidWeaver 5 is a lot more stable than version 4. However, if you really have an unstable setup you'd want to first check that the problem doesn't lie elsewhere—typically old add-ons that are not at their most recent version or that have been discontinued.
All in all, version 5 is a bit of a disappointment for several reasons. However, I'm fairly confident that by the time spring rolls around we'll start to see the practical benefits of this change.
The big question for some is: Should I upgrade to version 5? In general my answer is "No." However, in some cases there are likely people who do want to upgrade right away. There are a few current problems with RapidWeaver 5: (1) the upgrade is $39, (2) there aren't a lot of obvious beneficial features, and (3) the various third-party plugins, themes, and stacks haven't all updated themselves to be version 5 compliant. In addition, version 5 is demonstrating a fair number of bugs (depending on your specific computer set up and plugins).
The second question is: Should I ever upgrade to version 5? In general my answer is "Yes." I'd suggest waiting until the various bugs have been squashed, and all third-party add-ons have been updated to work with the new version. In addition, the current version has paltry documentation, but proper documentation should come along in the next month or two. Perhaps around March or April would be a good time to update.
RapidWeaver 5 mainly has a lot of under the hood improvements that end-users won't benefit from until third-party add-ons take full advantage of them. So further down the road upgrading (and thus paying $39) may be worth it.
I think there may be an exception to the "wait to upgrade" approach. If your current version of RapidWeaver is unstable (i.e. it crashes a lot) then an upgrade may help. In my initial testing RapidWeaver 5 is a lot more stable than version 4. However, if you really have an unstable setup you'd want to first check that the problem doesn't lie elsewhere—typically old add-ons that are not at their most recent version or that have been discontinued.
All in all, version 5 is a bit of a disappointment for several reasons. However, I'm fairly confident that by the time spring rolls around we'll start to see the practical benefits of this change.
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