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mactombs
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« Reply #5 on: February 09, 2007, 03:11:46 PM » |
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PageFour wasn't exciting, and it seemed to be too-beta, too incomplete. I didn't mess with it much, and now that I have my hands on a Mac, I most likely never will.
Here's my first impression of Scrivener.
I still have to get used to OSX and how to interpret shortcut keys. That aside, Scrivener is better than PageFour, and with a whole lot more features.
First, a few gripes: I'm not sure all the features are useful (like the corkboard or outlining), or useful in a way that I like. I found the customization of the paper and background irritating that it wasn't showing a preview of what it would look like and I couldn't figure out how to use graphical backgrounds (but there's not really any reason to tweak these from the default anyway). The tutorial that came with the demo wouldn't open (read-only), but I'm not claiming to have tried all the intelligent approaches to getting it to work.
To recap and compare with the article Latro linked above:
"Personally, I like the excellent fullscreen mode, built-in (round-trip) outliner, tricked-out Inspector, and all-in-one form factor, but my favorite feature (which can be hard to explain without actually using the app for yourself) is Scrivener?s use of the index card and corkboard metaphor."
Fullscreen is nice, I still haven't been able to figure out how the outliner is useful; I don't get the Inspector, either, or why I would want to use it (probably because I'm not familiar enough with Macs); I don't know what the form factor referrenced is; the index cards and corkboards are useless to me right now, but I can see how it might be nice to slap together a general idea with index cards and then detail the writing as I go along in whatever order I wish to go about writing the story. Could be a nice feature in the future.
Overall, from what I've experienced, is it better than my previous PC+Word setup?
Yes. No question about it.
1) I'm happy I'll never have to shell out however much money for Word for Mac (bonus for how much Scrivener actually costs); I can't think of a reason why I'd want Word now.
2) Scrivener's wide range of features are clearly designed with the writer in mind, and the software is continuously updated to include new features, tweaks, etc.
3) Fullscreen mode is sexy for no-distraction writing, plus the little task bar at the bottom shows useful information such as a running word count. Being able to write in a text/layout format that looks good, and then let the software worry about converting it into submission-standard layout is lovely.
Cons I can think of so far:
1) Compatibility with older .docs -- I don't know how/if this works.
2) No on-the-fly grammar check. The grammar check in Word can be annoying, wrong, and doesn't substitute having reall grammar skillz, but it's still nice to have to catch that overlooked subject-verb
disagreement or whatever.
And, for a few questions you might have, but probably don't ...
Does Scrivener "distract" from writing? Well, if you've got nothing to really write about, definitely. It seems like there are a lot of things to play with, but in reality I'm not sure I can say there are a lot (I'd call it plenty of fine-tuning and a clear integration of features asked for by forum users). There are less things to mess with than featured in Word (which is a good thing).
Does Scrivener make you a better writer? No. Does it help? Not much, if at all.
Does Scrivener make you want to write? Also, no.
Does Scrivener make you a better organized writer? Only if you use the features designed to help organization, or if you want to use the tools, and even then, probably only marginally. I really can't say that keeping all your research, notes, etc. in one software package is in any way superior to keeping all that in one binder/folder/directory.
Is Scrivener worth buying a Mac just to be able to use? No. (But having a Mac is worth buying a Mac for).
So what's the main selling point to get someone to switch from their current PC setup? If you like to pay lots of money on a hobby by telling yourself that it'll help you write more and be more productive and motivate you, or to make you feel special, or to feel more of a writer because it's specialized equipment you're using now ... mm, maybe this is good route to go (if you can't afford a ghost writer). Or if you have the money for something new to use for writing.
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