I have scrivener on my pc and laptop. Can I use it on an android tablet? I can see and download compilations but would like to be able to edit too. Any hope?
No. You can’t run a Windows program on an Android device any more than you can on a Mac. However, once they’ve solved the major issues with fitting Scrivener on an Apple tablet, it’s my understanding* that they can start taking those design solutions and applying them to an Android version.
It could be quite a long while though; these things take time.
- In other words, I’m relying on my not-so-stellar memory for “facts”, so don’t rely on my word for anything approaching insider information.
OK. Thanks.
One factor to bear in mind, though, is that while porting from the Mac to an Apple tablet (iPad) would remain within the general universe of the Apple operating systems (in my very limited understanding!), moving to Android is a whole other ballgame. The Android operating system is based on Linux, and isn’t directly related to Windows or iOS. So there are more complex programming issues involved than just the matter of fitting onto a screen. Have the L&L folks said anything about development for Android?
They’ve said that Android is on the map, but they want to bring out the iOS version first before tackling other tablets. And while iOS & Mac OS X are in the same universe, it should be telling that making Scrivener work for iOS has been more work than simply re-compiling for another microprocessor & file system, even though you use the same IDE (X Code) and language (Objective C). It’s still largely a matter of starting from scratch, though they might be able to share some code.
Nailing down the design is more than where to place buttons; the two environments (desktop vs tablet) are more different than you might think. Just off the top of my head; full screen on the mac features auto-hiding/revealing binder & inspector; you get them to reveal by moving the mouse all the way to the appropriate screen edge–How do you do that with a tablet that has swipe-from-the-edge-of-the-screen gestures built in to the tablet OS? But how can you avoid that design feature when you have such a small screen?
If you task two programmers (or two teams) with creating a version of Scrivener for tablets, even the exact same platform, you’ll get some highly divergent approaches in how the user interacts with the UI, some more successful than others. It saves a huge amount of programming time if you nail down the design first, which often takes implementing it on one platform that is similar to another.
That approach has allowed the Windows version to skip many dead-ends that Keith encountered over several years developing for the Mac. It doesn’t mean that the Windows implementation was easy, but it does mean that those dead-ends can be skipped, and the unique challenges associated with the Windows platform can get the focus needed. The same will go for the Android version of the iOS design, and any other versions that may come later for tablets and phones.
In the end, while it may be frustrating to wait, we have to keep in mind that they aren’t dumb people. Nor are they mean, malicious, greedy, or inflexible. Scrivener (and to a lesser extent; Scapple) is their business, however. It’s how they provide for their families; it’s how they pay the mortgage. They won’t neglect a market just because; but they won’t put out inconsistent, rushed products either.
Indeed, if it was a question of simply porting across we’d have an Android version already (WinScriv was programmed using the Qt framework which is cross-platform and could be compiled to Android).
If you need convincing, try using WinScriv on a Windows 8 touch-screen machine, but without using the keyboard. 