I love scrivener and it is tremendously helpful. The only thing I find a bit unsavoury is the Composition Mode. Of course, when I am focused on what I am writing it doesn’t matter that much, and I do like the idea of a no-frills text editor.
I recently emerged from the various tex editor iA Writer, which I currently use to jot down my very first drafts, drafts then later I import into Scrivener.
So my wish would be to have iA Writer as Composition Mode, or have a button to push in order to switch to iA Writer environment, thus linking the two programs (like those programs which says “edit image in photoshop”).
Are you thinking about the mode in iA Writer that focuses down on to a couple of lines? If so, have you tried varying the “paper-height” control in Scrivener’s Compose Mode to give you a letter-box effect? You can accomplish this by holding down the Alt key as you change the Paper Width slider at the foot of the Compose window.
P.S. OED: “Unsavoury: disagreeable to taste, smell or feelings, disgusting, distasteful, morally offensive.” 
Hi,
I’m sorry, but QuickCursor doesn’t work with iaWriter (Byword, WriteRomm, TextMate, TextWrangler and others - not iaWriter, for the moment).
Maybe Beppe you could ‘compose’ in iaWriter and then just sync via External Folder with your Scriv project? There’s a thread (maybe more than one) on this subject, in the forums.
Ciao,
Giovanni
The developers do say that Quickcursor support for ia writer is coming soon, however:
support.iawriter.com/help/kb/mac … uickcursor
M.
That post is puzzling. As far as I know, QC works only with programs that support ODB Editor. Anyway, QC is a cute little thing, but it can be a bit buggy. Works very well with WriteRoom, but it does have glitches when interfacing with other text editors.
Thank you very much for pointing me out my improper use of “unsavory”, I should have used “plain”, the idea being “not tasteful or appetizing”. I was led to making this mistake because of the etymon of “savory” (tasty or stimulating flavour) and the use of this word in Italian.
As for iA Writer, what I like is the fact that the whole screen becomes like a sheet of paper, the fonts are the right size and all I have to do is just write. The letterbox effect is quite helpful, and I use it all the time when I jot down my ideas. Thank you for the tip with the Alt key, I didn’t know that one.
Quickcursor! Thank you, I’ll keep an eye on that one! I didn’t know it existed.
Hi everybody!
On it’s last version (the one form today: 1.2.2), iawriter supports now Quick Cursor. But, as far as I tried, I was only able to go from another application to iawriter and not the other way around, closing the iawriter window (the way it’s working for instance with writeroom…). Maybe I’m doing something wrong…
All the best!
P.
it does work for me (so far). only tested interacting with a web browser. for instance, i am typing this in writer 
anyway, QC can be buggy. sometimes works fine, some others…not really. only program i found working smoothly with QC is writeroom. no surprises, it’s the same company
Just bought QuickCursor, followed instructions for iA Writer here http://support.iawriter.com/help/kb/mac-frequently-asked-questions/quickcursor-does-not-work-any-hints
but it seems I cannot have the text transferred to Scrivener, or to another app.
Hi!
Yes, the “other aplicaton -> quick cursor -> iawriter” workflow works well. The problem is the other way around…
All the best!
P.
I am not sure why it’s not working for you guys. I now have tested it with web browsers, Scrivener, and Mail. It never fails on me (so far!). When I close the Writer window, the text I have written in Writer is nicely in Mail or Scrivener or the Web browser. You may want to look into your logs and find out what kind of error messages you get and try to find out whether it’s a QC or Writer issue and then communicate with the support people for either QC or Writer
Same thing for me - one way only, for me (Byword it’s okay, for example - two ways text 
Ciao
Giovanni
Out of interest, why don’t you just set up Scrivener’s Compose mode to look like you want? Other than focus mode, you can get it looking exactly the same as IA Writer using the various Compose preferences…
You are perfectly right, Keith
No need for Scrivener to use some other writing SWs (for me); but, having bought some nice toys on MAS, (iAWriter, WriteRoom, etc) one has to play with them, sometimes:-)
Giovanni
Some good tips for a serious systemwide Writer-like look on your Mac
To tell the truth I didn’t realize there were all those preferences to customize! I particularly like the “don’t blink cursor, please” option and the “minimalist scroller”.
Anyway I couldn’t manage to change the font size just for the Composition mode, is it possible?
As for iA Writer, I believe that they have found the secret blinking frequency for the cursor that can cause addiction to the weak minds. For me it works as “draft mode”, I feel like I am writing with a pencil on a sheet of paper. I believe the true value of the app is the effort they put on choosing the right font.
See! Now I am really worried! It really cause addiction!
You can scale the text separately, yes - while in Compose mode, move the cursor to the bottom of the screen to bring up the control panel bar, from which you can choose a different text scale. (You can set anything you set in the control panel as the default for future projects using the button in the Compose pane of the Preferences, too.) It’s not possible to change the font entirely, though, because of Scrivener being rich text. You can get it looking almost the same as IA Writer, though, if you want…
All the best,
Keith