The following contains a series of improvement opportunities for an already excellent piece of software from someone who has barely scratched the surface of what it can do. I chunked my suggestions by topic in the following posts in the ‘Wish List’ section . . .
https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/columns-environment-workflow-opportunity/16749/1
https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/audio-implementation-opportunities/16750/1
. . . , but also wanted to post my full praise/rant as a complete post, as I am hoping that some of my queries are misconceptions that the savvy, veteran users can correct/advise me on.
Scrivener does much of what I was looking for in a writing/project organization application and I am already becoming smitten with it. That said, such feelings of love can stir a fervor of frustration when some opportunities are not executed as heavenly as the many that Scrivener has set the standard so high on.
Before making this post, I reviewed Scrivener’s forum rules and was happily reminded that this software isn’t from some mega-corporation with an endless supply of Sam Bell clones, but rather from a group thoughtful, insightful people with thoughts and feelings as genuine as any memory implant could simulate. 
I hope the concerns that cannot be addressed by the user community will inspire the developers to implement updates (hopefully as version 2 updates 
. Please bare with me as I attempt to keep constructive what I hope doesn’t sound like entitled whining. The truth is that I am more excited by Scrivener than I am frustrated by some of its improvement opportunities.
Scrivener, with it’s innovative, intuitive and simplistic approach to writing is easily a candidate for purchase and I am highly considering pulling the trigger and committing to the brand. I must admit that it does pain me very much that Scrivener doesn’t at least include all the most useful functionality of TextEdit—a lack of columns comes to mind.
Scenario Opportunity for Columns
- You are a poet and/or lyricist. You have a beautiful widescreen iMac or cinema display and appreciate Scrivener at full screen (to rid yourself of distraction). Imagine how wide the writing space of the blank Draft page is. The poetry lines you are writing only take up one-third of the Draft document horizontally, and still only half of the page with the Inspector expanded to the maximum dimensions of an index card. Why must so much screen real estate be wasted by so much unused white page? Why have to scroll up and down in order to view the full length of a long poem? Please, allow columns as an option so that users can maximize more of their screen when writing shorter lines of poetry and lyrics. I understand the response to this request is that I can turn on vertical split-screen and view the same document in both panes, allowing me to see the beginning and end of the document. True, but I don’t see how anyone can argue that this is a more intuitive and elegant solution for this scenario.
Fortunately, I can do the same Insert Table trick as I can in TextEdit, where I stretch one row downward and make the Table grid invisible (in fact, Scrivener uses the exact same Table options dialogue window as TextEditor). Although not convenient, I can live with this workaround; though, for an application that greets poets and lyricists with their own template, and considering the emphasis Scrivener puts on maximizing workflow with its environment, I don’t understand why employing columns is not at least an option. The only reason I can think of is a concern for being confusing to the user when switching to Group Mode view; after all, should columns be maintained within each Draft separation when a project is being viewed Group Mode? I would at the very least like the option of having columns when writing in an individual draft, even if they are wiped away when viewing several documents in Group Mode.
Most everything with Scrivener seemed to be perfect upon first trying it. I don’t mean to downplay this experience in the slightest! When I first tested Scrivener 2, I noticed that the embedded audio files in imported TextEdit documents were being completely ignored! Ouch! Dragging audio files directly into TextEdit, and other writing softwares, has been a terrific way to organize audio notes and music with what I am writing and organizing, and I have become very dependent on on having the freedom to place the embedded audio file where ever they may be relevant to my written material.
Now, I’ve had some unusual luck with getting embedded audio to work the way I’d like it to (the way it does in TextEdit, for example) with Scrivener. Scrivener omits the embedded audio of a TextEdit document when I drag the TextEdit docs into the Binder and only creates a link to an audio file when I attempt to drag it into a Draft from elsewhere on my computer. Despite this behavior, I am able to copy audio, either from the likes of Quicktime 7 or from the embedded audio of a TextEdit fie, and it pastes perfectly into a Scrivener Draft—just as it does in TextEdit. This way, the audio is fully playable in the draft in that classic, little Quicktime playhead and scroll head—it even stays when I go into group mode! ‘Okay! This is more like it!,’ I think to myself. Unfortunately for me, when I reopen the Scrivener project after saving, a huge iTunes/audio file icon is in place where the audio file was once playable within my text, and it can no longer be played. Am I doing something wrong?
If the justification for not being able to place an audio file within a Scrivener Draft is because Scrivener is intended to only be for writing, why allow images to be handled/juggled in text the way audio should/could? Please, please, please make it possible to include little Quicktime audio windows within text like you can with TextEdit; again, even if the text-bound audio files vanish when viewing several Drafts together in Group View. Not everyone may need/use text-embedded audio files, but being able to do so really shines in terms of strategic planning and organization. Using the existing audio player in Scrivener means having to guess what in the written text the audio file might be associated with (yes, sure you could use a hyperlink in the text to bring up the audio file so the reference could be known, but Scrivener seems to be all about being all-inclusive and not linking to other apps, files, or media windows).
Now, as much as I want to have embedded audio files to be an option with Scrivener, I also have an additional suggestion to intuitively handle audio playback by Scrivener—audio file playback in the Inspector pane. The Inspector pane is so great with all of it’s useful toggling options, and I see an audio playlist pane as a perfect opportunity to associate audio notes/files with Drafts in the same way a user associates written notes with the Inspector—a perfect fit!
Scrivener should not turn it’s focus to becoming the media hub for all your music, but when I look at list of audio files in the Research Binder folder, my intuition desperately wants to double-click on a track title to hear it play, knowing that once it finishes the track beneath it is up next. The playlist, such as the one in iTunes, has widespread acceptance and is immediately recognized. Essentially, I feel that Scrivener should feature an Inspector audio player and playlist for each and every Draft, much in the way the Inspector has notes for each individual draft. I would imagine that iTunes stores music and playlist references much in the same way Scrivener packs the content together in a Scrivener project, anyway, hopefully making this prospect feasible. Doing so would have the audio speak the same language or organization that Scrivener already speaks!
I must admit, the current method of handling and playing audio files in Scrivener frustrates me. Audio files are handled by taking up one of the Draft split-screen panes or by the launching of a floating player (where I can’t seem to figure out how to make it a playlist, although the window seems large enough to be able to accommodate more than one track). The closest thing to my ideal Inspector audio paradise is having to drag audio file links into the Inspector Document Notes window as references to particular tracks; though, without a playlist type of feature, I have to load a bunch of audio player windows and DJ playing one at a time in sync with what I am attempting to structure my writing to.
Scenario Opportunities: Audio playlist as an Inspector Window
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You are writing a screenplay. Let’s presume that each of your Drafts in the Binder represent a different scene of a to-be film. Imagine having an iTunes-like audio file playlist as an inspector window for each Draft/scene! Imagine being able to associate temp music and/or soundscapes, as well as ambient noise that helps transform you into the scene you are writing, by designating audio files to the playlist media Inspector, each with their own notes. Audio as scene reference points are crucial. Maybe you have audio notes of yourself dictating dialogue or other crucial notes for writing a scene. My point is, you don’t want to have awkward media player windows popping up all over your screen, distracting you from the page. Also, you are going to only want certain audio files associated with certain scenes/Drafts, as opposed to trying to make sense of one large audio library for an entire project.
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You are writing a musical or album. Organization is crucial for any major project, and Scrivener is right on the money with the beauty of organizing all related files into one master project file. Imagine having each written scene/song production notes and lyrics associated with the appropriate audition takes/versions, each one after another in their respective scene/song Inspector! You’d also love the freedom of shuffling musical queues with an Inspector playlist as easily as you would shuffle the Draft ordering in the Binder. Think about it, doesn’t Scrivener aim to allow users to shuffle their writing as effortlessly as they would a music playlist? Why not do with audio what Scrivener trailblazes with the written word?
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You are writing/ a musical score to compliment a written work or screenplay that is in production. Scrivener is great for breaking down sections of content for examination and organization. Being able to include various audio and musical queues into an Inspector playlist for each Draft/scene would be an incredible way to organize your musical themes along with the themes of the written word. Literature and music are two longstanding forms of expression and communication. Scrivener is begging to streamline audio in the wicked way it does text!
Okay, so that is my major pain point and hesitation from diving into Scrivener. I really want the embedded audio, and of course the audio management in an Inspector window seems like the natural evolution for Scrivener. Going a step further, though I feel less crucial, would be including an audio recorder Inspector window down the line, you know, for those times when inspiration strikes you too hard and fast to get it all out in writing. Or maybe you want to record revision notes to a chapter that you wrote last week, but don’t want to actually implement the changes while you are wearing your editor hat. Most every Mac’s have a built in mic, and the cool thing would be that the recorded audio of a designated Inspector recording function could automatically add the recorded audio to the audio playlist with the file name set as the date & time of when it was recorded.
Like all Mac users, I just want things to work, or at least have them be customizable enough for me to put them to work the way I like to. With my short time testing Scrivener, it seems there is a good deal of room for customization, save for suggestions I highlighted (to my knowledge) in this write up. In fact, I would say that Scrivener has been one of my most positive first impressions with non-Apple-made software on my Mac. I am looking forward to being served by the Scrivener community who will likely be able to show me how to make Scrivener behave exactly as I’d like it to. To everyone else. I hope my sense of entitlement hasn’t been too overbearing!
Scrivener is a great piece of software! It has a very Mac feel to it, and I even prefer it over Pages. I’m struggling with parting with the cash right now because the lion’s share of my existing TextEdit docs have embedded audio files pertaining to their placement within the written context, and I would lose a good deal of functionality migrating to Scrivener. Scrivener seems to be doing very well as far as product awareness goes (and rightly so). In many ways, it seems like the perfect app as an upgrade to Apple’s free TextEdit (I relate it to Apple’s own upgrade path with their own software, upgrading from free to the pro version), which is why it tortures me to not have the support for audio in text documents, much like I do in the barebones TextEdit. Both StoryMill and Storyist have this feature, which has my instinct telling me to go with one of them. Clearly, I am into Scrivener or else I wouldn’t have taken the time to reach out like this. I sure hope someone can tell me that I am going about things incorrectly and/or that I am overlooking ways to achieve my desired results (mainly with audio). Otherwise, I hope to hear from feedback from developers (by the way, truly awesome app, guys!). Thanks for reading!