Hello! I love Scrivener and I am looking forward to it coming on iOS. I just picked up an iPad Pro to replace my iPad Air. Please support the iOS 9 multi-tasking model, as well as, support/optimize Scrivener for iOS to use the iPad Pro resolution. Hopefully, this should not be too much of a problem. I am an iOS developer and I just converted two of my apps to iOS multitasking and to support the iPad Pro resolution. It took me a day each, but the results are terrific on this platform.
The iPad Pro, so much more convenient to carry around than those clunky old laptops:
Kidding aside, thank you for your kind words. As you can see, I have an iPad Pro on order to test with (I don’t like relying on the simulator alone) - although I only have the smart cover so far. But yes, the plan is to get it working with the iPad Pro and to support its split-screen multi-tasking feature, although I haven’t looked into that. I will be doing, though - I’m in the process of taking over iOS development myself (I’ve been working on the text system UI for the past few weeks while the developers I’ve hired work on the UITableView stuff).
There’s no doubting it is a huge, powerful beast; my iPad Air 2 feels both featherweight and tiny-screened in comparison. The iPad Pro does have a full-sized screen keyboard, which ironically takes some getting used to after years of having to toggle between key layouts on the regular iPad.
I can highly recommend the silicon cover. It’s ridiculously priced, but it fits the Pro like a glove. The best fitting Apple cover so far.
Now bring on Scrivener and all will be complete.
(Seriously, Keith, take your time on it and don’t burn yourself out!)
Thank you for the update. I am typing this on the iPad Pro (using the Logitech Create keyboard) and I am hoping this will become my mobile Scrivener platform. Even in splitview mode, the iPad Pro platform is less distracting. Plus the battery life is terrific, and the screen is…wow! I am currently re-evisioning how my iPad apps can be redesigend to take advantage of the screen’s size.
I just received my iPad Pro today. This thing is bigger than my MacBook 12" and pretty much as heavy (without the keyboard)! I don’t really see the appeal over a MacBook - it’s not even that much cheaper - but I’ll put it through its paces when I get the keyboard for it.
I certainly won’t be redesigning the current iOS app I’m working on, though! I will be looking at how it can take advantage of the iPad Pro’s screen, however (I see there are a number of changes I’ll need to make based on the Apple docs, such as no longer relying on iPad/iPhone idioms etc).
First…glad to see that IOS is coming.
Second…I would be posting REALLY great updates on the blog. I have faithfully checked in with the forum to see when IOS is going to be out not really wanting to use anything else.
You can imagine that patience is waning. I absolutely am about to undertake a huge project (likely a couple of novels with intense research). This is exactly where I want to put it but I am going to have to use IOS to do the general writing.
What we need is a way to first write freely and have that show up in our desktops - that is all. Starting there is better than nothing.
I know little about coding but I do know a bunch about beta testing having worked a couple of projects with developers (all the while making my living as a creative). I use software…I can’t write it.
If you want any help, I understand all the challenges and risks with data and data loss when doing a beta test. Let me know what you might need help breaking…I mean beta testing
But it’s … new … and shiny!
Seriously - our business manager here is getting one (replacing an iPad Air) but as her job is to organise, and and she seems to organise everything with iThoughtsX mind-maps, I can understand that a large touch screen would be an advantage there.
Unless they’ve got paws like Rachmaninov though, I can’t see people using it much standing on the Tube (which was was one reason given for impatience for Scriv iOS delay).
I agree that it is the latest and greatest and everyone tends to want to be on the bleeding edge of technology (which is why people were asking for pencil support for a writing app…still scratching my head on that one.)
However, I also don’t demand or expect the app to be a full solution. I would want it to let me write and move between sections. I don’t need the other features…at first.
iPad users know that they are not using the only device in their world - there is a computer somewhere to do the heavy lifting.
When I converted my iOS apps for the iPad Pro/iOS 9, it was easy because I was already using auto layout/trait collections. Now the apps scale well on the iPad Pro (no more extraneous whitespace in landscape mode…yay!), however I could achieve a better UX by re-postioning and re-working the app screens/workflow specifically for the iPad Pro in landscape mode. The apps I work on are enterprise applications so it would be worth the time to re-think the UX for the iPad Pro. Although by tweaking the existing code, the apps now look great on the iPad Pro.
I wouldn’t expect Scrivener to be redesigned for the iPad Pro, but I would hope that the UX would scale (layout and fonts) to take advantage of the larger screen. The apps that have not not been optimized, or are not properly using auto layout/trait collections (like Dropbox, GoodReader) look bad on the iPad Pro. Regardless, I am looking forward to the iOS release!
BTW…I gave the wife my 12" MacBook when I got the iPad Pro (although I still have several other Macs just in case).
I use Auto-Layout for everything these days - I love it. None of 2.x for Mac uses Auto-Layout, and in the next major version, the main windows still won’t use Auto-Layout (not without delaying it for several months), simply because that is going to be a huge conversion job at some point (hindered by Interface Builder bugs with NSSplitView, NSTabView and Auto-Layout, whereby between launches of Xcode Interface Builder can just squish and lose all the frames of views inside these views using Auto-Layout, requiring workarounds). But all new UI elements, such as the redesigned Compile panel, use Auto-Layout, and everything in the new iOS version does too. So it’s mainly moving over to trait collections and going through the notes on iPad Pro support, which I’ll do when I’m a bit further along.
As for font size, I doubt there’s much we can do there. Scrivener is rich text, which means that the font size is baked into the text itself, and UITextView does not support scaling. (You can put it inside another scroll view and scale that, but it won’t fit to the screen - the text goes off the ages - and becomes fuzzy.)
Rayz and Dr Dog - sorry, I should have been more specific. It’s not that I don’t see the appeal of an iPad Pro over a MacBook at all, purely when it comes to writing; I’m not sure why anyone would choose to take an unwieldy iPad Pro and wobbly keyboard setup with them over a MacBook if their main purpose is to get some writing done. I know that people will choose to do so; I just don’t quite get why.
Well, I can tell you why reading all these iPP reviews was making my writer’s heart beat faster: they (not to mention the King of Apple) promise a simplified future via iOS. I’ve read so many accounts, including Viticci’s, of how writers can work Mac-less, entirely in iOS, using plain text + Markdown etc. etc. that I’m always tempted to try the new and simple future. Because I use computers just for basic functions like writing, browsing, emailing etc., somehow I had imagined being able to work using only a device that offered a big screen, light weight, long battery life, and only the few apps I really use: the standard Apple apps (mail, Safari, Pages, etc.) … and Scrivener. No distractions! Plus the cost savings: no longer would I need an iPad mini for reading news and books AND a (relatively) heavy MacBook Pro. So I was hoping that Scrivener for iOS would let me just live on the iPad.
And maybe it will, someday, but when I think about actually using the device for my work (or try out a few test runs on my iPad mini 2), I realize just how much clunkier the experience is for a writer like me. I’m sure many of the annoyances would go away when even a simplified iOS Scrivener arrives (I rarely use Scriv’s power features even on the Mac), but certainly many would remain, like lack of trackpad support with an external keyboard, the relative difficulty of simple cutting and pasting, etc. plus no iPad can drive my old Apple Cinema Display. Since I can do everything I need in Scrivener now, using a Mac and rich text, why incur the penalties of going iOS only? How would it make my process more efficient?
In other words, what problem does switching to iOS/iPP solve? Weight? As Keith and others have pointed out, any screen big enough to not hurt my eyes is going to require a device that’s at least as big and heavy as the MacBook (actually I use a MacBook Pro, since the new MacBook won’t support my Cinema Display either). Battery life? I get 8+ hours on my MBP – plenty for my needs, even when I travel on assignment or am commuting by rail to my university teaching. For me, at least at this point, it’s a solution in search of a problem.
Still, the fact that I’m platform- curiOS has made me realize that my interest in iPP actually represents a real need: a longing for simplicity that has more to do with my own lack of self discipline than with MacOS. So I’ve resolved to redesign my Mac workspace to achieve the simplicity of iOS without its performance hit. (Similarly, I already rejiggered my Scrivener template to simulate the simplicity of Ulysses.)
When I’m in the market for a new computer in 3-4 years (my MPB isn’t even a year old), the landscape will have changed so much, including the arrival of Scrivener for iOS and the evolution of the OS itself, that I can reconsider the Mac vs. iPP debate then, and choose whichever device and OS optimizes my writing experience. For now, it’s Scrivener on the Mac. But of course I know that won’t stop me from listening avidly to utopian tales of iPad-only writing, and I will keep an open mind. And maybe I will give Scrivener for iOS a try after all, to use with my iPad mini on days when lugging the laptop is inconvenient.
Thanks, Keith, for posting these updates (which have helped clarify my thinking), good luck on the iOS version, and thanks always for Scrivener!
I already have it sync’d with the backup from my old iPad 3 and my 5000 songs transferred.
For such a large device it’s incredibly light. Th on screen keyboard seems much better than the old iPad.
Played with Paper53 with my old rubber tipped stylus. Can’t wait for the Pencil.
Sound is exceptional.
All up, love it. Laying on the bed it’s a lot more comfortable than the 15" RMBP I use day to day.
It may not suit you Keith but it suits me to a ‘t’. Roll on the iOS version. Meanwhile put this down and get back to my daily target of 1k words on the next book.
I wonder how the keyboard will be when it’s on a lap?
Honestly, why would someone choose this over a MacBook for writing? For drawing, yes; for gaming, yes; for presentations, yes; for looking like you’re from the future, yes; for browsing photos, yes; for doing some light internet browsing, yes. But for serious writing? You’re all insane. (User insanity is not preventing me from working like hell on the iOS version, though, fear not - I just don’t understand the appeal of a beast of a tablet over a MacBook, which is writing heaven.)
brett - I doubt Scrivener for iOS will ever let you “live” on the iPad, at least not without ever needing the desktop version. For writing and navigating through a project, yes. But you’ll still need the desktop version for editing styles, for serious restructuring, for the corkboard, for scrivenings, for compiling, for bringing in vast amounts of research, for referring to multiple documents and so on. I doubt that will change any time soon - unless they replace iOS with OS X, of course.
