Scrivener for iPad?

Scrivener Wish List
21

Since we’re building a list of features for a possible iPad app, these are a few features that I think haven’t been covered yet:

  • External keyboard support
  • Other languages support, particularly for accents written from external keyboard
  • Zoom (with gestures)
  • Visible document and project stats as I write
  • Night Mode
  • Rearrangement capabilities, and syncing the new arrangement to Scrivener desktop
  • Customize displayed text size and color
  • Editable format presets (and recognition of the presets already set)
  • Reading time stats (that’s a cool feature from iWriter)
  • Session goals and progress bar (that’s too much to ask, I know, but I’m already thinking on next NaNoWriMo)
  • RTF and PDF export (since Apple eliminated PDF printing through Air Printing, it will have to built-in the app; another option for PDF export is the ability to send a formatted RTF straight into an app such as PDF Printer or Save2PDF, and generate the PDF from there)
22

Before quitting the project, or at any time while working on it:
Use the command File: Backup: Backup To…
Select your Dropbox folder, and be sure to check Backup as ZIP file.
That is the best way to save safely to Dropbox, by compressing the entire project file.
Each saved project file has a date and time stamp, so you always know the latest version.
I use this method with a collaborator, and we have not lost a project file yet.

23

I’ve split all the general conversation about keyboards and screens (and iPad love :slight_smile: ) into a new thread in the And Now for that Latte forum - you can continue that conversation here:

https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/scrivener-for-ipad-split-from-ipad-forum/16003/1

As mentioned in the initial post, I want to try to keep this forum on-topic and only containing posts pertaining to what users would like to see in an iPad version, so that we can use this area as a reference. As you all know, off-topicking is generally one of the charms of these forums, so I’m not discouraging it anywhere else, just in this area so that we can return to these forums should iOS development start in earnest and go through all of the requests easily. Thanks!

Thanks for all of the suggestions so far. One thing I should clarify is that even an iPad version would only be able to do a fraction of what the desktop version can do - any iOS version will be very stripped down. The iPad is still a mobile platform and so has many limits. It’s unlikely that split-screen would work on the iPad, for instance. Try to bear in mind what other apps can do on the iPad to give you some idea of what it is capable of - we won’t be able to make the iPad do things beyond its limits. :slight_smile: Even exporting to RTF and PDF would be incredibly problematic as we’d have to write our own RTF parser, for instance (the iPad having no RTF support).

Definitely essential will be some form of binder, outliner, corkboard and editor with reference to synopsis and notes, and access to editing the label and status of each item. And, of course, some way of syncing back to the desktop.

Thanks and all the best,
Keith

24

The way I’d envision using this, I’m fine with the iPad version being stripped down (not being able to export, &c.), but one reason I’ve never really gotten into the simplenote interactivity is that I commonly use italics in my writing for emphasis, and I can’t tolerate that going away when I sync back to my mac. So even if the iOS version can’t (initially) handle rich text features, footnotes, &c., it’s crucial to me that it at least not strip them from the files. It would, however, be extremely useful to be able to comment/highlight bits/change the status of documents — e.g., to signal that I need to come back to something when I’m back on my desktop. Very happy that this is in the works.

25

Here’s my take on what’s essential for the Scrivener for iPad / iPhone.

As far as the iPhone platform, I have one and carry it with me whenever I’m out. But the screen is so small and the touchpad keyboard so difficult to use except with a single finger hunt-and-peck, that I wouldn’t ever use it for anything that uses serious Scrivener capabilities.
The most useful thing to have on the iPhone would be a simple, full screen editor where I could read what I’ve been working on lately, perhaps make small edits, and create new files that are basically notes for further development later. When I do write something on my iPhone, it usually involves some phrase or idea that’s popped into my head regarding my novel, but I don’t have time to develop it. I just want to get it down before I forget. Having automatic file syncing to my desktop/laptop Scrivener program would be the most essential — I sync with a Dropbox folder now, but sometimes I forget to do this before I go out and therefore my files in Plaintext aren’t fully up to date.

The real usefulness of scrivener, is in regards to the iPad. I currently use an iPad2 3G, and prefer to do most of my writing on that. There are several features that I would find essential to have one working on my various writing projects on the iPad:

  • A customizable font size
  • Sessions goals and the progress bar, but at a minimum a word count
  • RTF formatting, so that italics and annotations are visible
  • The ability to read and edit Scrivenings sessions, so that I can view more than one file document at a time
  • The ability to sync more than just the draft folder with Scrivener for iPad; it would be useful to be able to check off individual folders within the research folder for syncing.

In regards to a split screen on Scrivener for the iPad, I believe there is enough real estate on the iPad screen within the landscape mode that you could split the screen into two sections similar to what mail looks like on the iPad. The larger pane could hold the editor window and the smaller pane could allow for multiple windows, though only one at a time being visible.

For example the smaller pane could hold the binder for selecting documents. Once the document was selected for editing, the smaller pane could then hold the inspector. What I would consider essential windows for the inspector would include notes, both document notes and project notes, as well as a smaller split screen for a quick reference panel similar to the ones available in Scrivener for desktop. Often when I’m writing, I need to refer to a previous scene to check my facts.

While the above WishList pertains to what I would commonly use during my writing sessions on Scrivener there are also some unique needs for using Scrivener when I’m in the editing or planning stage of a novel or other work of fiction. The Corkboard mode is essential and can be easily accomplished on the iPad, as it already exists on some other apps such as notecards. I would like to see both the ordered format and the free-form format for notecards. The outliner mode would also be useful in the editing and planning stages, as this allows a basic summary of your work to be viewed. In addition to status and labeling shown in the outliner mode, it would be helpful if the user customized metadata were also available.

While I own a PowerBook Pro laptop, since purchasing my iPad2 I have found that my laptop has become more like a desktop computer. I take my iPad with me everywhere including all over the house. I have been utilizing the sync to folder feature on Scrivener for the desktop, but I would love to see a version of Scrivener for the iPad that could handle automatic syncing. I think that this platform more than the iPhone can better utilize Scriveners capabilities, even though the desktop version of Scrivener could not be fully ported to the iPad.

I’m very excited to learn that you brought someone on board to develop Scrivener for the iPad; since I’m writing every day and working on multiple formats ranging from flash to novel length, I would be happy to beta test whenever you start looking for volunteers.

Thank you for continuing to consider your users needs as you keep scrivener at the top the list for applications that are must-have for writers.

Sincerely,
Christine Row

26

How about a screen that looked similar to the one I am using now:
(In the forum, using BBCode that is) a line of buttons that
Install code for bold, italic, or underscore around selected text?
The coded text to be parsed and converted by Scrivener upon import?
Not pretty, but it might work. :open_mouth:

27

I promised not to talk about certain competition software, but we know there are a few apps that already have RTF basic support besides Pages. So I would expect some basic RTF editing, but nothing too complicated. These would be the basics: bold, italics, underline, font size, font family, color, highlight, bullets and numbered lists. Not many apps manage correctly or can even create tables. I would be happy enough if, at first, tables could be viewable, although maybe not edited. (That was the main problem of the first version of OneNote app: it didn’t even recognize tables; now it does).

Of course, if that is too complicated, it can start as a text editing app, and add RTF support later, such as DevonThink, that only recently added the ability to create RTF notes right from the iPad.

28

I’ve held off buying an iPad because I work almost entirely in Scrivener these days, and none of the iOS options look worth the effort. I filch my wife’s iPad now and then and mess around experimentally, and can certainly see the potential (reading manuscript submissions in bed, for example, without my MacBook Pro barbecuing the 'nads)

I’d most want an iPad version of Scrivener to sync seamlessly via either wifi or Dropbox or whatever Cloud-based service is the fashion du jour. But wifi is, to me, far more useful because where I live the cloud is often cloudy, and sometimes nonexistent.

The iPad seems a trifle cramped on screen real-estate to be splitting it up into panes. I’d find it more useful to have the Binder and the Inspector on slide-out trays, where they appear on-stage only for their dedicated functions and then go quietly away.

I’d want easy switching between corkboard, editor, and outliner screens.

I’d want the Scratchpad available anywhere, any time.

I’d want RTF support, at least so Italics and BF and the like survive the round-trip.

The current Page View (one-up vertical, or two-page spread horizontal) mode would be incredibly useful for final manuscript edit, where all those idiocies we all perpetrate but never see become embarrassingly evident once you change format to something that actually looks like a book.

I suppose lots of chocolate for me to eat and lots of coal making lots of heat is asking too much. Maybe just an icon of one enormous chair.

29

FINALLY! I have been waiting for an iPad app forever!

It seems like most of the scrivener user suggestions are good. But, one thing that I would prefer in an IOS version is the choice to add pictures. I want to use my scrivener as a portfolio for my novel so I can present info to my editors and agents on the go. Having my pictures along with my documents and texts would be ideal.

Also when I do my revisions, it would be helpful to have the highlight and commenting features similar to those on the actual software. Those are extremely helpful.

30

As a Scrivener fan, I just have a sense of caution – just like an English cricket fan might feel when England is the No.1 cricketing nation in the world … the sense that the iPad version is too good to be true …

Scrivener’s synching with SimpleNote was, at least for me, so complex and convoluted, that I’m hoping Scrivener-iPad’s synching might almost go to the other extreme … of being simple in the extreme.

It really has to be like this: writing on desktop/notebook, shut down, sync to Dropbox, pick up iPad, open file and write, shut down and sync, then be able to continue with desktop/notebook without having to do anything. It really has to be that simple.

But I’m just feeling a bit wobbly, wondering whether the Scrivener team can pull it off, hoping that the synching implementation with SimpleNote was an aberration, rather than a sign of things to come for the iPad.

This article about Dropbox tells how they used people, hired from CraigList, to road-test their new software, and were humbled by watching how people just couldn’t figure it out. That experience caused them to go back to the drawing board to make their software simpler for us luddites out here.

wired.com/epicenter/2011/12/ … p-dropbox/

A quote from the above article:

“One reason [Dropbox] decided to keep it simple was that people had a hard time understanding even the simplest parts of their service. Just a few months after their initial launch, the Dropbox team decided to conduct its own usability tests. They dragged a mic — usually clamped to some piece of office music equipment — into their conference room and had people they’d recruited from Craigslist try out the program. On a connected computer stationed in another room they anxiously watched what went down. “The whole team sat there as people bumbled their way through the installation process,” says Houston. “They couldn’t even get the damn thing on the computer. For everyone in the room, it was an extremely painful experience.””

:smiley:

p/s sorry for the pessimistic note. I really am your biggest fan.

31

Uhm… isn’t this how it currently works with External Folder Synching? I use Scrivener with PlainText exactly in this way.

Paolo

32

Hi

Nothing would make me happier than having a syncing mechanism that people can use without having to have a PHD to use. Basically, a system people can forget about most of the time and just get on with their writing / research.

Dropbox is a great example of a system that performs it’s function very well.

As a Scrivener project can be spread across many hundreds of files and of a size that runs into the hundreds of megabytes (if not gigabytes for some) then our syncing needs are a bit different than for a ‘simple’ note taking app that by it’s very nature is dealing with one text file at a time.

So our goal is to create something robust and user friendly that can cope with the spectrum of different scrivener projects out there.

33

If Scrivener on the iPad works like Scrivener on the Mac ( same features, etc. ), that would be perfect!

34

Eek - I hate to break it to you, but the iPad is not at all capable of running all of Scrivener’s features! iOS is not in the same league as Mac OS X in terms of computing power and what you can do with it. the iPad version will be a very, very stripped down version of Scrivener. If you want all of Scrivener’s features running on a portable device, then I definitely recommend the MacBook Air 11".

All the best,
Keith