Sticky Upcoming Features?

Scrivener Wish List
1

Hey KB and Scriv Development Team!

First, thank you so much for all the work you do. My first novel is 80% completed, and I can’t imagine how I would have made it 20% through without Scrivener. My degree was in literature, and I’ve written multiple short stories, but I never imagined how much more difficult a novel would be (it probably doesn’t help that my first novel is the beginning of a Fantasy series, which adds so many more places for internal consistency to break). Scrivener not only provided a great organizational structure that has enabled me to reach my goal, but, more importantly, it has kept me focused on writing instead of getting lost constantly in evolving structures. Before Scrivener, I would become obseesed with trying to refine my system instead of my writing.

Needless to say, I was thrilled when I saw the Scrivener 3 announcement. But, I can’t find a feature list - for either Mac or Windows. Could you all create a sticky of upcoming features? I say sticky because far beyond 3’s launch, it would be nice to know what features are in the works or being considered. You could have
• “Confirmed” features for ones that are finished and will be implemented at a certain date.
• “Scheduled” for features that are definitely being added and are in development, but may be delayed.
• “Planned” for features that have been seen as worthwhile to develop, but not started yet.
• “Considering” for features that have been heavily requested, but you are sure if Scrivener will adopt them.
• “Not Now” for features that have been heavily requested, but you do not believe that Scrivener will be developing them in the foreseeable future.

If you do create this sticky, you might want to lock it - I’m sure some people will try to argue for rejected features or to speed up others :laughing: Still, just giving a list for people to will almost certainly keep the number of duplicate threads in Wish List down, as well as people asking for things already in development. Personally, what brought this up for me is that I am trying to (brace for sacrilege) ditch Mac. I still love OSX, but Apple has made production choices that seem to say they are determined to keep people like me from personally upgrading their system to keep it viable for 7-10 years, and instead want people to purchase a new Mac every 3-5. That’s simply not financially feasible for me, but I am tethered to Mac until the post-draft abilities of Windows Scrivener catch up a bit more with Mac. On the one hand, Scrivener 3 likely will bring the Windows platform to where I need it to ditch Mac, but if not, I need to know if I need to bite the bullet one more time. I can upgrade to Sierra - it will most likely be the last OSX my machine will be able to run though, and my Macbook Pro is so old it can’t use most of the Sierra features. So, if I’m going to be anchored to Apple for a while longer to get out of Scrivener everything I need, it would be nice to know ahead of time so that I can begin trying to save for a new Mac when 3 launches.

Thanks again for all your hard work!

PS - if there is a upcoming features list somewhere, I apologize! I couldn’t find it!

2

No, there is no upcoming features list.

No, you shouldn’t expect to see one. There will be blog posts about specific features as the Scrivener 3 release approaches, but the level of specificity that you’re asking for is just not something we’re prepared to provide.

As previously noted, the goal is for Mac/Win Scrivener 3 to achieve feature parity.

Katherine

3

Interesting. Well, thanks for the reply - at least now I know why I couldn’t find one!

4

Part of the problem with a comprehensive list of changes is that I don’t believe such a thing will ever exist in any form. We’ve gone over every little detail of the software, and while not everything changed—some things were just the fine the way they are—large amounts have been refined, cleaned up, amplified, better integrated with other parts, etc. It would be pretty tedious reading for most I fear, and very tedious work putting it together. :slight_smile:

But as for the main plot points: no worries there! We wouldn’t leave that to a sticky on the forum. The tutorial has an introduction for those upgrading rather than learning from scratch, and of course the user manual has a section going over all of the major changes, and a lot of the smaller ones, as well as numerous tips scattered throughout in areas where I anticipate there could be a need for clarity.

In short it’ll be not unlike the 2.0 launch, if you were around for that, where the change log read something like “Initially released on…” and that was that! :mrgreen:

5

Sparrowhawk, I have to confess to being somewhat surprised.

As an electronics designer and one time software writer, I found the statement about having to replace a Mac every 3-5 years didn’t fit with my experience.

Mac OS Sierra will run on most any Mac from 2009 onwards, with a minimum Spec of 2GB of Ram, though personally I’d say min 4G. Mac High Sierra will also run on that same equipment. Any 2009 to mid 2012 iMac is memory upgradeable. Mac Mini’s to 2014 likewise. MacBook Pros to 2013, etc. with any recent Mac product coming with a minimum of 8 GB ram that’s more than enough to go several more generations of upgrades. Personally I wouldn’t buy any computer Win or Mac with less than 16G, though experience shows me Macs run well with less memory than PC’s.

So, rather than only an expectancy of 3-5 years, if you want to be on the latest version of MacOS you can run it on 8 year old gear. Try installing win 10 on any 8 yr old gear and you will run into innumerable driver issues. Hey even some 3-4 yr old gear has trouble with Win 10.

Ever wonder why IBM is going Mac - they say it costs them around $500 US per machine less over the lifetime, despite higher initial cost.

So, there is absolutely no reason to suggest Apple is driving anyone to PC.

If on the other hand your preference is for PC, then Scrivener 3 when released will no doubt give you the same great experience as on a Mac, though for any comparable age/spec gear expect Windows to run slower. I do have both Win and Mac Scrivener and find the Mac version a little sprightlier, yet proof of that will be when WinScrivener 3 is installed.

I say this as an owner with 3 PC’s and 4 Macs in the house, all of which I maintain. The PC’s are top spec self build, i7, Gigabyte mobo’s, fast video boards, 32GB RAM, SSD boot etc etc and take longer to occomplish most tasks than 2013 15” RMBP and 5k 27” iMac that have less memory and theoretically lower specs. Have to confess for the past year, the PC’s get fired up for only a few Win only tasks. I even replaced my Win2008 tower server with a 2012 Mac Mini 2nd hand from eBay, faster, quieter, cooler and a fraction of the space.

Each to their own of course.

6

We’ll also be posting some details on the blog over the coming weeks!

7

Not really on topic (I just was explaining why I personally was asking this), but historically, I would agree with you. I’ll send you a message with the rest of my thoughts.