āUn-put-down-able!ā
āA tour de force!ā
āIn this, the 3.1.4.1-01th installment in the āScrivener Manualā (Mac edition) saga, the author has captured the vast breadth and breath-taking depth of Scrivenerā¦ā
What on earth are you expecting from a computer program manual?
The manual may be somewhat awe-inspiring, but itās a truly monumental piece of work, and a great help if used as it should be used (which especially means: if youāre ready to invest some time in it).
And there is a growing number of other books on Scrivener, yes, but it looks like theyāre all beginnersā guides. I would be interested in a book for the experienced user: for instance, a book that teaches how to get the best out of compiling.
I use Scrivenerās manual rather often to look up stuff. I find it to be really damn good.
Other apps that have similarly good manuals include DEVONthink, BBEdit, Bookends, and Pandoc. I am always impressed with how much one can learn from reading manuals, especially for Mac apps (the counter-example being Tinderbox as it has very little documentation).
As a Joyce scholar who has read Finnegans Wake backwards I can say with good confidence that your preferences are skewed bababadalgharaghtakamminarronnkonnbronntonnerronntuonnthunntrovarrhounawnskawn-toohoohoordenenthurnuk
Actually, there is an intermediate level book: āHow to Format Your Novel for Kindle, Nook, the iBookstore, Smashwords, & CreateSpace⦠in One Afternoonā by Ed Ditto. It assumes you have a completed novel draft in Scrivener 2, and shows you how to use the compiler to compile for several different markets.
It was this book that led to me really getting that I could dump the WYSIWYG concept, and also gave me enough understanding of the compiler to be getting on with for my humble fictional purposes. Three years after the release of Scrivener 3, though, it doesnāt look like Mr Ditto is going to be updating itāand it needs updating badly. All the self-publishing services have moved on, one has died, others have risen, and Scrivener itself, particularly compile, is vastly different.
Iāve been tempted to jump into the gap⦠but then Iād be writing non-fictionā¦
Donāt get me wrong, I consider Scrivener the best application (for any purpose) that Iāve ever had the pleasure to use, and I consider your execution of it worthy of knighthood for you
The manual? Not so much.
The post was meant to be constructive. Maybe to float the concept of a page-one rewrite.