I’m wondering whether a web-based service would make more sense than multiple versions for different platforms. (Mac, Windows, Linux, Android, iOS . . .)
What do you all think? Would you use a web-based version of Scrivener, that you could access from any computer or mobile device? (I’m guessing it’d be a subscription service, and you’d tie it to Dropbox or something.)
Note: To be clear, I don’t work for Literature and Latte, I’m just curious what people think.
Would you be based in an urban area by any chance?
I’m fortunate. I live in a rural area where I can get download speeds of 15MB, but people living fewer than five miles away are lucky if they get 0.5Mb. The cloud is a brilliant idea … but only if you can connect to it.
At the moment, I much prefer having the software based on my computer. That way, I’m reliant only on my laptop working (and we get frequent power cuts here, so the battery on my laptop enables me to continue working). If I were working on a web-based service, I would be reliant on my laptop working, the Internet working and the electricity supply working (coz that’s what my router runs on 
).
I’m sure it won’t be long before everything’s in the cloud, though!
Hodderauthor.
That’s a fair point, Hodderauthor. I suppose you’d call my location semi-urban. But I do have reliable service, hardwired in the house and satellite via my phone.
I have to vote against the cloud for the same reasons that I think mandatory internet access for computer/video games is a bad idea. As soon as you can’t connect to the web, you have no project. I’ve seen this same thing happen with Google Docs, Prezi, and a number of other online workflow programs. My ability to work on my project should be a result of my intent, not my internet access.
A properly designed web-based application would allow the use of localStorage so regardless of being online or off-line your work is still saved on your local computer. When you have an internet connection the browser automatically sends the data saved on your computer up to the location you have indicated it to be saved (be it a storage service provided by L&L or dropbox or whatever. This feature is supported by all five major browsers.
I own multiple blog service provider websites and they all utilize this browser-based storage for allowing bloggers to write their blogs when not connected to the internet. As Hodderauthor pointed out, not everybody has access all the time.
The thing to remember here is that, done properly, it could sync across browsers, computers, and even stand alone installations of Scrivener on your local MAC/PC.
I am personally in favor of L&L building a cloud based SaaS feature.
Moderator note: I’ve deleted the poll as we do not operate by a voting system. You are if course welcome to discuss the merits (or lack thereof) of an online version, and to request one, but please do not post polls in the Wish List area. There are no plans for an online version of Scrivener. While we rule nothing out, I personally don’t like online software and don’t use it, and we would need to bring in other people with expertise in the area should we ever actually want to do it (which we currently don’t), so it’s just not in the pipeline at this time.