Lots of great stuff coming through for the iPad, but both Keith and I are full of iPhone love and excited about the possibilities that exist there too. What about you?
It’s going to happen, so if we were designing the software just for you what would you want?
I’d probably want an iPhone version to be for what I use simple note for right now… Just dumping short ideas or paragraphs into before syncing them into my my projects…
Where as I’d see iPad as a longer writing session (sat on the tube… Car trip (as a passenger!) flight etc)
I don’t (yet) have an iPad - although thanks to you I now have a very good reason for getting an iPad 3 when it’s released - but would use Scrivener on the iPhone. As mentioned above, I’d probably use it for dumping ideas and opportunistic writing in the same way I use SimpleNote. The benefit of having Scriv on the phone would be that I could also read what I have already written and edit on the go. There’s not a lot of screen real-estate on the iPhone, especially with the keyboard showing, so I’d want as much of it as possible (preferably all) dedicated to text.
The binder, showing tree structure, would be essential. Automatic sync preferable. Rich text would be awesome (although I understand that may be difficult). While I think the cork board is essential on the iPad, I’m not sure it would be as useful on the iPhone - happy to be convinced though. 
I’ll add more if and when I think of it.
Actually, I already use Scrivener with my iPhone. When I’ve some notes to add to something I’m writing, I fire up PlainText. when back home, I synch PlainText via Dropbox, and the new notes are ready to load into Scrivener when I’m back to my Mac.
Obviously, I must always remember to sync PlainText before leaving home. (Or, sooner or later, I should purchase a year-long mobile internet contract).
Paolo
The binder! The possibility to read, add and edit the main text. Maybe at least a read-only functionality of meta-data, preferably of course the possibility to edit those too. And of course synchronized data with the desktop project.
It´d be awesome, if you´d make an iPhone app, I´ll buy it immediatly.
so, there won’t be a universal Scrivener for iOS but rather a Scrivener for iPhone and a Scrivener for iPad?
We haven’t confirmed the exact details, yet both Keith and I are very keen on universal apps.
It’s rare for my to buy an app twice just so I can run it on my phone as well as my iPad. I know I did that with GoodReader, but I’m not sure I’ve done it with any other app.
If there’s a good reason to split it (Trying to squeeze extra pennies out of you isn’t a good reason) then it’ll have to be split, but otherwise we’ll try and keep it universal.
I hope that helps.
Thanks. I agree with you. Apps should be universal, unless it’s impossible or very difficult to do so
I’ve noted this elsewhere, but I wanted to throw out the idea of an alternative to the corkboard: a stack of index cards. Swiping from one index card to the next as I progress through my story would be a great metaphor, far better than the physical analogue of flipping them to the bottom of the stack. It would be very helpful if each index card had a binder icon (to indicate if there is text in the main document “behind” it, or if it’s a folder) and maybe some indication of it’s depth in the binder without having to bring the binder view up. Look at the iPhone’s Notes app in landscape mode to see just how many icons and other metadata you could fit on the screen while leaving plenty of room for the Synopsis.
For me, easily getting to the Document Notes to elaborate on the synopsis is essential (an icon on the bottom row, perhaps?). I imagine having other things from the inspector, such as custom metadata, would be helpful too.
I have an iPad but no iPhone.
I can’t imagine anyone reasonably expecting to do much book/project work on an iPhone over and above a little reading and note taking.
I’d be worried that a universal app might end up being neither one thing nor the other.
But not being an iPhone user I don’t have the full picture.
I await the iphone version with great anticipation.
The most important things for me:
Let me add my voice to the chorus of hoorays for this. In addition to the other suggestions, I’d like to put in a plug for being able to enlarge the fonts as you can in an app like Notesy or even the native yellow Notes app - not everyone will want this, but for those of us who do, it would be a huge help. Also related to accessibility: keeping in line with your recent improvements to incorporate VoiceOver, please make sure this technology is built into the ios as well.
Thank you, and happy holidays!
Does a universal App mean they have to look the same on both devices? Or can there be features that only activate on the iPad? I don´t have one, but I see that it would be a shame for the iPad people if their App had only features that also fit on the phone.
There really are strange folk out there who write more than brief notes on their iPhones and iPod Touches. I own the latter, and I can touchscreen-type quite fast and accurately. I’ve just started using a Bluetooth Apple keyboard for really extended periods of writing with my Touch, but it’s much more convenient to be all-handheld. (I don’t own a laptop—my home desktop is a Mac—and am waiting for the iPad 3, so I’ll eventually be writing with all three.) So please don’t “dumb down” whatever you’re creating for the iPhone/Touch because some users say they can’t type much on those devices.
A user-configurable extra keyboard row for punctuation marks is a must-have. I know that eats up space, but the alternative is far worse.
This probably goes without saying (as it’s a frequent complaint about apps that don’t have it), but please make the iPhone/Touch version fully usable in landscape as well as portrait modes.
And password-protection is vital. Without that, I’ll need to have my Touch surgically attached, and I don’t think my health insurance covers that.
Thanks so much for bringing Scrivener to iOSWorld. It was one vital element missing from my writing toolbox!
Hi, thanks for the suggestions.
iOS already has a very serviceable lock that can be used to lock people out of your apps should your device fall into the hands of others. Yes it’ll lock the whole device and not just the one app, but surely that’s a good thing?
Is there a specific reason why you’d need an app level lock in addition?
Hmmmm . . . good question. I used the global lock for a while after I got my Touch, but I recall it being a pain in the app. I don’t care who sees most of what’s on my Touch, and I’d just as soon have more instant access. (If I remember correctly, it constantly locked when I listened to audiobooks, which I do a lot, frequently pausing and restarting.) But password protection is a great safeguard for certain items, most notably my writing. It was one of the reasons I bought Nebulous Notes and MacJournal.
Another reason I prefer opt-in app-level locks is that if my Touch were lost, the finder could access my contact information (and see that there’s a monetary reward at stake) and return it to me. I have a business card tucked in the case, but if that was separated from the device, my Touch would probably be gone forever.
Thanks!
Diana
How secure would you want such a lock? Does it just lock out someone accessing the app, or is all the in-app data encrypted?
I’m asking to see how deep the rabbit hole goes, as there’s certain features which are very difficult to implement when combined with full data encryption, especially on a mobile device.
For example search (Which although relatively few people have asked for, I can see being desirable) is impossible to handle sensibly if the data you’re searching in encrypted. All the inbuilt optimisations that exist when writing software have to be thrown out of the window, and the only way to search is to decrypt the data as you go, potentially slowing things to a crawl.
Locking out access to Scrivener is plenty. I don’t know about other users, but I’ve never encrypted anything, so I’m happy to do without anything that sophisticated. But if you could incorporate a high-voltage-zapper feature for hackers . . . .
Sorry to disagree with you but I’ve got an iPhone (not an iPad) and, yes, I use the iPhone for reading (a lot, not just a little). And I use it to write. In fact, for my NaNoWriMo, I wrote on my iPhone at night, in my bed, for quite a long time, one thousand words each time, sometimes more. Then, in the afternoon, I transfered the text to Scrivener for Windows and I wrote some more.
So, yes, I’d be happy to have Scrivener for iPhone.
Yes, iPhone and iPod Touch are great tools for writing. Don’t forget that you can program shortcuts for the words you use frequently (characters or locations). I learned touch typing years ago and it helps even on the virtual keyboard.