Scrivener for iOS - When?

[Writingcrow]

Sorry, but I'm being driven to the competition for lack of an iOS application. What's the ETA for this product?

[Siren]

We don't publish ETAs. For the latest news, please see http://www.literatureandlatte.com/blog/?p=405.

[ptram]

The only competition I see for Scrivener is Ulysses. And at the moment they only have Daedalus Touch, that is only a reduced set of Ulysses. The same type of syncronization can be made in Scrivener with the External folders - that can also be syncronized with Daedalus via Dropbox.

Paolo

[yosimiti]

I don't think it's that great an idea with the way in which ipods and ipads are currently set up. No one's gonna write the next Man Booker on an ipod. The screen is way too small and glossy and real, great writing I think for most of us in the least requires a full fledged keyboard and a decent sized monitor to see everything. Ipad...maybe...but only with a full sized keyboard.

[Daniela Wolfe]

I don't think it's that great an idea with the way in which ipods and ipads are currently set up. No one's gonna write the next Man Booker on an ipod. The screen is way too small and glossy and real, great writing I think for most of us in the least requires a full fledged keyboard and a decent sized monitor to see everything. Ipad...maybe...but only with a full sized keyboard.

An iOS version is coming so I think it's a moot point. I know lots of folks who do all or most of their college papers on a phone or tablet and I've even met a handful of writers who do their writing on a phone so there is a market for it.

That being said I've actually tried writing on a smaller device and I still prefer my tri-monitor desktop to to anything else. It's incredibly helpful being able to have my main project open on one screen, my research/notes on another, and music on a third. I can work off my laptop, but I feel cramped on a single screen. What I envision using a mobile version for would be mostly editing and revisions. I even pre-emptively bought an ipad. Considering how much I dislike iOS that should tell you how useful I think a mobile version would be.

I wish I knew if feature parity between mac and windows will be coming along before the release of the iOS version then I'd be one happy camper.

[Amcmo]

There is one (almost) valid option I've seen for those unwilling/unable to wait for iOS Scrivener, Storyist.

I've used it in both Mac and iOS versions and if the HUGE (amazing, stupendous, etc) superiority of Scrivener for Mac vs Storyist is reflected in the iPad versions, Scrivener for iPAD, WHEN IT FINALLY ARRIVES will be well worth the wait.

[Flur]

I don't think it's that great an idea with the way in which ipods and ipads are currently set up. No one's gonna write the next Man Booker on an ipod. The screen is way too small and glossy and real, great writing I think for most of us in the least requires a full fledged keyboard and a decent sized monitor to see everything. Ipad...maybe...but only with a full sized keyboard.

Great writing requires a keyboard? I guess this explains why no great books were written before the invention of the keyboard. Er, wait...

Great writing comes from the brain of a great writer. The great writer can use whatever tools they want, or have available to them. If they want to use an iPod, why not?

[Flur]

We don't publish ETAs. For the latest news, please see http://www.literatureandlatte.com/blog/?p=405.

That's from August. Any newer "latest news"?

[AmberV]

Great writing requires a keyboard? I guess this explains why no great books were written before the invention of the keyboard. Er, wait…

Have you tried writing longhand or shorthand on an iThing? Even with a “stylus” and an app that provides a magnified writing area, it’s pretty awkward.

I would also disagree with the assertion that the iPod form factor is not suitable for writing. With a simple foldable keyboard like the iWerkz and a little stand (the keyboard comes with one in this case), you can actually do some writing with that setup. It’s better than any iPad keyboard I’ve seen (which suffer from being cramped, to fit the size of the iPad itself—much worse with the mini), and as for how much text you get in front of you, it’s not inconsiderable, enough for a few paragraphs depending on the font size.

I’ve also used an AlphaSmart for writing, which has a dim little spinach-green LCD screen that shows three or four lines of text. Before that I used a Palm Pilot with a foldable keyboard—very similar setup to the iPod+Keyboard described above, but ten years earlier and on a screen that wasn’t nearly as nice.

[MimeticMouton]

I’ve also used an AlphaSmart for writing, which has a dim little spinach-green LCD screen that shows three or four lines of text. Before that I used a Palm Pilot with a foldable keyboard—very similar setup to the iPod+Keyboard described above, but ten years earlier and on a screen that wasn’t nearly as nice.

I wish I were that cool. I just used notebooks and a pen.

[yosimiti]

I guess you guys have a point. Great writing comes from the mind, regardless of the device you're on.

However...

To date, I have never used an ipod/iphone to write anything serious. Texting, quick replies to emails, yes, absolutely. I think I even wrote a crappy limerick once to myself. But essays and short stories and novels....I don't know. That just requires comfort and mindfulness... and having a big screen, and a big keyboard kinda helps...and the natural choice just seems to be an old fashioned computer and not a portable device.

But maybe I should get with the times ... I don't know. Maybe when screens get better, comparable to real paper like the kindle or other e-ink devices, and there's less eye strain to read, then writing might actually be comparable...but as it stands, I think it just doesn't feel natural...

I'm hoping that the iOS Scrivener experience changes all that. We'll have to wait and see.

Best of luck to Keith and crew....

[kewms]

Nabokov used index cards. Jack Kerouac used a single continuous scroll. And probably other writers have used just about everything in between.

A lot of writers, myself included, flit from one method to another depending on mood, what they're writing, and what resources are available. My main writing tools are a legal pad and a fountain pen, but I've written on slips of paper and straight into the computer, too.

Use whatever method works for you, but please try to remember that the only thing that really matters is the finished product, not the tools used to develop it.

Katherine

[KB]

We don't publish ETAs. For the latest news, please see http://www.literatureandlatte.com/blog/?p=405.

That's from August. Any newer "latest news"?

The latest news is that the iOS version is in development.

[ptram]

What's bad with carrying around an Apple Wireless Keyboard, or a wireless keyboard you like? It's small and light, and fits any bag or car's backseat. Your iPhone is always with you. Pair the phone and the keyboard, support your phone laid in horizontal against a toffee box, and you can write with a good keyboard and enough display space for several lines of text. All syncronized with your main computer.

Paolo

[yosimiti]

If I'm going to carry a keyboard around alongside my iPod/iPad, I might as well stay at home. It just seems like a hassle.

But I hear you. An iOS version could definitely help in situations where one is forced to work out of their comfort zone. Suppose I have a moment at work, where I don't have the luxury of a laptop, and I don't have anything to catch a sudden eureka-like moment of clarity in my writing, and the only thing I have is my iPod in my pocket. Or suppose I'm on the bus or subway and a freaking crazy creative thought comes to me, and I'm only carrying my iPod. Or suppose I'm in my living room, and I'm in some zen-like state where, for whatever reason, ideas come to me better than they would than if I'm sitting in front of my computer...I could see a proper iOS app being beneficial.

I guess a good iOS app would have to make capturing those unconventional, unexpected, sudden moments of clarity that sometimes come to a writer (or anyone really) all the more easier to instantaneously capture. And if it all seamlessly updated with my files on my main computer (that is, there was definitely a 'cloud' component) then I guess I can see it as a good thing.