So, Scrivener will only run on iOS 7. A project without any shadow. There will be so many shades of pink… I’m really flattened!
Paolo
No pink! 8)
I’m currently working on a project in Scrivener that involves writing books 7-9 of an ongoing series (this one). The Scriv project currently is only about 36Mb in overall size, but the core document is more than 720,000 words long and will be in the 900,000-1,000,000 word range when it’s finished (yes, I’m slinging around multiple novels in one project, with keywords and links).
Because I am a lunatic who enjoys living dangerously (modulo having three different parallel backup strategies and disaster recovery plans) I’m looking forward to loading this brick into Scriv on iOS as soon as possible so I can see what breaks.
Byword on my iPod Touch 5 chokes just trying to open a Dropbox folder that has about 150 TXT files in it containing a similar total amount of words. That wasn’t the case just one version and one OS update ago. It seems that performance is certainly going to be a question mark, especially for for the lesser but still compatible devices. There is an obvious learning curve at work here, no matter how much shiny new functionality the new OS provides. Even with Mr. Stross knocking on doors here, I think we still have a bit of a justifiable wait on our hands.
Kensai, have you disabled (what I think is called in English) Documents & Data Synching and Background App Update? With them turned off, my iPhone 4 with iOS 7 is no slower than with iOS 6.
My iPad mini seems as “fast”, but I’ve left transparencies turned on, and the UI is a bit stuttering when returning to the home page. Otherwise, it seems as fine as in the past.
Paolo
I installed iOS7 on my iPhone 4 mainly to be able to use Scrivener when it’s available. My iPhone is faster with iOS7 than with iOS6! Faster and more reliable too so I’m really satisfied. I just hope Scrivener for iOS will run on an iPhone 4…
Its not really general performance that’s the issue, though I did go through and look for what you mentioned and then sussed out a few more things buried in the new settings. Then I went into Byword, opened a new doc, typed a sentence and it promptly locked up. Left the app and came back at different times and it still took several minutes for it to free up, and then managed to do it again. That combined with all sorts of other reported issues that have cropped up between version 2.0 and 2.1, the main difference of which is the switch to iOS 7’s Text Kit, have me a bit worried about Scrivener’s performance where the rubber meets the road. You know, where the words actually happen, not so much whatever other Scrivener functionality makes the leap to iOS. Text Kit should be able to give us an awesome editor, I just think its got at least a few hidden quirks, is all.
Umm, if this hasn’t been decided yet, does that mean the text engine isn’t implemented yet? And if so, does that mean that Scrivener for iOS is still in its early stages? As in “if we’re lucky, it’ll come out in 2014?”
There’s a lot more to Scrivener than its text system, so it’s by no means in the early stages. We’ve been getting everything else working first. But no, the text system isn’t implemented yet, for the reasons that have already been discussed. It will be released in 2014 no matter how lucky you are.
Kensai - you can rest assured that we do not release anything without thorough testing with a decent beta group, and if there are significant performance issues in the iOS 7 text kit, then we will have to find another solution.
Makes sense, thanks.
That it won’t be this year hurts a little, but whenever it’s ready [cue Barney Stinson], I. Will. Be. There.
Will there be any way to encrypt Scrivener documents when syncing through DropBox?
Wasn’t suggesting that, KB.
Just expressing my doubts as to Text Kit being quite the holy grail some have made it out to be and that getting acceptable performance out of it might add to dev time in this instance. Mainly just trying to put some brakes on a mounting sense of, “hey, maybe they’ll release it early enough for me to use for NaNo, even if its full of bugs” that I’ve been getting from various quarters.
Just make plans to use it for NaNo 2014, folks. I imagine it’ll be out and at least modestly updated by then. Right now, participants need to focus on the stable tools they already have. If you’re insisting on using Scrivener and your iOS devices, you’ll just need to put a bit of thought into how to streamline a process with what you already have on hand.
Get Dropbox set up if you don’t have it already, pick a text editor that uses it (IA Writer is my preference, Byword is awesome as well, and could be in the running if they patch the performance issues I’ve been seeing in it on my iPod Touch 5, though it seems stable enough on my son’s iPad 4 as is; there are tons of others, but only some are going to be worthy; remember, being feature rich is pointless for this app as you’ll just be writing prose), then when you’re at your desktop, just import your new text file(s) and stick them where they need to go in Scrivener. A little work by hand isn’t going to hurt anyone, and might give you extra moments looking at your project’s structure which likely won’t hurt either.
I know on my end, even with a BT keyboard available, the iPod, or even swiping my son’s iPad, is really just a stop gap, and having the iPod in my pocket and using the onscreen keyboard is just that thing that keeps me from going crazy, worried that I’m going to forget all the great ideas I get while away from the keyboard (its not entirely true, but it does help ;-p ). In that sense, I feel that having an iOS end to the Scrivener equation is really just a way to keep my head in the game while I’m mobile, and make what little text I do generate while on the move more useful, rather than some magic bullet. Then again, writing is a long game, every little bit compounds across a career.
2014? Argh. L&L sold me an iPad last year, and now is going to sell me a MacBook Air 11’’. Oh well, better this way than not having Scrivener at all.
I’ve just read through this thread, as I’ve been lagging on keeping up on iOS progress. So happy that it’s gaining ground! Disappointed that it won’t be available for Nano 2013, but it happens and I’m just happy you aren’t releasing a half-baked piece of software that doesn’t sync and loses words :P. Can’t wait to use it with 2014.
I was also wondering two things: 1) Do you have any idea of what the price for it will be (under $10, under $5, over $15…), and 2) Will it be a universal download (ie, do I have to pay for it twice on iPad and iPod/iPhone). Basically, what I’m saying is that I’m a student with a small budget and I want to make sure that I’ll have enough money to purchase it the minute it appears in the App Store.
Can’t speak as to pricing, but my guess is it’ll be at least $19.99 just to keep it in close-ish parity with its sibs on other OSes without being entirely out of the price range for that market. I could be wrong, obviously since I’m just a bystander, but that is my reasoned expectation.
They have, however, made it pretty clear that its a universal app. Basically the iPhone/Pod displays one “column” worth at a time and the iPad will be able to display up to 3, each column being something like the Binder, the Inspector, the Editor, or a second Editor. Again, my specific words are my speculation, but if you look back in this thread, know KB and possibly Amber have described it as something to that effect.
About due for a major iOS Update, don’t you think? The last update in the Blog came out in April 2013. 
I’m picturing the following: A stocking stuffer for Christmas ???
I wanted to place this in a bit of context. Pages and Numbers for iOS have been out since January, 2010; both of these [internal] apps require the kind of API that has now been externalized in TextKit. AAPL essentially has had ~4 years of development on this API, and that doesn’t count the pedigree of the similar code base on OS X.
Of course, new problems will be exposed with hundreds/thousands of developers start banging on a new large API. OTOH, developers have had it for four months. I’m confident the code is good and that any bugs and performance issues will be dealt with promptly.
I think it’s proper to expect the iOS version for the 2014 event and be pleasantly surprised if it’s available this November.
Dear Keith and the iOS team,
Although you all most likely know all about it, just in case you don’t:
github.com/adamhoracek/KOKeyboard
Since I am not a programmer, I stumbled on this site by accident but was very pleased to see it and now I cannot resist bringing it to your attention. If I am not mistaken, this is a free, open-source code to add the tap-and-drag (“swipe”) style extra key row to any app.
I very much hope you will consider adopting this technology (at least as an option or maybe for version 1.1… : -)
I am familiar with a couple of apps that have adopted this method of text entry (Textastic, Heart Writer, adnotatus, Wonder Writer). I myself was initially skeptical but after using it for five minutes it’s like second nature and it’s one of those things that you wonder how you ever lived without it! Swiping, for me at least, doesn’t always work but the tap-and-drag method is 100% reliable: you tap, then, without lifting the finger, swipe or “drag” in the direction of one of the four corners of the key. Always works, never a mistake.
The enormous increase in efficiency and productivity is obvious. In one extra row we can have 40-50 additional characters, punctuation marks, navigational keys, etc., all always visible, all always accessible without any extra tap or swipe or scroll of the extra key row (i.e., without a pause in the workflow or the “think flow”) .
As far as I can tell, the free code at github is not user-definable, but if you would add that, then I think you would actually have achieved the holy grail of text entry on an iOS device. (By the way, unbelievably and completely against intuition and expectation, this method works fine even on the small screen of the iPhone. I tried it on Textastic for the iPhone and typing is remarkably easy and error-free, in spite of the tiny size of the keys and the five symbols on them. Completely counter-intuitive.)
Apple’s built-in keyboard already has a number of hidden or swipable keys (apostrophes or quote marks from the comma and full stop keys) or tap-and-drag keys (accented vowels, for example), and I think people are discovering and starting to use these features, so an extra key row of this type will not be too unfamiliar. User responses in the App Store to the addition of such a key row are usually extremely positive. As I said, once you try it, you don’t understand why it’s not used everywhere, by everyone.
Sorry for the long post but all the bells and whistles, and even Scrivener’s sensational organizational powers, are not enough to make a writer completely happy if the very first and most elementary step in the writing process (text entry, typing, or what we used to call in the old days “writing”) is clumsier and harder than it needs to be.
Below is a link to an image of this key row for readers who may have no idea what I am talking about.
Thanks for putting up with my long—winded ranting.
Dee
Hi Dee,
Thanks for drawing that to our attention. We have always had the intention of adding an auxiliary keyboard row, and this looks promising. I’ve brought it to the attention of our iOS developer, and we’ll test it to see what works best.
Thanks again and all the best,
Keith
Thank you, Keith, for considering it! This makes me VERY excited! Can’t wait to move my life into iScrivener and type away…
Dee