Like many topics in software development, this seemingly intuitive statement is incorrect more often than it is correct. Even good devs require ramp-up time to figure out how to work with the existing code, and for a non-trivial codebase like Scrivener, that time is typically measured in months – possibly even years, given the specific requirements for experience in the framework being used, expertise in the text editing system, learning the customizations and overrides of the text editing system, etc. In the long run, of course, having those experienced devs will help, but in the short term, adding bodies usually decreases overall efficiency during the learning curve.
If you haven’t read it, track down a copy of The Mythical Man-Month and peruse it. It does a wonderful job of explaining why throwing more developers at a problem is usually the wrong solution to a time crunch.
Quick question: is the Windows Scriv 3 beta able to export ePub 3 files?
If not, does the iOS version of Scrivener export ePub 3 files? (I have an iPad Air 2)
I need to produce a valid ePub 3 file for upload to IngramSpark for publishing. So far I haven’t been able to find a way to produce an ePub 3 file that doesn’t generate errors in ePub validators. Ingram requires ePub 3 files to pass the validation at this site:
Happy to see they won’t release “buggy” versions. It is the worst kind of strategy, breaking the trust of your customers.
The current beta is very very slow and 1.9 is still a very good product. And although some new features of Scrivener 3 would be very helpful for my next writing phase, I’ll just stick with 1.9. I do not have time to beta-test a product.
As for Macs, I bought a new Macbook Pro in July.
And in August.
And in September.
And in October.
And in November.
In each of them, the “3rd generation improved keyboard” failed, generally starting with “E” and space bar.
There are no portable Macs without the butterfly keyboard left, which meant I had to learn to live with Windows. Scrivener is the program I use 80% of the time. The current beta is almost what I would like it to be Also its current price of zero euro works very well for me.
As for release date, it’s been mentioned that it will come “later in 2018”, now that we know it won’t, people are complaining and demanding the “real” date. Which means that either we get a date, then it doesn’t work 100% yet and we’ll complain, or we won’t get a date and we’ll also complain.
I’m good as things are. (I also have a Hackintosh for the final compile unless Win version is out in time, which for me means beginning of February the latest.) (And I click Save every ten seconds or so.)
For me, personally, I’m glad the devs are taking the time they need before publishing v3 as a finished commercial product. I’d have it no other way.
I’m just wondering, however, if anyone might tell me about the experience of using the 2.9 beta that ends mid December. Does it function well enough to actually transfer work and use it on a daily basis as a main editor?
Beta release notes say that the latest release is pretty much done, except for compile-related parts. And if I’m not planning on the project I have in mind being in a state to do that for a while still, do you people who have actually tried or are using the beta think that it is stable enough and functional enough to give it a go?
I have the 1.x paid and have been doing a lot of work in it for years now. And will most certainly buy v3 come release day. But I do have need of some of the features in v3 to get on from the state my work is in right now. And finding workarounds that will have to be manually changed and fixed after finally being able to move on to v3 isn’t really an option. It’ll disrupt the project and my creative process too much, I fear. Too much work involved.
So I’m willing to try a beta that is at least almost as solid as, and very close to being, a release candidate, as long as it is stable enough that I can do my thing without risking corrupted files, lost progress and the like. And I do not yet need to worry about compilation issues.
In relation to what I specify as my personal user case, what do you users with experience of the latest betas (and hopefully support staff/devs) think I should do? Should I stick with 1.9.x or should I try the 2.9.x beta, so long as I don’t have use of the compile feature yet?
And, also, have anyone experienced any problems with compatibility when switching between betas? Or should one perhaps expect a bump in the road - of any kind - when finally moving from beta to final release ?
I’d recommend checking out the Beta forum and seeing if there are any discussions there that look like they’d interfere with your particular working practices.
As far as stability and practical functionality goes – I’ve been using the beta pretty much exclusively ever since it first came out, and have never seen a crash or experienced loss of work / data; at this point, my daily backups to 1.9.x are more a force of habit than anything else. Almost all the bugs I’ve had issues with have been squashed by now, and the few that remain are minor at worst. Speaking only from my own personal experience (but of course others may vary), I honestly can’t see any reason not to use and enjoy it.
As to compatibility from beta to beta, I’ve certainly not had any issues at least since they implemented the in-program updates. Again, others may vary, and I’m always careful to back up before updating, just to be safe, but it seems pretty smooth and seamless to me thus far.
Good advice above, and thanks for sharing your experience with the beta.
My understanding is there is no backward compatibility yet between v1.9 and the Win Beta (no export function), so when you say make “my daily backups to 1.9.x”, do you mean copy/paste from Beta docs to 1.9 docs?
Apologies for not being specific! Yep, that’s exactly what I meant – copy/pasting the day’s work from the Beta project to a separate one in 1.9.x! I’ve never actually needed to fall back on it, but it’s great peace of mind to know it’s there in case I do.
Ah, too bad! I was hoping you’d found some other nifty workaround that I’d missed.
Lack of a Beta → 1.9 export feature is why I don’t spend much time messing with the Beta. My current writing process isn’t very linear, so I could change many documents over the course of an editing session, and I’d be fearful I’d missed copying something back to the 1.9 version.
The beta Compile function appears to be complete enough to use for archive/backup copies for your own use, so you might consider doing that rather than (or in addition to) copying to a Win Scriv 1.9 project.
That has the added advantage of starting to build familiarity with the new Compile function, which at least on the Mac was the single most challenging aspect of the Scrivener 3 transition.
I’ve been using the Scrivener 3 Beta as my main writing tool since October 2017. Never had a problem with data loss or crashes. It’s still laggy when I jump from scene to scene, but I’m confident this will be fixed before it’s released. I’m sad the final version won’t be out in 2018, but it can’t be helped and no amount of complaining will change that. If you have the choice between being unhappy and being patient and optimistic, your life will be much nicer if you choose the second.
To my recollection, there was no big formal announcement from L&L, just a couple of posts from L&L on different threads, including the first page of this thread. :mrgreen:
Specifically, I guess, this, from a user, based on Katherine’s note about CS closing over the holidays:
So no announcement and really no “news,” just a user’s reasonable conclusion based on looking at the calendar. Wish folks would not dress their own inferences up as “news.” But boy, THAT’S a big wish these days.
Just to clarify: we do not announce release dates as a matter of policy. There has been no official announcement of a Windows Scrivener 3 release date.
Including the original “we are going to try for 2018” – even that much of a statement got latched onto as gospel, leading now to more disappointment than necessary. Just more fodder for the official policy of no longer announcing release dates in advance.
Also its current price of zero euro works very well for me.
