For days now I explore the Mac applications world and I’m really glad that I found some gems (more on my favourite Mac applications in another blog post – isn’t a “fav Mac apps” post like, obligatory?).
One of the most shining gems that I discovered today is Scrivener. Scrivener is one of my dream apps, really. Essentially, it’s a writing helper, that can help you gather material and write stuff, from novels to blog posts. I can’t describe in words my adoration for this project… and yes, it’s freeware.
Let me explain to you what I wanted… I was looking for a writing application, that could hold any kind of material I’d toss into (pics, URLs, favorably whole web pages) and help me organize my PC magazine life. This dream app should have characters / word count capabilities (I always exceed my word limits), folder hierarchy, ability to hold much stuff and a nice and intuitive interface that would “bind” them all.
Scrivener in all of its glory
Scrivener offers me all that, and more. An overview of the features I love most:
- Full screen edit mode, plus 4 really helpful view modes: Binder, Compose, Draft and Storyboard.
- Simple versioning system through “snapshots”.
- Ability to hold anything in its material folders: pics, video, text, pdf files, even imported web pages.
- Every page has its outline card and notes page.
- Annotations and split-screen editing mode.
- Templates & tagging functionality, for the Web 2.0 afficionados.
- Split & merge documents.
- Full text editing tools, including link, lists and table insertion.
- Spotlight-like, speedy search.
- .scriv files are packages: you can always view your files stored in standard formats, even if the .scriv file is not recoverable.
…and it’s not all. I strongly recommend you to download this app and go through the tutorial, you’ll understand the capabilities of Scrivener better.
This blog post has been written in Scrivener, as you’ve already assumed. I decided to keep an archive of my blog posts in it and it goes well so far. The most dreamy of additions would be a “Export to blog…” functionality, but hey, I don’t complain.
Scrivener is a real gem, I assure you. If your writing requires much research and material gathering and draft revisions and you want a place that you’d store them in, you’ve come to the right place.
8 comments on this post
Tsevdos John #1
19.Oct.06
Really impressive darling… Any ideas about english/greek spell checking? (Yes, I’m a terrible writer, not a pro like u
Sugar #2
19.Oct.06
Yeah, I’m such a pro and hardcore writer I weep in pride everytime I check my drafts, John
Scrivener has a built-in spell checker (it checks while you write, similar to Microsoft Word), using many dictionaries, but greek isn’t included.
It works really well with english, though. You can right-click (Command-left click) any erroneous word and Scrivener will propose the right one, etc.
PsyxiatroZ #3
19.Oct.06
So… this gem is a “MaC’s user only” gem…
damn…
Sugar #4
19.Oct.06
Yes, sorry Psy. Only Mac.
I’ve found out that most Mac apps are more useful, lightweight and easy to use than most PC apps. Go figure!
X.Trapnel #5
19.Oct.06
I have just downloaded Scrivener but I’m intimidated by it. I know there’s a sample file showing how it works – but what’s the best way of working my way into it?
Sugar #6
19.Oct.06
X.Trapnel : It surely is. It is very simply written, yet it describes very well the functionality of the application. The tutorial is a highly recommended way to avoid the “intimidation” caused by Scrivener.
AmberV #7
19.Oct.06
I could not help but notice that you seem to be using Scrivener Gold, which is essentially defunct at this point. Have you given the new Scrivener beta’s a look yet? It is currently very stable. A lot of the fundamentals from Gold are there, but the interface has been (in my opinion) dramatically improved. Full screen is amazing, being able to load Outliners (tables) and Corkboards (Storyboard) into splits right along side the text is way better than the “mode” method S.Gold had. Also the Draft concept has been completely re-worked; it is a lot more dynamic. You select the section or documents you wish to edit (they needn’t be linear, and can even be the result of a search), press a button, and all get combined as a single temporary document that is disbanded when you are done with it.
I also like the new MultiMarkdown support, which you might find useful as a blogger. If you are not familiar, it lets you format text using the basic types of conventions we use in email to *emphasise* things. You can put pictures, links, and lists in all rather simply and when you are ready: Select export to XHTML from Scrivener and you’ll have a ready to publish document.
Sugar #8
19.Oct.06
Thanks for the tip, Amber. I’ve already downloaded the new beta and I’ll give it a try.