Imaginations from the other side
Trying out some journaling software for the Mac, as that is one of the main reasons I jumped ship to it. For all the popularity of the Microsoft lock-in there’s quite a dearth of proper writing software for their platforms. By that I don’t mean Word, or even proper page layout software like FrameMaker, but research and writing oriented tools like Scrivener, Ulysses and MacJournal.
The focus on these tools is on the process of researched writing. They contain various approaches to gathering all related information together in one place, with the document to become at the center of attention. A database containing either all work material split into folders (like in MacJournal) or in the document being worked on (like Ulysses and Scrivener) is the norm, and most of the tools also have a “full screen” mode which really is full screen - only the text being worked on is visible, usually in green or yellow on black. An excellent way to avoid distraction while writing.
As with so many tools of this kind, it appears that no one of them will cover my needs, but I need to use a combination. MacJournal appears to be well suited for the way I keep “linear” information, like a diary or for actually starting to pour stuff into my various blogs. Scrivener seems to be the weapon of choice for decimating huge writing projects into manageable chunks and then actually get about to manage them, and Ulysses would most likely be my choice if I started writing academically (sort of again, but my academical writing has been pretty sparse as of late).
In addition I really need a tool to manage all the little snippets of information and url’s I keep around. If nothing else, the present lack of a systematic approach or proper management software means I have absolutely no clue what I have stowed away, much less how to find it. This is a shame, since I constantly find amusing and useful nuggets of information when I sort through backups and various directories I made at the spur of a moment. For this there are some good cross platform tools, but I expect the one I will try (at least for starters) will be Yojimbo. It’s a shame they tend to cost a fair chunk, as they’re almost more important than the writing tool, and finding the right one is much more of a pain since I will start filling it up with information from all over, and moving it will probably be a pain.
It’s really nice over here. The grass is greener, somehow. Or maybe it’s just the nice, sharp LED backlit screen. =)
The focus on these tools is on the process of researched writing. They contain various approaches to gathering all related information together in one place, with the document to become at the center of attention. A database containing either all work material split into folders (like in MacJournal) or in the document being worked on (like Ulysses and Scrivener) is the norm, and most of the tools also have a “full screen” mode which really is full screen - only the text being worked on is visible, usually in green or yellow on black. An excellent way to avoid distraction while writing.
As with so many tools of this kind, it appears that no one of them will cover my needs, but I need to use a combination. MacJournal appears to be well suited for the way I keep “linear” information, like a diary or for actually starting to pour stuff into my various blogs. Scrivener seems to be the weapon of choice for decimating huge writing projects into manageable chunks and then actually get about to manage them, and Ulysses would most likely be my choice if I started writing academically (sort of again, but my academical writing has been pretty sparse as of late).
In addition I really need a tool to manage all the little snippets of information and url’s I keep around. If nothing else, the present lack of a systematic approach or proper management software means I have absolutely no clue what I have stowed away, much less how to find it. This is a shame, since I constantly find amusing and useful nuggets of information when I sort through backups and various directories I made at the spur of a moment. For this there are some good cross platform tools, but I expect the one I will try (at least for starters) will be Yojimbo. It’s a shame they tend to cost a fair chunk, as they’re almost more important than the writing tool, and finding the right one is much more of a pain since I will start filling it up with information from all over, and moving it will probably be a pain.
It’s really nice over here. The grass is greener, somehow. Or maybe it’s just the nice, sharp LED backlit screen. =)