News and Reviews > Mini-Reviews by Members
Comparative Review of Writers' Tools (INITIAL DRAFT)
wraith808:
Tech tip: When crafting (html) tables, getting empty cells to show properly, the standard way of 'filling' them is to use (non-breaking space) as the content, instead of the, imho rather ugly and disruptive, dot/period.
-Ath (May 27, 2018, 04:18 AM)
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I'm using the BBCode here and it doesn't seem to work in that :(
I agree that it's ugly and disruptive.
They'll all go when I finish because the cells will be filled.
-Dormouse (May 27, 2018, 04:27 AM)
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Is that cleanup behavior something that mouser added? You used to be able to just use an empty cell- I used it in my reviews several times.
wraith808:
I'm thinking of looking at yWriter, WriteItNow, RightNote and Ginkgo in my next little run.
-Dormouse (May 27, 2018, 04:51 AM)
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Do you have any conclusions for your own use yet?
Dormouse:
Is that cleanup behavior something that mouser added? You used to be able to just use an empty cell- I used it in my reviews several times.-wraith808 (May 27, 2018, 09:02 AM)
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As someone who doesn't really know how to do it, I'm frustrated by the differences.
An empty cell works fine in some of the online generators (not all) and BBCeditor. But not here.
And previews are difficult here because they don't show what's in the spoiler, and you can't press the spoiler button in the preview.
I'm thinking I might start updating the whole first post in WriteMonkey; it has got so long that it is quite unwieldy to work with and the code folding should make it easier; I hope.
Dormouse:
Do you have any conclusions for your own use yet?-wraith808 (May 27, 2018, 09:04 AM)
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Not really. I'm keeping an open mind.
I'm also aware that I'm likely to be using a number of programs to make up an ecosystem/workflow.
I won't be writing any more theses, but think that I have all the other needs.
I absolutely need to write when mobile and also need encrypted files for a fair number of uses. At least I can use my PC much more now that difficulties I was having with vision when on the computer are much improved.
Also have a preference/need, sometimes, to use a pen/stylus which has rather specified my hardware. I have no problems with distraction and am most productive in an aurally and visually busy environment.
Out of those I have used so far, doogiePIM ticks a lot of boxes. But it needs updates to its document handling to make it an option for most of my writing.
The one conclusion that I have reached is that I would recommend yWriter as the first program that any fiction writer should try out. I've only just started to look at it, so that view might change, but I suspect not.
It's free and has versions for Linux, Android and iOS. It covers all the basics of outlining/writing and has a short learning curve for main features. It is pretty obvious what it doesn't do (quite a lot), so anyone needing those has to look elsewhere or supplement yWriter with another program. But very cheap to try out both financially and in terms of time. Doesn't have to be in fiction either; apparently someone rewrote the language file to produce a version designed for writing sermons, so some potential for repurposing. The developer is a novelist himself, so everything is designed with functionality in mind. Plain not pretty. Very much project based though.
Has some nifty features too. Although the RTF editor is quite limited - no tables, can't paste images - the file can be edited in an external RTF editor. And if that adds tables and images, then yWriter is quite happy to show them, though they don't work as designed.
For me, the mobile use is a huge advantage. And it has most of the basic functions. And ProWritingAid can work with its files. I can see that I could use it and doogiePIM to cover most of my writing needs. I will need to continue using OneNote, Evernote and Google/PaperPile. I may need more comprehensive publishing/formatting options than any of these possess - but equally suspect that I would prefer to have that as a separate function anyway. Might also need more visual brainstorming creative techniques than can be got from doogiePIM.
But I haven't finished looking at it and have lots of others to investigate. When I started I would not have anticipated that doogiePIM might be viable for any part of my needs, and had previously dismissed yWriter as having too little functionality and did not know that it now had Android and iOS versions. Will be interested in looking at The Journal too. I would be surprised if it could outcompete the doogiePIM Journal for me, as it would need me to use an extra program and The Journal isn't cheap - but maybe it will.
Dormouse:
Added table for yWriter.
Looks very functional, with versions for Android and iOS, but users who need brainstorming or visual creative development techniques or research would need to supplement with other programs.
I will write a full review and I think I will try writing a book with it and then write a long term use review.
And, since I am visually oriented, I will look at brainstorming/mindmapping/visual development programs. I might add a paragraph, or even a section, on these; depending on whether they seem a worthwhile addition to a workflow.
Wrote the post in WriteMonkey (cut/pasted from and then to BBCeditor). I can see that I might start using it for long documents, (reminder to self - in which case I ought to donate).
I then cut the whole post from DC and put it into BBCeditor. Noticed that DC had cut some of the table formatting, which no longer appeared in BBCeditor as it had when originally written.
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