MobileRead Forums - View Single Post - Research-Heavy Writing

Hitch · 10-01-2017, 01:58 PM

I realize that the original question was about OS software, but I do feel compelled to point out that good old Word, whether Win or Mac, has a perfectly nice and usable Outline View, that is woefully misunderstood or unused. Word is the "Mac Daddy" of Outline View. I'm always amused by people that get infuriated with me, spewing "But you can DRAG AND DROP in Scrivener!," when I turn around and point out that you've been able to do that in Outline View in Word for the last decade and a half, if not longer. Hell, I do think it's longer.

I've tried pretty much every "writing program" out there, from the much-loved Scrivener (meh, not for me. I see why some people love it, but I don't put much value into prettifying things), LiquidStoryBinder (the one that makes me the most annoyed, of all of them), StoryBlocks, BB6, PowerStructure, and you know...the writing software that works for you, is the one that works for you. It's the one that will keep you writing, instead of dinking around with writing software.

One of the things that always torqued my ass with LSBXE is that after buying it, trying it, I realized that its entire appeal was that it invested all its power into looking foofy, and doing things like giving you places to save images, and music (to set the mood, right?), and all of that did nothing to increase actual productivity--it just made people feel like they were "real" writers, with a screen that LOOKED impressively busy.

Logical people will always gravitate toward pared-down tools that just work. Right-brainers like prettier stuff (yes, these are generalizations, but, in thousands of authors through my shop, my informal polls about what computers they use versus what they write, etc., this seems to be true). Myself, I like either Word, for initial outlining, or, I love YWriter for doing heavier-duty outlining stuff, to set up scenes and chapters, (and timelines). Now, as you're doing research-heavy non-fic, that might not work for you.

BUT, if the question was, "outline view," I have to say, Word has that and it functions quite well. You seem to have that--or perhaps I'm misreading what you said.

Hitch

10-01-2017, 01:58 PM	#27
Hitch Bookmaker & Cat Slave Posts: 11,462 Karma: 158448243 Join Date: Apr 2010 Location: Phoenix, AZ Device: K2, iPad, KFire, PPW, Voyage, NookColor. 2 Droid, Oasis, Boox Note2	I realize that the original question was about OS software, but I do feel compelled to point out that good old Word, whether Win or Mac, has a perfectly nice and usable Outline View, that is woefully misunderstood or unused. Word is the "Mac Daddy" of Outline View. I'm always amused by people that get infuriated with me, spewing "But you can DRAG AND DROP in Scrivener!," when I turn around and point out that you've been able to do that in Outline View in Word for the last decade and a half, if not longer. Hell, I do think it's longer. I've tried pretty much every "writing program" out there, from the much-loved Scrivener (meh, not for me. I see why some people love it, but I don't put much value into prettifying things), LiquidStoryBinder (the one that makes me the most annoyed, of all of them), StoryBlocks, BB6, PowerStructure, and you know...the writing software that works for you, is the one that works for you. It's the one that will keep you writing, instead of dinking around with writing software. One of the things that always torqued my ass with LSBXE is that after buying it, trying it, I realized that its entire appeal was that it invested all its power into looking foofy, and doing things like giving you places to save images, and music (to set the mood, right?), and all of that did nothing to increase actual productivity--it just made people feel like they were "real" writers, with a screen that LOOKED impressively busy. Logical people will always gravitate toward pared-down tools that just work. Right-brainers like prettier stuff (yes, these are generalizations, but, in thousands of authors through my shop, my informal polls about what computers they use versus what they write, etc., this seems to be true). Myself, I like either Word, for initial outlining, or, I love YWriter for doing heavier-duty outlining stuff, to set up scenes and chapters, (and timelines). Now, as you're doing research-heavy non-fic, that might not work for you. BUT, if the question was, "outline view," I have to say, Word has that and it functions quite well. You seem to have that--or perhaps I'm misreading what you said. Hitch