Dr Andus
1/11/2013 11:05 pm
MadaboutDana wrote:
One needs to make a distinction between writing and editing (esp. 6 docs simultaneously). Also, writing can have many different stages from note-taking and "brainstorming" to writing the final draft. I still haven't found a single software that can cover all the steps involved and perhaps there never will be one (and that might be a good thing).
Re: CT, I'd recommend it for note-taking, storage, analysis and outlining but not for the writing and editing process, exactly because it only has one edit/view window, so you can't view your notes and write about them at the same time. Which is why I use a separate software for actual writing (Outline 4D) (while looking at the CT notes), and yet another one for word processing (Word).
With O4D you could definitely lay out 6 docs across two monitors and work on them simultaneously. Here are what 3 docs looks like on a 22in monitor:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/428516/Outline4D_2013-01-11_22-52-43.png
But you still won't get auto-comparison / auto-concordancing...
BTW, CT might not be at its friendliest to the first-time user, but it makes up for it later :)
I'm just editing six brochures simultaneously, all of which share
similar bits and pieces of text. And I'm struck by how badly modern
authoring programs handle this very straightforward situation.
In fact, the longer I reflect on this, the more I
conclude that the actual process of writing documents on computer hasn't
progressed much at all (pace Scrivener lovers and all you ConnectedText
fans!).
Now, ConnectedText proponents will, no doubt, tell me that CT does all
this and more. I'm sorry, but impressive as CT undoubtedly is,
user-friendly it is not.
One needs to make a distinction between writing and editing (esp. 6 docs simultaneously). Also, writing can have many different stages from note-taking and "brainstorming" to writing the final draft. I still haven't found a single software that can cover all the steps involved and perhaps there never will be one (and that might be a good thing).
Re: CT, I'd recommend it for note-taking, storage, analysis and outlining but not for the writing and editing process, exactly because it only has one edit/view window, so you can't view your notes and write about them at the same time. Which is why I use a separate software for actual writing (Outline 4D) (while looking at the CT notes), and yet another one for word processing (Word).
With O4D you could definitely lay out 6 docs across two monitors and work on them simultaneously. Here are what 3 docs looks like on a 22in monitor:
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/428516/Outline4D_2013-01-11_22-52-43.png
But you still won't get auto-comparison / auto-concordancing...
BTW, CT might not be at its friendliest to the first-time user, but it makes up for it later :)