Steve E Posted May 5, 2007 Report Share Posted May 5, 2007 Just to get things started, how would you feel about a bookmark feature? The ability to take you to any specific text, especially in a long Section, would be useful to me. After all, few novels are written linearly so it would be useful to have anchor points beyond Section names. (Stephen King once described his writing process as an excavation. Only at the end of the process does he link the unearthed portions together. Then again, Arthur C Clarke wrote 2001 straight through in one sitting.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted May 20, 2007 Report Share Posted May 20, 2007 Just to get things started, how would you feel about a bookmark feature? Bookmarks would be a very useful addition and I've been thinking about how to implement them. Perhaps something like this: I've reserved the command-number shortcuts for bookmarks since I think they will used quite frequently. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve E Posted May 24, 2007 Author Report Share Posted May 24, 2007 Looks good. I especially like putting it in the Project Pane since that is where the links are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve E Posted October 27, 2007 Author Report Share Posted October 27, 2007 Bookmarks would be a very useful addition and I've been thinking about how to implement them. Perhaps something like this: I've reserved the command-number shortcuts for bookmarks since I think they will used quite frequently. Hi Steve. Any thoughts about when we'll be seeing Bookmarks? There hasn't been any additions to this thread since May. -Thoth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted October 27, 2007 Report Share Posted October 27, 2007 Hi Steve.Any thoughts about when we'll be seeing Bookmarks? There hasn't been any additions to this thread since May. -Thoth. I know this one you'd really like to see. It involves some non-trivial work in the manuscript, but I have an idea of how I'm going to implement it. Over the next week or so, I'm sure well all be hammering out the 1.4 and 1.5 feature set, so lets make sure this one stays in the mix. -Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve E Posted March 10, 2008 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2008 Over the next week or so, I'm sure well all be hammering out the 1.4 and 1.5 feature set, so lets make sure this one stays in the mix. Well, it's been a season, winter is past (almost), and we haven't gotten to 1.4 yet so I guess there's still time to talk about implementation. Movie Magic Screenwriter 6 is out and I noticed that it comes with its own little Project Pane (although they don't call it that). Instead of putting a display control (for Manuscript, Section Sheets, Plot, Characters, Settings, Notebook) in a placard on the bottom it has a row of control buttons (Outline, Scenes, Notes, Bookmarks) along the top. Notes can be color coded and categorized but I don't know if bookmarks can. (The product now also comes with 30 templates and its own version of Courier.) Scenes seem to pile up a lot faster than sections do so I can see why their display control is more prominent. Still, if you write like, say, Tom Robbins, for whom 80 chapters isn't a big deal, I can see how you'd want a quick and obvious way to clear away everything but your outline. And if you keep a lot of notes, characters, settings, etc, then ditto. So, if you're going to add bookmarks to the mix (and you are, aren't you?) you might consider another way of clearing everything else out. I also think that the option to color code Project Pane entries (including bookmarks) is a good idea for quick visual reference. (E.g., red might mean "continue developing this section".) The name of a bookmark shouldn't have to be a category, IMHO. Bookmark folders seem like a good idea to me as well, providing an additional way (along with color) of categorizing them (E.g., a "seldom used" bookmark folder). One last thing, the more I think about it the less I like assigning command codes (Cmd-1, Cmd-2) to bookmarks. Especially since I'm the sort who is likely to use several dozen. Bookmark this post, -Thoth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nadinbrzezinski Posted March 13, 2008 Report Share Posted March 13, 2008 My, my, somebody is reading my mind. I was just thinking about exactly this as I slog through a short story. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nadinbrzezinski Posted May 1, 2008 Report Share Posted May 1, 2008 I know I know, we have asked for this quite a bit....but as much as I try to work WITHOUT bookmarks, I can't So I have found myself using a combo of tools to accomplish my goals, including... not the word processor whose name shall not be named but... screen writer... Or Nisus Writer Pro. Of course I am also doing double duty, or triple duty, depending on your POV... I am also writing a lot of my info in voodoo pad, so I can transfer it to my IPOD and alas take my small HPC... it is far more transportable than the Macbook and sometimes I just feel like a nut, and would like to just take that thing... (OF course there is this little problem of ahem... flying and taking the macbook out... forget it) Anyhoo, consider this yet another request for bookmarks (and tracking changes) And yes... I understand that I am asking for the moon at this point since that involves complex databases and all that jazz. Oh and yes, re planing the war of the gods yet one more time... damn this, the hardest book ever to plan... don't know why. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve E Posted May 1, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 1, 2008 I know I know, we have asked for this quite a bit....but as much as I try to work WITHOUT bookmarks, I can't. I know what you mean. Of course I am also doing double duty, or triple duty, depending on your POV... I am also writing a lot of my info in voodoo pad, so I can transfer it to my IPOD and alas take my small HPC... it is far more transportable than the Macbook and sometimes I just feel like a nut, and would like to just take that thing... I am curious about your writing/iPod experiences. Tell us more. (Start another thread!) And yes... I understand that I am asking for the moon at this point since that involves complex databases and all that jazz. It doesn't hurt to ask. Oh and yes, re planing the war of the gods yet one more time... damn this, the hardest book ever to plan... don't know why. The gods are a quirky bunch. Good luck with your war. -Thoth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nadinbrzezinski Posted May 13, 2008 Report Share Posted May 13, 2008 I know what you mean. I am curious about your writing/iPod experiences. Tell us more. (Start another thread!) It doesn't hurt to ask. The gods are a quirky bunch. Good luck with your war. -Thoth. Just for you posted on this the other day... a thread on its own By the way... been using Nisus to do most of my writing these days. I truly cannot work without bookmarks... no revision marks are kind of a drag, but bookmarks are essential to me. Perhaps, like you , I use long documents Oh and the war is going on swimmingly now... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve E Posted May 13, 2008 Author Report Share Posted May 13, 2008 No posts from anyone on any topic in over a week and then--BAM! A bookmark post. My favorite kind. By the way... been using Nisus to do most of my writing these days. I truly cannot work without bookmarks... no revision marks are kind of a drag, but bookmarks are essential to me. Perhaps, like you , I use long documents Storyist wants long documents. It seems to have been designed with the idea of placing your whole effort at your fingertips. The standard methodology with most of the big WPs is to put research and each chapter in its own document. This is actually a hold-over from the old days when desktop computers had (relatively) slow chips and little memory. Big novel-sized documents really slowed things down. That's not so true anymore. Keeping everything together is no longer problematic (especially with searches). So, yeah, I write long (novel-sized) documents and I jump around a lot while I'm writing and while I'm re-writing. I use pseudo-bookmarks by restricting "*" as a special character (e.g., ***Fix this***) and use Search to find and list all my pseudo bookmarks in the Search/Storyboard. But it's a kludge. We need a better integrated solution. Perhaps you'd like to start a thread on "revision marks" in feature request. Oh and the war is going on swimmingly now... Good to hear. Watch your flanks. (Always good advice.) -Thoth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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