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New Project View Data Category: Research


orrenm

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I have another feature request related to live links in outline view. But after working on this short story (which ironically took more research than my novel) and collecting lots of different data, I realize that what would really be a godsend—as well as an amazing tool for non-fiction writers who want to use Storyist as their project writing tool—is an entire new category of data for the Project View: Research.

 

Right now, you can't have a series of top level live links. They have to live within a single sheet:

20100321-rurcadaa2jxb9a4wxyi6dcj4hk.preview.jpg

Click for full size - Uploaded with plasq's Skitch

 

Above, I have a couple of links on a settings sheet for Whitechapel. But what if I have other links on Regency era England, London, Prostitution, etc? Put them all on different settings sheet? The same notebook sheet? Neither is ideal, because they might not fall into a "setting" (or "character" or "plot point" etc. Moreover, what if I'm doing a non-fiction interview book and settings, etc. might not apply?

 

And I'd love to see Storyist help me keep all my research together, not just links. For example, one piece of research I used was the PDF of a doctoral student's thesis on Regency-era prostitution. I was thrilled when I tried to drag the PDF into the corkboard and got the "plus" icon that it would be added...only to find this:

20100321-t8428n6ebauc7bghn99x5c7t41.preview.jpg

Click for full size - Uploaded with plasq's Skitch

 

Unfortunately, it didn't actually copy a link to the PDF itself, only the name of the document carried over.

 

In the imagined new "Research" category, any type of link, image, or document could simply be dragged in and it would be a live link and top-level item. Here is a mock up from my previous Outline view request:

20100321-npwcs7uk5wmx8rcw9edysgdbmi.preview.jpg

Click for full size - Uploaded with plasq's Skitch

 

I would not expect a full media browser, etc. in Storyist, but if i drag in a PDF, I would expect a live link to open that PDF in Preview (or whatever I have as my default PDF reader). If I am doing interviews, it should let me save sound files, etc. And they should all be their own top-level item, I shouldn't need to put each one in the same Notebook entry or in multiple entries.

 

Anyway, the link issue can sort of be handled by putting everything in the same sheet, and having the storyboard view just show that single page. But that's not going to help for media that doesn't lend itself to a general "notepage" such as PDFs, audio, etc. nor is the workflow of writing everything on the same notebook page so it's accessible at once necessarily one that everyone would want to use when doing general research.

 

I'm guessing, however, I'm asking for something that would take significant time. B)

 

Thanks,

Orren

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I have another feature request related to live links in outline view. But after working on this short story (which ironically took more research than my novel) and collecting lots of different data, I realize that what would really be a godsend—as well as an amazing tool for non-fiction writers who want to use Storyist as their project writing tool—is an entire new category of data for the Project View: Research.

 

I think this boils down to a request for the ability to store links to resources that are external to the project--files on a hard drive, web URLs, etc...

 

If so, I agree. If you're a Firefox user, you might take a look at Zotero. It is a Firefox plugin for organizing research that fits well with what you are requesting.

 

-Steve

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I think this boils down to a request for the ability to store links to resources that are external to the project--files on a hard drive, web URLs, etc...

 

Yup, that pretty much covers it. :P

 

If so, I agree. If you're a Firefox user, you might take a look at Zotero. It is a Firefox plugin for organizing research that fits well with what you are requesting.

 

You know, I used to use Firefox (my wife does still), but I found that only the combination of Safari/MobileMe seamlessly shares my bookmarks between both of my Macs and my iPhone, which is very important to me. It's not perfect (it's extremely difficult to delete bookmarks this way, since they end up being re-introduced to the shared file very often) but it works well. But the downside to Safari is not nearly as many (or as cool) plug-ins.

 

Thanks,

Orren

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