sarajiel Posted June 3, 2012 Report Share Posted June 3, 2012 Hello Steve, First of all I'd like to thank you for bringing an app for creative writers to the iPad that is actually usable. However I think there are still some areas of improvement. I didn't buy Storyist for Mac yet, so I don't really know if my requests are supported there or if they are completely new for Storyist. Since Storyists capabilities as outliner seem to be rather weak yet (no deep hierarchies), I'd prefer to use OmniOutliner for outlining. Instead of using the RTF export feature, it would be great to use the OPML file format for data exchange (even if Storyists flattens the hierarchy), especially since I can go back and forth between the iPad, the iPhone (using CarbonFin Outliner) and my Mac (OO3 & MindMapper) as well. If I'm not mistaken Storist for Mac already has the ability to export OPML? So it seems a good idea to implement a more "lossless" way to exchange outlines both ways (import/export) between devices before the actual writing process. The other thing I noticed that confuses me a little bit is the lack of file duplication both at the project level and inside a project. For the project level it is not a big deal since one can easily export and re-import a .storyist file to iTunes to duplicate it. It's not that elegant but at least doable. However inside a project it is a major pain to duplicate files (or objects or whatever you actually call them) via iTunes. Especially if I want to duplicate a draft for versioning and revision purposes. I loose all of the notes/synopses on the index cards after the re-import of the RTF. I already tried to duplicate projects for that exact purpose, but frequent switches between two different projects take quite long, if you just want to compare alternate versions of a chapter and Storyist seems to crash after awhile, e.g. changing projects for 30+ times in a session. The third field of improvement is handling foreign languages. Most of my writing is done in German. Although my iOS devices usually are set to English language with German region (with U.S., German & Hangul keyboards), Storyist is the only App I encountered that doesn't offer German spell checking with the German keyboard. To get the correct spell checker working I have to set my iPad to German language. Sadly some of my other Apps are only babel fished to German and tend to be unusable without the English language setting. We also use the metric system in Germany, so I'm rather surprised to get values in inches, no matter what language is set. That doesn't mean that I expect a full translation of Storyist, but at least a minimum support for the regional settings and the proper keyboard. Thanks for reading my suggestions. Sarajiel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Posted June 4, 2012 Report Share Posted June 4, 2012 Hi sarajiel, Welcome to the forums. Thanks for posting. Comments below. First of all I'd like to thank you for bringing an app for creative writers to the iPad that is actually usable. However I think there are still some areas of improvement. I didn't buy Storyist for Mac yet, so I don't really know if my requests are supported there or if they are completely new for Storyist. Since Storyists capabilities as outliner seem to be rather weak yet (no deep hierarchies), I'd prefer to use OmniOutliner for outlining. Instead of using the RTF export feature, it would be great to use the OPML file format for data exchange (even if Storyists flattens the hierarchy), especially since I can go back and forth between the iPad, the iPhone (using CarbonFin Outliner) and my Mac (OO3 & MindMapper) as well. If I'm not mistaken Storist for Mac already has the ability to export OPML? So it seems a good idea to implement a more "lossless" way to exchange outlines both ways (import/export) between devices before the actual writing process. Storyist for Mac does support OPML. It could certainly be added to the iPad version if there is enough interest. The trick, especially on the iPad, is to keep bloat to a minimum, so I'd be curious to know how many people believe they would use the feature. The other thing I noticed that confuses me a little bit is the lack of file duplication both at the project level and inside a project. For the project level it is not a big deal since one can easily export and re-import a .storyist file to iTunes to duplicate it. It's not that elegant but at least doable. However inside a project it is a major pain to duplicate files (or objects or whatever you actually call them) via iTunes. Especially if I want to duplicate a draft for versioning and revision purposes. I loose all of the notes/synopses on the index cards after the re-import of the RTF. I already tried to duplicate projects for that exact purpose, but frequent switches between two different projects take quite long, if you just want to compare alternate versions of a chapter and Storyist seems to crash after awhile, e.g. changing projects for 30+ times in a session. A duplicate command would certainly be useful and is already on the list. The third field of improvement is handling foreign languages. Most of my writing is done in German. Although my iOS devices usually are set to English language with German region (with U.S., German & Hangul keyboards), Storyist is the only App I encountered that doesn't offer German spell checking with the German keyboard. To get the correct spell checker working I have to set my iPad to German language. Sadly some of my other Apps are only babel fished to German and tend to be unusable without the English language setting. We also use the metric system in Germany, so I'm rather surprised to get values in inches, no matter what language is set. That doesn't mean that I expect a full translation of Storyist, but at least a minimum support for the regional settings and the proper keyboard. Thanks for the request. I'd actually like to offer a German translation too. I'll take a look at why the units aren't displayed in metric for your region. In the mean time, you can still enter metric values (e.g. "10 cm") and Storyist will set the value correctly. Thanks for reading my suggestions. Thanks for taking the time to offer them. -Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
devinhedge Posted June 6, 2012 Report Share Posted June 6, 2012 +1 This would be a steller feature add. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stigwhistle Posted September 9, 2012 Report Share Posted September 9, 2012 +1 on OPML for iPad! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nadinbrzezinski Posted September 21, 2012 Report Share Posted September 21, 2012 Steve, it would make it more useful for non-fiction work. Says the journalist in the group. I find myself using omni outliner to outline complex news stories regularly, and ncreaingly, even short fiction.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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