Smart Objects

[Steakpirate]

I think it'd be cool if things like Characters, Settings and other key words were made into smart objects which (provided the name is recognizable/distinct from normal English words, at least via capitalization) were automatically recognized and link-ified (link would go to smart object page).

 

Smart Objects would be color coded in the manuscript by type (IE: characters/places/ plot points). Ideally, it would also be made easier to tag and create smart objects from the manuscript itself (via right clicking).

 

Links, color highlighting and text color of smart objects could all be hidden via the menu, and or perhaps by a simple preferences widget (this would probably be a much more organic solution, as it's more easily at hand than a menu bar, and could be auto-hidden in fullscreen mode).

 

In addition to currently available descriptive fields, from the smart object's page you could see links to places the where object appears (a small preview window would appear on mouseover, showing the paragraphs immediately surrounding that instance of the object). Smart objects would be shared between all manuscripts in the storyist file, but could be sorted into folders (as before) to reduce clutter.

 

A Toggle-able preference might allow repeatedly used proper nouns to be auto-tagged as smart objects, and put in an unknown objects folder for sorting, merging & classification.

 

Additionally, links could be created between smart objects, notebook entries, and other smart objects (IE: plotting a family tree), transforming the objects into more of a conveniently interconnected wiki.

[Steve]

Hi Steakpirate,

 

Yes, that would be great. Thanks for the request.

 

-Steve

[knyc]

Hi, I just want to chime in that this would be a tremendous feature.