You can specify how the final output will treat all of the tags you define, providing full control of text styles "in post," as opposed to being concerned with such things while pouring out words and ideas. Ulysses incorporates a system based on "tags" which allow you to write in a format similar to Markdown. Both versions have a 30-day demo available. With the educational discount, the full version will cost you €39.99 (about $58USD) and the "Core" version ( feature comparison) runs €25.99 (approx. It's designed first and foremost for structure, organization and writing flow, but allows for a wide variety of output options with an abundance of formatting options. Ulysses is a big player in this category, and has been mentioned here before. Take a look at the entry in his forums for more details. The pricing scheme is also a point of interest: it's priced at $30USD, but the author (Jerry Seeger) is willing to haggle. I'll admit that Jer's interface isn't quite as visually polished as some of the other apps I'll mention, but it's very well-planned and easy to navigate (there are a ton of keyboard shortcuts, for those of that bent). Features such as bookmarking within documents and auto-save functionality round out a very complete feature set. In addition to the margin notes, there's an additional Notes tab in the drawer which allows titled notes to be added and sorted as you write. ![]() Its myriad features also include a Database tab in the drawer for tracking elements such as People, Places, Things or any category you define. Yes, you can accomplish the same thing with a little copy/paste in a word processor, but in a piece of any significant length, the outline view is far easier to work with.Īlmost all of the applications in this category include full-screen editing, and Jer's Novel Writer is no exception. ![]() The outline is a hierarchy of Books, Parts, Sections and Blocks which you can drag around to reorder the flow of the piece. Within the editor, the blocks are indicated by alternating background colors (user-definable, like much of the interface), but in the drawer of the window they become an automatically-generated outline. As you type, you define blocks of text which don't necessarily need to be "sections," but rather any shift in concept or topic. They are perfect, though, for notes that shouldn't be seen by the reader anyway.Īnother great feature is the one which makes Jer's fit into the "structured writing" category: maneuverable text blocks. They're lost when you export, so they're not an option for providing additional information to the end reader. You can use them for reminders to yourself, references, et cetera. It has multiple versions of these notes for different types of annotations and references. The first feature you notice when you open it is the margin notes. Jer's Novel Writer is a very cool program with a ton of features. Not now Turn on Turned on Turn on Jer's Novel Writer You can disable notifications at any time in your settings menu. These do tend to cost a little more, but in many cases the available features are worth some additional expenditure. Many of these applications are geared toward writing novels and screenplays, but I find them extremely capable of putting together any piece which requires information organization. When I say "structured writing tools," I'm referring to applications which include the functionality necessary to organize and manipulate many ideas and "chunks" of information into a finished and well-organized piece. I'll highlight a few cool ways to get those notes and floating thoughts from your notepad and your brain onto papers with large A's on them. ![]() If you've never explored this category of applications, you might be surprised what the available options can do to improve your writing efficiency and lower the general anxiety involved with writing 10-page reports or lengthy creative writing assignments. TUAW's going Back to School! We'll be bringing you tips and reviews for students, parents and teachers right up until the bell rings.Ĭontinuing the Back-to-School "sub-mini-series" on writing tools, this second post covers some great tools for compiling all of your thoughts, ideas and research into cohesive, structured documents.
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