Pseudographia

The last few of weeks have seen the release of Scrivener for iOS, by Literature and Latte, and a long-awaited update to Ulysses by The Soulmen.

Long ago, when I barely had the money to spend on a meal out, I made the decision to spend the little extra I had on Scrivener for Mac. It changed my life. Well, it at least improved it significantly.

I was a college student used to the Microsoft Word shuffle. Every time I wrote, the challenges of formatting and arranging the paper took an inordinate amount of time. Scrivener allowed me to plan and write efficiently: my undergraduate thesis on environmentalism in American literature, my first novel which allowed me to earn my master’s degree, the draft for my second novel, and the short stories and articles that composed my websites.

The fundamental elements of Scrivener, then and now, are key for many people writing long-form works (novels, dissertations, films) and collections. A Scrivener project is a unified directory containing chapters or sections, notes, and additional resources such as images, PDFs, web pages, and other files. It has a beautiful focus view, keywords, writing targets, and much more.

But the standout feature for me with Scrivener is the ability to view the same documents in writing, outline, and cork board/notecard view. No note-taking or outline app that I’ve tried is as powerful in this way. It allows you to quickly switch between writing, viewing the structure, and arranging sections. The outline view even includes the notes, keywords, and targets that you’ve attached to chapters. Changes in one view (moving a scene in the corkboard view) are reflected in the other views (the move is reflected in the outline view).

The iOS version of Scrivener brings these features to iPhones and iPads. Now, you can work with your Scrivener projects across Mac, iPhone, and iPad. But don’t expect to do so in the way you are used to with other Apple-ecosystem cross-platform apps: there is no iCloud and there is no automatic sync. Windows and Linux compatibility, the complex nature of the Scrivener project file format, and iCloud’s standard behavior (auto-saving amongst other things) makes Scrivener and iCloud a poor fit for each other (read more about it in this blog post from the Scrivener team). To work across multiple devices, Scrivener relies on manual syncing through Dropbox. And while this would have been a godsend when their iOS development was first mentioned years ago, it seems anachronistic now. I am constantly working across different devices, so I’m not sure that the merge conflicts saved by using Dropbox would outweigh those caused by requiring a manual sync process.

That’s not the only drawback to Scrivener’s complexity. While I have tended to use Scrivener as a text editor and not a word processor, there is still some of the complexity of font selection and formatting there. Scrivener can display and export text in some pretty amazing ways (e.g. combined drafts in ePUB, PDF, .doc, and more), but those take either finding the right template or fiddling with settings for quite some time. The user interface is a bit busy, and the settings are still a bit confusing, more akin to Word for Windows than contemporary iOS apps.

A few years ago, after moving to an iPad for much of my fiction writing, and trying out WriteRoom and Byword for their cross-platform ease, I decided to stop waiting for Scrivener for iOS and try Ulysses. Ulysses had just added its own iPad app, and it was just what I was looking for in my writing at the time (mostly short stories and blog posts). Since then, The Soulmen have extended the iOS version to the iPhone.

Cross-device compatibility in Ulysses is amazing. And the syncing just works over iCloud (or Dropbox if that’s your choice) unless I’m editing a document on two devices at the same time (a mistake I’ve only made a couple of times). Updated text is auto-saved and quickly makes its way to all devices. If you tried Ulysses in the early days of multiple device support and found it slow, you may want to try again—it’s made great strides.

Ulysses is text editor with the option of using Markdown or Textile formatting (a way to show styles for text, notes, and links using regular characters like asterisks and parentheses), which makes it easier for me to focus on the writing and not the layout or presentation. Whereas Scrivener gives you a project view by default, the basic use of Ulysses is a screen with text, and optionally some statistics and a list of texts to choose from. While Ulysses saves each sheet of writing as a file, you don’t name files or view them in a “finder”. Each sheet is shown as a preview of its title and the first few lines of text.

Coming from Scrivener, Ulysses can seem downright spare. There’s not a comparable outline view or note card view. You can approximate an outline in how you group sheets, but it’s not nearly as powerful for the purpose of outlining. There are keywords, goals, and attachments, but they’re available per sheet and not per projects (update: goals are available to groups¹). Speaking of, you can group sheets into folders and sub-folders, but there isn’t a comparable idea of a project in Ulysses. Luckily, you can still see the content of sheets grouped within a directory or using a keyword or tag and edit them together in the editing pane. You can also combine or split sheets easily.

Scrivener does offer some output options for html, ePub, PDFs, and doc files, but they are not the stars of the show. I would be even less likely to create an ePub version of a book from Ulysses than Scrivener (Calibre has been my favorite choice for creating e-books in ePub and MOBI). The newest version adds output to WordPress websites (both .com and self-hosted). Publishing to WordPress is a killer feature for me, especially on iOS where publishing to WordPress has been complicated and frustrating. The allows me to skip a large manual process and focus on the writing.

Ulysses is about writing quickly and without distraction. Where Scrivener is like a software development environment but for writers instead of programmers, Ulysses is like a souped-up typewriter, especially when combined with an external keyboard.

Many writers swear by Scrivener, and for good reasons. Keeping planning, notes, goals, and writing together can save mental energy otherwise spent on managing resources. Scrivener for iOS also has a nice, clean look that I hope Literature and Latte ports to their Mac version (and maybe adapt for Windows and Linux).

For me, however, I like the simpler environment that Ulysses provides, as well as the flexibility to work on whichever device feels best for the task or that I have on me at the moment without worrying that I don’t have the last additions or edits.

With iPad multitasking, I’m also not concerned about putting an outline from OmniOutliner or a mind map from MindNode off to the side when needed (both apps also sync across Mac and iOS automatically). I’ve found having multiple simple tools to not be as much of a struggle in iOS.

I wouldn’t recommend keeping projects in Scrivener and Ulysses for the long term, but I would recommend trying both of them out and seeing which fits your writing style best. Cross-platform compatibility and syncing make it easy to write in the most convenient and effective way at any given time. It also makes it easier to adopt iOS as a primary writing platform².

With these releases, long-form writing tools on iOS have grown up. Scrivener and Ulysses for iOS have caught up if not surpassed their desktop counterparts.

1. https://twitter.com/ulyssesapp/status/766597088914399232↩
2. MindNode, Ulysses and GoodNotes for iOS, the iPad Pro, Pencil, and an external keyboard have allowed me to create a paperless writing process that I can carry with me almost everywhere. It’s powerful to be able to generate ideas, write, and edit at almost anywhere and at any time. ↩

I’ve been using my iPad as my daily driver for the last few months, first my Mini, then the 12.9-inch iPad Pro I purchased after the release of the 9.7-inch Pro.

I’ve been on the lookout for a replacement for my 2009 MacBook Pro 13-inch for a couple of years now. I first thought it would be the 12-inch MacBook for the portability and power of OS X. But it seems like a computer built for last year rather than next year. I’m fine with one port, but I would have preferred Thunderbolt 3. And though I don’t have a 4K monitor, I would like the ability to run one at 60Hz if I’m going to keep a computer for another 5 years.

The iPad Pro intrigued me when it was first released, but it seemed too large, and the software didn’t seem to differentiate it from the smaller iPads.

But a lot changed in my workflow in the intervening time. I used my iPad Mini more and more for writing because it was much easier to take with me to work and the coffeeshop, especially in addition to my work computer. An 4.5 pound computer isn’t much on its own, but it’s considerable as extra weight. My iPad and keyboard were about 1 pound combined. I kept them with me in my bag.

And, despite a more active writing schedule, I wasn’t actually using my laptop as much, even at home.

Occasionally, I would pull my laptop out for paying bills. And I only did that because that’s where my passwords are stored. I created most of my accounts before I could sync them across devices, before there were even devices available to sync across. And while I do update passwords, inertia has kept them on my laptop.

The iPad Pro is able to take over almost every function of my laptop. Passwords and setting up my website are the last two reasons to use my laptop for me. And, I’m looking at other options, such as 1Password for my passwords. I’ve just done some maintenance on my website, so it can probably last for another 6 months to a year without further need of FTP or command-line work.

The iPad makes for a great writing environment, as good as a laptop. And it’s an even better editing environment, with the ability to write directly on documents using the Apple Pencil. I am able to replace my paper-based revision and editing process, and able to keep more notes in reach without having to carry extra paper, folders, and notebooks around. When updating my stories and articles, my marked-up document sits comfortably beside my text editor on the 12.9-inch screen.

The iPad Pro and iOS can’t do everything an desktop-OS computer can, but it can do enough for now. I’ll be handing my laptop to my wife to replace her white MacBook soon. And I’ll keep a bootable backup on hand in case I need to reach any data (thanks SuperDuper!). If I need a desktop computer in the future, I’ll get one. But, since we’re almost there with mobile-first hardware and operating systems, maybe we’ll actually get there first.