Re: Org Writer's room

[Scot Becker <scot.becker@gmail.com>]

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As a now-seldom but was-daily user of Org-mode (work changed) who has long
been fascinated with Scrivener.  I think this project is a great idea.
And emacs/org seems a very fertile ground to implement it in.

Scot

On Thu, Dec 6, 2012 at 7:21 AM, Matt Price <moptop99@gmail.com> wrote:

> On Wed, Dec 5, 2012 at 7:44 PM, Alan L Tyree <alantyree@gmail.com> wrote:
> > On 06/12/12 11:22, Rasmus wrote:
> >>
> >> Andrew Hyatt <ahyatt@gmail.com> writes:
> >>
> >>> This sounds like an interesting project.  My advice is to make a few
> >>> screenshots that give people an idea what you are working towards.
> >>> Of course, they could be completely fake, but it would be helpful to
> >>> understand for people like me who haven't used Scrivener.
> >>
> >> I would also like to see this.  It sounds nice when I read your
> >> description, but I still don't fully appreciate the idea.
> >>
> >> –Rasmus
> >>
> > I'm also very interested. I haven't used Scrivener -- what features do
> you
> > see as making org a *way* better writing environment?
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Alan
> >
> > --
> > Alan L Tyree                    http://www2.austlii.edu.au/~alan
> > Tel:  04 2748 6206              sip:172385@iptel.org
> >
> >
>
> Hi Everyone,
>
> Sorry, I sent that last email off too quickly as I was realizing that
> I actually had /work/ to do while I was at work...
>
> Scrivener is a really neat program, which is designed to help writers
> organize and manage large writing problems while staying focused on
> the actual task of writing.  Like org-mode, it has pretty powerful
> tools for manipulating the structure of a text; in general it is (from
> what I can tell) way less powerful than org-mode (what isn't?) but for
> a writer that may sometimes be an advantage -- it removes
> distractions.
>
> From what I can tell (and I am not a very experienced user) one of the
> main attractions of Scrivener is the metaphors it uses to organize
> your work.  Each project is called a 'Binder'; it's where you keep
> your drafts, your notes, and any supporting materials for your
> project.  When you work on a project, you can "open up" your binder
> and look at the materials on a 2-dimensional canvas to sort through
> them.  So, it's like taking your papers out of your binder and
> spreading them out on your desk.
>
> Each element in a binder is also represented as an "index card".  On
> the front of hte index card is a title and a synopsis; on the back is
> the actual text you've been writing.
>
> In combination, these two metaphors are a really helpful way of
> thinking about your project, I think.
>
> In org-mode, it would be very difficult to replicate the
> almost-tactile feel of dragging index cards around a canvas to
> organize them.  (the .org file structure is actually probably really
> well-suited to this, but one would need to write a whole other
> program,I imagine in Javascript/HTML5, to implement the dragging).
> However, some of the cool things about the Scrivener interface *can*
> be implemented in org.
>
> Take a look at the attached screenshots.  I admire the 3-column
> layout, with an outline view in the left-hand column, metadata
> displayed on the right-hand side, and a main panel in the center which
> is used either to display index-card representations of the document
> structure, or the actual text that one intends to edit.
>
> To start with I would like to just replicate this window structure,
> because it keeps you focused on writing, while having the larger
> structure available if you feel the need to flit around a bit.  The
> third screenshot shows a semi-fake, still very primitive version of
> what I'd like to have.  (I haven't figured out a good way to do the
> metadata yet).
>
> Does this help clarify a bit?  Anyone think it's interesting?
>

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