Is there a "best writing program"?

@jannert, were you aware of this? I remember you mentioning the initial drop of .rtf support as an issue...

 

Thanks for remembering.

Yes I was aware that .rtf has been restored in the new version of Pages. The new version (that comes with Sierra) has fixed that issue, and a couple others I believe—although apparently not the facing pages issue which plagues people who produce and print their own magazines (not me, fortunately.) My husband has installed Sierra on his computer, and I will be doing that shortly myself.

I understand that removing support for .rtf had something to do with Apple's disagreement with whoever owns the right to .rtf. In other words, it wasn't an oversight—which somewhat restores my faith in the app. I'm delighted. I've found work-arounds so I've stayed afloat, but it will be nice to be able to go back to .rtf again.

 

I've used pretty much every piece of software mentioned in this thread.

As for Microsoft Word, it's as useful as notepad. The only difference being is that you have more fonts on Word.

Scrivener and Final Draft 10 for me.

 

I have dabbled with Pages again, and have found some features which heightened my already high confidence in Pages and Apple considerably.

I'm a physicist, and interested in math typesetting. Pages has an equation editor -- which, incidentally, does accept LaTeX-code (which is the de-factor standard for math, despite a couple of graphical oriented equations editors out there). So I was just doing some testing (typesetting the Maxwell-equations, if you must know). As is also standard, if you typeset a single line equation, it should be centered. I expected it to be centered like it does in virtually every other WYSIWYG word processor -- like a graphic, centered around the outer edges.

It isn't! To my delight, Pages aligns the equations signs! IOW, it knows it's an equation; it knows what's relevant in it; it has been taught to recognize what's relevant; it follows the best practices standard. It's the first WYSIWYG word processor I know that does. Keep in mind that the Pages equations editor looks deceptively simple, and like an afterthought. When you open it, you just get a small empty window with two elements -- an edit field, and a preview field. Without knowing LaTeX, or MathML (the other standard of describing math objects), you would be lost. But it's not simple in the background. They took great care to program that.

It goes further. You just add an equation, and you can type the text. And the alignment and fonts match. It's a breeze to do. Something Word and Microsoft never bothered to achieve (making inline math, which is necessary to write proper math text, is a nightmare in Word, in particular to align it with the rest of the text).

 

I guess I'll always stick with the latest version of Microsoft word.

I've been using this word processing program since the day I started writing things seriously.

 

I write in iWord or TextEdit (on mac). Witing for Scrivener 3 to launch. Or I might just find plugins for TextWrangler (like fountain plugin) and use that for more than code. I like how the back end of Scrivener is built and how it loads/unloads data, and I like the idea of having a sidebar to quickly find and open something related to that story.

 

I'm currently using Open Office as it is a million times better than Word anyday! I've attempted to use Word when writing my book in the local library but its way to much hassle

 

Open Office is great, I took a PC matnince class in high school and we had that installed on all our computers rather then ähilling out for word and I~ve just used it on all my personal machines since. I also use Google Drive for most things primarily, it`s also handy with some current battery issues I`ve been having where it just goes with no warning. Google Docs autosaving feature is a little more handy than me clicking save every ten seconds.

I`ve dabbled with Scrivner in the past and I`ve liked it it`s just the price tag and lack of spare funds. Doing the free trial with Camp Nano again this year like it so far. Who knows maybe if I win and get that discount I`ll purchase it.

 

I have Scrivener, Atomic Scribbler, WaveMaker and Biblisco on my PC. Right now, I think I would place them at roughly this order of usefulness to me.

1. Atomic Scribbler - It's just a better writing environment. It integrates seamlessly with SmartEdit. For me, it's biggest drawback is the lack of templates. It's free. PC only
2. Scrivener - Frankly it's very good at planning. and conversion to an ebook format. But the writing environment -yucch! The price doesn't bother me as I come from a photography background. Any photo software that costs less than $100 is considered a bargain, and I bought it with that mind set. I hope V3 for Windows is a significant improvement.
3. Bibisco - I just got the free version last night. It's biggest draw is that it supports all 3 desktop environments. Windows, Mac, and Linux. And since I'm seriously considering a move to Linux, this interests me. I really like the layout and features. I might rate it higher for utility in a day or two. It's pretty impressive IMO.
4. WaveMaker - It's free and works on anything that can use a Chromium based browser, Even Android (Chrome), Linux (Chromium, itself), and Chromebooks. Is Chrome or Chromium available for Macs? I don't know, not a Mac guy. It saves only to Google Drive. It is very much a work in progress but I like the direction in which it is headed. It is a sort ot card-based user interface, and has a very primitive mind-mapping tool built into it.

 

@Glen Barrington I used to run Scrivener on linux, when you could just download the .deb files. Not sure it is worth the hassle now, but if you're interested:

http://wayoflinux.com/blog/scrivener-returns

 

Oh and yes, WaveMaker runs on Mac.

 

I downloaded this onto my Windows PC. First impression--I like it.

 

To answer the OP:

No.

There is a program that is best for you and your needs and way you want to work.

What works for me is several separate programs.
I use word97 for text.
And I use excel for planning and keeping records.
I have a dictionary and other reference material too. Plus online resources.

I also use 3x5 cards and a large tabletop for initial planning before moving to excel.

 

Thanks, I'm trying to mount Scrivener on my Linux Mint test bed (an aging HP Laptop) and haven't had much luck. I missed that particular link, Maybe I'll give it another go.

Atomic Scribbler is the tool I'd really like to have on Linux but I haven't figured out how to get around the .net issue that A.S. presents.

Bibisco is weird, in that it doesn't need to be installed, you just unzip the TAR file into a folder and run the . . . (whatever Linux calls the executable file). That's kind of disorienting, but it IS easy.

 

Yes, it's pretty good, I think. I particularly like how it separates the research from what Scrivener would call the 'Binder' (In A.S., the Document). That way it can share The same space as what Scrivener would call "the Inspector" (A.S. doesn't really call it anything, I guess!). Those two features, coupled with the tabbed writing environment makes referencing ideas and notes while writing, VERY easy.

 

I'm curious as to what you don't like about it. I admit that I have strange tastes in writing environments--until I switched to Scrivener I did almost all my writing in bbEdit, of all things. But, well curious.

 

I like linux, but I don't ever run Windows software. It won't work with WINE, or is that the .net issue you're talking about?

 

I suspect my post immediately above yours, goes a way to explain my preferences. With Scrivener, you ONLY see the note associated whatever you have highlighted in the Binder. With A.S., you can see one, two, or all of the notes. The AS equivalent of the inspector window also can display the Research area. Writing is just more fun than in Scrivener.

 

Atomic Scribbler uses Microsoft's .net technology, and as far as I know, there is no way to get Wine to load and run the latest .net libraries and files. At least I haven't been able to do so.

 

Ah, OK. I use the Synopsis (which you can see one-some-or-all of, in the Corkboard--or in Outline mode, if you want to use that) for continuity. However, you do view those things OR the text, not those things AND the text.

 

I tend to use Google Docs, as I can also use it on my phone, via Google Drive. I also like to use Novelist or Writer Tools on my phone, for keeping track of certain story flows or characters, places and so on.

 

Google drive is phenomenal for active collaboration. My wife and I use it to write correspondence letters and other documents since she is Cantonese and has difficulty writing proper English. I can work with her simultaneously in two different locations.

I always wanted to try collaborative writing like this. It's a pretty bizarre experience at first, but the efficiency it presents is undeniable.