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Post by KB on Nov 3, 2005 20:03:33 GMT
Hello,
In the current implementation of Scrivener, there are, by default, four root folders:
Draft Research People Places
You can rename any of these in the normal way. However, on the "to do" list is the addition of a feature whereby, when first creating your project, you will get to choose and set up the root folders. The "Draft" folder would of course remain compulsory, but others would be optional, so you could have more or less than the current set-up.
Thus, I would be grateful for suggestions for other root folders that might be useful. Please bear in mind that although most current users are using Scrivener to write fiction, I would like it to appeal to other users, too. Thus, a good would be appreciated.
To make a suggestion, please just post in this thread with the name of the suggested folder and a suggestion for its icon in brackets. For instance, the current folders would read:
Draft (pile of paper) Research (dictionary) People (head silhouette) Places (compass)
Thanks! Keith
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annik
New Member
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Post by annik on Nov 4, 2005 1:01:17 GMT
I've also been test-driving this at Uni, taking notes and so forth. I think it could *also* be a great tool for lesson planning, since you can digitally "gather" all the materials you need together into the Binder for the unit, and then create the "lessons" that comprise the unit.
Some possible root folder names for *that* purpose might include: - curriculum (scholar's cap?) -- to keep specific curriculum references relevant to my lessions
- reflections (hand mirror? quill pen?) -- for journalling how lessons went, what else I might want to consider -- (annotations might be sufficient for this ... I haven't tried yet so not certain)
- idea bank (classic piggy bank?) -- for keeping notes on adjunct ideas, possible alternate lessons for different needs, grades, etc.
And a related-yet-different feature that might be totally cool for lesson planning purposes would be to be able to hyperlink within the document. I discovered VoodooPad right around when I learned about your app, and it is the *best* thing since sliced bread for in-class notetaking, as I can hyperlink to research, handouts, etc. on the fly and find them again in no time. This is a bit TOO Wiki-like for my comfort to use for actual planning documents that require a more obvious structure. Scrivener appeals to me for unit/lesson planning because it not only contains numerous types of documents in one binder but *also* has a nice, visible tree/structure along the left.
And a completely *different* feature that I'd love for both Nano AND unit planning would to be able to do Gantt-charting in the doc. I can be a very visual person and Gantt charts make my life much simpler to determine whether things actually all fit together. For a teacher, this is helpful in planning lesson and unit timelines. For a writer, this is helpful in creating story timelines, character introductions/executions ;-) , story arcs, etc.
I'll continue to think on this topic. :-)
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amberv
Junior Member
Posts: 99
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Post by amberv on Nov 4, 2005 17:12:15 GMT
Plot Threads (three multi-coloured arrows, the right one curving out)
I am really finding a need for something like this right now. Basically my story has nine major plot threads that are interwoven. I could just use labels to denote where they are, but that is not very handy for me, because while I like to see how they will be interwoven in the Draft, I also would really like to see how they stand up by themselves. So I could read a plot thread from end to end in this view, and then in the draft, I could see how it will look chopped up and synchronised chronologically/thematically with the other plot threads.
So, this really calls for another feature which is related to this discussion, so I will post it here. The issue is synchronisation, and the resolution is cloning, or aliases. Something like Hog Bay or TAO clones would be fantastic, where if you make a clone of a document, you can edit either copy and both copies are updated (because they really only reference the one document). If you delete the old one, the new version becomes the only version. This is opposed to the alias system, where there is a root object and aliases are all shortcuts that point to it. Deleting the root object renders the aliases headless.
So, then you could drag clones from the draft, into the plot thread section and read/edit them linearly (or the other way around if you prefer to write and then dice).
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Post by KB on Nov 4, 2005 18:45:47 GMT
Thanks for the folder suggestions.
I'm not so sure about the "aliases" idea. I'll admit firstly that it would be difficult to implement because the way Scrivener is set up is based on the premise of each document being unique. Difficult, but not impossible. However, I'm also unsure of whether I like the idea of the clutter this could cause - lots of cloned documents all over the place. I'm also not sure how useful they would be. I don't quite understand why you want a cloned document from the draft under "Plot threads". Surely you would just want notes on the plot threads under "Plot threads", rather than actual chapters or scenes? Either that, or the labels should surely help here:
If you have a label for each plot thread, why can't you just sort the table by label? (Perhaps what is really missing here is the ability to filter by label...)
Maybe you should start a separate thread on this if you feel strongly about it, though... Thanks, Keith
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amberv
Junior Member
Posts: 99
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Post by amberv on Nov 4, 2005 22:12:53 GMT
If there were a way to filter a search by label and populate the table with all documents from that label, that would be pretty much what I need. Perhaps I am not explaining myself well enough. If your draft narrative is:
Scene A: Thread A Scene A: Thread B Scene A: Thread C Scene B: Thread B Scene B: Thread C Scene C: Thread B Scene B: Thread A
...and so forth, it becomes difficult to proof "Thread A" beceause it is embedded in the chapter narrative order.
So if I could do a label search for "Thread A" and have the table fill up with those, sorted by draft order, that would do the trick. I hope that makes more sense. Sorry for inadvertantly hijaacking this topic.
To bring it back: Events (Lightning bolt) I think I mentioned this in another thread a while back, but it would be nice to have a top-level for Events of significance.
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dunx
Junior Member
Posts: 66
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Post by dunx on Nov 5, 2005 0:52:51 GMT
Could we just create arbitrary root folders? Selecting an image would be nice, but if there are very specific requirements on the image format by no means necessary.
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janra
New Member
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Post by janra on Nov 5, 2005 2:51:38 GMT
I think I mentioned this in another thread a while back, but it would be nice to have a top-level for Events of significance. Events - a time-line style thing? (I guess time lines would be a lot of work, but I've been playing with TimeLiner - it's actually educational software, but it's been a useful tool for my writing... somebody else mentioned a gantt chart, which is also a timeline sort of thing.)
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Post by KB on Nov 5, 2005 10:00:52 GMT
It's highly unlikely that timelines are going to make it into Scrivener any time soon. The beta is all about refining the current feature set - anything else would just mean that it never gets a release. I may consider them for 2.0. Sort of - but it won't work in the same way that you create other folders. This is because root folders have a special significance; you can't move them around, drag or delete them.
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janra
New Member
Posts: 41
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Post by janra on Nov 5, 2005 16:06:57 GMT
I figured timelines would be too much work for this release. :-)
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dunx
Junior Member
Posts: 66
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Post by dunx on Nov 5, 2005 23:06:04 GMT
Good news. I think some flexibility in this area is good.
One of the many things I like about Scrivener is that you can see the contents of multiple folders at once. Avenir has a similar concept but they are tabs and so you cannot mix (say) characters and places.
The only thing which Scrivener's folder structure is missing in comparison to Avenir's tabs is the configurability. So, very happy about this.
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amberv
Junior Member
Posts: 99
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Post by amberv on Nov 6, 2005 1:17:31 GMT
Yes, another vote for ultimate configurability. A handful of presets with nice icons selected and such would be nice, especially collections of presets for novels, short story collections, non-fiction, et cetera. But the user should always be able to set up however many and whichever selection of preset and created root folders they want.
I do think that in the long run (definately version two) there should be a second mandatory root level that is for collections. Dynamically created special documents with statistics and hyperlinks, such as all your annotations; bibliography citations; project progress; word index/usage count; and all of that stuff tucked into menus that you have. It would be neat to have them accessed in one place that is known to be "dynamic information about your project."
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dunx
Junior Member
Posts: 66
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Post by dunx on Nov 9, 2005 4:31:49 GMT
Not really related to the discussion of root folders to add, but why is the Group/Ungroup menu item there on the root folder context menu?
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Post by KB on Nov 9, 2005 7:05:39 GMT
That's already fixed for the next beta. Whatever you do, DO NOT USE IT. It will destroy your project - major bug. Unfortunately the next beta has been held up by the fact that I cannot reproduce the word counting bug no matter what I try (even though some of my documents suffer from it)... I may have to release without that fixed for now. Ugh.
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dunx
Junior Member
Posts: 66
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Post by dunx on Nov 10, 2005 2:58:28 GMT
Oh, I remember the discussion now.
Thanks for the extra warning, though.
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rayz
New Member
Posts: 26
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Post by rayz on Nov 17, 2005 23:25:25 GMT
Well, I would like a 'things' folders. Which covers stuff like equipment and gadgets. I like Science-Fiction you see ... :-)
But I agree that the ability to create and rename root level folders would be great, especially if you can attach icons to them.
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