Writing software?

[John Graham]

Has anyone used CopyWrite?
http://www.bartastechnologies.com/products/copywrite/ I have been
evaluating it. It has a couple of features I like but I wonder if there
are other, similar things out there.

I imagine there are a few writers lurking out there.

Things I like:

-Version control (very easy to use)
-Full screen (much better than MS Word v.X)

I love the Full Screen mode that allows me to remove all distractions.
It's just like using my old typewriter! My Word has a full screen mode
but it is pathetic.

Thanks,
John

[John Graham]

Sorry, I should have mentioned I have read Merlin's review of Ulysses!
It looks like a sweet app, but the price (at 100 euros) is too steep
for me, unless an euro is like a lire.... :)

[Jeffrey Windsor]

I recently purchased CopyWrite after evaluation of many different
tools. It was those two features which did it for me (versioning and
full screen) . Even without the fullscreen, such a simple method of
versioning makes this software worth it's price. Ulysses is not only
overpriced, but it appears abandoned. No updates for 10 months,
whereas CW is frequently updated and has a very responsive developer
(I've asked him a number of questions and never had to wait more than
2 hours for a response.)

For me, I know I'm going to get my money's worth out of it even if it
gets only little use: thirty bucks is less than I spend on dry
cleaning. I've got a couple of creative projects going, but mostly as
a composition tool for academic projects. I plan to use it extensively
when writing my thesis.

My frustration comes from having a number of tools all of which have
too much overlap. I *could* use any one of them for most everything I
do, except they each do one thing significantly better than any other.
It leaves me sometimes confused about which tool to use for a job
that's not entirely clear cut.

My non-fiction writing toolbox today includes:
1. VoodooPad for fast capture of notes on the fly (lecture, readings, etc.)
2. DEVONthink for storage and retrieval of snippets of information
3. CopyWrite for composition
4. EndNote for citation management and bibliography construction
5. iWork Pages for final document layout

--jw

[John Graham]

I laugh when you write about the different software doing one thing
well! It's true. On my dock right now I have Word, Pages, VooDooPad
Lite, Circus Ponies Notebook, TextEdit and now perhaps CopyWrite! But
this is okay for me. I find it funny that I hardly use Word anymore!
Plain Text - the next frontier.

Thanks for your experiences.

-John

[Rob Courtney]

I've just d/l'ed CopyWrite, and it looks great!

I am a law student, though, and like most academic disciplines, our
field requires many footnotes. I know I could use (and have been using)
Word to handle this, but I was wondering if GTD'ers have systems for
handling footnotes in plaintext? I have been playing with the idea of
just inserting [ FN 1 ] into the text where I will later add a
footnote, and maintaining a separate txt of citations, but that seems
clunky. Any ideas?

[ehd]

In reply to Rob: You should try Mellel. In some ways it is a better
academic tool than Word.

In reply to John et al re: multiple tool: Me too! I have Notebook for
outlining, EndNote for citation managing, and OmniGrapple for
diagramming. And I seldom use Word. The problem I have is that though
CopyWrite is quite nice, I prefer to start with an outline and expand
it. For academic reading this seems more efficient. Has anyone tried
importing opml files into CopyWrite? Perhaps an AppleScript?

P.S. TeXShop produces beautiful output and has a low learning curve BTW.

[bashosfrog]

Once you get a grip on Mellel, it can readily satisfy most writing
demands. I find the ability to set up an outline framework and then
write directly within that outline (rather than write from an outline
I've generated elsewhere) to be invaluable. I'd like Ulysses-style
notes, but Mellel's footnoting/comment ability is so fast and
customisable that I now use this for notes.