For writers who use Macs, iPhones and iPads, this is about getting more from these expensive devices -- and using brilliant writing tools in superb ways that all add up to how we can put off actually doing some writing.
Yes. There seem to be some well-received colour ebook readers out from other firms, I wouldn’t be surprised if Amazon didn’t do one in time for Christmas - and I would be very surprised if they didn’t do one some time.
@nolongerhavetowork I haven’t used this one but a colleague recommends it and I believe it can handle more than Kindle books: appleinsider.com/articles/24/07/04/boox-go-color-7-review-a-simulacra-of-the-paperback-experience/amp/
Thanks, super useful info! I think I’ll set up a writing mode, a research mode and a general work mode, with varying levels of “allowed to contact me” permissions!
It’s not working for me on my M1 Mac mini that I’ve upgrade to macOS Sequoia, but it’s still fine on Sonoma here. It’s always a little dilemma for me: I know Default Folder X will have to be updated for each new OS, but do I wait or do I dive in? That’s definitely one reason I keep the older release on my main Mac.
William, I gave up on your video at the 4:30 point, once I found out what it was about. It's not that I thought you weren't doing a fine job. It's just that you were covering a topic I am not interested in. I accept your challenge and suggest the following title for your video: "Comparison: File Management Software for MacOS". The topic I am interested in is methods for organizing / structuring folders. This is something that any of the file management softwares that you covered could implement. I listed below what I consider to be the 2 important points about this topic. If you think the topic and points are worthy, please do a video on them. Point #1 - In all my research about and personally testing organizational structure for folders, I've only identified 5 methods. They are: * By Topics (Art, Equipment / Parts, Family, Food, Investing, Medical, Politics, etc.) * By Life Roles (Business Owner, Employee, Son, Spouse, Father, Tutor, Chef, Volunteer, Etc.) * By Tiago Forte’s PARA Method (Projects, Areas, Resources, Archive) * By Type of Note (Articles, images, instructions, invoices, maps, receipts, etc.) * By Days of the Week (Monday, Tuesday, etc.) Point #2 - A good organizational structure for folder needs to adhere to the MECE requirement. MECE is a method of grouping information (like notes) so that the groups (like folders) are mutually exclusive (ME) and collectively exhaustive (CE). In other words, the groups (folders) do not overlap and nothing falls through the cracks. The MECE methodology is commonly used by consulting firms. When most people start out developing groups (folders), they aren’t likely going to conform to the MECE method. As weeks and months roll by, a person typically will add more groups (folders). At some point in time, the person has so many groups (folders), it becomes more and more of a challenge for a person to remember the structure of his/her groups (folders) and to find the group (folder) where he/she previously put a specific item (note). It is common when adding a new item (note) that it is realized that it could logically be added to more than one group (folder). This will make it even harder to remember in the future which group (folder) it was it put in. The MECE method helps to minimize, if not completely eliminate, those problems. There are, of course, many different variations of MECE folder structures. Here is one as an example. It is based on a user’s roles. * Family * Spouse * Son * Father * Brother * Worker * Full Time Job * Part-Time Job * Church Volunteer * Avocations * Genealogy Researcher * Chef * Author * Coin Collector * Investor The above structure reduces the chance that a file might be placed in more than one folder. Here a link to a video on MECE: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-hKBt0R3v7Ec.html
The notification of this on my iPhone just included the first few words, "I gave up on your video". I'm not saying I yelped... This is hugely interesting, thanks. I need to think about this. I've coped it all out and am keeping it with my 58keys plans to give it a proper ponder. Much appreciated.
I’ve tried most of them, but Fover is new to me. It has a great feature that I haven’t seen in other apps: the tracking folder. This feature provides very fast access to files, helping me clean up my desktop without much effort - I can finally see my wallpaper!
This is incredibly useful for me as well. I've been using Dropover for a while, but the tracking folder feature is so good that I'll be using both from now on. Thank you!
Interesting software. Managing documents can be a nightmare without some good tools. Perfect name, by the way, because the hidden meaning is crystal clear. It can be no accident "Anger File Management" is a rigorously complete anagram for "Mangle? Fine, rename tag." A message of hope for these modern times of file congestion. A little organization, perhaps more thoughtful tagging, and what was once primordial data puree takes form. As always, as they say, critical info for writers great and (like me) small.
Thanks. I spent weeks on this video, I then wrote it all, filmed it all, edited everything, and it was only in the last moment when RU-vid insisted I give it a title that I thought of Anger File Management. I don’t know that it even makes sense but I like it. Not as much as I like “primordial data purée”. That’s a term I wish I’d said.
I rather liked Anger File Management. Reminds me of my daughter Tanya, who, when she was at her closest to being a rebellious teen, liked to listen to what she called "anger music." Not sure I can define that, but it might be fun to listen to anger music while doing anger file management. Other terms for the same thing? I fear these are no better, but here goes. Records Management Software. File Tracking Software. Hierarchical File Storage Systems. Relational Data Storage Systems. Administrative Data Management Software. Some combination of the above? Or just stick with Anger File Management. I think I like that one. I have a folder on my computer named Oubliette. I'm sure you can figure out what I use it for. Later, ~ Michael
Great video, I knew about a couple of these but Default Folder X is a new one on me and it does look good and I'll take a serious look at it, thank you. Today I am one of the few people who uses iCloud Drive successfully on my Mac and iPad with shortcuts to tidy things up and that has worked well, but I have heard some horror stories about it when it goes wrong. As for a title.... Your Desktop Can’t Be the Junk Drawer Forever!
File. Management. Headaches. I so fail at this. Truly I was pretty good at file management on a PC. I cannot say that on a Mac. This was helpful to know there are headache remedies out there. Thank you.
As a Linux/Mac user for years: where the heck do Windows files go? /Users/username/Documents? Where? If you have a Corporate setup, they go somewhere weird. Vastly prefer ~/
That reminds me of a mug I used to have from the Royal Shakespeare Company’s shop. It just said: “Brevity. Soul. Wit.” I loved that mug, I wish I knew where I’d lost it, or I wish they’d sell them again.
I"m delighted: thanks for telling me. The Fourth Biscuit mentioned in it is coming soon, possibly the week after next, or at least not much longer than that.
Hi William, A nice video that helps explain quite a bit about the publication creation process, rather than acting as a tutorial for Affinity Publisher. I've passed a link to this video to my daughter - she's very competent with Affinity, but she's not so familiar with the practicalities of laying out a publication for human beings to read - so well done. There are a few important things that you may like to consider clarifying in future videos. I'm sure you have probably discovered these features, but they could be easily added to an edited version of this video. The first thing is using Affinity's guides option (View/Guides). This allows you to set up column guides on the master pages - just select the number of columns you want and the job is done automatically. This will remove the need to drag out a centre guide from the ruler, and eliminates having to guess the gutter width between columns. Another option is to create full width text frames and use the Columns option in the context menu at the top of the screen to add text columns within the text frame itself. I think it may be worth pointing out the text styles (TSt) tab on the right of the interface. This allows for quick styling of paragraphs of text without having to step through the publication making the adjustments manually. I'm surprised that you didn't quickly mention the baseline grid option that ensures consistent and perfectly aligned line spacing across spreads - particularly useful where you may be using different font sizes in headings and subheadings. I was also wondering why you chose to use image placeholders to create page background colours - I would have thought it better to use the rectangle tool from the shapes panel!! Anyway, just my thoughts based on my experiences of using Affinity Publisher, and my experience of publishing in general (I too worked for BBC Publications in the past - many years ago - maybe we were working there at the same time?).
Happy you showed me MindNode, as I've been looking for a tool to help me plan and be creative. Installed it, and now I love it. Using it on all my devices! Thank you!
I hope with probable futility Apple doesn't go too far with AI. The microscope didn't kill science and the metronome didn't destroy music. But the microscope didn't presume the role of scientist nor did the metronome regiment cadenzas. AI is different. It's invasive and beguiling. AI is a fine tool for searching and distilling. Creativity is my job. Please, Apple, keep the beast in strong chains. As much as I love Linux, I prefer to write in a Mac environment. I would hate to be pushed out.
I really believe that ultimately this is how it will go, that AI will become a tool we use -- and we stop thinking of it as AI, just as we don't say it's AI when our phones offer to correct the spelling of Beiderbecke.
The vehicle motion cues feature is a very cool idea, and there was a time when I would have loved to have that. Now, not so much. But before I retired, I often rode the bus to work and/or school. I had a long commute, and of course, being an amateur writer, I spent a lot of that time on my laptop computer while being bounced about by the bus. Motion sickness immediately became my biggest obstacle to getting my work done. But over time, I gradually adapted and got better at dealing with it, to the point that, now, I'm not troubled by that malady, or at least, rarely so. Wish this feature had been available back then. For various reasons I started, but didn't finish, this video several times before I finally was able to watch the whole thing. Can't say how many times Siri popped up on my phone at 03:14 in the video, when you said, "Siri," with a pause before and after. It's not a big deal and I'm not concerned about it, but in the past, you've typically said "Iris," instead. I'm curious why the change. Maybe you just forgot. Please do have Angela pop in and say hi in one of your live steams, even if only for a moment. We would love to meet her. Thanks again. Keep 'em coming.
Nuts, I did forget about Iris. And I was so pleased with myself for having thought of that. Thanks: I'll make sure I go back to it. (In iOS 18, there is a way to change the trigger name to anything you like, but it's just clunky enough and takes just longer enough to react that you quickly switch it back.) By the way, no, not amateur writer. Writer. Okay?
Thanks, William. I must admit there doesn't appear a lot that I will find handy. I'm sure I will gradually use (and take for granted) many of the changes. I would love to see a lot more attention given to Notes, rather than a few minor upgrades (an easier way to change font colour etc on the iphone or ipad). But I suspect Apple is trying to push everyone to Freeform. Pages is already pretty good so minor changes are welcome.
Trust me, I will not install them yet. Today's question, I think I saw a figure behind you briefly at one point. Will Angela ever get an onstage presence?
I have been burnt twice with CoPilot answering engineering questions. Both times were basis mathematical answers 20*0.2=40 (was one example)! So now I ask “ are you certain, please check your arithmetic.” Might be great with words, but numbers.
I write everything in Scrivener, but I find it cumbersome to transfer articles to MarsEdit which I use for posting. I'm looking for way to export from Scrivener to MarsEdit without having to reformat manually. I agree that MarsEdit is the best that I've used.
My #1 issue with Scrivener is that I always make a backup thumb drive copy at the end of the day and it’s absolutely not set up for that. Super frustrating every single day. Seems so simple… give an option for a dated backup copy which is not available in the menu and etc. WHY Would it ever do that? Try to start working from your backup copy on a thumb drive which I never keep connected to my computer in case something happens to it!
How do you make the backup? I can see a way that if you knew for certain that the document was closed and that any changes on different machines were saved, then you could use a backup app to just copy the Scrivener project whenever you insert a thumb drive. Or perhaps a thumb drive with a certain name. That might need something more, like the Keyboard Maestro Mac utility that I swear can do anything.
I suspect the issue you have with image drag and drop is browser related. At present (is supposed to change in iPadOS 18) all browsers (including Chrome) all use WebKit for iPad and that is probably the blocker as most browsers are compatible with Google Chrome aka Chromium browsers and the iPad today doesn’t support them (the Mac does but not iPad or iPhone). However when the new version of iPadOS gets released later in the year it’s supposed to allow all kinds browsers to be used and overall compatibility should then increase. However, one big benefit today for WebKit is its designed to keep battery life as a priority. So only time will tell if the new types of browsers will be as battery efficient. Hope that helps…
Okay, I don't generally watch hour-long live stream videos, but I watched this one and it was great. Will try to watch the next one, live. First Wednesday of the month, 7 pm British time? That would be 11 am where I am, I believe. I think I can manage that. Noonish, my time, would be better, but who am I to complain. 7:00 your time probably works better for you. Loved the tip about reading mode in Safari. I mostly use Google Chrome, but I use Safari for certain things; now I'll use it for this. Chrome also has a reading mode, but Safari's reading mode looks better to my eye, now that I've tried both. I enjoyed the banter very much. Yes, the sight gag was possibly the best moment of the live stream. Closer. That's great. So fun. Looking forward to the next live stream. I'll try to get Sue to watch with me. Love, Michael and Sue
Brilliant: I was meaning to ask you if you’d seen this one and if it worked better. I know I’ve sorted out some problems but I’m still concerned about image quality. Thank you about the closer gag: I think we have to credit Theresa for that.
@@WilliamGallagher Yes, William, this video was much better, technically, at least on my end. There were a few very brief (almost instantaneous) video glitches, but I did not find them distracting. And the image quality, both in terms of clarity and color, was much better than last time. And I didn’t mind the changing nature of the light from outside. Just made it more obvious that it was live, and that was a good thing. I think I mentioned that I run live stream feeds for my church’s Facebook page and RU-vid channel. I also edit produced videos for our pastor. I rely a lot on my cameras’ automatic features. We have three Sony Alpha 6400 cameras, and they work great for us, though if I were buying now, I’d probably get the A6700 for the updated features. As our budget grows, we’ll probably add a more pro style camera, but at the time, these were what we could afford. Good to hear from you. Will see you online.
Oooh, that's clever. Thanks. Just to make me feel less weak, the cordless electric screwdriver has had some problems with certain of the screws today. I'll try this.
Driven me to Windows? Heavens no! I came from Windows about 10 years ago and have never looked back. I do favor some more detailed videos showing new icons and what they do.
I can't remember this for certain, but somewhere I read that Apple Maps lies about the ETA so that you'll have time to park when you get there, Waze reroutes to always keep you moving even if it means a longer journey, and Google routes you by whoever pays it the most.
@@WilliamGallagher You are such a cynic about Google - but quite right! And Waze does seem to serve up ads encouraging me to stop off at drive thrus for a snack as I try and get to my destination.
@@WilliamGallagher That's OK. If you're in Pret, I'll just go to Emberton's Cafe, downstairs at Waterstones. They have great cakes there. Oh, and WiFi... 😁
@@WilliamGallagher That's OK. If you're in Pret, I can go to Emberton's Cafe, downstairs in Waterstones. They have excellent cakes there. Oh, and WiFi... 😁
Oh? That's great to know. I went in there a shocking number of years ago, before the more recent remodelling, and I don't remember seeing anything like that. I must try it, that would be so handy. Thanks.
Reading the comments, I've learned a few methods to solving the problem of uploading an image to a client's website. One thing I'd suggest for anytime you change devices, or a client upgrades their software, would be to do a 'dry run' a few days before an outing to work out any kinks in the system. At least for me, problem solving is so much easier with a cup of tea in my home office and the time to think through an issue. I can write under pressure, but troubleshooting is much harder with a looming deadline. I'm going to take this advice, and the upload suggestions, to work towards writing reports with photos for a future trip of my own. I think it'd be quite useful whether I'm just down the hall, or in some exotic location (right, I'm just dreaming)!
I unfortunately do that a lot with the Guild, even this week. But for this particular meeting it was especially important to be present. I'm now producing an event that came from that meeting, for instance.
Hi Again, One downside to Publisher is that it won't open Indd files .. that was a big advantage to InDesign when we needed to open all the Quark documents and it would be handy to save Publisher as Indd or IDML as trade houses will be using InDesign for many years to come.
Hi William, Thank you for your informative tutorials. Like you I have come from Pagemaker to Quark and jumped to InDesign version 1.5 because it looked better and a lot cheaper but it went up and up then went to subscription and as I needed the entire suite it was costing me $AU 87 per month but I am now basically retired and not wanting to pay that much. I bought version 1 of the Affinity suite a few years back and now ditched Adobe except for Photoshop and replaced Premiere, After Effects and Audition with the free DaVinci Resolve. Lets hope Canva don't spoil it for us.
PageMaker! I was so impressed with PageMaker back in the day. I did then become quite the Adobe fan, but just like you, the cost of it became so much that I had to look seriously at what exactly I was using it for. Pixelmator Pro replaced Photoshop for me so seamlessly that I was encouraged to look around for more.
A wonderful visit as usual. With regards to are to the photo issue there are a than full of things that may help (short of throwing salt over your shoulder, or is that blowing “pixel dust” to the wind). if the image is yours and created as a photo it likely is in HEIC (it is Apple’s witness protection program for photos, or some thing close to that) but those don’t always convert easily or properly with a drag and drop. A better path is using Preview, Photomator, or Affinity Photo to not only adjust the photo but make sure the file format is .jpeg or .png (or whatever format your client is requiring). You can drag and drop from there, use the share sheet to “copy”. But, should these not avoid the trolls who rule the world of “What the…” saving the image to you folder to a common drop folder you easily remember. Now you can open the files / folders app as a slide over and find the photo in the desired format and drag it to where you would like it. One of the practiced methods, if not a few should work well for you. Eventually turn the flow that works into a shortcut.
I am still waiting for the day when the iPad becomes useful to me. I use Scrivener, Final Draft, Pixelmator Pro, emacs, and textedit. Thank you Sir William for a great video, as always.
Thanks, William. Great to see a "real world" perspective. OK - now here comes the hard sell you have been waiting for. The new 2024 Ipad. I have an 11 inch M1 ipad with an ESR keyboard. This has been my "cart around - write on when Im out" iPad. Reason ? Weight and size (like everybody else). I also have (had) a 12 inch Pro (2017) for drawing and art. Weight wasn't a worry as it was at home only and I never took it out (again size and weight - too big and heavy). I needed to replace this one with the new 2024 13-inch Pro. Great screen and all that - which doesn't make a difference to writers. BUT - the size and weight do. This is so light ! Secondly - the size. Although it has a 13 inch screen ( great real estate for writing), the bezels are so small - it isn't much bigger than an old 11-inch pro. It was the one thing that greatly surprised me. And of course all that M4 power ( but I don't really know where you would use it.But maybe the situation you were explaining, photos and various apps open, maybe it would be noticeabale. But back to weight and size. If someone was asking for a recommendation (and money not an issue) for a portable writing machine - I would definitely recommend the 13inch over the 11. There you go - I told you, you really need one.
I cannot decide whether to thank you or not. But you've guaranteed this: I am going to go to an Apple Store to see that business of the case size not being that much bigger between the two. Wish me luck, either way: the last time I went into an Apple Store to collect something, I bought something else on the way out.
So my iPad 9th generation is what I drag with me traveling near & far, haven’t had a laptop in years. Last week I took on a family trip & those with laptops seemed to always be on the hunt for power to recharge. Not me. The battery lasts all day until I recharge it at night. While traveling I do carry a small battery brick in my pocket in case I need to charge the tablet or phone before I get back.
@@WilliamGallagher hmmm, I’ve only had a home button on iPhones & iPads & the prehistoric basic kindle without back lighting (the battery lasts for months). Only now am I getting a few USB-c port items. I know the change over will happen & I’ve tried to set up my travel kit with all 3 connectors. BTW, it all worked well on the trip. I still like to journal everyday in longhand.
