Software Review - FireShot

Technically, FireShot's not software.  Well, it's not stand-alone software.  It's a FireFox add-in.

As a semi-regular blogger (for as long as I can be, at least), I often find myself blogging about things in the blogosphere or on the web.  It's not unique; I think most of us do that.  But when I'm blogging about things like weird search terms (which are some of the most popular posts I do) or doing software reviews, having tools at my disposal for the task makes it much easier, more enjoyable, and faster.

You may have noticed lately that some of my posts have included screen shots of portions of my Wordpress dashboard.  Those screen shots were taken with FireShot.

FireShot is one of those tools.  For blogging, it's amazing.  Once it's downloaded, the installer prompts you for choices.  One of which is whether to include FireShot as a context-menu item.  For the less geeky, that means when you right-click on your browser somewhere, FireShot is able to be among the choices you're presented with.  This is a cool feature, and one I use a great deal.

What happens is this: you have an icon on your browser's toolbar.  It's a big red square with an "S" in it.  There's a drop-down arrow next to the icon.   When you click on the icon, there's a list of things that FireShot can do.  Those items are Resume Editing (grayed out unless you're editing a shot), Take  Screen Shot (Entire Page) and ..., Take a Screen Shot (Visible Area) and ..., Preferences, View Demo, Write a Review, Support, Donate and About.  Most of these are self-explanatory, but some of them aren't as intuitive.

Take a Screen Shot (Entire Page) and ... does just that: it takes a shot of the entire page you're visiting.  That's great if there are multiple things you want to include in whatever you're writing, or you want the unedited content as it is, or you're showing the entire page for any reason.  Be aware, this feature will create quite a big image file in pixels, depending on the page you're visiting when you take the shot.

Take a Screen Shot (Visible Area) and ... again does just as it indicates: it takes a shot of the portion of the page visible within your browser.  The smaller your brower window, the smaller the area snapped will be.  This is the one I use the most; and from there, I do more editing still.

I won't really discuss the rest of the options.  Support is where you get tech support on the product.  About tells you about the version and such.  View Demo -- 'nuff said there.  Et cetera, et cetera.

Now, once you've captured the screen shot, you can do a few things with it.  That's the "and ..." part of the menu entries.  FireShot prompts you for the next step.  You can edit within the built-in editor (very cool), upload the image to your image storage location, save the image to your local drive, copy the image to the Windows clipboard, email the shot and open in an external editor.  Lots of choices.

The FireShot image editor lets you drag and drop the image size (don't expect the resolution to adjust, though; it gets pretty grainy very quickly), crop the image, and manipulate it just as you would in any simple image editor.  It also allows you the opportunity to upload, save or copy the image once you've done the editing, so those buttons are available too.  There's a Select button that makes choosing the portion of the shot you want a snap with either an ellipse or a rectangular call-out.  And there's a nifty Shapes button that allows you to highlight certain parts of the shot for annotation.  You can also do annotation outside the Shapes menu with the Pointer and Text buttons.  There's a Drawing button, too, which enables freehand drawing of lines, shapes and probably note-writing too.  Very slick.  While it's not Adobe Photoshop, it's a nice little image hacker, and it lets you stitch an image together cleanly and neatly, without having to get a graphic designer's degree to use the program.

I've used it on a couple of occasions, to create images of the portions of the screen I want to use in my blog post.  I capture the image, then I select the portion I'm interested in with the Selection tool of choice.  That brings up a sub-menu in the sidebar to the right of the screen, and I can crop the image there.  (You can do a lot of other things, too, including blur, invert, grayscale convert, annotate, add glow effects, fill ... nice).   Then I add the call-out shape I want and type in any text, which you can control (font and size).  I can move the call-out and the pointer will automatically be adjusted.  I like it a lot.

If you like blogging on web sites or portions of pages, FireShot's a very nice little package that makes grabbing sections or portions easy and fun.  It's simple, powerful and very light-weight.

I declare, with all the great add-ons to FireFox, we won't need to use other programs at all pretty soon.

I recommend FireShot highly to bloggers and web0philes.  It's really nifty.

Try it and see.  Let me know what you think.

-JDT-

Technorati Tags: software,reviews

Quick Update

My thing at 10:00 a.m. this morning went well, despite the hazardous driving conditions. My thanks to all of you that prayed and supported me during that time. I won’t know how it pans out, but that’s another matter all together.

As for me, I’ve been doodling around with Linux today for the most part. I’ve downloaded a bunch o’ LiveCDs and spent some time today burning them. Some of them actually failed, just DOA. I think those may have problems with the image. I’ll download it again when I can and give it a second try … maybe. They don’t give CDs away.

So far the only one that goes off without a hitch is Mandriva. Fedora worked too, but not as nicely. Nothing has detected my wireless card, either. I can’t get on the network via live CD, so hopefully the actual installation will give me a better chance to configure the Windows driver with NDISwrapper or something. I hope. I pray.

Pff. I should be writing. I’m sorry, but that’s going to have to wait until tomorrow, y’all. I hope that’s okay.

I might have new fiction by then, or I may have more Witch Hunt. I hope to edit a couple of more chapters of Ghost Hunters too.

Oh, and I’ll try and give you more detail on what happened with my Linux try-outs later this week. If I have time between all the running around and writing I’m going to do. (I’m trying to pressure myself into being productive.)

Anyway, thanks to all, and God bless.

-JDT-

Software Review - ScribeFire

Well … I was going to give you an indepth look at ScribeFire, which is a browser plug-in blogging client for FireFox. I know a lot of you are using FireFox for your browser, and it starts becoming everything a blogger, researcher and general ‘Net junkie needs when you extend it with the add-ons available to it. (Get them here.)

ScribeFire turns your browser window into a split-screen blogging client. This is really great and it’s very easy to set up. It allows you to control what’s visible in a left-hand sidebar and shows you publishing options for your blog of choice in the right-hand sidebar. When you’ve selected your publishing options (like Technorati tags and TrackBack URLs), the options can be closed, restoring the right sidebar to the default tabbed layout. This allows addition of blog accounts, displays the tags for each blog account, the posts that ScribeFire finds for it (not exhaustive), the pages for the blog if any, and has a Notes tab.

A word of caution here: The Notes feature isn’t what it would appear to be! I found out the hard and painful way, selecting a note will populate your editor window with the note’s contents, replacing whatever you’ve typed into the editor. I lost a loooooooong, well-researched and fully image-enhanced post before the one you’re reading now (it was my original review of SF) by trying out the notes feature on the fly. You can, however, save your editor screen data as a note (it will allow formatted or plain text), but I don’t know about images. And I’m not willing to experiment again, sorry. Once bitten …

Anyway, ScribeFire does a lot of neat things. It’s a pretty well-featured editor, and adding blogs is pretty straight-forward too. That’s nice. Since it’s browser-based, it’s truly cross-platform (at least, it appears to be; there is no “Windows” or “Mac” or “Linux” segregation in the installation from FireFox’s add-on site). As you can see from the link in the sentence prior, it makes links easily enough. It may look a bit odd, sitting in your browser screen taking up about half of it (a bit more in my case), but you can have it consume either the top- or bottom half, to suit your preference.

Its image-handling capabilities leave a lot to be desired. I can insert images fine, but there are no settings to control where on the page it sits, the white space around it, whether the text wraps it or not, etc. My beloved WLW still sets the unattainable standard for this feature, in my estimation, despite the claims by several other blog clients that they are as good. For blogging in text, ScribeFire seems to be strong enough. Just type and go.

I didn’t notice a performance hit by installing it. Since it’s a browser plug-in and not a full-blown installation of software, it only requires a restart of FireFox to get it going. The screen is straight-forward and easy to use. But SF really shines when it comes to blogging about an interesting site or article online. A right-click on the page of interest and a context menu will pop-up allowing your to import the text into SF. You then edit to get to your point, and publish. This is especially intriguing to people like LOML, who loves to surf the ‘Net and is occasionally interested in talking about what she’s found in her blog. News hounds will probably love it too; you can blog right there on the site without having to navigate away, either to a separate blogging client or to your blog service’s editor. That’s a boon for a lot of folks.

But, losing all my work because I selected a note in the Notes tab gave me pause. It also ticked me off no end; I’d invested probably an hour or more in writing my initial review, and had mostly good things to say. That incident showed a major weakness in the software (it’s not really a notepad as the name implies if it’s not usable apart from the editor), and gives me something negative (very negative) to point out. I’m sorry to do that, ScribeFire, but if you’re going to provide a place for notes they should be separate and distinct from the main entry. Provide a cut/paste feature to move information from notes to posts. That’d make the feature usable and, in my opinion, better. And for Pete’s sake, please put some sort of warning about the text in the editing window being replaced by the note BEFORE it happens to another unsuspecting blogger.

Overall, I like the speed and portability of ScribeFire. I think being able to blog on the fly about a site while you’re on it is a great feature. I think the flexibility of having it built into your browser is a nice idea, even if it’s not my cup of tea. It’s never going to be as cool and feature-rich as Windows Live Writer, but what is? (WLW is one that Microsoft got RIGHT.) If you can’t use WLW, or you want to be right on the web page you’re blogging about, or your system is sluggish and doesn’t handle big GUI-based programs too well, ScribeFire might be a very viable alternative for you. It’s plenty strong and capable.

Something from my perspective; my wife had a different one. Check both and decide for yourself.

-JDT-

Technorati Tags: software,reviews,blogging

Sound Off: Mac vs. PC; YOU Tell ME

Yeah, we've all seen the cute commercials with the laid back comedian and the uptight comedian bantering about how much better a Mac is than a PC.  I've been contemplating this issue literally for years, and in doing some of my homework, I have some legitimate beefs with switching that I either don't hear about from other switchers, or that don't seem to come up with other people.  So, being that I well could be the odd man out again (as is so often the case), I present to you a few issues that spring to mind in the Mac vs. PC decision.

1. First of all, a Mac is friggin' expensive.  Don't gimme a line o' crap about "What's cheaper, replacing your PC every two years and protecting it from Malware, Spyware, viruses and hackers, or buying a Mac?" either.  That's not gonna fly.  Initial outlay of capital is initial outlay of capital.  The cost of ownership isn't even a factor in this argument yet, so let's leave it alone.  Right now, the Mac costs a lot more than a PC, period.  I'd love to make the switch, really I would, but -- day-um, y'all, those prices are exorbitant.  Yes, you can get them on eBay and refurbished for less, but those still run more than an off-the-shelf PC.
   
2. Lack of standardization between the two OSs for users.  I mean to tell ya, you have zero similarity between Macs and PCs functionally.  I'm not arguing one's better than the other here; you can do that if you want, but the fact of the matter is the number of PCs in the world far, far outweigh the number of Macs in the world.  Common shortcuts are different, the naming and location of commands is different, the interfaces are different (like menus and even the three buttons at the top of the screen for applications) , the input devices -- yes, keyboards and mice -- are different.  Hell, there's not one thing except the alpha-numeric keys they seem to share in common.
   
   That's not easy to get over one way or the other.  Give the advantage to Mac users here, because they most likely have to use a PC in their workplace, so they know both.  I had one user I supported years ago tell me, "I use a PC because I have to; I use a Mac because I want to."  Have to or want to, he had the best of both worlds.  He used a PC at work (the "have to" part) and a Mac at home (the "want to").  He knew a fair amount about how to get around in both worlds.  I think this will be true for most Mac users, since most commercial places of employment aren't willing to spend the extra money on Macs to fill their cubicles.  I've never been a Mac user; PC only am I.  Therefore, I have a steep learning curve ahead of me with a Mac, and I wonder what my frustration level and stress level will be in doing that. 
   
   I'm a writer too (just ask me), so I spend a lot of time working my keyboard shortcuts and avoiding my mouse when I can.  I like my keyboard layout; I'm familiar with it and know where to find almost everything without looking.  What about a Mac?  How much trouble amd I going to have with a Mac?  I've also heard that the shortcuts aren't always consistent from one software package to another.  Any truth to that?
   
   Any recent switchers from PC to Mac, please sound off here, because I'm legitimately interested.
   
3. Shortage of USB ports.  I've read a couple of articles where users have complained that their Mac desktops only have 3 USB ports, and most Mac notebooks only have two.  Are you frickin' kidding me??  What the hell are you thinking over their, Jobs??  Get a clue!  Beef 'em up!  You're asking people to pay an arm and a leg and depending on what model they're getting a right lung too for a computer.  Put the things they need on it, jackass!!  Most PCs are coming with 4 ports on the back and at least 2 more on the front.  What's Apple's problem?  The iPhone cost them so much they can't afford USB ports on their computers?  Gimme a break.
   
4. Shortage of software.  Okay, you want to talk about the overall cost of ownership with a Mac vs. a PC?  Take a look in this category.  There's a fair amount of premium to be paid off the shelf for Mac software, and there's not a lot of it.  I go to any computer specialty retailer and I can find hundreds of titles for PC.  I go to the Mac ghetto section of the same store, and I see a couple dozen titles.  And that's only the beginning.
   
   I personally have ... obtained, let's say, thousands and thousands of dollars worth of software.  I have it, I can install it and use it on any PC I buy running Microsoft Windows (so long as it's an appropriate compatible version of the OS, which would be true for any computing platform).  But, if I switch to a Mac, all those CDs and DVDs become coasters only suitable for protecting my table top from the condensation from my Long Island Iced Tea.  I can't use it anymore, unless I'm willing to work with some sort of emulator like VMWare (EXPENSIVE) or WINE (which claims it's NOT an emulator, but also doesn't have a 100% success rate with Windows software and doesn't have the same performance capability as Windows software running natively in Windows).  To get back all the capacity I currently have, I'd have to spend thousands of dollars to replace that software, some of which are high-cost suites.  Now, total cost of ownership?  You tell me.  I don't know about the "average" user, but for me, it's no contest.  Period.  (Incidentally, this is the primary reason if not the only one preventing me from switching to Linux, too.)
   
5. Viruses and Spyware.  Mac users claim Macs are virus-proof and don't need antivirus software, but my beautiful and highly-intelligent wife read just scant months ago how a new spate of malicious code was being scripted lovingly just for the *nix crowd of OSs, including Macs.  I don't know how popular or widespread those infections are now, but give it time.  There will be no advantage to having a Mac in the security area before very long, because evil people are evil, and when Microsoft no longer presents a challenge to their abilities, they will seek others.  Mac is foremost among those challenges.  Unix-based OSs are next.  What's the advantage here, then?  I still need to get AV software, and with PCs it's readily available, even for free in some cases.
   
6. And while we're discussing cost of ownership and free, what about freeware?  I have a good supply of programs I use, which are Windows-based, and is freeware.  I can download it from their site or others and run it without any problem.  Get a Mac, and I lose free programs.  I don't have a Mac, so I've never done a search for Mac-oriented freeware, but if the difference in commercial software availability is any indication, it will be no contest.  Again, this is a hesitation point for me in switching.  What does Mac offer that is the equivalent or at least comparable to the things I'm using on my PC?  How do I find out?  I mean, besides Google.  ;)
   
7. Maintenance and repair.  I'm fully capable of diagnosing and repairing any problem I have with my PC.  I haven't had a problem yet that I couldn't find and fix.  After 12 years of technical support experience, I'd better be able to say that.  But with a Mac, despite the introduction of Intel chips, the guts of the machine are different.  How hard is it to figure out?  This is yet another learning curve; how steep of one?  Anyone who knows, sound off.  I'm sincerely interested.
   
8. Cost of hardware.  My last exposure to Mac hardware was many, many years ago.  There was absolutely no comparison in pricing.  As cost of parts plummeted for PCs, Mac hardware was both difficult to find (without going directly to Apple somehow) or difficult to afford.  The premium on their proprietary innards was so ridiculously high it just wasn't worth it.  I personally know of at least one person that gave up on Macs when his broke and he couldn't afford the replacement part.  He switched to a PC and hasn't gone back.  At least, not that I know of.  Is this still true?  Does Apple continue to shoot itself in the market foot by pricing itself out of competitive play?
   
9. I've heard a lot of good things about Macs, but their networking capabilities aren't among them.  I don't guess there's a definitive answer for this; my only experience with networking a Mac was pretty painless, but it only involved setting up a printer on a TCP/IP network so the Mac user could print while he was in the office.  What's the story with AirPort?  Is it reliable?  Do Macs come with built-in wireless cards like PCs, or do you need to add a third party one?  And if they are added, do the driver disks that come with the devices work with Mac?  Most of them will have a few generations of Windows drivers on the CDs (Win95/98, W2K, XP, maybe Vista now).  Does Mac use those drivers, or is it something completely different?  And if they don't use the standard drivers, where do you get the drivers?  If you can't get online, you can't very well download them, now can you?

Well, those are a few of the off-the-top-of-my-head thoughts regarding switching to a Mac.  Some of these are common to my concerns about switching to a Unix-based OS, too, but at least those don't run on proprietary hardware platforms.

What have you got for me, Mac world?  Answers?  I truly want to know.  I'm not planning on making this switch soon, and I can tell you that it's a shame if I'm told I have to attend some stupid workshop taught by an "Apple Genius" at an Apple store to make this happen, but if that's the truth, I want to know.  Sound off, tell me how it is.  Don't tell me how great Macs are and once I go Mac I'll never go back (for the money I'll shell out to "go Mac" I damn well better not have to go back!).  I can get that kind of "Rah-Rah" anywhere Macs are sold or used.  I want the guts, the internals, the workings of switching from a PC to a Mac.  I'm especially interested in hearing from any of you that only recently switched.

So ... whattaya got for me?

-JDT-

Technorati Tags: computers,hardware,random thoughts,software,writing

Okay ... 24 Hours and a LOT of Tears Later ...

... my computer is back up and running again.

I had a major issue that occurred when I tried to upload a post to my Wordpress blog.  I got an error stating there was a problem logging in due to an RPC-XML issue.  I'd been testing some blogging clients and wanted to do a software review of them (which never happened, by the bye), but when I tried to post, nothing.

Being a technical support person, I did what came naturally to me.  I got pissed off, then acted rashly.  I assumed the blogging clients I'd sampled created the problem, that it was a local problem to my PC, and that I had to re-do everything.  I uninstalled Windows Live Writer and the other blogging clients.  Then I "cleaned" the Windows registry.  Then I rebooted, and tried to reinstall Windows Live Writer.

And it promptly failed.

I got even pisseder.  Yes, pisseder.

So, the error messages (or lack thereof) led me on a wild goose chase that had me doing everything from trying to recover my system through the Windows System Recovery utility to contemplating creating my own registry entries to address and re-acquire my lost beloved Live Writer.  Nothing worked, however, because like any good tech support person, I wasn't prepared for a catastrophic failure.  I tried reinstalling Windows (which left all my programs and data intact, supposedly).  It didn't, of course.  I wound up trampling roughshod over my programs and settings, and one after another things started snowballing.  Somewhere around this point, my beautiful and much more intelligent wife discovered it wasn't Windows Live Writer having the problem, it was Wordpress.  They'd disabled the RPC-XML apparatus on their servers for some reason.  But by then, it was far too late.  I was on a commit path toward having to do something both drastic and unwelcome.

After about three and a half hours of wrestling with the PC, I decided it was time to reformat the drive.

That meant moving my many gigabyte data storage to my wife's computer.  That also meant having to update, patch and secure Windows all over again, just like I did when I got it.  And it meant having to reinstall, reconfigure and worst of all find all my programs.

Well, it turned out to be a good exercise.  I had a virus issue a couple of months ago that left me drained, ticked and with a PC that was ... well, less than trustworthy in some respect.  The recovery process allowed me the luxury of leaving off the things I didn't want, knew I wasn't using, couldn't use and didn't like.  In the end, I recovered about 9% of my hard drive, and only have the things I really love installed now.  The recovery process from one of my writing programs (Page Four) was more tricky than I imagined, but it finally worked, albeit differently than it said it would.  After battling it out with this thing for about 28 hours, I've got my PC back up to snuff, my Windows files and Windows Live Writer are functional, all my beloved writing software is working, and now I just need the finishing touches to make it perfect.

On the downside the Patriots lost the Super Bowl, and that was more being pissed.  I do. Not. Want. To. Talk. About. It.

It's a long, long offseason.  But my computer is fixed.

That also means I didn't get any writing done.  Neither any editing.  I'm sorry all, I'll try and get back on the horse soon, but for now, it's ... well, I have other pressing matters to address right now, so I'll take care of it when I can.  I have Chapter 5 of Witch Hunt started, and should be able to finish that pretty soon.  I'll advise as events warrant.

It's been a nightmare weekend.  Please pray that things go better for us this coming week.  We need a break in our situation really soon.

God bless.

-JDT-

Technorati Tags: life,writing,computers,random thoughts,software

Couple of Things (Random)

Boy, I tell ya -- folks sure like reading what other people think about software.  My blog receives a fair number of hits based on people searching out reviews about some software or other.  Hopefully, the few things I've jotted down here have been helpful to them in making their decision.  I try to stick to reviews of software that's specifically for writing and the writing process, because I want to be a writer if I grow up.  But, I'm not opposed to doing other types of software reviews, either.

What kind of software interests you most?  What kind of reviews do you like to see?  I made at least one friend through a review of Windows Live Writer.  You never know what's going to bring people together.  What do you want to see reviewed?  It'd have to be something I can either download a free demo of or freeware, of course, but if you have any requests, let me know.  I'm okay with doing them.

On a different note, I didn't do squat today with either editing or writing.  That's bad.  I hope to have something for you before Monday next week in terms of new fiction, and if God is willing, I'll get back on a regular posting schedule with that.  If I get enough requests for it, maybe the software reviews will be a weekly feature I can do.  If there's enough software to warrant it, of course.

Other than that, nothing new is happening.  Still dealing with our crappy, scary situation, and I'm still calling for all the prayers and PPT things you can throw our way.  Thank you one and all for all your wonderful support, for sticking by us, for being friends and loving people.  We adore you.  I hope you know that.

I'm off to try and get something accomplished.  Maybe sleep. Woo!

God bless, all.

-JDT-

Technorati Tags: random thoughts, life, work, software, reviews, writing

Miscellany and Search Terms

Well, I don't have much else to report.  My beloved and I are hammering out the plot for Witch Hunt tonight -- not just the overview, which we completed last night, but the actual nitty gritty of the phases of the story.  Once that's completed the writing will commence.  Actually, I have enough to go on now.  I could probably write at least one more installment as it is, but I may wait because I don't feel terribly inspired.

That being said, I thought a search term leading someone to my blog was interesting and thought I'd share:

how to narrative write "stephen King

Isn't that an interesting search term?  I don't know what someone would be looking for unless they wanted to find a copy or excerpt from Stephen King's On Writing, which has come up a couple of times here in my blog.

To that person searching for Mr. King and his narrative: Hey, if I knew how to write narrative like he does, I wouldn't be sitting here blogging.  I'd be collecting my royalties checks and cranking out more stuff for you to read.  Sorry I can't help, but you might enjoy my writing.  I'm not Stephen King, but then, he's not J.K. Rowling, either, so we all have our shortcomings.  If you'd like to read some of it, check out the links at the top of the page.  I have a few different things there, but Ghost Hunters and Witch Hunt are sequential, just FYI.

Okay, shameless self-promotion now behind me, check out some of these other terms:

darkroom vs jdarkroom
"like pagefour"
what happened with cartoonsmart
Noterrific review
jdarkroom vs writeroom

First off, let me address the "darkroom vs jdarkroom" person: been there, done that.  If you're using Windows, I feel DarkRoom is better.  Others, like Bryce Beattie, disagrees; he likes JDarkRoom better, although he confesses he'd like to get the source code so he can tweak it.  You can download both for free, so why don't you just try them both yourself and see which you prefer?  I did a comparison here; hope that helps ya.

For the "like pagefour" person -- there's a lot of software "like" PageFour, but I really like it.  It's a notebook setup, with pages within the notebook, so you can keep track of a lot of stuff.  I like to keep a notebook for each of the writing projects I'm working on, and make each of my chapters a new page.  It will do some nifty back up and disaster recovery steps for you, and allows you to not only save but take a "snapshot" so that your editing isn't committed to stone.  It's a nice, feature rich package that does a lot, and I use it most often for my writing.  It's also really nice journaling software, and if you'd like, you can password protect it.  Very cool.  Check out their website here for more information and current pricing.

But, for something "like" PageFour, I would recommend WriteItNow.  WriteItNow is a great package with a lot of features, including a story and character generator built in, a word processor, character tracking, event tracking, a timeline tracker, and a whole lot more.  It's really cool, and if you have the spare change, it's one of the more complete writer's software tools I've seen.  You can pay hundreds of dollars for software that even tries to get you to write a particular way (can you say "Dramatica?" -- I knew ya could), but this one will just keep everything you need in one place.  It has a bunch of features missing from PageFour, but I can't fully recommend it just because their demo doesn't let you do any saving.  It was hard to test, but check it out.

As an alternative, try looking at Liquid Story Binder XE.  Another very complete, very cool package.  You might like it.  I sure did, but again -- I couldn't do a thorough test without having to buy it.  Just as an aside on both, I probably will buy them when I can and let them decide for me which one is better.  When I do, a complete (or as complete as I can get it) review will be done right here on this blog.

Hope that helps.

For the "what happened with cartoonsmart" person: Nothing, as far as I can tell.  I went to the website (here), which looks like it's operating just fine.  If you want some really good training in making pretty complex productions from web pages to cartoons to games in Flash, check them out.  It's a great resource.  Just make sure you've got Flash enabled on your browser (DAMHIKT).

For the person seeking a "Noterrific" review -- can I suggest you try Text Tree instead, by Bryce Beattie of Baby Katie Media?  It's a powerful note and outlining software, and it will export into Noterrific if you'd like.  It's inexpensive, and very nicely done.  A clean, easy-to-understand and streamlined interface makes for an intuitive note and outlining package that is second to none, really.  Check it out; there's even a free demo.

And finally, for the individual wondering about "jdarkroom vs. writeroom" -- I can't help ya.  Sorry, I'm not a Mac user, and WriteRoom is a Mac-only product, so ... *shrug*.  Good luck with all that.

Well, y'all, I'm off to do some writing.  I hope.  I think.  That's my intent, anyway.

God bless, all!

-JDT-

Technorati Tags: reviews, software, search terms, random thoughts, writing

More Search Terms and Traffic Whoring

Well, after having a huge spike in traffic last week, I let myself drop off the blogosphere. I guess being a traffic whore just don't pay, especially when you're in an emotionally-draining situation that doesn't allow a lot of room for being funny, creative or interesting. My hit count is back to where it was before I started counting them. I'll miss you, readers.

So, I'll check the search terms that bring people to my various blogs and find interesting ones and post those from time to time. I'll try to do some software reviews, IF I can get a free copy, and I'll write fiction. Really, I will. I'm poised now to be able to complete the plotting and start outlining the course of the much-requested Witch Hunt. That looms large in my future, but I can't guarantee how often I'll post. I just want to do some writing before I forget how.

Search terms? Well, on the upside, someone did a search for List of Six, I believe, the program for managing priorities and to-do lists, written by my buddy Bryce Beattie. I did a review on it recently, which you can check out here. That's good; anything I can do to help out Bryce means a lot to me, because he's been a good friend, is one of the most generous individuals I've ever met, is a fellow writer, a father and just a plain ol' nice guy. Oh, and he writes very good software, too, so if you aren't checking out Baby Katie Media, you should. I love Text Tree, and would love to see that go mainstream production, making him wealthy. I think every writer should use it.

Anyway, here's another search term:

i darcness

Okay, not sure about that. When I do the search myself, I find ... well, myself. A lot. I named every blog I had "DarcNess", which is a play on part of my wife's name and part of my name. I spelled it with a "c" instead of the standard "k" because when I originally requested the handle "Dark Knight" it wasn't available. I got creative, and ... that's why I'm the DarcKnyt. Why the affiliation with Batman? I don't really know, honestly. I identify with the character ... a lot. He's a product of tragedy in his life ... me too. He's brooding, dark and is about a quarter of a tick from being a psychopath. Me too. He's trying to do good in a world of evil and help those overwhelmed by it. Me not so much. He's a billionaire. Me not so much. He's tall, handsome, strong and tuned to physical human perfection. Me not so much. He's got a really kick-ass car. Me not so much. He has a plane. Me not so much. He has a boat. Me not so much. He ...

All right, I guess other than being psycho and a product of pain and anguish, we don't have that much in common. Still, he's my favorite comic book character. It used to be Spider-Man when I was a lad, but now, it's the Dark Knight. Why?

Because there's nothing superhuman or supernatural about Batman except his bank account. Other than that, everything he does is done within the realms of his human capabilities. I admired that he made the most of what he could be, and I always identified with that.

I guess I'm still more in-line and in-kind with Frankenstein's monster. More on that in another post ... maybe.

So, for that individual searching for "I, DarcNess," well ... you found me. If you meant "I, Darkness" -- Google should have helped you out with that. If not, then leave me a comment and say "hey". I'd love to hear from you. :)

Have fun over your remaining weekend, everyone.

God bless,

-JDT-

Technorati Tags: life, random thoughts, search terms, software

Software Review and Strange Search Terms

In an interesting twist of fate, I noticed yesterday one of the search terms that brought someone to my blog also gave me opportunity to do another software review. I really like doing them, and you all seem to like them, so it was fortuitous for all concerned that a hapless individual was searching the Interweb yesterday for something that allows me to both help them, and give you a look at software you may or may not be familiar with. However, a caveat: This is not a comprehensive examination or test of the software in question. Just so you know, none of my reviews ever are. They're just things I found that I thought were cool, and that I thought you might like too. Okay, /disclaimer; onward.

The search term that brought the person to my blog:

what is riffling

First, let me help that person out. According to WordWeb:

rif·fle [ ríff'l ]

verb (past and past participle rif·fled, present participle rif·fling, 3rd person present singular rif·fles)

Definition:

1. transitive and intransitive verb flick through pages: to flick through the pages of a book, magazine, or newspaper, glancing casually at the contents

2. transitive verb shuffle cards: to shuffle playing cards by halving the deck, lifting the corners, and flicking the cards so that they overlap as they fall

3. intransitive verb become choppy: to become rough and choppy when passing over submerged rocks ( refers to water )
Water riffles over the rocks.

noun (plural rif·fles)

Definition:

1. quick look at book: a quick flick through the pages of a book, magazine, or newspaper

2. shuffling of cards: the shuffling of playing cards

3. U.S. submerged rocks or sandbar: an area of rocks or a sandbar lying just below the surface of the water

4. rough water: an area of rough water caused by submerged rocks or a sandbar

5. grooved part of sluice: the bottom part of a sluice that has grooves for collecting gold or other mineral particles

[Mid-18th century. < ?]

Okay, so that should take care of that. By the way, all you writer types: If you're not using WordWeb, you're missing out. It's a dictionary/thesaurus that has links to web definitions for words, it runs in the background of your system and can be used with almost any program, and best of all, it's free. There is a pro version, too, if you're interested. Check it out.

I like that it's typically stronger than the standard dictionary and thesaurus found in most programs. Sure, you can customize those, but you can do a lot of neat things with WordWeb too. It will automatically detect and use any additional dictionaries you have, so if you're writing a mystery romance about a French porn star who inadvertently sleeps with the Minister of Defense, you can use a French dictionary to look up the French words you want to use. You can also have it look over cross-references, select only a particular part of speech when a word can be more than one (like "riffling" above, both a noun and a verb), and it will automatically replace words you look up with the click of a button. Additionally, it links to any related Wikipedia articles on the word, can use Wiktionary, and has a direct link to the WordWeb dictionary online if you want more indepth analysis. It does stand alone, however, and runs locally on your computer. No Internet connection is required to use it, but it becomes more powerful if you have one available.

Since it's a tabbed layout, none of those things get in your way when you're using it, which is nice. You can also set up a keystroke look-up hotkey. Want to strike a single key to get your definitions? Just set the program up to respond to the key stroke or combination, and that's all there is to it. (Just make sure none of the programs where you'll use WordWeb are already using that combination natively.)

WordWeb's been a great help to me since I installed it, and I can't imagine writing without it now. I have it installed on both my local system and one of my flash drives, along with a lot of other portable applications, so when I travel or am away from my own computer, I can still use at least the local copy of WordWeb when I'm working. It's a boon, and something I think belongs in every writer's toolbox, unless you're still using a typewriter. Then you're on your own.

Check the WordWeb website for more details, and a free download. If you like it and are so inclined, you can also purchase the pro edition there. I'm sure you'll like it.

-JDT-

Technorati Tags: search terms, writers tools, random thoughts, reviews, software

Software Review: DarkRoom v. JDarkRoom

Someone did a search for "Darkroom vs. Jdarkroom" [sic] and it brought them to my blog.  I've reviewed and recommended both pieces of software in the last several months, and I still swear by them.  But I've not done a comparison, however precursory, of the two side by side.  I thought today, since I have nothing else to post and I'm not generally interesting, I would do a light treatment of DarkRoom in comparison to JDarkRoom and see how the two stack up to one another.

First off, both editors have their roots in WriteRoom, a black-with-text editor that does nothing but process text files, and which is exclusively for the Mac platform.  With nothing out there for Windows or other *nix platforms, some clever folks came up with some knock-offs for other platforms.  DarkRoom was thus born, and in an attempt to extend the portability to other platforms (like those *nix platforms aforementioned), some other clever duck came up with JDarkRoom.

What's the difference?  DarkRoom (hereafter referred to as DR) is a Wind0ws-based text editor, built on Microsoft technologies and utilizing Microsoft technologies in its implementation.  It's based on the .NET programming architecture and utilizes the .NET Framework within the Windows infrastructure to run.  One of the requirements of the latest build of DR is to have .NET Framework 2.0 running on your Windows machine, or to download and install it.

JDarkRoom (hereafter referred to as JDR) is a Java-based text editor.  It's built using Java, and is therefore not platform-specific.  Because the Java programming language was designed to allow programs to run without specifically targeting any operating system in general, JDR is compatible with any and all platforms running the appropriate Java environment.  This may also have to be downloaded, but it's a simple task to install it.  Once completed, JDR will run on a Unix-based machine, a Windows-based machine, or a Mac (which, technically, is also a Unix-based machine).

So, why choose one over the other?

Well, if you're a Windows user, there are certain conventions you've become used to.  Your keyboard shortcuts, for example, or being able to use your wheel mouse to scroll up and down a long page to keep reading, editing or whatever without having to use the horizontal and vertical scroll bars.  They're nice little touches that make the PC more friendly and familiar to us, and we come to depend on them.  In some cases, you don't really know how to work without those shortcuts, so being able to have them available to you is important, not just a luxury.

Enter DarkRoom.  DR allows you to use a lot of your standard keyboard shortcuts within Windows.  It also includes the familiar Windows interface in its menus and selection dialog boxes.  Since it's Microsoft-technology built, its menus and dialogs make standardized Windows menus and dialogs.  With JDR, you have to navigate through the textual menus.  That's not difficult, and when you're in them it's not like you'll be lost, but the standard, theme-based Windows look may not exist in JDR the way it does in DR.

JDR and DR both allow you to control the font and background colors in their environment.  Both have a nearly unlimited array of selections you can make in those capacities.  In DR, you get the standard Windows color selection screen when making your color choices; in JDR, you get one that's not quite as familiar but is just as easy to use.  And JDR's selection dialog presents tabs for RGB and HSB sliders.  Utilizing these, you can adjust the color infinitely to get exactly what you want.

DR and JDR both allow font selections, but here's a big difference.  In JDR, there are 5 fonts to choose from:  Bitstream Vera Sans Mono (whatever the heck that is), Courier New, Lucida Console, Lucida Sans Typewriter, Monospaced.  Remember, the purpose of this thing is to produce text, not get fancy with formatting tricks, and that includes fonts.  So those are your font choices; love 'em or leave 'em.

In DR, you have your entire compliment of standard Windows fonts to choose from.  If it's in your Fonts folder, it's available for use in DR.  That amounts to hundreds of font choices in my case.  Which, naturally, makes the decision a bit harder, but also allows me to find one that fits my mood or the piece I'm working on.  Of course, none of that information is going to be saved in the final document, because it'll be a text file with characters and nothing else.  So pick to your heart's content -- it's not going to make it into the final save regardless.

JDR allows you to configure things pretty deeply, but it doesn't allow you to set the column width.  It's a fixed width, which is easy on the eyes, and prevents you from having to jump long strings of text from one side of your monitor to the other.  It's a nice feature, but you can't control it.  DR, on the other hand, does allow you to set the column width.  You can also adjust other aspects of the page within DR.

Both allow you to see the number of words and lines used in your document.  DR includes a couple of arrows at the upper right of the screen instead of the scroll bars standard in Windows.  This means you can use your wheel mouse to roll around on the screen.  JDR now has this feature too, but it doesn't include the little scroll arrows on your screen.

JDR is a full-screen environment.   When you're in it, you're in it.  You can't see your system tray, your Start button, your desktop or anything else.  Just the editor.  It's fantastic for getting things done.   There's no IM window popping up to let you know your annoying friend from MySpace just came online and is trying to get your attention.  You don't see the clock ragging at you, telling you you're up past your bedtime.  You don't have the distraction of that stupid little animation on the web page trying to get you to click.  Nothing.

That's great for getting things done.  It is -- you can just concentrate on what you're writing and get it done.  It's a Godsend.  NaNoWriMo'ers, take note for 2008!

DR is a bit more flexible here.  It allows you to have that same, black-out type of distraction free environment, but it also permits you to make the app a separate window on your desktop like any other Windows application.  This was a cool and much-needed feature, and one I would love to see implemented in JDR.  Especially while at work, where distractions may be necessary (like your boss IM'ing you or sending you an urgent email you'd better know came).  You can normalize the window into a size that allows you to scoot it off to one side of your Windows desktop and work on things when you can, want to, etc.  Or, you can maximize it so that it takes up your whole screen, but still shows you the task bar, systray, etc.  Or, you can go full-screen, and be left distraction-free.  That's a nice touch.

And, as a bonus, in any of the window modes, DR allows you to see the menus available, so you can use the commands without having to memorize the keystroke combination(s) to call them.  In fact, I usually normalize DR when I need to do something requiring a menu command, just so I get the menu bar.  Then I put it back into full-screen mode for editing when I've finished.

I thought, and it could just be me, JDR's interface was a little crisper.  I don't know why, but the text seemed clearer, and the program seemed to respond more sharply.  DR isn't slow by any means, but it seemed to be more "blurry" for lack of a better term and it seemed the tiniest bit sluggish relative to JDR during editing.  (I could be imagining that, though, so judge for yourself.)

In the end, the decision to use one over the other came in the output file for me.  When I launched a JDR-generated file in a standard text editor (Notepad), the Java-created file included little sets of squares instead of paragraph spaces.  (This is due to the interpretation of the program of the commands and translation into characters, I'm sure -- or something equally techie and over my head.)  So, when I went to copy and paste that text file into a web-document, or my beloved Windows Live Writer, it didn't work out very well.  I ended up having to open it in some program that interpreted the little squares correctly and re-saving it, then copying and pasting into WLW for posting to the web.  This was a considerable PITA when considering how many things I was writing at the time, and JDR became a slow-down instead of a help.

With DR, I didn't have that trouble.  I saved; opened it in Notepad; there were no little squares anywhere, it was just a reproduction of what I'd produced on the screen, including paragraph breaks.  So, I started using DR instead of JDR, but I still recommend JDR to anyone and everyone interested in creating a distraction-free writing environment that lets you be alone with your thoughts and words.

JDarkRoom is available from www.codealchemists.com, and DarkRoom is available from www.they.misled.us/darkroom.  Give 'em a try -- I think you'll like them.

-JDT-

Update:  Bryce Beattie of Baby Katie Media and StoryHack has chimed in to let me know you can add more fonts to JDR.  You simply have to find the installation folder (where the program files are), and edit the jdarkroom.properties file; specifically, the line that starts with "font.choices=".

Just add in the fonts you want separated with commas but no spaces, and you can have any fonts you want available.  You could add them all if you want, but you have to know the font names to add them here.  Until and unless the source code is made available, at least.

Technorati Tags: software, reviews

List of Six - Software Review

List of Six, available from Baby Katie Media and created by Bryce Beattie, is a nifty, small program that does exactly what it says it does: keeps short (6 items or less) lists of things-t0-do in an easy to use, user friendly interface that masks the real power of the program.  It's astounding how many things you can accomplish when you keep the list of things you need to do short and sweet.  It's something I know I certainly need, and I have a feeling that when my wife tries this, she's going to be hooked.

See, my wife loves to-do lists.  She likes to keep a running task list in Microsoft Outlook, and Outlook allows her to check a box marking when the item is completed.  The problem is, Microsoft Outlook is an expensive and expansive program with a lot of nuances.  Just getting it installed is a chore.  Getting it to get it installed isn't easy either.  This is no free download from Microsoft, people, this is going to set you back enough money to buy the entire Microsoft Office suite, which is expensive, and that's a lot of disk space to eat just to have a task manager.

Sure, there are others you can use.  Many of them will be free, and dedicated just to being a task manager.  That's fine.  What Bryce has done, however, is take an idea for the software from a story written a few decades ago (when there was still a steel industry in the United States and which is provided on both the website and in the readme file) and based his software on that principle.  It works great, it's efficient, and it's so simple.  I doubt you can find another task list manager that will be as nifty.

The beauty of List of Six is that it forces you to keep the list short.  One of the things that makes my beloved sigh and procrastinate is the length of the list of things she has to do.  Her Task Manager doesn't do anything to help her prioritize the things she's staring at, either.  All of them are just tasks waiting to get done, staring out at her from the Task Manager pane with their metaphorical arms folded over their chests and tapping their tasky little toes impatiently.  All of them clamor for equal attention, and when they don't get done by the deadline they turn a nice, urgent red so that you'll see them better.

Problem is, they're lost amidst the other red items in that task list, which manages to always look like a roulette betting board.

Enter List of Six.  It's simple.  The program presents you with a text field, where you can see the items you have on your list.  It has a handful of buttons that are clearly labeled in normal, everyday English.  No cryptic terminology or jargon to figure out.  You can complete a task, add one, see the history of what you've done, and delete them as necessary from the list.  You can then print the list out so you can take it with you, which is great for those quick runs to the grocery store to pick up a few items.  Now, instead of letting yourself get all off-track and doing the aisle-surfing thing, ending up with a cartful of items instead of the four you actually wanted to get, you can take a moment, make a List of Six list and print it out to take with you.

And, if you get too ambitious and try to add more than 6 tasks to the list, you'll get this little message indicating you can only have 6 activities at a time on the list.

This'll keep you from getting overwhelmed.  Nothing's as flabbergasting and paralysis inducing as staring at a list of 300 things you need to get done before the end of the year.  This way, you put in the top six, order them according to their importance, and get them done.  Voila, no more arm-length lists of stuff to do over the weekend.

As writers, we need some help sometimes to get things moving forward.  List of Six can help us do that by helping us eat the elephant one bite at a time instead of trying to take it all in one gulp.

The program's flexible in its ability to allow you to re-order the priority of your activities, too.  Just throw your list up there as it occurs to you.  Drag the items up or down the list with the mouse to put them in a new order.  It's that easy.  If a task suddenly drops off your radar screen, delete it or re-order the list to address the new priorities.  In addition, there's a history of the activities you've finished over a specified period of time - the prior week, month, year or all time.  Cool, huh?

It's terrific, it's cheap and Bryce provides a money-back guarantee if you're not pleased with the program for any reason.  See the List of Six website for more information.  Is it worth $14 to you to be able to increase your productivity?  Even if you have a hundred things you have to do, tacking those things in groups small enough to see them all in one clear, clean screen and getting them knocked out will make you feel better about yourself.

Give it a try, and let the efficiency begin.

-JDT-

Technorati Tags: software, reviews

Another Software Review - Text Tree

There are a lot of things I like about Bryce Beattie.  He's one of the followers of my online novel, Ghost Hunters, first of all.  But beside that, he's also a talented pulp fiction writer with his own online serialization going.  He hopes to one day be published, like me, but he also has aspirations of seeing it as a major motion picture and a Broadway Musical.  (Check his site for more information on those.)

Along with producing his own weekly adventures series, Bryce is a full-on software developer and the webmaster of a lot of sites, not the least of which is BabyKatieMedia.com.  This is a site where Bryce provides software that you can download and try for free before you buy it.  I like that, but not as much as I like freeware, of course.  Still, Bryce is an honest guy, and he even made a potential book cover for me when he promoted Ghost Hunters on his site.  How much more can a guy do to pimp my story?

When I finished my story, I was looking for a piece of software to use to outline the next one.  I've recently reviewed some very cool software for writers, and I hope you caught those reviews.  But there wasn't really anything I had to easily and quickly construct an outline.  Most of them would take care of all the steps subsequent to outlining, and Liquid Story Binder XE has an outlining feature, but at the mo', I don't have the funds available as expendable capital to burn on LSBXE, or any other software for that mater.  So, what's a guy to do?

Well, knowing that Bryce had the Baby Katie Media site, I went and checked him out.  Lo and Behold, there was an outlining software he'd written, with a free trial version available for use.  Huzzah!  Just what I wanted.

Now, Bryce as a writer is sort of a disciple of Randy Ingermanson's Snowflake Method of novel writing.  That's not a bad person to emulate; a successful writer willing to share the experiences and methods that worked for him is always a valuable resource.  Essentially, the method starts very simply and builds to complexity.  That's where Bryce's software, Text Tree, comes in.

With Text Tree, you're starting with a couple of simple steps that blossom and grow, and you can do a lot of it right there in the software itself.  Expansion on the outline makes it gradually grow into a full-blown novel in fractal steps, and Text Tree facilitates that beautifully.

I wasn't sure how large the files could grow before having problems with either character counts or file size limits, but Bryce himself says that he does the outlining in this software and the actual writing in a word processor.  While Text Tree may not be your all-in-one software for writing, it certainly handles thing very well.  It allows different nodes for setting up characters, chapters, etc.  And, it has an export feature that's surprisingly rich.  It can export to RTF, text, HTML and Noterrific, which is a Pocket PC program.  That's pretty versatile.

And it's not just for novel writing, either.  Text Tree can be used to build a lot of things.  BabyKatieMedia.com was built, at least in part, with the program.  It can create FAQs, Basic FAQs (which includes some of the questions, I think), Basic Story (really cool), articles and biographies.  It even has templates for each of those kinds of documents.  Sweeeeet.

In addition, it has a scratch pad feature, which are little notes you can jot down about the project.  You can manipulate the notes in various ways and they can be saved as a separate file if you want.

It has a spell-checker, too, which can either check the entire Tree for you, or just the individual nodes.  For those of you that need that help.  Not me, of course.

The program is pretty versatile, and for $19.95, it's not going to break your bank.  In addition to the program itself, Bryce has a nice Flash tutorial on using the software on Baby Katie Media that you can check out and follow along with to get the feel for it.  Not a bad deal.

So, if you're looking for a flexible and powerful outliner, think about Text Tree.  It's worth a look.

-JDT-

Technorati Tags: software, reviews

Writing Software Reviews

It should be noted, before I begin, that I really should be writing something.  This doesn't count, and makes me feel even more unproductive than I am in reality ... maybe.  For the purpose of this review, I'm going to give my impressions of a couple of software packages, rather than actually giving you an indepth review of the functionality of the various packages presented.  After all, you can Google as well as I can, and everyone has a different way that they work.

The second thing I should tell you is that this is a long post, so you may want to find a time and place when you're comfy and have lots of nothing to do before proceeding.

That being said, I should point out that I'm a software junkie.  I love software.  I like it most when it's free, but if it's affordable -- and I'm working -- I won't let price stop me from fully immersing myself in the software.  I like to move from one software package to another and play with each of them.  I've provided a couple of tips for folks, but haven't done this in a while.  While my previous reviews were about blogging software (like Windows Live Writer).  Today, however, I'm going to try and tackle writing-specific software.

Once again, I reiterate, I will give you my impressions of the packages and not much more.  There's a reason for that, and I'll make that clear as I review (not really reviewing) the software.

Okay, disclaimer finished.  On with what we're doing.

yWriter

One of the best writer's tools out there right now is Simon Haynes' yWriter.  Simon is a published author who's putting the final touches on his fourth book.  He's also a computer programmer, and has combined these talents into a nicely functional, very capable and extremely consumer-friendly program called yWriter, now in its fourth version.

The program is free, and can be downloaded here.  You can donate to Simon to help improve the software.  I just found it impressive that he could update yWriter and do NaNoWriMo at the same time.  Incredible job, Simon!  Bravo!

The program allows you to handle books in discreet files called projects.  Within each project, you can add things like characters, locations, items.  The manuscript is broken into chapters, and the chapters are broken further into scenes.  (I wonder if it will ever be able to have chapters fit within scenes?  I don't know if that's just wrong, but I wonder.)  It's really cool, because you can then edit the scenes and add the actual content of your book in the scene editor.  Change the font if that floats your boat.  It's very cool, and one of the best things about it is that it will not only allow you to set a word count goal, it will also give you a running total on the words in the book.  It exports in a couple of different ways, and it will take your scene descriptions and other items you've entered and export them to text files, RTF files, an outline, a synopsis, or even as NaNoWriMo obfuscated  text.

Not only does it export, but it imports too.  I was finding myself spread pretty thin between updating my blogs with the new chapters, writing them in one software, having to copy them to a standard Word processor and then feed them to Live Writer to post them.  With yWriter, I can import scenes from TXT or RTF files with ease.  All I need to do then is fill in any gaps in the portions of the file you haven't filled in yet -- like the scene description, long and short, elements and characters, etc.   Very cool.

Overall, it's a really nifty piece of work.  I don't know about version 4, but previous versions (I've tried both 2 and 3) ran portably.  That is, they could be run from a USB flash drive and taken from PC to PC.  I would, for instance, create a new project at home, do some work on it, and then at lunch at work the next day I'd edit it and make changes if I had time.  I carried the project around with me on my flash drive, so it never left anything behind on my employer's equipment.  Cool.  It's a little slow running that way, but it did work.

Simon's website is SpaceJock.com; give him a look-see.  He's got a lot of other programs you can try out too.  (I'm fond of his yBook software, which lets me look over my text documents or RTF docs in a tiny little book-like format that I can adjust and play with.  It's like an eBook reader without the cost and hassle.)

Did I mention that this is free software?  You ain't gonna get a better deal than that, friend.  Try it.  If you don't like it, you're out nothing, and it's not like we all don't experiment with stories and ideas, right?  You'll like it, I think.

PageFour

 PageFour (or is it Page Four?  I can't remember) is one of the coolest writers programs I've ever used.  It's got a lot of terrific features, and it can do things I really, really like.  It's a blend of all of my favorite elements from a lot of other software packages out there, in some ways.  I used this one a lot in constructing my online novel.  It's a nice text editor, it's got a flexible environment (you can change the colors and fonts in your editor screen and such), and it allows for a nice, clean GUI that makes writing pleasant.

Like other writers' software, you can import and export to and from the file in a pretty straight-forward manner.  It's nice not to have to copy and paste everything around from one place to another.  And you can export entire notebooks, too.  Really cool.

I didn't really understand the whole "snapshot" vs. "backup" explanation, but that's not because the developer and company aren't helpful.  It's because I'm kind of slow like that.  Basically, you can take a snapshot, which is a fall-back position you can revert to if something goes wrong, or you change your mind, or you just don't like it for some reason.  The backup just ... backs up the project file, I guess.  See the website for more information on this topic.

The system is set up in little nodes called "Notebooks".  You can have any number of notebooks (once you register the software -- i.e., pay for the license), and any number of pages within the notebook.  I used the pages as chapters and the notebook was the manuscript.  Then, you can have folders within the notebook, too.  Within those folders I stored different things about the book.  For instance, I have one called "Scraps", which is where I store everything that I wasn't too sure about or wasn't going to use.

The software can do full-text searches through an entire notebook, and gives you repetitive word view capabilities.  It also allows you to get a word count for the entire notebook, which I really liked.  It's not quite as cool as Simon's package though, for one simple reason ... it's not free.  But it is cheap, and like I said, I love it.  It was worth the money to me, and I'm a junkie.

Liquid Story Binder XE

This one's tough, and the next one is too.  Here's why:

LSBXE, by Black Obelisk Software, is a nifty, all-encompassing work environment for writers.  It's not just a program to help you write, it's a program that tries to set up an environment for you to write in.  There are so many features and aspects to it, it's almost dizzying.  There are places to create outlines, checklists, chapters, notes and more.  There are associations so that you can associate files with one another.  You can even embed mood music for the portion of the piece you're working on, and you can download or import galleries of images for use with your story, poem or whatever you're writing.

It's incredible in it's complexity.  When you start the program, the example book is available to give you some idea of how to start.  You can set the workspace up to your needs and then save it so the program will look the way you want it to when you open it.  But, it is a bit intimidating at first.  When you launch LSBXE, it's a huge, blank space.  It can be hard to figure out where to start.  And if you want to try it first, you can do anything it will do, but you can't save anything.  That was sort of a problem when trying to do this review.  I don't really know how to test a piece of software that helps you create a manuscript if you can't save it and go back to it later.

Another big advantage is that this one runs pretty smoothly and quickly from a USB Flash drive.  I like that; I like that a lot.  I can carry it with me so that even if I'm not working at my computer I can work with my project.

It also exports files as RTF files, but I wasn't clear as to whether it will unify them into a single document or if you need to do that yourself.  Since the RTF format is a universal format, it can be exported to anything from MS Word to WordPad.

It's also nearly fifty dollars, which was a strong deterrent for me.  But if you really want something that you can't outgrow, at least as a writer, you owe it to yourself to check it out and see if it's something you see a use for in your work.  The rich features will enable you to accomplish a lot in one environment, and it will also let you do "in-line" notes, which are not counted in your word count and are not printed with your file.

Pretty cool.  Check it out.

WriteItNow

This one is really neat.  WriteItNow, a terrific all-in-one package, has most if not all the things you need a piece of software to do for a writer.  It has so much to it, I can't begin to tell you how useful it is.  You can do it all: create characters, write the manuscript, generate ideas and characters, track locations and events, take notes, and track submissions!  This one's amazing -- it's another complete environment, like LSBXE, but less intimidating and more user-friendly.  The GUI isn't as smooth and polished as others, but it's efficient and very easy to use.  The command set is great, and I thought the inspiration features were really helpful.

What do I mean by inspiration features?  Well, it's got these nifty little dice keys.  That is, they look like dice.  Press them, and the program offers you some random ideas from which you can generate a character, or an idea.   While you don't necessarily want to use it as it is, you can press the die key again and generate new stuff, so you can eventually either take what it's offered you or, better, you'll be inspired at least to create an idea or character or whatever of your own.

It's got a tabbed interface, so that you can go from tab to tab building on the project.  It will export to RTF, text or HTML formats, which is sweet.  And the help with tracking your submissions means you don't have to find an external software package to do that part.

Again, the 30-day, try-it-but-you-can't-save demo version is really hard to fully test.  You need to be able to save to see the whole thing in action, and the samples provided only go so far.

I love this one, and recommend it.  It's about $30, but worth every nickel.

Well, that's a lot of reviewed software; I'll stop it here.  When I have more time and come across some other stuff, I'll let you know.  Later this week, I'll review one that will help you build your novel slowly from the ground up.

Thanks for reading, and go write something.

-JDT-

Technorati Tags: software, reviews, writing

DarkRoom

Remember my post about JDarkRoom?  The one in which I told you that this was one of the most helpful tools around for just getting down to work and concentrating on your text?

Well, I also mentioned that it was based on WriteRoom, a Mac-only application doing the same thing, and was a springboard from DarkRoom, a Windows-based version of WriteRoom.  Now, I'm using DarkRoom instead of JDarkRoom (for this post only), because I wanted to tell you a couple of things about it that differentiate it from JDarkRoom.  They also, in my opinion, defeat the purpose of a full-screen, text-only program that allows you to forget the surrounding distractions usually plaguing someone using a computer, but that's going to be left to the reader to decide.

First off, if you're interested in obtaining DarkRoom, it can be had here.  Download it for free; if you like it, consider donating to the author, who's done a lot of work for us to use freely.  Okay, sermon over.

DarkRoom has some advantages and some disadvantages over JDarkRoom.  For one thing, it has a scroll bar integrated into the black screen so that you don't have to use the PgUp/PageUp and PgDn/PageDown keys to move vertically around the screen.  In addition, it has complete Windows-style menus available, so that you can do your standard FILE, EDIT, VIEW and HELP things just as with any other Windows program.

Another thing that DR can do that JDR lacks is the ability to be reduced to a window on your screen.  This is especially helpful should you need access to information in another window or program and you don't want to leave DarkRoom completely.  When you want the distraction-free mode again, press F11 and it's full-screen once more.  A nice feature which removes the task bar and all the other programs on the screen from view, as well as DarkRoom's own menu and title bar.

It allows you access to all the Windows-installed fonts your computer has to offer, too.  Some of us just don't like the monospaced, Courier-style fonts that JDarkRoom limits itself to using.  For those of you that want to use Arial, or Tahoma, or Comic Sans (hey, it could happen -- I've seen it used as the default text in emails, for pity's sake), you have the ability to do that in DR, whereas it's missing in JDR.

The color choices for DR are also vast -- it allows you to open the standard Windows color choser and define your own colors if the ones presented by default aren't to your liking.  You can apply the full range of Windows-available colors to both your font and your background, so feel free to be creative and have fun.

DR also outputs as a .txt file; while JDR outputs a file that it can read, if you want to use the file in another program it has to be named with a .txt extension.  I haven't tried .rtf, but it may work too, since JDR by default doesn't place an extension on the file name.  In addition, DarkRoom allows you to set it so that it runs in a more portable-compatible mode, so you can drop it on your USB flash drive and go with it.  You know I love that.  It allows you to choose other options for the look of the program as well as it's behavior, and that includes something called "Neutral highlighting," which implies that text which you highlight with your cursor will be automatically colored for you.  JDarkRoom allows you to choose this, and I'm sure DarkRoom does too; this option probably just overrides your choice and can make the decision easier.  No matter what font color and background colors you choose, you're highlighted text will stand out and be visible.  I guess.

There are a couple of drawbacks, however, with DarkRoom.  Of course, there were drawbacks with JDarkRoom, too, but I have to point them out.

Another handy feature is use of the standard Windows shortcuts for certain features, like SHIFT+UP (the arrow key pointing up) to move from one paragraph to another, and moving one word at a time with SHIFT+(direction key, the arrows), just as in Word or any other Windows-based editor.  I seem to recall that JDR has less of these available, but that hasn't -- and won't -- keep me from using it.

For one, the program is dependent on, and requires the installation of, the .NET framework on the PC.  A link to the download site from Microsoft is on the DarkRoom website, so do a check in your Add/Remove Programs utility in the Windows Control Panel and see if you have the .NET Framework installed.  If not, get it; DarkRoom won't work without it.

The biggest thing, though, is that DarkRoom was originally designed to be a distraction-free writing environment.  With all the bells and whistles added to the program, it almost feels like it's lost its way.  It's not that clean, small, very useful app that it probably started out being; the demand of users for more and more features led to what we have now.  It's not a full-blow word processing program, but we're getting closer.  While JDarkRoom could probably take a few tips from DarkRoom, I hope it doesn't go too far.  I hope that JDR remains a clean, uncluttered and tiny program that can do wonders for you if you just want to get some text down out of your head.

That isn't to say DarkRoom is a bad program though.  Considering it's speed and size, it's really useful.  And, it's a bit easier to use it at work for things I'm not supposed to be doing (like this blog, for instance), because I can minimize it and make it a standard sized window, making it "blend" with the other apps on my PC.  When I want to focus and get things done, I can run in FS mode and the room will go dark.

For my personal use at home, I'll probably retain JDR instead.  For one thing, the cross-platform capability means that my impending move to either Mac or a Linux-based PC.  ("Impending' is writer-ese for "when I can afford it", especially where a Mac is concerned.)

So, at any rate, if you're interested in these things, there's another option for you.  The fact that it's cross-platform makes JDR a bit more useful to me, but DarkRoom is a very well-written and documented program that has a lot of great features and can become an indispensable tool for the writer that needs to crunch words in an uninterrupted way ... without excluding the possibility of being interrupted if necessary.

-JDT-

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More Software Reviewing

As I write to you today, dear readers, I want you to know that I have sacrificed for my audience and for the sake of informational accuracy.  I have, in fact, abandoned my beloved Windows Live Writer interface in lieu of a new piece of software -- which looks like it could be pretty doggone cool, frankly -- so that I can tell you all about it and make a recommendation.

As you all know, I am a software addict, and I love to play with new things I find.  But I'm not a wealthy individual, and so cost of ownership has to be considered carefully as I indulge myself.  What that translates to, most of the time, is I go out and try to find either open-source or other software that has a freeware license.

You need to be careful with a lot of these, however.  They will install adware, malware, spyware and lots of other wares of which you may not be aware.  (I like doing that, have you noticed?)  So, getting freeware that won't bloat your system or nag you to buy it is a big benefit for me.  I avoid shareware like the plague just for those reasons, and I stay away from software that claims to be free but will constantly ask you for donations.  I don't want to be mugged by my software.

So, what's left is freeware that comes with no strings attached, is a quality, well-written program and serves a purpose I'm seeking to fulfill.

Of course, not everything that's free is good.  You really do get what you pay for sometimes.  So you need to be picky; and just because it claims to be a competitor of a major software program or suite doesn't mean that you should dump your licensing software commitments and go with something free.  You could be sorry in the long run.

As an example, I decided that, because Microsoft is tyrannical in its licensing and piracy-protection measures, that I didn't like them anymore.  I neglected, in my haste to join the open source revolution, to realize that I'd been raised, as it were, under Microsoft's benevolent hand.  I had learned to program (what little I can) under Microsoft; I'd been working in a Microsoft environment my entire IT career and beyond.  I've learned to manipulate and control the Microsoft Office suite to my own benefit, but that all entailed using Microsoft products and programming languages to do it.  I was what I joking called a "Microsoft baby", and I didn't realize how dependent on Microsoft technologies I have become.  That didn't come clear until I switched to OpenOffice.org, an open source productivity suite that claims 100% compatibility with the MS Office suite.  While the compatibility was great, there were issues with speed (especially during loading, and if you're using it on a USB flash drive it can be downright brutal) and with the macros I'd developed in MS Excel (even though OOo says it can now use and edit the MS VBA language used for macro programming).  So, that freeware, which is great and all, just isn't a permanent solution for me at the moment.  There's too big a learning curve with the macro aspect, and with all the time I've invested in learning my Microsoft programming language, I wasn't thrilled to find I'd need to learn another.  Long story short, even though it's free, and it's mostly compatible, it's not completely compatible as I define it, and it's slower and quagmires my system more.   But it is free.  (If it sounds like something you could make use of, though, you can download it from this site.)  I still use it, but I reach for my standard MS Office suite first.

Okay, okay, enough digression.  Back to the subject at hand.  Since I really don't need to do much other than word processing directly from my USB flash drive, I decided to try and find a slimmer, lighter, functional piece of software to do it with, and I wanted -- nay, I insisted -- that the package be free.  Darn it, I just don't believe in paying for my software, and I don't think you should have to, either.

In my search, I found a couple of viable alternatives that worked really, really well.  They were free, could run portably (on a USB flash drive is always what I mean when I say that), and were pretty richly featured.

The first of those packages is AbiWord.  AbiWord is a full-blown, full-featured word processor that creates documents in any number of formats.  It's completely compatible, with the documents it produces, with Microsoft Word.  It has most if not all of the major features of Word, but being able to install it portably made it really, really attractive to me.  I did some testing in a training lab full of PCs that didn't have the Office suite installed on them, but I needed to document the process.  I was able to create a document, save it in Word format and add images, complete with captions and notations, using callouts made from drawn objects, and create a table of contents, just like I would have in Word.  When I emailed it to my manager, disguised as a Word document, he didn't know I hadn't used Word for it.  Imagine his surprise when he tried to duplicate some of my experiments and document the results only to find there was no software he could use on those PCs!  HA!

AbiWord can be obtained here, and the portable version can be obtained here.  (And so can the portable OpenOffice.org suite, for that matter.)

If AbiWord can't do it for you, then you don't really need to do it.  Or if you do, you're probably a professional in a corporate environment, and have access to a productivity suite already, so there.

The second of these packages is one that I'm using right now.  Instead of typing up this long-winded and ill-conceived post in my cherished Windows Live Writer, I'm using a new (well, new to me anyway) word processor called Jarte.  (I have no idea how it's pronounced.)  Jarte, however, bills itself as a replacement for the WordPad utility (a very, very stripped down version of Word or even Microsoft Works' word processing package).  Jarte has all the features of a standard word processing suite, but has a clean, button-driven interface instead of a set of menu- and icon-bars all over the place.  Microsoft's Office 2007 has a similar look, but this one's even cleaner.  It can do all the things that most of us need it to do, but it does have a couple of quirks.  For instance, with the free version, live spell checking isn't available.  If you're a pretty confident speller, like I am, that's no big deal.  If the word is tricky enough for me to have to look it up, I can always do that ahead of time.  But it's something to be aware of, because if you make come common misspellings (typing "teh" instead of "the", for example, the feature isn't going to catch and correct that for you.  In this regard, AbiWord is superior.

The crisp, sharp GUI is fun, though, and it allows you to most other things that word processors do.  Tables, file management, font changes and formatting, paragraph formatting (though again there are limits with the free version), etc.  It can insert hyperlinks (but they didn't copy over and had to be re-created), images, objects and other items.  It allows page breaks and headers and footers.  It allows you to control the page size and margins.   And, it runs portably.  You can download a small .ZIP file and unpack it to a directory on your thumb drive, double click the EXE file and off you go.  No fancy installer needed, although it does have one available for both Windows and Mac/Linux.

If you're interested in trying Jarte, you can download it, and purchase the Plus version, from this site.

Next review, I'm going to be focusing on writer-oriented software tools, so all you writers out there watch for that.  (Of course, remember that I'm relatively far behind and you may already know about the tools I list, so ... oh well.)

See you then!
-JDT-

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