Posts Tagged
writing
Since the start of 2013, I’ve been on the journaling bandwagon, and I’ve been on the lookout for the perfect journal app. I’m not of the feeling that one app is going to suit everyone, though, or even fulfill all my needs. With daily questions to encourage more thoughtful journaling and even more questions to download, I decided to give Roller Journal a go. Will the gimmick get old or will Roller Journal win a space on my home screen? (more…)
Last month, I reviewed Final Draft Writer for iPad. I thought it was a great application that was creating a new standard for Hollywood screenwriters on the go — it lets them write screenplays on the go in an app almost exactly like what they already used on their computers, while still getting an experience optimized for the unique interface of the iPad. If you want to write screenplays, that’s the app for you.
Final Draft Reader (FDR) is different. Before Final Draft Writer was released, FDR was a pricey app that only let you do two things: read screenplays written in the Final Draft file format and add notes to them. Now, it’s a universal app for both the iPad and iPhone (and it’s optimized for the iPhone 5, too), the bugs have been ironed out and the price has been dropped down to a cool five-finger discount. And if all you need is a competent script reader on the go, the value here is tremendous. (more…)
It’s no secret that I’m a big Google fan. I like using all of the tools they have to offer, including email, calendar, RSS reader, operating systems and of-course, cloud storage. When Google first announced and released Google Drive for Android and a little later for iOS, I was really excited — only to find out that while I could edit files on my Galaxy Nexus, I could only view them on my iPad. Well some time has gone by since then, and Google has made improvements to it’s iOS app. Let’s see how they stack up! (more…)
As a writer with an easily distracted brain, I like to keep my process as simple as possible to avoid interrupting the creative flow. However, as a proponent of the traditional pen and paper approach to writing, carrying a plethora of notebooks and keeping them organised can be a nightmare. Consequentially, I am always on the lookout for ways to streamline the process in order to make writing that little bit easier — Writing App may well be the perfect solution.
Designed specifically for authors, Writing App combines useful research tools with the ability to use the app like a text editor. By incorporating both stages of the creative process together in one app, organisation quickly becomes a non-issue as all of your work is held in one location. All writers know that in order to produce your best work, your mind must be focused and clear to allow the creative juices to flow; Writing App does not claim to boost your creativity, but it may well be a boon to your productivity. Stick around after the break to find out more! (more…)
Unlike the vast majority of professions, Writing requires no qualifications of its purveyors — anybody can be one. The boundless level of expression afforded to authors of any genre is unmatched by any other art form. A level of expression limited not by talent or ability, but only by the imagination of the craftsman. It has been said that writing itself is not difficult, but rather the difficulty arises with forming good ideas.
Authors cannot be taught how to be creative or imaginative; it is for themselves to coax ideas out of their minds. What can be encouraged, however, is the development of those oh-so-rare seedlings of invention into fully rooted bougainvillea. Writers App isn’t designed to boost imagination, but it does provide the tools needed to help cultivate your ideas into flourishing works of literature. Intrigued? Let’s find out more. (more…)
I read a statistic once that said that WordPress powers over 22% of all new websites, worldwide. Wow. That’s a staggering amount of data, and yet the platform that many bloggers know and love is still going strong after years in the business. I’ve been using it on my personal site for years, and we use it here at AppStorm, too. It’s about as solid as you can get.
Problem is, the WordPress app for the iPad has historically not been very good, turning off quite a few users. But now, we have Poster, an app that promises to make the process of writing and publishing blog posts to your WordPress site much easier. Does it hold up, or is it just another flash in the pan? Let’s discover together. (more…)
I’ve been writing screenplays for a couple of years now, and the biggest disappointment I had with my iPad was the fact that I could never find a great way to write screenplays with it. And it’s not that I’m too picky, it’s more like Hollywood is very particular about the script formats they will accept. I’ve tried just about every solution under the sun — there are at least seven different apps on my iPad that I attempted to write screenplays with — but until recently, there was no solution that simply worked the way it should have.
Enter Final Draft Writer for iPad. For the uninitiated, Final Draft is the film industry’s accepted writing standard for computers. Not unlike Microsoft Word for many professional writers, every screenwriter that makes a living in LA uses it and has a love-hate relationship with it at the same time. It also has its own proprietary file extension (.fdx) that makes it very difficult to use anything other than Final Draft for screenwriting. The people behind Final Draft have been promising an iPad app for a long time, and with one reviled exception, failed to provide. Now it’s finally here, and there’s only one question on every screenwriter’s mind: was it worth the wait? (more…)
When it comes to note taking and writing apps, it seems like there are a million different options to choose from, all of them with their own little perks and quirks. One popular option for the iPhone was Drafts, a “simple,” yet very usable app that made it quick and easy to do whatever you wanted with your text. Unfortunately, it wasn’t available for the iPad. Not until now.
Today, Drafts for the iPad is brand new and it’s got a ton of new features. How good is it? Well I’m using it to write this very review right now, so let’s find out together after the jump. (more…)
When I first purchased my new iPad, I hoped that it would finally drop the bane of having to carry my laptop around with me on long trips just so I could do a bit of writing, and although there is a great choice of writing apps available for the iPad, I found it difficult to find one that would allow me to post directly to my blog. Then Posts came along, and how I blogged on my iPad was changed forever. (more…)
From time to time, software can surprise us. Once meant only as a tool, software can take us places we never dreamed, and help us do things in ways we never thought possible. But in some cases, software does even more than accomplish; sometimes software is simply beautiful.
Paper is beautiful software, created to give us something we lost when we moved from notebooks to tablets. The design and function of Paper is unlike any iPad app experience I’ve yet had, giving back so much of what I remember from years of filling up Moleskine journals. To see what beautiful software like Paper can do, read on past the break!
