Authors, Would A Clean Full Page Text Editor Be Useful?

[Manu]

We are curious how many Lit Authors would use a full screen "clean" text editor for writing stories.

We know that many Lit authors upload Microsoft Word files or copy paste text into the existing text editor. For those of you that actually write in the browser, would having a clean full page editor be better for you than the current smaller text editor?

If you have any thoughts on this idea, please do comment and let me know.

Thank you!

 

[Hypoxia]

If you have any thoughts on this idea, please do comment and let me know.

Such would do me no good.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

It would be nice just to make some changes after you preview it and find some things that went wonky. Although you can do that in the submission text box it would be nice to be able to do finds and so forth.

Not that I would use it to create a story.

It would be nice to edit already published stories, instead of having to resubmit them. I realize that they would have to go through a vetting process, but to be able to edit in place would be so cool.

 

[Bramblethorn]

One that came with buttons for HTML coding etc. would be handy especially for new writers. We often get people asking on AH "how do I put italics in my stories?" etc. - if they can just click a button that adds the <i></i> in the text editor, that makes life easier for everybody.

 

[MindsMirror]

Interface

If you're working on tools for authors, we much prefer:
1. Trending of statistics on stories
2. A way to format the numbers to be bigger now that the old interface is gone.
3. Removal of unnecessary information like "Published" png when on https://www.literotica.com/my/#/works/stories/published
4. Sorting by Votes
...

 

[gordo12]

Speaking for myself I'm great with uploading .doc files. Works just fine for me. but I have a full blown desktop so it's easier than tablets or phones.

I would be far more interested in seeing the stats beefed up. Seeing the number of 5, 4, 3 votes etc would be of interest rather than just the blended average.

Furthest page read would be good.

Also would love to see a 1, 2, 3, 3.5, 4, 4.5, 5 vote system. It gets mentioned a lot when readers vote. I think a lot of readers see a great story but not perfection and vote 4 rather than a five because it's not perfect.

That can drag averages down even though they're trying to compliment the story.

Just some ideas

 

[Handley_Page]

Every now and again, some would-be author asks about Text or Word processing.
I reckon that if the editing tool is installed, it would be easier for a great many people who have, so far, found 'other ways' to do it.
It might cat on slowly, but I think it would catch on.

 

[Blind_Justice]

It would be nice just to make some changes after you preview it and find some things that went wonky. Although you can do that in the submission text box it would be nice to be able to do finds and so forth.

Not that I would use it to create a story.

It would be nice to edit already published stories, instead of having to resubmit them. I realize that they would have to go through a vetting process, but to be able to edit in place would be so cool.

This. Maybe with a built-in tag check. I've had to submit a couple of edits because I somewhere forgot to close an italics tag and neither my screen reader nor my editor caught it.

 

[ChloeTzang]

I write in word and paste in but a text editor would be good for editing once posted instead of having to resubmit.

As always, I say take a look at how Wattpad does it and reverse engineer. They spend millions designing- piggyback of of them. See how they do it. No need to reinvent the wheel.

 

[ElectricBlue]

This. Maybe with a built-in tag check. I've had to submit a couple of edits because I somewhere forgot to close an italics tag and neither my screen reader nor my editor caught it.

Ditto. Silly typos, too. Mind you, every time I scrub edit, I find more mistakes (and make them, too, for the next run-through to find). I'm resigned to 99.98% perfect copy, 100% being unobtainable.

 

[TxRad]

Ditto. Silly typos, too. Mind you, every time I scrub edit, I find more mistakes (and make them, too, for the next run-through to find). I'm resigned to 99.98% perfect copy, 100% being unobtainable.

Careful there. 100% perfect copy and the universe goes up in flames.

 

[jaF0]

If you have any thoughts on this idea, please do comment and let me know.

Thank you!

Being able to edit our Forum profiles would be useful.

 

[blozo]

I would like that.

 

[chasten]

Probably not, but an improved editor in submission would

I'd still use Word to write and then copy/paste.

However, what would be really useful is if the preview of the text in the Submission page was a little closer to the final page.

Specifically:

* If it supported the same HTML tags. For example, blockquote is usable in the final page but doesn't render as such in the preview pane, so you cannot check it visually.

* If it used the same font. I believe the actual pages are Verdana at about 75%. The preview pane is not Verdana. There are actually some character set differences so, again, you can't check visually.

* Really ideal would be if there was some indication of where Literotica's page breaks would occur. The reason this would be nice is that you would be able to check for HTML tags that span pages: e.g., start italics on one page and then find out that a page break was inserted before the closing tag. I understand this would be harder since I assume you're just dumping whatever was pasted in the text box in between some body tags with surrounding boilerplate.

 

[Hypoxia]

I'd still use Word to write and then copy/paste.

And I'd still write with Jarte, grammar-check with Word, and paste. The current submission window is of slight spell-check use but that's about it.

However, what would be really useful is if the preview of the text in the Submission page was a little closer to the final page.

Quite. The preview is not the final so I must guess at page breaks. Some readers whine when a 3700-word story leaves ONE SENTENCE on the second page. Line breaks don't render the same either. Consistency, please.

 

[HuckPilgrim]

However, what would be really useful is if the preview of the text in the Submission page was a little closer to the final page.

Quite. The preview is not the final so I must guess at page breaks. Some readers whine when a 3700-word story leaves ONE SENTENCE on the second page. Line breaks don't render the same either. Consistency, please.

Yep, yep! Another vote for a better preview.

Sometimes I see big blank spaces between paragraphs that wasn't in the story when I published. Other times I add extra space at the end of a significant break, but then it doesn't come through in the final version of the published story.

 

[Vix_Giovanni]

I'd still use Word to write and then copy/paste.

However, what would be really useful is if the preview of the text in the Submission page was a little closer to the final page.

Specifically:

* If it supported the same HTML tags. For example, blockquote is usable in the final page but doesn't render as such in the preview pane, so you cannot check it visually.

* If it used the same font. I believe the actual pages are Verdana at about 75%. The preview pane is not Verdana. There are actually some character set differences so, again, you can't check visually.

* Really ideal would be if there was some indication of where Literotica's page breaks would occur. The reason this would be nice is that you would be able to check for HTML tags that span pages: e.g., start italics on one page and then find out that a page break was inserted before the closing tag. I understand this would be harder since I assume you're just dumping whatever was pasted in the text box in between some body tags with surrounding boilerplate.

Additionally, the changes MindsMirror suggested, especially a vote breakdown.

I prefer to write on my phone, I rarely use a computer or iPad for anything. So RN the scrolling ability is lost on mobile devices. I use Google Docs, paste and just click send; there’s no way to really edit anything I’ve written. It would be really helpful to have the text editor usable for mobile devices.

 

[Voboy]

No. I wouldn’t find it useful. I think your time and money are better spent on other things. The posters above have mostly given you the same suggestions I would.

 

[rebel_code]

What chasten said.

I wouldn't use a web-based text editor because I don't want writing to be dependent on the availability of a web site. The only thing I would use it for would be last-minute edits, and the existing editor works well enough for that.

By the way, if anyone is looking for a good computer-based text editor, check out FocusWriter: https://gottcode.org/focuswriter/. It can save as plain text, RTF or ODT, has spell-checking and live statistics as well as the standard editing features, and (important for me) works perfectly with Google Drive, unlike others I've tried. Supports multiple tabs and the on-screen formatting looks good. Available for Win, Linux, and Mac. No affiliation, just a satisfied user

 

[Hypoxia]

I wouldn't use a web-based text editor because I don't want writing to be dependent on the availability of a web site. The only thing I would use it for would be last-minute edits, and the existing editor works well enough for that.

That's my feeling too.

By the way, if anyone is looking for a good computer-based text editor, check out FocusWriter: https://gottcode.org/focuswriter/.

I just D/L'd it for WinDoze. I went to set preferences and can find no way to save those settings. What did I miss?

EDIT: I found it. The OKAY button wasn't showing on my laptop screen. Bad sizing there. I dunno yet if the app is useful. I'll give it a try.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I'd still use Word to write and then copy/paste.

However, what would be really useful is if the preview of the text in the Submission page was a little closer to the final page.

Specifically:

* If it supported the same HTML tags. For example, blockquote is usable in the final page but doesn't render as such in the preview pane, so you cannot check it visually.

* If it used the same font. I believe the actual pages are Verdana at about 75%. The preview pane is not Verdana. There are actually some character set differences so, again, you can't check visually.

* Really ideal would be if there was some indication of where Literotica's page breaks would occur. The reason this would be nice is that you would be able to check for HTML tags that span pages: e.g., start italics on one page and then find out that a page break was inserted before the closing tag. I understand this would be harder since I assume you're just dumping whatever was pasted in the text box in between some body tags with surrounding boilerplate.

The preview used to break at pages that would be displayed for a reader, but somehow that disappeared in some of the rewrite of the control panel.