Tools of The Trade

April 30, 2009 in Software, Tools, Writer

Well, if you are anything like me, you will not just rely on the basics just to get writing. You will search high and low on the Internet for the different Softwares (read Freewares) which can make your life that much easier…

Well, it is not so easy to explain how this works – but I shall try… First you need to want to do something very typical in the most unusual way… That is how the search begins…. And then you get on to the-most-wonderful-of-them-all-search-engines — Google, and then type in the different permutations and combinations of what you want to do, along with the word ‘Freeware’ and then click ‘Search’. And that is how simple things begin to get complicated, so that they can eventually make your life simpler and easier!! LOL

The story begins with me being brought into the world of Internet browsing and surfing, and eventually Writing (professionally) for the Web with the most-easily-available-and-seen-everywhere-and-owned-by-everyone Operating Systems (hereafter referred to as OS): Windows.

While, I bear no ill will or malice towards Windows and Windows users, but a few years ago, I discovered the Mac. By Apple. And yes, I turned traitor – I had all kinds of traitor-ly thoughts towards Windows. And finally, I have turned. To Apple.

I bought a MacBook Pro. And I Love It!! To know more about the bells and whistles and features of this awesome machine click here. While I won’t dwell too much on this on this post, I will tell you this: The machine is awesome.

And why do you think that it matters? Well… for a freelancer like me, my computer is like my whole world – it is my office, my leisure center, and my means to connect with the outside world. So yes… it means a lot. and it matters a lot. Plus, if the machine doesn’t give me the productivity that I am looking for, then the entire system of my life can just as easily come crashing down. So YES IT MATTERS!!

Moving on, I must now talk about the different tools of the trade – these are the things that make things happen for me! Some of these tools are from my Windows days and some are from what I like to call my ‘Beginning Mac Days’ So here, I am going to list out the good parts and bad parts and generally compare these softwares.

MICROSOFT – WORD / OPEN OFFICE – WRITER / iWork – PAGES

   

In terms of what these softwares provide – it is pretty much the same. But obviously, the interface is what makes the difference. Because that is the environment that you are going to end up working in – so, ideally, that has got to be very intuitive, simple to use and easy to figure out.

Open Office Writer has the look and feel of Word 2003 (which many people still use today!!) – Word 2007 is a copy of Pages (obviously) but it has a chunky interface. But, for all the bad things people say about that interface, I actually liked it a lot. Because it made sense for a visually oriented person like me. Now, as for Pages, well, I haven’t spent much time with it, but so far, I haven’t got any complaints. The interface is pretty much simple to understand, and basically the writing gets done well.

Note: I am not going to dwell on MS Excel / Open Office Calc / iWork Numbers and on MS PowerPoint, Open Office Impress, and iWork Keynote for the same above reasons – all of them have the same qualities as their counterparts and let you do the task you set out to do in the first place.

Bottom line, Office 2003 fans can use Open Office if Microsoft decides to retire 2003 (which I think at some point it will) and Office 2007 fans need to look at the original from where all the inspiration comes from – you need to look at iWork.

Next Up, I want to look at my favorite Screen Play (and other such scripts) writing FREEWARE.

CELTX

  Celtx is one of the best things to happen to the world of script writing. It lets you do your thing and makes worrying about formatting your script a thing of the past. Just go on writing the script for your play / movie / audio-visual – and don’t worry about the formatting. The software will do all that for you. But wait – Celtx is not just about making your script in a nice format… it is a lot more than that! As per their site blurb, it is a fully integrated media pre-production software. You can see the full list of Celtx’s features on their website.

The best part – Celtx is made for both Windows and for the Mac. So I just installed the Mac version, and I am good to go!!

Another nice tool that I would like to review over here, is useful for Mind Mapping.

XMIND

  As a visually oriented person, Mind Mapping was the best thing I ever discovered (Thanks Janhavi for teaching me!!) and used in different aspects of my life. Somehow, it is useful everywhere and for everything…simply because a Mind Map is a direct reflection of how the brain actually works. And for an easy to understand interface, XMind is the perfect tool for Mind Mappers all over.

XMind comes in flavors FREE and PRO – with the free version being amazing as well… and it comes for both Windows and the Mac. So, again, I was pretty much good to go with this one!

And so, what is the one software that I miss the most?

Well, it is WINDOWS LIVE WRITER!!

      Can you believe it?

Well, the thing is that there are many other desktop blogging softwares available for the Mac and they are again ‘Free’ and ‘Paid For’. But, none of them matches the functionality of Windows Live Writer. It matters to me a lot that I get what I want and not adjust here and there!! And it makes a big difference because I am a WordPress-er and a big Fan of WordPress as well… I have at least 2 blogs on WP, 2 on Blogger, and my website is made with WP.

Windows Live Writer was perfect for me because it allowed me the ease of creating both – either a Page or a Post in WP. Plus it integrated seamlessly with the theme design of both Blogger and WordPress – so that while typing out my blog post / page on my desktop, I could also see how it will look like in real time when I upload it…

I have resorted to using Flock. Which overall is good because it lets me live my social-networking-site-life quite actively and nicely, and it also allows me to make offline blog posts and upload them to my blogs. FLOCK is good – but I want to use a fully functional desktop blogging client for my blogging. Something like WLW but for the Mac.

Is anyone out there listening? Please!! Do this and I shall be eternally greatful…Really… I Promise!!