Comments on: mac word processor w/ multiple document gui?

Question: mac word processor w/ multiple document gui?

viscountslim — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 21:38:47 -0800

I'm looking for a (good) Mac word processor with some sort of GUI for viewing and navigating among multiple open RTF and text documents, a la the TextWrangler document drawer. I specifically want the documents to remain their own separate entities, as opposed to being gathered in a database or project file as with Scrivener or Mori. A pleasing appearance would be a bonus. I'd also be interested if there's a Linux app that does this.

By: wemayfreeze

wemayfreeze — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 21:54:01 -0800

TextMate does what you want, if I'm reading your question right, and about a million other things, too. Tabbed interface and a drawer that serves as a folder/file browser.

By: viscountslim

viscountslim — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 22:19:34 -0800

I need something that can read RTF files. Ideally it would read Word docs, since that's (unfortunately) the industry standard, but I can convert them if I have to.

By: unexpected

unexpected — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 22:21:23 -0800

what about Nisus Writer Express? They have a free demo you can download. It opens Word Docs just fine.

By: viscountslim

viscountslim — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 22:31:04 -0800

I don't see tabs or any kind of multiple-document pane listed on the Nisus feature list. Do you have reason to believe it has something like this?

By: Kadin2048

Kadin2048 — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 23:10:04 -0800

This may be a less than ideal solution, but have you ever looked at StickyWindows? It's not exactly what you're asking for ... but it might allow something close.

It lets you make any window into a tab, so you could use your editor of choice and switch easily from one window to the next.

I've unfortunately never seen a tabbed RTF or Word editor ... but maybe someone else will; you can keep my suggestion as a sort of last-resort option.

By: Happy Dave

Happy Dave — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 23:30:10 -0800

You need Scrivener. It's simply the most elegant drafting tool out there, and has a very strong community behind it. It's $35 for a family license, but there's an old free version called Scrivener Gold as well. Get the 30 day trial, trust me, it's awesome.

By: Happy Dave

Happy Dave — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 23:31:43 -0800

Oh, bollocks, ignore what I just said, just saw the second bit of your question.

Note that Scrivener stores everything as RTF files inside the .scriv file though, and you can export to any number of formats, singly, in whole or in groups you define.

By: Happy Dave

Happy Dave — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 23:32:58 -0800

Xpad might be more what you're after.

By: viscountslim

viscountslim — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 23:39:36 -0800

I too love Scrivener, but probably not as storage for all my docs. I'm investigating Xpad and Sticky Windows; thanks for the suggestions. Yay lazyweb!

By: dowcrag

dowcrag — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 00:41:25 -0800

I might be missing something here, but could you not just hit F9? This makes all open document panes pop onto the screen, with the document name superimposed. It's a mac feature, so independent of the word processing software you use. I write for a living, and using this to swap between open documents is one of the most important parts of my workflow.

By: viscountslim

viscountslim — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 00:53:30 -0800

What I'm looking for is something -- a list, a menu, tabs -- that lets me see the titles of all the open documents and navigate through them, preferably while one of them is open in front of me. Also, F9-sized files are difficult if not impossible to read, at least on my screen with my eyes. That said, thanks for reminding me about this. I'll experiment further with it.

By: bonaldi

bonaldi — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 06:46:07 -0800

As with *everything* related to text processing, emacs does this.

I wouldn't call it pretty, though.

By: viscountslim

viscountslim — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 06:56:04 -0800

emacs handles RTF?

By: bonaldi

bonaldi — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 08:23:49 -0800

Oop, missed that. It's really a text processor, but there is a RTF reader for it, and a not-terribly-friendly rtf-mode.

By: Lanark

Lanark — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 13:42:23 -0800

Bean

By: viscountslim

viscountslim — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 15:00:54 -0800

I just downloaded Bean, and if it's got some list or tab feature that displays multiple open documents, I can't find it.

I don't want to appear ungrateful for these suggestions, some of which are both thoughtful and useful. I also don't want to waste anyone's time, which is why I made an effort to make my question as clear and concise as possible. But I will admit that I'm a little gobsmacked by how many people are so eager to help me out that they can't make it all the way to the end of my (76-word) question.

I know, it's the lazyweb, and you get what you pay for. Like I said, I'm grateful for the suggestions. But if people don't even read the questions before posting answers, doesn't that sort of defeat the purpose? Or is the idea that, as the sucker who actually asked the question, I get to go check out all the tossed-off dead-end leads and then mark the actual answers for the benefit of others? If so, I will happily perform my role for the benefit of future readers, and recalibrate my expectations (and my future questions) accordingly.

By: bonaldi

bonaldi — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 15:15:30 -0800

the problem here is that your question has no answer, because no mac app does this, unless it's incredibly niche. So all the other answers will only go part of the way. You want it you'll have to compromise, which is what all the answers offer.

By: viscountslim

viscountslim — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 15:45:08 -0800

I don't mind getting no answer, or a compromise answer that acknowledges the actual question (e.g., the suggestions of Sticky Windows, Scrivener, and F9). And I appreciate anyone taking the time to help a complete stranger.

But I would gently suggest that allotting more of that time for reading the original post would save everyone -- yes, including me -- a lot of time that could be spent much more entertainingly.

By: bonaldi

bonaldi — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 16:12:35 -0800

It'd really only save you time, that. Your complaint is nothing new -- MeTa's full of "can we read the questions first, please?" and the answer is invariably (in practice, if not so much spoken), "no we bloody can't, we're busy, there's thousands of questions, so poster beware". That's why you get incredibly carefully worded questions, like:

I'm looking for a word processor for Mac that keeps multiple documents in the same window (like Textwrangler does). It must:
* Handle RTF and Text
* Store the files seperately, not in a database like Scrivener or Mori
and ideally, it'll look good. I'll also take answers that work on Linux.

So, yes, let me gently suggest you recalibrate your questions. Paragraphs don't get read on Ask.

By: viscountslim

viscountslim — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 16:36:37 -0800

Bonaldi, your advice rings true and I will take it to heart. Thanks for taking the time. (Seriously.)