As I finish up a major project updating some online training material, it’s time to reflect on the tools I’ve used and what they brought to the effort.

FIRST - Scrivener - This was my first major project where I used Scrivener to support the project from beginning to end. I played with it and used it for portions of other things, but this time I started with it to start the project and finished with it as well. So on reflection, was it useful or not?

I have to say that Scrivener was of major use to me during the project. I setup my research in different folders, identified and drafted the lesson units, and brought everything together easily. It’s ability to open two document windows allowed me to see what I was writing at the same time as I had a piece of research available online.

During the writing, I reorganized several times, shifting research materials and building new categories as folders in which I placed other folders. My biggest problem was keeping my references straight. If I kept the full web page as I needed to, I had to download the page first to edit and get rid of extraneous stuff in the page. If I let Scrivener bring the page it, it brought the whole page including embedded ads and such, but it kept the reference to the page straight. Eventually, I developed the habit of recording reference information as part of every research document, but it took some time to sink into my head.

… More later

Categories: General Thoughts, Practical Applications, Tools