Welcome!
This is the community forum for my apps Pythonista and Editorial.
For individual support questions, you can also send an email. If you have a very short question or just want to say hello — I'm @olemoritz on Twitter.
What Features Would you like in Editorial?
-
Hey all! I'm new to the forum and relatively new to Editorial, having only started using it extensively since the addition of Taskpaper functionality. There's one big feature wish that comes to mind every time I work with a Taskpaper file on my iPhone, so I thought I might as well mention it here and see what comes of it.
Issue
Taskpaper documents include handy checkboxes in the iPad UI but not in the iPhone UI.
Feature
Include the checkbox functionality in the iPhone UI as well. (If screen space is an issue, maybe it could double as the grabby area you tap and hold to move a list item.)
Alternative
1. An alternative already exists (the recently added swipe-the-margin technique), so I'm sure there are more pressing features to add than this. But I've found the swipe technique to be kind of finicky: you have to have good aim, timing and swipe technique in order to avoid selecting text or pulling open the preview screen (both of which really add friction to quickly processing checklists). Whenever I open a Taskpaper file on my iPhone after using it on my iPad, working with it just feels more cumbersome.
2. Might there be a way to use custom UIs to achieve this now? Having not yet explored the custom UI functionality, I don't know if that even fits in the scope of what the tool's designed to do, but it's a wishful-thinking thought that's crossed my mind a few times. Insight, anyone?
-
I have seen some stuff in the API that has gesture support. It's Python stuff, so I shy away from it, for now. I have used a bit of Python in 2 of my workflows though.
I would like to work on more Custom Actions, which are better for re-use than just a Python script. I haven't delved into workflows for Taskpaper yet, nor for iPhone-specific workflows (much needed I know).
-
Issue
My workflow list is very long. It would be easier to find workflows if I could organize them better.
Feature
A "Sort By" option for the workflow list.
- Sort by Date (old to newest or newest to oldest)
- Sort by Name (alphabetical)
- Sort by Size ( not too necessary)
Alternative
N/A
Solution
N/A
-
Issue
When typing with an external keyboard, sometimes a.) the keyboard add-on gets in the way of the text and b.) the text will get far below where, comfortably, I'd like to be looking.
Feature
Some kind of "typewriter scrolling." I'd really like the ability to center the currently being edited line, and have it stay in the same place as I type.
Right now, the only real way to accomplish something like this is to have the software keyboard pulled up as I type. This, of course, isn't preferable. Though it does get the text to stay in one place, the flashing "shift" buttons etc. is sort of distracting in the thick of it.
-
Issue:
I tried to put some major stress on Editorial to see where it breaks, so I repeated a three digit number 100,000 times on separate lines. It hung, so I shut it down, and opened it back up. The app hung for a while but eventually it came up (after it loaded the last document, which was 100,000 numbers),
I rebooted the ipad, and opened up Editorial again. It hung, but after it had loaded those 100,000 I was able to edit again.
Feature:
Allow an option in the settings to boot editorial to the last document OR to a new document. It is convenient that editorial picks up where you left off, but perhaps you want to boot to a fresh page.
Alternative
There is a workflow called "Create workflow Shortcut" that allows you to to boot editorial to a file of your choice using a custom homescreen icon."
Solution
Stop trying to break Editorial! Hehe
(No really, the main request is the option to load a new document on start, or the last document.)
-
Issue:
Often, when opening Editorial, your place in your folder structure is not preserved, meaning you have to scroll and tap your way back through it to find the folder you want.
Feature:
Either a customizable "frequently used folders" list at the top of the folder list or a separate "Shortcuts" tab in addition to the current "Local" and "Dropbox" tabs.
Alternative:
There's probably a way to create a workflow that would provide this functionality (probably even with a GUI). I'm just not Editorial-savvy enough yet to come up with it.
-
Yeah, the folder navigation is getting messy, especially when you have a lot of files. Perhaps a solution similar to the one about organizing workflows is the only way.
Correction: there is a sorting icon for folders at the bottom of the folder list.
Now that I think about it, I don't think there is a way to rename a file from the folder, without having to do it in the editor.
-
Issue
I have made several formatting workflows, but they use inline CSS to format text, and the document looks a bit messy.
Feature
I recently discovered something called Python-Markdown, which extends Markdown syntax to your own custom syntax. If this were integrated into Editorial somehow, we could make our own syntax for extending markdown with other html tags.
Alternative
Perhaps there is a way to use the already listed Python-Markdown library, but it seems this would have to happen at the source-code level.
Update:
Saw this in the API:
The list of extensions may contain instances of extensions or strings of extension names. If an extension name is provided as a string, the extension must be importable as a python module either within the markdown.extensions package or on your PYTHONPATH with a name starting with mdx_, followed by the name of the extension. Thus, extensions=[‘extra’] will first look for the module markdown.extensions.extra, then a module named mdx_extra. extension_configs: A dictionary of configuration settings for extensions.```
-
Feature
Critic Markup in Editorial.
Alternative
I don't know of one yet.
-
Issue
Markdown tables are tedious for data entry.
Feature
The TableView view should have options for columns as well. This way we could have cells (editable or non-editable)
-
#Issue
When opening a Dropbox file in a workflow it retrieves the last synced version; there's no way to force sync before that.
#Feature
Possible solutions:
- 'Force Sync' if the 'In Dropbox' option is selected in the impacted actions
- Create a 'Force Sync' action
#Workaround
None that I know of (if anybody know one please share!)
-
Issue
If you have bunches of workflows, it can be tedious to tag each one individually
Feature
Tag multiple workflows at once
Solution
by ole zorn
-
@TutorialDoctor I've made a workflow to batch-edit workflow tags a while ago:
http://www.editorial-workflows.com/workflow/5820092734504960/BxTcvdKsGgw
-
Cool thanks ole! That workflow is not searchable in the directory, I see it is unlisted. Could you upload it as listed?
-
Tutorial Doctor:
re: Markdown Tables
I occasionally import (often via Command-C) csv data tables, paste into an Editorial doc and run the Tidy/create MMD table on and...nicely formatted table complete with headers from the csv file.
Pretty quick and easy. If I wanted, I could automate the task using something like Launch Center Pro to grab the file from Dropbox and send it to a new file in Editorial and call the Tidy/create action on it.
If I was building the table within Editorial, I'd do the same - just enter the data as csv.
-
I tried it, but it didn't work (I have a really long and messy csv file).
I tried making several table generators, but haven't been able to make one that is simple enough to use.
-
Shame there's no "like" button here. The ability to extend Markdown relatively easily would be good. For now I'm contemplating injecting HTML (almost wrote JCL :-) ) directly.
-
Hmm Martin, that gives me an idea of making a "Second Editor" workflow that can interpret custom syntax as HTML tags. I'm sure I'd have to use regular expressions. I am not too comfy with Javascript, but it does seem that would be the best way to do it.
-
Feature
In-line-variables
Example:
In the editor you can store additional info in a
variable
and do computations between that variable andanother_variable
These variables could be changed via workflows. This way, you can easily alter document content via workflows.
I think this would be a big plus to editorial. Sort of how the [Calca](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/calca/id635757879? app works perhaps?) app works?
I could use this to reference a CSS file in an HTML link as well.
Alternative:
-
Feature
Full screen editor
Alternative
The Sidebar preview workflow gives a live update of text in the markdown editor. Perhaps some manipulation of this, and a custom UI will suffice? I'd rather it were built in though.