Author in the making? Still confused with yWriter Vs Scrivener? No issues! We got you all covered.
The old traditional method of practicing writing on paper pages, proofreading on physical pages, and related stuff has expired. Obviously, being an author or writer in making, you will not want to do more hard work. Instead, the era of smart work is more into play. Thus, mankind has introduced programs like yWriter and Scrivener that make our work a lot easier. Without any delay, let us begin the war of Writer Vs Scrivener and summarise the winner.
Contents
Breif Intro on both the programs
Let’s give both the programs a brief description and an intro firstly.
yWriter, as per the program description is a novel writing software designed by a great author and programmer Simon Haynes. It is a word processing program that allows you to manage your chapters in a novel, keep track of your work so that you don’t have to pay attention to the component management and your mind only focuses on the writing. It contains a lot of useful tools for a novelist which is very helpful for them. It helps you break your novel or writing into different chapters and components and make it as easy as possible for you.
Scrivener is a similar program for word processing, specially designed for authors. It provides a bunch of management tools for your documents, notes, and metadata. I was released on 20th January in 2007. It is a great tool for organizing your content in writing including rich media like images, videos, etc. It is more popular between novelists and log-form writers.
Without any other kind of delay, let’s jump directly into the war of yWriter Vs Scrivener.
yWriter Vs Scrivener
Coming to their comparison, we will be discussing them on 6 bases. Starting with the first one.
1. Pricing
Now the first content of yWriter Vs Scrivener, dealing with the price:
yWriter is a free and open-source program designed for users. Furthermore, it does not contain any in-program advertisements that will annoy the writers.
You can download the program from here: http://www.spacejock.com/yWriter.htm
Talking about Scrivener, it is a paid and copyrighted program built for writers. The pay amount depends on the platform you want to use the program. However, you can avail of a free 30-day trial and some discount if used only for educational purposes. The plans are given below.
You can access the official website for Scrivener here: https://www.literatureandlatte.com
yWriter Vs Scrivener: In the first field, yWriter has surely taken the point here.
2. User Interface
Now talking about the interface of both the programs, they are totally differently approached.
Talking about yWriter first, it has got a complex and nomad approach. You cannot just open the program and start typing. It first helps you to plan your novel. PLan the contents like chapters, characters, etc before you start typing.
Coming to Scrivener, its user interface is more adaptable and easy to handle. It has more flexibility and is much more preferred for long-form writing. It is not that you have to work according to the program like yWriter, but allows you to work your own way. You can create your own workflow here. Most writers go with the flow and are not very planned or focused, and thus this makes Scrivener an advantage. Its interface is as if you are familiar with it and can directly start typing and add the components as you go with the flow.
yWriter Vs Scrivener: Scrivener takes the point here and beats yWriter in the majority.
3. Features
The crucial part of yWriter Vs Scrivener regarding the difference in features has finally arrived. We will discuss only those features which are not present in these programs compared to its competition.
Talking about yWriter, you cannot drag and drop rich elements like images, URLs, and other file formats directly i=into your scenes while writing, unlike Scrivener which allows you to directly drop rich media into your writings without any conversions.
In yWriter, you cannot skip to any scene. You will have to reach the scene you want to go, orderly. In Scrivener, you can directly jump to any scene or scroll through it.
Coming to the spellcheck ability, yWriter does not have a great spell-checker compared to Scrivener. Most people prefer to use an external spell-checker in case they are using yWriter.
More or less, all the other features are almost the same for both programs. A few differences that do not affect the efficiency of these programs as a whole.
Thus, yWriter Vs Scrivener: Scrivener takes the point here.
4. Progress Tracking
Talking about the fourth field of yWriter Vs Scrivener, progress tracking is equally crucial for both programs, but both have drawbacks.
Foremost talking about Scrivener this time, it has a superior priority here. It allows you to set targets and deadlines for your project. You can set word count targets, date of deadlines, etc for your work. You can set the word count and deadline for a particular component of your project as well.
Now coming to yWriter, it too has the feature of setting deadlines and calculating word counts. You can set your deadlines under project settings for your project. It allows you to set five deadlines for your project including first, second, and final edits. In the tools menu, you can also get access to the word count calculator and this tool will advise you about your daily word limits as the deadlines set by you.
However, yWriter doesn’t allow you to set deadlines for every section of your novel, unlike Scrivener.
yWriter Vs Scrivener – Scrivener takes the point here as well for its fluent and easy-to-access tool.
5. Supported Platforms
yWriter is available for all windows, android, and iOS. For macOS, a beta version is available which is under development for few glitches but works the same as on other devices.
Scrivener as stated earlier was first released on macOS. It is also available for windows and iOS under different price structures. It is not available on android anyway. Windows supported program was released much later.
yWriter Vs Scrivener: I would like to give this point to yWriter for its access to almost all devices at the same time.
6. Exporting
Scrivener offers the best export and publishing feature compared to all the writing apps and programs. It allows you to export your work in various different formats like rich text format (.rtf), Word format, Open office format, etc. You have a very open control over the appearance of your project in all the ways possible. It even allows you to publish your work in ePub and Kindle format.
yWriter also offers to export in various formats but you cannot export in rich text format with attachments format. Moreover, you cannot control the final appearance of your work. Once finished with the final edit, it does not allow that.
yWriter Vs Scrivener: The piece of the award is given to Scrivener.
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Summary: yWriter Vs Scrivener
| Basis | yWriter | Scrivener |
|---|---|---|
| PRICE | Win | |
| PROGRESS TRACK | Win | |
| USER INTERFACE | Win | |
| FEATURES | Win | |
| SUPPORT PLATFORMS | Win | |
| EXPORTING | Win |
Summarising the war of yWriter Vs Scrivener, Scrivener gets the most amount of wins and takes the entire cake.
FAQs for yWriter Vs Scrivener
Few questions related to both the programs have been answered below.
Can I assign multiple keywords in Scrivener?
Yes, you can assign multiple keywords and other metadata.
Do yWriter and Scrivener allow us to export in HTML format?
Yes, both these programs allow the user to export in HTML format.
I have a Mac. Which is more preferable of the system?
Leaving aside the type of writing you want to do, it’s better to go with Scrivener if you want to do serious writing.
Conclusion for yWriter Vs Scrivener
So coming to the final verdict, I would prefer Scrivener for novel writing and yWriter for blog writing. The features in Scrivener are more suitable for a novelist than a blogger. As per the price of the software, for a blogger, yWriter is preferable because a blogger does not need too professional tools and yWriter can give the most of it for them.
Moreover, Scrivener tools offer a lot of rest to the novelist for his management of the project. On the other hand, yWriter divides the chapters and scenes in a clear-cut manner that is perfect for blog writing. It allows you to keep your blog organized and separate in one place along with your other blogs separately somewhere else.
However, as per the article’s topic, Scrivener has more flexibility and features and wins the yWriter Vs Scrivener war. Do let us know your thoughts. Kudos!
