Finally, editable pages, just like a book - Upcoming Qyllscape 2.0
Hello, Qyllscapers! I have not forgotten Qyllscape, its potential, or those that have encouraged me with either their kind words or well-deserved criticisms. I am finally hard at work on what will essentially be Qyllscape 2.0, with many improvements that should have been included
Hello, Qyllscapers!
I have not forgotten Qyllscape, its potential, or those that have encouraged me with either their kind words or well-deserved criticisms. I am finally hard at work on what will essentially be Qyllscape 2.0, with many improvements that should have been included long ago. I don't know when this update will be released, but sometime within the coming weeks.
If you are looking to give Qyllscape a try, wait until 2.0, because it will release with a corresponding sale, and another way to try out the new features.
Page by Page: Typing, overflow, editing
First things first, this overhaul will introduce the most obvious, most requested, most reasonably expected feature that should have been there day one. When editing a file (a book), text will now flow as expected from one page to the next when typing or deleting.
Previously, the app was set up as two side-by-side editors. Ugh. I thought I liked it at the time, but not anymore. Now, the default set-up will be one open project at a time, and scrolling will take you through the book as it should be.
Here are some (low-resolution) gif examples of the new, working prototype.
Honestly, I attempted this feature nearly a year ago, and simply failed at the time. I was convinced that I could not access enough information within the editors to get this working. I would get close, but even then it was not as reliable as the current prototype version.
Since then, maybe my tiny brain has grown just slightly larger, but some effort over the past couple weeks has resulted in a pretty stable, page-by-page responsive editor. This is ultimately how it should have been on release, and I apologize that it took this long.
I'm just happy to have it all working after this attempt, and may do a write-up in the future on why it was so difficult, or maybe make a tutorial so others can do something similar. There are still some performance related pieces I can keep working on endlessly, but this progress alone has given me new energy for the project. Moving on...
Web Version
Along with this upcoming update, I've decided to release a web based, free version of Qyllscape. I don't know the scope of what will be included as compared to the application, but I want to provide an easy way for people to test things out before committing to a purchase. I've tried to offset Qyllscape's price with regular sales, and I think this additional method of access will be the best way to make sure that as many people get to use it as possible.
It is intended to be hosted on the Qyllscape website, after a much needed update over there as well... https://www.qyllscape.com
But I may end up hosting it on my personal site. Maybe both? We'll see...
If you've used Qyllscape in the past, and want to see if any of your concerns have been addressed this will be a great way to test things out. Or, if you know people who might be interested, it will be a great way to share the basics with them as well.
I'll share a finalized link and more information when the release happens.
UI Updates in Qyllscape 2.0
The UI currently in Qyllscape is... Well, let's just focus on the future. As part of my recent work, I've been updating things, and moving away from some of the custom file structure stuff specifically. It was pretty clunky and I just became too wrapped up in some early, poor decisions. All gone!
Qyllscape 2.0 will let you use your native file explorer to select / save files, and you won't have to worry about all the Project/Chapter stuff anymore. This is massively helped by the fact that the two pages won't be separate editors, and will be displaying the same project.
Additionally, I'm working to simplify many of the other options/tools, and move them towards a window based approach (mostly because I like dragging windows around). Here's a Work-In-Progress example.
Random / Misc.
There are a couple more things I want to try and include that I think would be useful as well. I haven't started on these, but how hard could they be?
Visual mode based on e-book reader rather than a book (Should be a simple improvement to the "single-page" mode)
Typewriter mode (the line you're typing on stays at a set point on the screen, and the document "scrolls")
Thank you
As always, thank you to those that have used Qyllscape, and have been patient. I haven't been able to give Qyllscape as much attention as I've wanted, but here we are. Hope all has been well in the past year, and that you'll be excited about the updates. Please continue to let me know your thoughts.
Best Regards,
Eric
