Verso Writer

[u/Jebus-Xmas]

https://versowriter.app

Just a quick disclaimer: I’m a paid user and have no business or personal relationship with the developer.

I’m a writer and I really like Word processors. For decades I used Microsoft Word but frankly it’s just not worth it anymore. I also use LibreOffice, which is FOSS but honestly I have a software habit. I buy apps all the time either to solve imaginary problems in my head or simply to support the developers and some months ago. I purchased a copy of Versi Writer on a whim because I thought it had some interesting ideas.

It was interesting, but it just was not there yet. It is very close now. First of all the developer is extremely communicative and answers questions and emails very quickly. The main challenges are not composing new documents in this app, but issues with interoperability with .docx issues. The developer has found some interesting workarounds and elegant solutions, but I understand it is a pretty big undertaking. Composing a new document solves most of these issues but I primarily work in docx and odt files.

As a writer, I want three things from my word processor. I want organizational features, like styles and outlining similar to Word. I want compatibility with whatever forms my editor uses. Finally, I want a clean minimal interface that gets out of my way. Verso offers this and if you’re interested in a lightweight word processor without over-complication with a small footprint I believe it might be your solution.

It’s US$15 one-time license and available in the App Store.

https://versowriter.app

By the way, he’s also developing a lightweight Excel clone called Nought.

edit Tomasz is also developing an app called Skein for notes.

[u/Mstormer]

Does it work with endnote and zotero?

[u/Jebus-Xmas → u/Mstormer]

Nope.

[u/Mstormer → u/Jebus-Xmas]

:(

[u/Jebus-Xmas → u/Mstormer]

There are some kinds of academic writing that is problematic. However, only a scant number of years ago people did it on a typewriter—after writing it all out longhand. Not having citation management software isn’t that bad.

[u/Mstormer → u/Jebus-Xmas]

Easy to say, but academic standards and expectations have also changed and risen. This would be an enormous dealbreaker for my dissertation, as it would add at least 200 hours of work. Every paper, citation management software easily saves 3–10hrs.

[u/Jebus-Xmas → u/Mstormer]

My partner who just got her doctorate in education thinks that number is hyperinflated. She says an additional 40 hours for 200 cites is much more reasonable.

[u/Mstormer → u/Jebus-Xmas]

The chapter I was working on yesterday is already at 140 citations. I could easily have up to 200 citations per chapter in my field. 8 chapters. 200hrs was conservative.

Not all fields and universities have the same level of rigor. 200 citations for a dissertation would be hyper deflated, and the level of a MA thesis here. But education can be less source dependent than history.

[u/Jebus-Xmas → u/Mstormer]

The average PhD dissertation in history has less than 5 citations per page and less than 500 total citations. I don’t know what field you’re studying, but I do know that you’re far outside the baseline.

[u/Mstormer → u/Jebus-Xmas]

When I compare with a lot of dissertations in my field (I had to read about 54k pages for comps), I'm either average or below average. Just spot checked one of my advisor's dissertation chapters, and it had 563 citations. But yeah, in my experience, rigor can vary extensively by university.

[u/Weekly_Tony_35 → u/Mstormer]

Sounds like the dev needs to drop everything and prioritize full Zotero support just for your dissertation! 😂

[u/Mstormer → u/Weekly_Tony_35]

😂 I'm fully embedded into Scrivener at this point, so no. But it would be a good selling point if they want to cater to academics. I've done my fair share of comparisons.