Splitting a page horizontally

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Would you find a 'split' page feature useful?

Yes
18
86%
Sometimes
3
14%
No
0
No votes
 
Total votes: 21

GrahamF
Posts: 8
Joined: 2017-10-02 00:13:36

Splitting a page horizontally

Post by GrahamF »

I have seen previous discussions on this topic back in the early part of the year. The ability to split a text horizontally, so that one sees some part of the whole in the upper part and can edit another part in the lower, is particularly useful to people like me who work and translate into several languages. Seeing the original English text above then working in French or German below would be very convenient and useful.

So, who else could use this feature?
Þorvarður
Posts: 410
Joined: 2012-12-19 05:02:52

Re: Splitting a page horizontally

Post by Þorvarður »

GrahamF wrote:So, who else could use this feature?
Everybody who needs to examine or inspect closely and thoroughly two parts of a document, for whatever reason, and I guess that means almost everybody!
GrahamF
Posts: 8
Joined: 2017-10-02 00:13:36

Re: Splitting a page horizontally

Post by GrahamF »

Þorvarður wrote:
GrahamF wrote:So, who else could use this feature?
Everybody who needs to examine or inspect closely and thoroughly two parts of a document, for whatever reason, and I guess that means almost everybody!

Given the other more advanced features of the Pro version, I am surprised this one is not included as a matter of course.
MacSailor
Posts: 290
Joined: 2003-04-03 08:38:41
Location: Linköping, Sweden

Re: Splitting a page horizontally

Post by MacSailor »

I may have misunderstood the discussion, but I think I prefer to have the page split vertical, just like it's possible with the iPad in the new iOS, i.e. having the pages side by side.
Peter Edwardsson
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adryan
Posts: 561
Joined: 2014-02-08 12:57:03
Location: Australia

Re: Splitting a page horizontally

Post by adryan »

G’day, Graham et al

Nisus Writer used to have this feature, but it dropped by the wayside during (I think) the port to OS X. I do not know why it has not been reinstated. It has been a sore point for many of us ever since. It is certainly Number One on my wish list for Nisus Writer Pro.

Once a document gets beyond two or three screens in length, scrolling becomes a real pain and “Jump to” is hit-and-miss.

In the absence of Split Text View, one approach is to use Bookmarks. Without judicious pruning (which is not hard), they could become somewhat cumbersome for your present purpose, and in any case you don’t see your bilingual text fragments simultaneously.

Another tactic is to alternate languages between sentences or paragraphs; eg, English in one sentence, French in the next. You see bilingual text simultaneously without the need to scroll. When you’re done, you could use a macro to assemble all the English text at the top of the document and all the French text at the bottom, or extract them into separate documents, or whatever.

If you didn’t want to use a macro, you could apply styles to different languages: an English style to English text, a French style to French text. Then Find All text with (say) the French style, Cut it, and Paste it at the end of the document. You will probably have to mop up remaining redundant paragraph returns and such, but this is easy enough to do with Find/Replace.

If you absolutely need Split Text View, you might consider using BBEdit for the translation work, then Nisus Writer Pro for formatting and the like afterwards, but it is such a shame to even need to contemplate such a stratagem.

Of course, as Peter suggests, a vertical split can be very useful at times, especially if one wishes the final document to be formatted thus. I don’t have an iPad, so I’m not quite sure what a vertical split means in that context. But with Nisus Writer Pro, I don’t think one necessarily needs a vertical split in the same sense as the horizontal split we have been discussing above, although it could be useful at times. Rather, a more generally useful option would be to have text flow across page divisions and remain in the same column; ie, text in Column 2 remains in Column 2 on the next page instead of flowing into Column 1 there (until the option is turned off).

Cheers,
Adrian
MacBook Pro (M1 Pro, 2021)
macOS Ventura
Nisus Writer user since 1996
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xiamenese
Posts: 543
Joined: 2006-12-08 00:46:44
Location: London or Exeter, UK

Re: Splitting a page horizontally

Post by xiamenese »

I don’t normally approve of referring to different software on a forum for an app, but I’m going to break my rule here.

What is being described here is done perfectly by Scrivener. It also works beautifully in partnership with NWP, indeed I believe NWP is the word processor of choice for Keith, the developer.

I have been working in translation editing for years, often getting the text in the form of one paragraph of Chinese, one paragraph of English. In Scrivener I split it up so that I can have each language in its own editor split, and using "Scrivenings Mode" can read the English as a continuous text to look for consistency of style etc. When finished editing, the whole can be compiled ready for tweaking in NWP as either separate continuous files in each language or in alternating text in a single file.

Scrivener 3, which will include many enhancements, including styles, is apparently due out before in the next few months.

This all came up a couple of years back in the context of translation; one forum member took a look at what it says on their website and opined that Scrivener doesn’t do anything that NWP can’t do …s/he was wrong then, and will be even more wrong in relation to Scrivener 3.

Just to put the record straight, I have been using NW/NWP since its inception, and continue to use it on a regular basis. All the work I do in Scrivener is passed through NWP for final checking, setting styles etc. There are areas in which Scrivener excels, and areas in which NWP excels, and the combination of the two is outstanding.

Mark
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Elbrecht
Posts: 354
Joined: 2007-03-31 14:59:22
Location: Frankfurt, Germany

Re: Splitting a page horizontally

Post by Elbrecht »

Hi –

it would be great to have both split view options – horizontally & vertically.
"BBEdit [12] now supports intrinsic OS behaviors such as Split View" –
looks to me like Apple's Text Engine now supports split view…

HE
MacBook Pro i5
SSD 840/850 Pro
High Sierra 10.13.6
Nisus Writer Pro 3.4
GrahamF
Posts: 8
Joined: 2017-10-02 00:13:36

Re: Splitting a page horizontally

Post by GrahamF »

MacSailor wrote:I may have misunderstood the discussion, but I think I prefer to have the page split vertical, just like it's possible with the iPad in the new iOS, i.e. having the pages side by side.
I would be happy with either, ecstatic with both. :wink:
MacSailor
Posts: 290
Joined: 2003-04-03 08:38:41
Location: Linköping, Sweden

Re: Splitting a page horizontally

Post by MacSailor »

GrahamF wrote:
MacSailor wrote:I may have misunderstood the discussion, but I think I prefer to have the page split vertical, just like it's possible with the iPad in the new iOS, i.e. having the pages side by side.
I would be happy with either, ecstatic with both. :wink:

Agree. Let us have both and then we can decide what to use. :)
Peter Edwardsson
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deltanick
Posts: 13
Joined: 2017-10-28 17:32:17

Re: Splitting a page horizontally

Post by deltanick »

I am strongly in favor.

At my Windows workplace, I used Microsoft Word, and I found it to be one of Word's most useful features.
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