MacGourmet Deluxe is the toptenreviews Gold Award winner

The top performers in our review are MacGourmet Deluxe, the Gold Award winner; Cook'n Recipe Organizer, the Silver Award winner; and Computer Cuisine Deluxe, the Bronze Award winner. Here’s more on choosing a program to meet your needs, along with details on how we arrived at our ranking of 10 products.

 If you're like most cooks, you probably already have a system worked out for storing recipes on your computer. Since you can find most recipes you want online, investing in recipe software may seem unnecessary. However, Mac cookbook software has a wealth of tools that go beyond what even the most organized cooks could do on their own.

Some of these recipe organizers come with hundreds or even thousands of preinstalled recipes or give you exclusive access to a vast library of recipes online. Most Mac recipe software also lets you import and export recipes that you find online or have in your personal recipe files. The ability to import and store them all in one place is an enormous convenience. You can plan out meals by the day, week or month and get nutritional information about each recipe with the click of a button.
While this lineup focuses exclusively on the best Mac recipe software we found, if you use a PC or want to access recipes through your Android device, our cookbook and recipe software reviews may be more helpful. For more information, check out our articles on cookbook and recipe software.

Mac Recipe Software: What to Look For

 

A recipe software package should have all the essentials, such as tools that let you import, organize and manage your recipes. It should also have extras to accommodate your family's specific needs. If you're cooking for several people, you'll want a program that automatically adjusts the ingredients based on the number of people. You'll also want software that helps you with shopping lists so you don't have to make multiple trips to the store. We selected recipe management software that lets you easily import recipes into your database and effectively organize and file them.
Although many people cite cooking as a favorite pastime, it can be a hassle to attend to all of the small details in the kitchen, both prior to and during cooking. You want software that acts as an electronic organizer, putting your favorite recipes at your fingertips and allowing you to focus on preparing food, not finding recipes. As we used and evaluated the software featured in our reviews, we found some vital criteria for choosing the best Mac recipe software.

Recipe Manager
The best recipe programs offer a plethora of options for documenting and editing items in the recipe database. First, programs should include preinstalled recipes to get you started. Each Mac recipe manager should have numerous fields for various information, such as the recipe source, cooking notes or variations, food and beverage pairings, substitutions, serving size adjustments, and preference and difficulty ratings.

Finding the right recipe for the right occasion can be a daunting task if you have hundreds or even thousands of dishes saved on your Mac. Make sure the program you purchase has great search options that let you find recipes quickly. These include the ability to search by title, keyword or ingredient, but also more specific searches such as cooking method, preparation time and rating.

Convenience Tools
You want to be equipped with all the tools you need to make the cooking experience as seamless as possible. Searching through a box of 8 x 5 index cards for the right recipe is as obsolete as card catalogs at the local library. But this software goes beyond mere electronic convenience. The best Mac recipe software lets you sync your PC recipe files with an iPhone app, so when you import recipes you find online, they automatically transfer to your iPhone. You can adjust serving sizes in real time on your mobile device as you prepare food if you're using a new recipe with a big group. Mac recipe software should also make it easy to share recipes online, print them off individually or collect them in book form.

Recipe software requires a specific type of user interface to be useful in the kitchen. You don't want to get flour or sauce on your Mac while you prepare your favorite meals, so look for programs that have a cooking view, or hands-free options. For when you're not cooking, make sure the program has an easy-to-use interface that makes recipe creation, meal planning and any other task simple and intuitive.

Menu Planner
The best recipe software for Mac allows you to create menu plans weeks or even months in advance so you can stay organized and maintain a healthy diet. Many programs also allow you to create shopping lists, which is convenient because it lets you keep track of your inventory. It also streamlines the shopping process, reducing the time spent figuring out what you need from the store. It all but eliminates extra trips to the store because you forgot important ingredients. Also look for programs that can tell you the nutritional value of recipes and individual ingredients. If you're short on time, many programs give you suggestions of dishes you can make with what you have on hand.

Help & Support
Resources to answer your questions are a vital part of any software package. Most programs provide access to resources such as communication with other users via online forums, which is very useful. Also look for programs that offer email support, online manuals, how-to sections and video tutorials.

Mac Recipe Software: Our Verdict and Recommendations

 

We identified the best cookbook and recipe software for Macs on the market. The best options are MacGourmet Deluxe, Cook'n Recipe Organizer and Computer Cuisine Deluxe. Each has a lot to offer in terms of keeping your library of recipes organized and up to date. MacGourmet has stellar cooking tools that let you plan meals weeks in advance and generate advanced shopping lists. Cook'n Recipe Organizer provides excellent help with setting nutritional values and serving sizes for your family, and it goes beyond lists to offer shopping strategies. Computer Cuisine Deluxe has more than 1,000 preloaded recipes and an attractive, easy-to-navigate user interface.

When choosing cookbook and recipe software for your Mac, first decide what your needs are. If you are a gourmet cook, you may want features that allow you to edit recipes and change serving sizes. However, if you don't cook for many people, you may find that more basic Mac recipe software suits you best. One such basic software package is Paprika Recipe Manager, an inexpensive program that doesn't come with preloaded recipes but lets you add your own recipes quickly and easily.
Mac recipe software makes recipe collection a simple and painless task. The best recipe software for Mac combines extensive recipe management tools, effective meal-planning capabilities, a simple user interface and great support options. Our Mac recipe software reviews help you narrow down your choices and find the program that works best for you.

PROS / MacGourmet Deluxe has an excellent menu planner that allows you to plan your meals weeks in advance.

CONS / The number of preloaded recipes is somewhat limited.

VERDICT / MacGourmet is the best Mac recipe software we reviewed because of its exceptional features and easy-to-use interface.

MacGourmet Deluxe is among the best-known recipe programs on the market. It offers an impressive combination of tools such as smart lists and detailed search options. MacGourmet's advanced features and ease of use make it our top choice among the Mac recipe software we reviewed and winner of our Top Ten Reviews Gold Award.

Putty for Mac

$15.00

Mariner Software is now on VOAT

I just setup a voat subverse for Mariner Software if you want to come join the conversation and see how a proper Reddit should be managed VOAT is the place to be.

Developers and publishers of Mac OS X, Windows, and iOS productivity applications, for your home, office and writing software such as Mariner Write, MacGourmet, Paperless, MacJournal and many more.

You can use any of these 4 coupons in Mariners online store and save between 5% and 25% off the retail price of new purchases or one of the 5 pack bundles.

Putty for Mac

$15.00

Mariner Software Mariner Write 3.9.5 has been released

Mariner Software Mariner Write is your Mac OS go-to word processing tool! Professional writer, educator or student, Write has all the functionality you need for that important letter, technical paper or research project. Elegantly efficient and powerful, Mariner Write turns out great looking documents. Create customized headers, footers, endnotes or footnotes. Easily define styles; use keyboard shortcuts for repeated tasks. Use Mail Merge to automate a mailing. Write possesses a powerful Find Dialog, an intuitive Font Panel and much more. Mariner Write empowers you to create your own word processing environment so you can produce documents that are clean, consistent and professional.

 

What's New

Version 3.9.5:

• Fixed an issue with the Print dialog when running El Capitan.

  Requirements

• Intel
• OS X 10.7 or later

You can use any of these 4 coupons in Mariners online store and save between 5% and 25% off the retail price of new purchases or one of the 5 pack bundles.

Putty for Mac

$15.00

Mariner Software MacGourmet Deluxe 4.2.2 has been released

Mariner Software MacGourmet Deluxe is a recipe-management application that allows users to create, edit, and scale new recipes, or import recipes from their favorite websites, then share them via email, Facebook, and Twitter. Unlike MacGourmet, MacGourmet Deluxe users can also plan meals, analyze nutritional information, and generate shopping lists.

Features

• Chef's view for distraction-free cooking
• Add images to your recipes and to the steps, as well as to your Beer, Wine, and Cheese notes
• Use the Ingredient search or let MacGourmet suggest a recipe for you
• Free cloud account for storing and syncing on Mariner Cloud

 

What's New

Version 4.2.2: Note: Now requires a 64-bit Intel processor.

• Updated the web site importer to support additional sites.
• Updated the AllRecipes.com importer to support the new site format.
• Updated the Food&Wine.com importer to parse the instructions properly (format change).
• Added a print template to print Nutrition info.
• Updated the print preview display to properly update style and template changes (MacOS change).
• Fixed a bug with calculating nutritional data that caused an exception (crash).
• Fixed MealPlan printing to read the css styles.
• Added missing Retina display images and icons.

 

Requirements

• Intel, 64-bit processor
• OS X 10.7 or later

You can use any of these 4 coupons in Mariners online store and save between 5% and 25% off the retail price of new purchases or one of the 5 pack bundles.

Putty for Mac

$15.00

Mariner Software MacGourmet 4.2.2 has been released

Mariner Software MacGourmet is a recipe management application that allows users to create, edit, and scale new recipes or import recipes from their favorite websites, then share them via email, Facebook, and Twitter. For more core functions, try MacGourmet Deluxe.

Features

• Chef’s view for distraction-free cooking
• Add images to your recipes and to the steps, as well as to your Beer, Wine, and Cheese notes
• Use the Ingredient search or let MacGourmet suggest a recipe for you

 

What's New

Version 4.2.2: Note: Now requires a 64-bit Intel processor.

• Release notes were unavailable when this listing was updated.

 

Requirements

• Intel, 64-bit processor
• OS X 10.7 or later

You can use any of these 4 coupons in Mariners online store and save between 5% and 25% off the retail price of new purchases or one of the 5 pack bundles.

Putty for Mac

$15.00

Four months as a Mariner Software Affiliate

Back in mid March of this year I signed up as a Mariner Software Affiliate and after a couple days Teresa had me all setup and ready to go with my new Affiliate Account and discount code along with some graphics from the internal marketing department. In the beginning, I must confess that I got off to a very slow start and just posted on my personal web site about my discount code and then shared that post on my Google+ account. One of the reasons for my slow start was because I was in the middle of building my house and other obligations that life has set out for us.

So after that first post and share I didn’t do any further work on the program until around mid July, this is when I started to have some additional free time to devote to my back burner affiliate program here. To be honest I was actually a little surprised after asking for my sales numbers from marketing and being told that I had actually racked up 13 sales from that first initial post.

And this got me to thinking, “Geez what would my sales have been if I had been actually continued working on my affiliate program? I could possibly be the Donald’s running mate.” Joke!

So with my current sales in mind and additional time there was but one thing to do, right? Get to work and and see if I couldn’t improve upon my sales even further.

I currently have an account on nearly every social media network as well as a few blog accounts. So to start with, I posted a blog post about Mariner Software products. This way I could then link back or share on my social media accounts. I also started posting in Mac-centric forums and sharing my discount code that was provided to me. This way people interested in purchasing Mariner products could use my coupon code and save 25% off their new purchase. I then also linked those post back to my original web site post.

The reason being is that I want to build a structure so I can facilitate the search engines of each of the social networks and then the broader larger general search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo. That way I would have everything seamlessly going in one general direction with the hopes of sales resulting from a good stable structure. I personally believe building a successful affiliate program is like building a house, we need a strong stable foundation to build upon then have a building plan for the structure itself.

After Googling for a few hours and finding some nice Mariner Software reviews from review sites I posted about those reviews on my own site with links back to the original post. This helps the initial reviewer get additional traffic and SEO benefits but I added in my affiliate code and discount to the bottom of each post, So its a win win for everyone involved. These post were also shared on my social media accounts and after about three weeks I could actually start to see my own SEO payoff.

By The first week of August I checked back with marketing once again to see if my post were effective and if my marketing strategy was starting to pay off and produce sales. Once again I was pleasantly surprised that I had by this time increased my sales to around 5 to 6 sales per week. This is great because it had only been three weeks since I had actually started seriously working on my affiliate program.

This past week was another busy week for me and I didn’t get much accomplished on my Affiliate program. Fortunately, this is one of the really nice benefits of affiliate marketing. We can work on our program with as much or little time as we want without having the stress that’s involved with a hourly or salaried position. Sure a guaranteed paycheck is nice but as a part-time way of making a little extra income, its hard to beat getting payed doing the things we really enjoy in life without any additional stress.

Another good thing about this strategy is that if I’m busy one week, my post from previous weeks are still generating clicks and potential sales. As time goes on and as my post count grows, the residual income becomes a little more secure. It’s like getting payed in the years to come for the lean times now while working on gaining our initial following.

In closing, I hope to see more affiliates in the coming months because there is alot of room on this huge internet for all of us to have fun and earn some extra money while sharing great software with our current and future friends.

Putty for Mac

$15.00

MacGourmet Deluxe 4.2 has been released

Yesterday we released MacGourmet Deluxe 4.2 which fixes the import issue we have had for several weeks. I won’t go into detail on what a massive undertaking this was (in a nutshell, MacGourmet is now parsing the data from recipe web sites _within_ the app opposed to using the third party software), but needless-to-say, it taxed our resources. For this version, there are only 20 or so sites in the Recipe Import Assistant that are supported but we will be adding more over time (the supported sites now are the most popular so it’s likely your favorite site is listed). Here is the official bug fix list for 4.2:

-Updated web site import to use internal code. This replaces the deprecated/terminated online app.
-Added latest nutrition database, fixed a number of display issues in nutrition view.
-Updated preferences pane.
-Fixed a display issue with the font slider control, added help tag.
-Fixed a display issue with the List Editor with Yosemite.
-Fixed a bug using 2 finger scroll in Chef view.
-Fixed a crash when printing Beer Notes. Added several printing templates.
-Fixed a crash when printing Cheese Notes. Added several printing templates.
-Fixed a number of typos and small bugs.

Moving forward, we will be adding this new code to MacGourmet 4, both the Mac App Store versions, as well as Gourmet for iOS. All of this should be complete shortly.
One caveat to this new web import functionality is that older versions of MacGourmet/MacGourmet Deluxe (pre-MacGourmet and MacGourmet Deluxe 4) rely on the online code that was shut down and unfortunately can’t be salvaged. We tried to come up with an alternative to this issue but being that the previous 3rd party source is no longer, there really wasn’t an option. If you have a pre-MacGourmet/MacGourmet Deluxe 4 version and wish to use the new web import feature, you will need to upgrade to MacGourmet Deluxe 4, which you can do on our web site.
As a side-note, if you are running the Yosemite OS, we strongly encourage upgrading to MacGourmet Deluxe 4 (whether we had this import issue or not) as Version 3 is no longer being developed and isn’t completely compatible with Yosemite.

Thank you for your patience with this issue.

Michael Wray
Mariner Software

You can use any of these 4 coupons in Mariners online store and save between 5% and 25% off the retail price of new purchases or one of the 5 pack bundles.

Putty for Mac

$15.00

Mariner Software Montage

What is Mariner Software Montage ?

When you watch a TV show, a film or a play, it’s hard to see the structure that goes into each one. But it’s there. And, it’s pretty specific. It’s one thing having the idea – it’s something else getting that idea into the format needed to get noticed. That’s where Montage comes in.

Screenwriting – art with words

Screenwriting is a creative process but it’s not a free-for-all. It requires a specific type of formatting – from typestyle to line spacing and indentations. You can have a blockbuster idea but without the proper screenwriting format, it won’t get read. Montage, a screenwriting product developed exclusively for the Mac, contains everything you’ll need to create the right format so that your script won’t be another addition to the circular file.

It’s very useful and easy to use.
by VCCR2010

The graphic novel I wrote using Montage just hit bookstores worldwide this week. It’s called SWEETS: A New Orleans Crime Story. Reviews are fantastic and so far sales are strong. The book even won a Spinetingler Award!
Kody Chamberlain

“The main advantage I see of using Montage over other software packages I’ve looked at is its simplicity and ease of use, focused on the writer. It opens quickly, has an easy-to-use and easy-to-learn interface, and at the same time has nearly all the features you’d actually need or use from more complicated and expensive programs.”
N. Andreson
a Montage user

Puts Final Draft to shame. “Sure Final Draft is the _industry standard_ but why spend hundreds when Montage does the trick? I can export my work to Final Draft in the end anyway.”
Kevin Curran
a Montage user

Have Final Draft, will travel.

Let’s face it, Final Draft screenwriting software has been the industry leader for many years. For some users, a transition to a new screenwriting tool would be both challenging and intimidating.
Montage includes a built-in Final Draft importer which allows you to drag and drop your Final Draft documents (fdr format only) right on Montage and have them open in the Montage format.
What’s that? You say you have a writing partner who needs to work in Final Draft (for some bizarre reason!)…we can help there too. Have the ease of creating your work in Montage’s intuitive and elegant interface AND the convenience of saving your Montage script as a Final Draft file format (.fdr).

We’ll do all the heavy-lifting

Montage is designed to automatically structure your writing – you don’t have to worry about learning a complicated process. We’ve even included templates for almost every genre: TV, film, theatre, musical, comic book and more – just take your pick and Montage will do the rest.

View your script from every angle

Looking at your work from different perspectives, like any other type of art, is a good thing. Montage provides multiple views such as the Script View, so you can see what you’re writing page by page. The Outline View lays out your script scene by scene and allows you to organize your script and even set its status.

Don’t let yourself be distracted

A Full Screen Mode is a feature to keep you free from background images, e-mail and all the other stuff on your computer’s desktop. A clutter free desk will set the stage for focused writing and productivity.

Now you’re ready!

Writing a query, constructing a synopsis and sending your script, Montage assists with that too so you’re not left with a nicely formatted screenplay but nothing else. With the hundreds of included industry contacts through the integration with Apple’s Address Book – all you’ll need is determination.

Putty for Mac

$15.00

Mariner Software Mariner Write

What is Mariner Software Mariner Write ?

Elegantly efficient and powerful, Mariner Write has everything you will need to turn out great looking documents. Tired of having 4 million features in your word processor? No worries. Whether you’re a professional writer, educator, student or an average sort, Write has just the right amount of functionality needed to be your go-to word processing app.

From the get-go – designed for the Mac

Mariner Write is no “after-thought” or retooled product. It was specifically developed and purposely designed for the Mac from the very beginning. Mariner Write opens as a clean and uncluttered place for you to start to write. But don’t be deceived by its simplicity, it can do whatever you ask. Use the Smart Cut and Paste feature so you don’t have to worry about whether you properly selected the correct character space. View different parts of your document at the same time with the Split Pane. Mariner Write is more than able to see you through your word processing task.

Word Processor of the Year
2013 Reader’s Choice Finalist
About.com

I want to write, format text and save documents as documents for future use. Nothing I’ve seen beats Mariner Write for that. I just felt you had a right to hear some validation for what you’ve done with this program.
Bob Mendel
Mariner Write user

How about the bottom line first? Barring any dramatic change in its
performance or my experiences with Write, it is likely Mariner Write will be
the only word processor I use on my MacBook from here on out. Even if or
when Microsoft produces a Universal version of Word, I’ll stick with Write.
John Mandes
Mariner Write user

Did you want the kitchen sink?

Well, we’d hate to disappoint you but unlike the other word processor, Mariner Write has all the features you need for that important letter or technical document but without extra and often times, meaningless items. Sometimes all you need is to create customizable headers, footers, endnotes, footnotes or a simple style sheet. With Mariner Write, your document will always look clean, consistent and professional. Or do you want 41 kinds of Word Art?

Flexibility is key

Mariner Write offers all the flexibility that even the most advanced users need. We’ve included many options for keyboard shortcuts for those who work with repeated tasks as well as, Mail Merge to automate mailing, a powerful Find Dialog, an intuitive Font Panel and much more. It’s all designed to give you the power to create the word processing environment you want to see.

But, we can play well with others

We understand that other areas in the space-time continuum use other word processing products. Ok, we’ll just come right out and say it, MS Word – we understand that a lot of folks use Word. Not to worry – Write opens MS Word files and will save your document as an RTF-Word file so you won’t have to feel all alone in the universe.

So what more do you need?

You don’t have to look anywhere else for a feature rich, word processing app built for the Mac. Mariner Write is tried and true and reasonably priced – just like all of Mariner’s products – and will stand up to whatever you throw at it. And anything the competition can dish out too.

Putty for Mac

$15.00

Mariner Software Narrator

What is Mariner Software Narrator ?

What do Agnes, Kathy, Alex, and Junior have in common? They are the voices of the Mac OS and they are used by Narrator, a text-to-speech and dictation app for your Mac. Have one or multiple voices read back your story (a great tool for novel or screenwriting that have conversations between two people), or help you study for a part in a play. Dictate a letter and listen as it is read back to you. The possibilities are endless.

Bring words to life!

It’s really quite simple. You can paste text or import an RTF, .txt, or .doc file into Narrator and you can hear it read back to you. Control the rate, pitch, inflection, and volume to give the voices a wide range of expressiveness. There are also silent read-along options for stage directions or if you need to just read out your own parts.

Amazing app for writers. I’ve had this app for two years and it has never disappointed. I’ll be honest, it is amazing how many errors that you catch in your own writing when you have your book read back to you. I took the suggestion by Narrator to buy additional voices and found them to really enhance the listening experience. I’d recommend this for any serious author.
Glenn Luther
Narrator user

Narrator: been looking for this type of app for a long time. As an assistive technology professional, I’ve been looking for a application to allow me to introduce folks to computerised speech in an interesting/fun way: particularly young children..
David Woodbridge
Narrator user

“I love it! Narrator even lets me use some third party high resolution voices.”
Jean-Luc Lebrun
Narrator user

I kinda of tested it out during the 30 day trial period and i had to get it. Not that many playwrights out there i guess cause i only found out about this project thru amazon not locally. I like hear my plays out aloud at home so i can have a clear sensing of it before it is vocal performed!!! thanks Mariner!!! and oh if you want more voices you would have to buy but other than that its great!!!
Starlink
A Narrator user

Assistive technology.

The Mac is good at assisting those with learning and sensory challenges with its VoiceOver and other assistive features. When it comes to TTS (text-to-speech) Narrator takes it one step further. Once you copy text or import it, you can assign voices to read out different parts. For example, you can select Victoria to read out the part of a novel or play when you need a female character, or assign the voice of Alex – whatever you want or need. Need something read back to you in Italian? or purchase Vittoria, the Italian voice (or many other voices from different languages) available from our partners at Cepstral. With its flexibility, Narrator can be a product to assist anyone who desires to maintain their independence or enhance their learning experience.

Dictation.

Narrator doesn’t just talk back, it will listen too! Use the Mac OS Enhanced Dictation for offline use and continuous dictation with live feedback. Dictate a letter, compose a short story. When you go back to add punctuation, Narrator enhances the feedback of your dictation with pauses and emphasis when it comes across commas and periods. Narrator is not without a sense of humor. Included are novelty voices like, Hysterical and Good News – all designed to enrich your TTS or dictation adventures.

A product that likes to learn.

To help you improve the pronunciation of tricky words, Narrator includes a Dictionary preferences feature. Enter a list of words to look for, and add the words or phrases to use in place of those words. You can replace an acronym or symbol with a more elegant phrasing or spell words differently so they are pronounced correctly.

Take your voices with you.

You can export what you have created in Narrator directly to iTunes, where you can listen to it time and again. Sync your Narrator files to your iPad, iPod, or iPhone. Narrator enables you to create your own audiobooks from text. For example, pick a book from one to the 42,000 free books provided by Project Gutenberg, assign characters and export it to iTunes to enjoy whenever you wanted. There is also an export option for ACC sound files to use with other sound playing software such as a soundtrack in iMovie or as a screenshot voiceover.

Putty for Mac

$15.00

Mariner Software Contour

What is Mariner Software Contour ?

At one time or another, every writer has experienced the dreaded, “now what do I write?” rut that brings even seasoned writers to their knees. Kiss those days goodbye, Follow the Contour system and answer just these 4 questions and you’re well on your way to creating a masterpiece: Who is the main character? What is the main character trying to accomplish? Who is trying to stop the main character? What happens if the main character fails?

You didn’t think it would be that easy, did you?

Contour, the dual-platform, award-winning story development system developed by Emmy Award-nominated Jeffrey Alan Schechter, is designed to take your idea and turn it into a bulletproof outline. Contour teaches you the perfect blend of plot-driven versus character-driven storytelling that blockbuster movies use to create solid stories that hold together from Fade In to Fade Out.

Minimum Theory, Maximum Story.

Unlike other story development systems which are either so complicated that you don’t know where to start or so lightweight as to wonder, “why in the world did I buy this?”, Contour is a must-have for every screenwriter. Using a fill-in-the blanks and intuitive approach, much like a software install wizard, Contour guides you as to what elements need to be part of your story outline – effectively constructing the foundation of your screenplay. In the end, you’re never left to wonder, “what comes next?”

Shhh! It’s a Secret!

Do your stories lack cohesiveness from start to finish? Contour explains the major storytelling secrets needed to craft a highly marketable movie. Your main character’s journey is explained through archetypal themes – the same kind of themes used by most of the top 50 movies that have affected millions of viewers – maybe even you!

Worried about how to start?

Don’t be. For many, it’s much easier to understand the Contour system by following the breakdown of a successful movie. Contour includes several entire scripts of blockbuster movies dissected through the Contour system. And if you need even more samples of how Contour works, follow Jeffrey Alan Schechter’s personal blog as he breaks down current screenplays in Contour.

Putty for Mac

$15.00

Mariner Software StoryMill

What is Mariner Software StoryMill ?

Writing a great novel doesn’t just happen, it is designed. It is thought out. It takes a writer who has discipline, creativity and open-mindedness. You also need a place for organization as well as a place to write. StoryMill is both. Take your idea for mystery, romance, adventure, action or science fiction and turn it into that novel you know is within but just needs a little help getting out. Developed to ease a person into the writing experience, StoryMill is purposely designed to include all the elements essential to writing as well as providing a place for organizing all the other parts and pieces.

Inside StoryMill.

StoryMill is incredibly flexible – use it as your place to write and revise using its distraction-free full screen and powerful annotations, or as your place to organize every character, location, and scene that makes up your novel. You can set a daily writing goal and keep track of it using the Progress Meter. There are handy things to help you keep track of clichés and monitor how many times you use a word. There’s a single place for all your research – add pictures, tags, files and links, or make notes to any item in your project. It’s all right there within easy reach.

Who’s doing what, where, and when?

Monitoring time and dates of scenes and events is critical to writing. With the Timeline feature that is exclusive to StoryMill, you can group the scenes so you can see the relationship between them. Change the unit of time measurement all the way from minutes to centuries. Insert scenes or events and view the list of untimed scenes. No matter what passage of time your story takes, the Timeline View will give you a perspective unique only to StoryMill.

Putty for Mac

$15.00

Mariner Software MacJournal

What is Mariner Software MacJournal ?

It’s journal keeping for the 21st century. Instead of paper and pen, it is your journal on your Mac. Unlike other journal applications, MacJournal is packed with features, setting it apart. You can create as many journals as you’d like: for work, home, family, or friends. You can upload your entries to your blog. Record a message or a child’s first word. It is one place where you can put everything. With MacJournal you can document any life event with all the sounds, images — even video — that comes with it. You can’t do that with a notebook.

MacJournal 6. We’ve made it easy for you.

We’ve created and designed MacJournal, the world’s most popular journaling application for the Mac, so that you can start writing and express yourself the moment you launch it. Easily create a journal – for your dreams, your family or a special time of life – anything. Then, take the plunge and write your entry. It can be your first thoughts of the day, a summary of a good book or just to unload from the week. With MacJournal, the only limitation is the one you set for yourself.

Life is more than just words!

There’s color, sound and imagery and you can put all of it into your journals with MacJournal. A Media Browser is included which allows you to select a favorite song from iTunes, a photo from your Pictures library – even a YouTube video – and add it to an entry. Your journals will be as rich with sight and sound as the event itself.

The other cool stuff.

MacJournal is packed with so many features and enhancements that you can turn it into your own personal writing playground. Select one of the many icons included to mark your entries and journals or use one of your own. Add a mood – are you happy or just so-so? Sort your journals by Topic, Date, Mood, Content Size and more. If you’re the business type, you can use the Statistics menu to view Words, Characters and Lines in an entry. If you like a disciplined approach to your journal keeping, set aside time every day to write and use the Timer to monitor yourself. When you want to see just how prolific a writer you are, select the Timeline Mode to view your daily writing activity chronologically, or the Calendar Mode to see your entries by month and year. There’s also a Full Screen Mode to give you a full writing landscape for all your thoughts choosing your own color background and your own color of type. Let your writing canvas be as unique as the words that will go on it.

MacJournal If you like an audience…or not.

You can keep your world private or, like so many do, share your thoughts and opinions or your entire life. Your MacJournal entries can be published to any of the popular blogging services like Blogger, WordPress, LiveJournal, Tumblr and more. But, if you want to keep your thoughts away from prying eyes – don’t worry, MacJournal is equipped with two-level security – password protection and AES-256 encryption. Extroverted or introverted. Open or private. Just pick the way that’s right for you.

Putty for Mac

$15.00

Mariner Software Paperless and Paperless Lite

What is Mariner Software Paperless ?

Remember when everyone talked about how we would be a paperless society? Now it seems like we use paper more than ever. Let’s face it – everyone still uses paper. We end up with piles of it – bills, receipts, financial and insurance statements. And yet, the trend toward government and business entities wanting digital documents is growing. That’s where Paperless comes into play, Paperless allows you to keep up and maintain the task of organizing all your receipts and documents, simply and easily, just like it should be.

File management 21st century style.

Paperless for Mac and Paperless for Windows reduces your need to keep paper documents of any kind. Simply scan your receipts, bills, statements, warranty cards, business cards – any type of paper and the OCR function of Paperless recognizes the data and adds it to the Details Window. Make more notes, assign categories – all the tools you need for a neat and clean digital filing system is all right there in Paperless.
Now, doesn’t that feel good?

Order and peace of mind.

When it’s time for taxes, do you take your documents to your accountant in a shoe box? Do you scramble around searching for your medical receipts? With Paperless, you can create a database for everything – financial to medical to those product manuals for all your tools hanging in your basement. Oh and, yeah, the fun stuff, like your 2nd grader’s pictures and all the other cool stuff she brings home from school. Store and organize it all, safe and secure.

Putty for Mac

$15.00

Mariner Software Persona

What is Persona?

Go look at your library of writing tools. What do you see? Products to help create a story outline, a place to compile research, a dictionary app, spellchecking, and more. But what about your characters? What do you use to develop them, or do you just sort of, you know, let them evolve? Welcome to Persona. No matter if you’re a Mac or a Win user, Persona will help you create the strongest character possible.

Get inside your character’s head – with your Mac or PC.

Packed inside Persona are archetypal themes—good guys and bad guys. These archetypes are described in detail: personality traits, qualities, flaws, background, occupations, and how they interact with other personalities. Whether your character is a brainiac talking fish or an outcast orphanage owner, Persona helps you explore how each one’s unique psychology and background influence their dealings and dialogue. We’ve even made it possible for you to see what happens if your character becomes corrupt and turns from hero and heroine into villain or villainess.

Develop your characters; strengthen your story

The archetypes in Persona consist of 16 male and 16 female personalities, each group broken down into heroes, heroines, villains and villainesses. There’s the Action Figure, who will get the job done no matter the cost, or the Companion, a caring and selfless man. When the Action Figure loses his moral compass, he turns into the Brute, ruthless and argumentative, easily despised. The Companion, when depraved, becomes the Opportunist, betraying trust and taking advantage of others. Then there’s the Caregiver, empathic and nurturing, but when corrupted she becomes the Distracted Mother, antagonistic and disinterested.
How’s that to get your creativity revved?

“I really like this software. It’s simple to use and it has a great deal of archetypes to use. Of course this shouldn’t be the only thing you use to create a character, but what I’ve found to be helpful is that it generates ideas. When I started my character profiles I got so many ideas of what I wanted to do with them. It can be easy to think that you’ll be held in a box by this software. I don’t feel that way.”
CT33
Persona user

“The was a time earlier in my writing career that I really didn’t care how my characters evolved throughout my story. Mistake. Persona is a drop-dead simple way of making sure each character in my story is as accurate as can be. If you write, you need this app.”
Dave Winston
Persona user

We’ve made it simple.

Don’t be fooled by Persona’s spartan looks. Both the Mac and Windows version is designed to keep you focused on the task of developing your character. You can create Smart Groups based on attributes like tags, type, sex, or any word or phrase from your notes. If you’re not sure how your characters will fit together, you can construct ad hoc groups of characters without a defined relationship, in order to explore interactions. We’ve included a Names database with over 16,000 names and their origins that you can select from, or you can add your own.

Putty for Mac

$15.00

Mariner Software MacGourmet Deluxe

MacGourmet Deluxe Digital recipe management — for everyone.

Going digital is firmly set as a part of your life. You create digital records of receipts and documents. Bills and invoices are emailed. You pay them electronically. You communicate to friends and family through social media venues – and it’s all done from the convenience of your Mac.
So why are you still using a recipe box with tattered and food stained recipes cards?

We know why. They are, you know, sentimental. We get that, but when you go digital with your recipes, the possibilities of what you can do are almost endless.

 We’ve got two solutions.

MacGourmet Deluxe and MacGourmet are our two powerful recipe management applications that enable you to easily create, edit, organize, and share your recipes.

• Make notes about wine, beer, and cheese — like pairings, for example. You’ve got a Pinot Noir in your wine rack, should you pair it with Colby or Cheddar – or both? Is there a beer that goes well with apple pie?
• Search the pantry for ingredients and use the results to plan a meal
• Add Lists, Smart Lists, or sub-lists to categorize your recipes such as, Vegetarian, Gluten-fee, Low Fat, even “recipes from Grandmother”
• Create shopping lists. Print out a list and take it with you, or sync it to Gourmet (for iOS), the mobile version, and check off items while you walk through the store
• Flag the recipes that made you stand out at that dinner party

An enviable recipe collection.

MacGourmet Deluxe and MacGourmet provide two methods for adding to your collection — the Import Feature and the Clipping Feature, which eliminates the need to retype everything.

• Bring life to your recipes with images, directions, and color
• Select from multiple themes to customize your recipe box to fit your style
• Add new cuisine categories — is that special Italian dish Tuscan or Sicilian?
• Do you need special equipment for your famous cake? Add it to the kitchen equipment list
• Illustrate the process of a recipe by including pictures and directions for each step

Putty for Mac

$15.00

Как пишут сценарии «Звездных войн», «Трансформеров» и других фильмов

В одном из недавних постов я рассказал, как можно самостоятельно издать свою книгу. Сегодня мы будем писать сценарий. Причем так, как это делают в Голливуде.

В свое время мне в руки попала интересная книжка Александра Червинского «Как хорошо продать хороший сценарий». Это был обзор американских учебников сценарного мастерства. В основе американского подхода — трехактная структура сценария, четко прописанные правила поведения персонажей. Более того, американский подход предполагает точное указание на то, что должно происходить в определенный момент фильма. У американского сценариста только одна задача — рассказать историю, обозначая действие, описание и диалог. Все остальное — задача продюсера и режиссера.
Поскольку американский стиль сценария обладает четкой структурой, он хорошо поддается оцифровке. Существует много специализированных программ для сценаристов. В целом они делятся на два класса:

1. для построения сюжета и проработки персонажей,
2. для построения структуры сценария.

К первой категории относятся такие программы, как Dramatica Pro, Character Pro, StoryView, Contour и другие. Ко второй категории — Final Draft, Celtx, Movie Magic Screenwriter и другие.
Программа для построения сюжета Contour разрабатывалась совместно с известным сценаристом Джеффри Шехтером («Бетховен 3» и другие). Соответственно, разработка сюжета в Contour идет по системе Шехтера.

Putty for Mac

$15.00

Mariner Calc Spreadsheet app review do your household and business arithmetic while on the go

Mariner Calc Spreadsheet for iPhone is a full-featured portable spreadsheet program that offers hundreds of complex functions and dozens of useful templates. It is compatible with Microsoft Excel and can be used to view Word files, PowerPoint, PDFs, texts, and Numbers. Developed by Mariner Software, this app is optimized for both iPhone and iPad.

Work on Your Spreadsheet Files on the Go

There are probably dozens of mobile spreadsheet programs on the App Store but none can match the advanced features offered by Mariner Calc. For starters, this app offers 145 functions that include basic math operations, trigonometric functions, statistics, banking and finance, and many more. 

Mariner Calc Spreadsheet is a premium app with no additional in-app purchase options. You get the full version when you buy the app from the App Store. 

The app allows you to create a spreadsheet file from scratch. Just load it from the widget to open the spreadsheet editor. Mariner Calc optimizes the display screen to enhance the visibility of columns, rows, and cells. You can customize text appearance from the cell menu page. 

If you want to use a pre-made document with built-in function, just open the template page and choose a spreadsheet that you need. Tap the file name of the template to load the file. You can then input entries into the cells by using the on-screen keyboard. 

Once you finished editing the spreadsheet, just close the file to save it. The app automatically stores the spreadsheet in the file manager. You can then transfer files to your computer via Wi-fi connection or email. You can also print your spreadsheet directly from the app.

Best Features

Mariner Calc offers a well-designed editor suitable for the smaller screen display of mobile devices. It displays the entries in neat rows and you can view long columns by scrolling the screen sideways. The function and tool keys are conveniently arranged in a menu bar located at the bottom of the screen.
The app offers the key functions of MS Excel including multiple worksheet support and split/freeze panes. It supports copy, paste, cut, undo, and redo functions. Most important of all, Mariner Calc supports spreadsheet customization with background and border control, text alignment, color highlights, and many more.
One of the best features of this app is the template options. It allows you to create spreadsheets on the fly by choosing any template such as calendar, class schedule, gas mileage, home inventory, monthly budget, and dozens more.
And lastly, Mariner Calc offer 145 functions for automating your calculations. It supports the most common mathematical formulas as well as advanced functions including statistics, finance, and trigonometry.

Pros and Cons

Pros

• Supports numerous arithmetic functions
• No Internet connection is required
• You can view documents in various formats from the app
• Does calculations in seconds
• Can share files via email or Wi-Fi
• Less prone to bugs and malware
• Smart interface that is user-friendly

Cons

• Lacks a comprehensive tutorial 

Final Thoughts

Mariner Calc Spreadsheet for iPhone is one of the most comprehensive spreadsheet programs for mobile devices. It is compatible with MS Excel and offers dozens of unique features so you can quickly create worksheets.

Putty for Mac

$15.00

MacGourmet Deluxe 4.2 B2 from Mariner Software has been released

MacGourmet Deluxe 4.2 B2 from Mariner Software has now been released. You can use coupon code ( MARS ) in the Mariner Software eStore and save 25% off new purchases and 5 pack bundles today!

MacGourmet Deluxe and MacGourmet are our two powerful recipe management applications that enable you to easily create, edit, organize, and share your recipes.

• Make notes about wine, beer, and cheese — like pairings, for example. You’ve got a Pinot Noir in your wine rack, should you pair it with Colby or Cheddar – or both? Is there a beer that goes well with apple pie?
• Search the pantry for ingredients and use the results to plan a meal
• Add Lists, Smart Lists, or sub-lists to categorize your recipes such as, Vegetarian, Gluten-fee, Low Fat, even “recipes from Grandmother”
• Create shopping lists. Print out a list and take it with you, or sync it to Gourmet (for iOS), the mobile version, and check off items while you walk through the store
• Flag the recipes that made you stand out at that dinner party

Putty for Mac

$15.00

Get 25% off Mariner software for Mac and Windows

If you are looking for designing and publishing computer software products for Mac or Windows Mariner Software is most likely what your looking for. The company has professional and personal software for productivity, writing and creative markets. software products include Mariner Write, a word processing application and Mariner Calc, a spreadsheet application.  MacJournal and WinJournal desktop blogging software, Montage screenwriting software, Contour screenplay development software, Mariner Paperless digital document management software and Mariner Persona character development software.


Additional products include:

• Montage, a Macintosh screenwriting application, which has been reviewed by magazines such as Macworld and MacUser UK, which awarded it 4 out of 5 “mice”^.

• MacJournal, which is described as a blogging tool and personal journaling application for Macintosh computers. Has received 4 (out of 5) mice reviews from MacUser UK, as well as a 3.5 (out of 4) review from Macworld magazine.

• WinJournal, which the company describes as a Windows blogging tool and personal journaling application, which has been reviewed by PC World (magazine)

• Desktop Poet, which is described on the company’s website as “fridge poetry software” for Macintosh and Windows, which has been reviewed by Download.com

• StoryMill, which is described on the company’s website as “novel writing software” for Mac OS X, which has been reviewed by magazines such as Macworld, which awarded it 4 out of 5 "mice".

• Contour, a screenplay and story structure program, currently for Mac OS X and Windows. Has received 4 stars (out of 5) from Macworld,

• MacGourmet Deluxe, which is described on the company's website as a recipe and wine management tool for Mac OS X, which has been reviewed by magazines such as MacLife, which awarded it 4.5 out of 5

• Mariner Calc for iPhone, which the company describes as tool that provides the ability to view and edit native Microsoft Excel files on the iPhone. Has received 3.5 out of 5 "mice" from Macworld

Mariner Paperless, which is a digital document and receipt management tool, which has been reviewed by Macsimum News.

Putty for Mac

$15.00