TLDR: Comments are a basic and often free feature in other document writing software such as Overleaf and Google Docs. Considering this and that comments can be crucial to the collaborative writing process, why is this feature locked behind the Typst Pro paywall?
Hey y’all,
I just finished an undergraduate robotics competition in which we submitted an IEEE paper as part of our documentation. We used the charged-ieee template which made formatting a breeze. Unfortunately, the writing process was severely compromised.
While writing, many members were vocal about the necessity of comments for revision. We tried to use code comments by interspersing lines of content with with little messages // like this but it made editing too cumbersome and it lacked critical information like who left the comment, when was it left, what piece of text is it specifically referring to.
Eventually, people got frustrated we moved over to Google Docs for the preliminary writing so that we could then transfer back everything shortly before the submission deadline. This made handling images and formatting especially difficult, resulting in an overall frustrating experience.
Please bear in mind that as a student-run group, we did not have the capacity to purchase Typst Pro for each team member, and much less so to ask members to buy it themselves. I believe that had we had access to comments from the get go, this would not have been an issue.
Is there a reason that Web-App comments are a Typst Pro feature and not available to basic users?
Hi @jdpieck, I’m not affiliated with the team, so I’m just guessing. A Pro plan that finances development needs to have attractive features in order for people to consider buying it. You could probably debate for every feature why it should or shouldn’t be part of the Pro plan.
Ultimately, I think it’s very generous that the current core functionality is provided for free without any arbitrary limits like restrictions on the document character length or amount of people able to work on the project.
Not every member of your team needs to buy the Pro plan. If the owner of a document has it, all collaborators can use the Pro features in that document.
Thank you both for pointing out that you don’t need Typst Pro for everyone on a team! I had the impression that commenting functionality was per-user. I will probably get Typst Pro for the team (and for myself :P) for these kinds of projects going forward.
I absolutely agree with you, and I too am grateful how much of Typst functionality has been made widely accessible. I think that comments in particular stick out to me as an essential feature for any serious writing application, not to mention that Overleaf offers it as a free feature.
I completely understand the need to generate income, and given the nature of comments, I would not be surprised that many pro users were largely motivated to subscribe thanks to the feature’s inclusion. I also think that many new users will see this as a dealbreaker, and may not choose to invest their time/money in Typst despite its numerous advantages.
Perhaps as Typst’s financial situation continues to stabilize, we will see some pro features become available to everyone. I guess only time will tell…