GigaOM » Collaboration

QuietWrite: A Minimalist Web App

Charles Hamilton — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 15:00:03 +0000

If you find that the busy interfaces of standard word processors detract from your ability to concentrate, there are several options for “distraction-free writing,” including WriteRoom, OmmWriter and DarkRoom. Now there’s a web app called QuietWrite that tries to create a similar environment.

As you might expect, the site is simple. Just push the “Click to write” button, and you’re taken to an almost-blank screen. You can close the tip that displays when you first visit, and the navigation bar disappears after a few seconds. You can start writing immediately, but if you want to return to your work, you’ll want to register a username and password. You’ll also want to put your browser into full-screen mode.

Writing is limited to text only: no formatting, no links, no bulleted lists. Editing is limited to what can be done by the browser (such as Control-C or Command-C for copying). You can create document titles. Writing is saved automatically, but if you’re nervous, you can use Control-S or Command-S, and there’s a Save button in the navigation bar.

For now, QuietWrite has very few features, but the developers tell us they are considering adding support for offline editing, an iOS-optimized version, the ability to send writing directly to popular blog platforms, themes and more customization options.

I have to admit that simplifying the screen probably won’t do much for my ability to focus, but if you think it will make a difference for you, give QuietWrite a try. It’s free and in beta.

How do you concentrate while writing?

Related content from GigaOM Pro (sub. req.):

Distraction-free Writing Is Distracting to Me

Will Kelly — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:00:22 +0000

Like over 300,000 other Mac users who downloaded the MacHeist nanoBundle (as covered by Simon), I received WriteRoom as part of the package’s bevy of software. This lightweight word processor promises distraction-free writing. Having read about it and the productivity concepts underlying it in the past (here’s an old WWD post from Leo about distraction-free writing tools, for example), I was interested in giving it a spin to see if it could help me.

In a word, I found WriteRoom distracting. Here’s why:

Green Text on a Black Background. Perhaps it’s because I wear bifocals, but I find the green text on a black background to be very distracting (it hurt my eyes!) — and don’t get me started on my flashbacks of Matthew Broderick in 1983’s action thriller, “War Games.” While some usability and productivity pundits do sing the praises of an all-black screen, the strain the screen contrast put on my eyes was a distraction unto itself.

No Visualization. Whether I’m writing my next post for WebWorkerDaily, an article, or a technical document for a client, I need to be able to visualize the final product as I’m writing. Like many writers, I like to see how my writing looks both on the screen and on paper in order to spare myself surprises at deadline time. Writing in WriteRoom doesn’t let me do that because it’s not WYSIWYG, and it doesn’t give me access to print preview or similar tools . As a technical writer, I’m probably not the right customer for WriteRoom. However, my work as a technical writer plays a heavy influence on my composition process, even when it comes to articles and blog posts.

However, while I didn’t find a productivity boost with WriteRoom, it doesn’t mean you won’t find one. As I often advise other writers, you have to find the composition process, workflow and right mix of tools that works for you and your projects.

WriteRoom is available with a free trial ($24.95 to purchase) from Hog Bay Software and — despite my experience — I recommend you giving it a try if you think it may help you with your writing.

Do you write with WriteRoom? Share your experience below.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

New MacHeist nanoBundle Is Free

Simon Mackie — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 20:00:06 +0000

MacHeist is well-known for packaging together and heavily discounting some great Mac apps. As reported over on TheAppleBlog, though, the latest MacHeist bundle, the “MacHeist nanoBundle” will cost you precisely nothing — zilch, zip, nada.

The bundle contains six apps that would normally collectively retail for $149:

ShoveBox — A clippings organizer that lets you capture, view, organize and edit data.
WriteRoom — A simple, distraction-free word processor that Sam wrote about here.
Twitterrific — A Twitter client.
TinyGrab — A screenshot utility that I reviewed last week.
Hordes of Orcs — A tower defense game.
Mariner Write — A full word processor, unlocked when 500,000 people have downloaded the bundle.

The bundle is only available for a limited time (there are six days left as I type this), so go grab it now.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.

Zen Computing: Toward a Distraction-Free Desktop

Samuel Dean — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 00:00:32 +0000

Early last year, I did a roundup called 12 Top Zen Apps to Keep You Focused. It focused on a number of free tools in the category of zenware–mostly applications that do away with the clutter you typically find on your computing desktop.

Some of the readers of that original post suggested some more zenware applications that they like, and I keep seeing new ones, so here is a zenware update.

Among the 12 tools I collected in the original zenware post, DarkRoom (for Windows) and WriteRoom (for the Mac) will probably have the most appeal to most web workers. They present you with tabula rasa interfaces for doing word processing, so you don’t have system trays, docks, icons and alerts staring at you or flashing at you all the time.

Readers of the original zenware post called out JDarkRoom as a similar offering that deserved highest praise. It’s a full-screen text editor that looks and works like the other two, but it also comes in a free version for Linux users. Other readers said I should have mentioned Q10 as one of the best zenware word processors.

If you like the zen effect that these word processors have, you may want to try the updated version of AlphaXP Lite, which does a similar thing. It lets you control transparency effects for any Windows 2000 or Windows XP desktop, and you can even control fade-ins and fade-outs whenever you hover your mouse over interface components.

Lifehacker has done a good post on Dropcloth (for Windows), which lets you blank out your Windows desktop, and I previously mentioned Backdrop (for the Mac) which does the same thing. Today, Lifehacker has a good post up on Ghoster, which is a utility for Windows users that darkens everything on your Windows desktop except the active window you’re working with.

Finally, if some of these zenware applications go too far in eliminating aspects of your desktop interface that may distract you, Leo has done a good post on word processors that just naturally have very simple interfaces, free of some of the distractions you find in other applications.

Related research and analysis from GigaOM Pro:
Subscriber content. Sign up for a free trial.