The discussion of Nisus got me thinking about the apps we use for writing. I hate writing in any word processor, because I find the plethora of features too distracting, as well as the temptation to use the formatting tools, which are mostly not necessary when drafting, but still pull at me. I prefer a clean "page," with minimal features. I used to do a lot of writing in Notetab for Windows. Plain text (as the New Yorker article on TextEdit explains) is very alluring to me when I am writing. Because I would often do the layout of the finished work in InDesign, being able to paste clean text was a bonus.

I am still trying to find a good solution. I do most of my employment writing on my office Windows computer, so the options on Mac just don't work -- I'd probably use Ulysses otherwise. I've tried Craft (the web version), but that app has too many features as well. It might be good for note-taking and collaboration, but as a straight composition platform, it doesn't work for me.

Don't get me wrong, this is not an overwhelming problem. I find ways to write whatever I need to, but I end up using different apps depending on the length of the work and other needs. I'd just like to find one app that works. I know some of you love Obsidian, but I've found it less than optimal for me, but maybe I'm just being too finicky.

So, I am curious what apps you all use for composing articles or even books. I don't expect you to name solutions for me. I am just curious about what types of apps are being used.

Steve

Heh, nice idea.

Well, yes, I do use Obsidian. But I also use:

- Growly Notes (mentioned in the Nisus thread)
- Octarine (mentioned elsewhere in the forum
- reMarkable Desktop

The latter I use much more than I thought I would, with a subscription to reMarkable Connect. I use the app on multiple devices (MacBook, Android tablet, Android smartphone, iPhone, and of course reMarkable 2 tablet). What I like about it is:

- the syncing is very fast
- it’s unbelievably simple. No clever-clever features of the kind that make OneDrive, iCloud and Google Drive so annoying (especially on portable devices). It saves exactly what you put into it. It’s got a nice, simple word processor. And did I mention it syncs very fast. And of course you can save PDFs, ePub files and drawings (from the reMarkable 2) into it as well as text. Oh, and it does OCR, too (very well).

I use Octarine to write more complicated things, because you can open vertical and horizontal tabs and move notes around as you wish. It’s like a simple version of Obsidian. I often use it alongside Obsidian!

Cheers!
Bill

I write on Mac and iPad and iPhone. On the Mac I've used BBEdit for text processing for decades. I wish it had a companion iOS app. Since its release in 1992, it's been maintained consistently updated. Two journalists I know have written in it for decades.

Almost two years ago, BBEdit expanded its worksheet interface to integrate with ChatGPT, allowing you to chat directly inside the app without switching applications or copying and pasting from a web browser. Each chat worksheet retains its own history, so you can refer back to past conversations or continue an ongoing exchange over time.

https://sixcolors.com/post/2024/01/bbedit-15-adds-chatgpt-support/

http://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit/index.html

I know one person who uses BBEdit for shorter work but has written six books using a combination of Scrivener and Pages, though I’m a fan of neither. Around Xmas you'll see 25% discounts on BBEdit, and it's a regular participant at artisanalSoftwareFestival.com with that discount.

BBEdit’s main competition for text writing on Mac/iOS is probably iA Writer and Drafts. I love using Drafts because it launches extremely fast, faster than any other writing app I own, and it’s perfect for jotting quick notes or ideas while on the phone or at my desk. Unlike iA Writer, which restricts users to two themes and four weird bundled fonts, Drafts lets you choose from ten themes and any font you like. iA Writer isn’t bad, but I dislike being confined to its limited themes and oddball font choices. I *need* to write in my preferred font and I prefer to work with a customizable background that isn’t strictly black or white.

https://getdrafts.com/

For me, a close 2nd to writing in text on Mac/iOS is MWeb, which MadaboutDana first wrote about here in 2017. It's available as a free app, an unlocked $10/year subscription or a $35 purchase. Highly tweakable and themeable (more so than Drafts) Markdown editor with a library ability, and can even generate static websites.

https://www.mweb.im/

For long form writing I use Ulysses on Mac/iOS, which I’ve found to be more robust than Scrivener, whose subreddit is filled with users complaining about bugs and even text loss, especially on Windows.

Ulysses uses a sheet/group concept where ‘sheets’ - which writers tend to use as chapters - can easily be rearranged or split, then ‘glued’ into a single visible document. The sheet I’m working in right now is not a chapter of anything but has 33,151 words, and it can easily handle many times that without slowing down. It has a simple but comprehensive built-in theme editor that lets you customize colors and formats for elements like text, subheadings, quotes, footnotes, equations, code, and lists.

Ulysses uses a custom flavor of Markdown that supports inline comments, footnotes, task lists, multiple H1 headers, code blocks, writing goals, and custom export styles (PDF, HTML, ePub, etc.). If you prefer you can choose to write in standard Markdown but you'll lose these extended features. Ulysses saves directly to iCloud but also supports local folders if you prefer (although some Markdown XL functionality may not work in that mode).

Here's a good overview of Ulysses from Zapier

https://zapier.com/blog/ulysses-markdown-writing-guide/

https://ulysses.app/

Ooh, I just realized that Zapier article is eight years old. Scratch that.

I bounce around. For focus solely on composition, I'll use TextEdit (or Notepad on Windows). It's just about the text in those apps, and little to distract. And they're free.

If I want to turn the composition work into close-to-final, then I'll open the file in Pages (ideally) or Word if its for people who belong to that church. At that point, I'll be wanting to care about formats, tables, bullets, etc.

I've CRIMPed and bought a lot of text/word processing apps but I prefer simply writing in a no-drama environment.

My writing habits have changed over the years. Today, I do most of my writing in Dynalist, then drop it into Google Docs. The other work flow is to write in org-mode (then, often, export through Pandoc to Word for publishers or editors). I really need at least the running outline by header of Google Docs, but prefer writing in Dynalist or org-mode just for the outlining. org-mode can be pretty distraction free.

My work life keeps me tied to the Google Suite (which is far preferable to me than Microsoft Office), but I think on my own, I far prefer org-mode. Why every word processor doesn't have "move by sentence" is incomprehensible to me. Granted there are endless commands, but you don't need to use them.

I’ve learned that I need different apps for different forms and stages of writing.

I love Scrivener, but it works only for longer forms (It’s too bloated for quick writing.) I’ve written two academic books in it, and it helped immensely: I could gather there small pieces of writing, notes, and comments, rearrange them, tag and label everything, and keep track of that complicated cloud of fragments. But it’s too much for smaller projects.

When I work on an article, I start with notes in Obsidian and an outline in Workflowy. When the idea ripens, I move everything to a separate project folder and finish it in Obsidian (earlier it was Zettlr).

Final editing is always done in MS Word.

I live in Mac and Linux. Fair warning, there's a bias that follows me around.

I don't think I'll ever leave Mellel. A Keyboard Maestro macro shuts down all the UI, leaving me with a writing environment that makes Notepad look bloated. The Mac helps there, since none of the app menus are in Mellel's window. One box, a cursor, close/minimize/maximize buttons, and what I'm working on. Another KM macro turns on the tool and status bars.

Mellel works pretty well as an outliner, using its navigation pane as topics.

I've written things I needed to say to a group in OmniOutliner. Which, of course, is a much better outliner than Mellel.

iA Writer has quirks. There's a lot I like about it, particularly the blog publishing. I would retire it if it weren't so convenient for blogs, not that I blog very actively.

A BBEdit Notebook is a nice way to organize text for an Affinity Publisher document.

My latest discovery hardly qualifies as a writing tool, yet it is. Rapidweaver Elements is a web design utility that's kind of fun to use. For a buck or two a month you can get hosting at Chillidog Hosting, another new discovery. Chillidog has really nice customer support.

Elements has content management tools for building a blog based on Markdown files. I haven't explored that yet, but it sounds intriguing.

And Devonthink, of course.

I'll throw a quirky vote to Author on Mac.

I outline with legend or workflowy and then write in Author..
It was the best minimal fit after FoldingText finally gave up on me.

Author looks very interesting. I see it supports some kind of mind map. I must investigate!