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Writing Software for Writers
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Posted by Dr Andus
Sep 23, 2013 at 11:15 AM
MadaboutDana wrote:
>my current favourite for fast Markdown: 1Writer
Thanks for the heads-up on Texts and 1Writer.
>The iOS app does need work, though.
Yes, an extended keyboard on iPad for a Markdown editor is a must. 1Writer looks good though.
>Vastly superior to WriteMonkey, IMHO. I have to admit I really dislike
>WriteMonkey - for a super-minimalist app it manages to be really awkward
>to use
I’ll need to stand up for WriteMonkey here :) I’ve just switched from FocusWriter to it, partly because of the Markdown support, but I also find it a bit more satisfying to use. Horses for courses, I suppose.
Re WM v. Texts, WM seems to recognise an unlimited number of headings levels, while Texts only recognises 3, which is not enough for longer documents with a complex structure. And there is full-screen distraction-free writing, which Texts doesn’t seem to have (though I only played with it briefly).
While on the Markdown topic, just came across this article with a staggering list of 78 Markdown editors…
http://mashable.com/2013/06/24/markdown-tools/
Posted by MadaboutDana
Sep 23, 2013 at 12:36 PM
True, WriteMonkey has things that Texts doesn’t (and vice versa, of course); depends on what you mean by “distraction-free”. If you used Texts full-screen you’d have no distractions - it doesn’t even have a toolbar or status bar! But I like the fact I can bung up multiple Texts windows all over the place and work in all of them simultaneously - a somewhat different definition of “distraction-free” (perhaps better described as “focused” on a particular problem with multiple facets). Of course WM is also free, which is nice.
As you say: horses for courses!
And thanks for the enormous list reference. Good grief!
Posted by MadaboutDana
Sep 23, 2013 at 12:42 PM
Hm - the list is slightly irritating in that it only sporadically mentions which OS the various editors are designed for. Most of them are in fact iOS or OS/X apps (not an issue in itself, but following dozens of links to check is a little irritating). There are a lot of top editors missing, too, but hey, it’s not pretending to be comprehensive.
Speaking of which, a new version of Markdown-friendly outliner Cotton Notes for iOS has just been launched (updated for iOS 7). It’s been heavily upgraded and the UI has been beautified. And it’s got a rather nice Dropbox function, too. It’s also faster than it was. Definitely worth checking out.
Posted by Dr Andus
Sep 23, 2013 at 01:10 PM
MadaboutDana wrote:
> If you used
>Texts full-screen you’d have no distractions - it doesn’t even have a
>toolbar or status bar!
Sorry, you’re right, completely missed that…
>But I like the fact I can bung up multiple Texts
>windows all over the place and work in all of them simultaneously
For the record, you can also do that with WriteMonkey. You just need to check the box “Allow multiple windows” in Preferences (F10), and then use a utility like WinSplit Revolutions to arrange them.