Filed under: Software, Freeware, Universal Binary
WriteRoom
Despite the fact that I have a shaky at best grasp on my native English tongue, I am paid to write things. Unfortunately for my paycheck, a combination of ADD and a constant barrage of notifications from NetNewsWire, Mail, Colloquy, and Adium conspire to distract me from my duties. Until of course, Michael at binarybonsai posted about a simple little program by the name of WriteRoom.
WriteRoom does one thing, and does it well; it makes you focus on what you are writing by making the entire screen a text field. Merlin Mann at 43 Folders posted a hack a few months ago to accomplish this using Backdrop, but WriteRoom makes de-cluttering your workspace as simple as opening the application. Of course, now that my computer doesn't have anything to distract me with, I find myself looking longingly out the window at a beautiful San Francisco summer afternoon, but thats besides the point. WriteRoom is available as a free Universal Binary download.
![TUAW [Cafepress]](http://www.blogsmithmedia.com/www.tuaw.com/media/tuaw-cafepress-promo.png)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Nicholas Sanders said 10:50AM on 7-01-2006
This is also a feature of MacJournal…
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aaa said 11:14AM on 7-01-2006
it should be a feature of ms word. i'm trying this one out.
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Mark E Taylor said 11:15AM on 7-01-2006
Make the screen colours blue and white and call it WordPerfect for OSX!
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Eric Busch said 11:17AM on 7-01-2006
Anyone hearing some Eric Clapton right now?
Innnn the writeroom, with black curtains, near the blogging...
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Don Parr said 11:33AM on 7-01-2006
WriteRoom (1.0 Beta 2) is, in a word, Wonderful! I am big on programs that actually assist you in getting things done - without getting in your way while doing it :). I am not a fan of all-in-one, or do everything under the sun, applications. Real world example; I don't want a cell phone that's also a camera, portable DVD player and whatever else one could possibly think of? I want my cell phone to make and receive phone calls, simple as that.
As HogBay Software's site says, WriteRoom provides for "distraction free writing." At first, I thought it would be a utility I would use occasionally, in actuality, I have found myself using it on a daily basis and consciously looking for reasons to go to my "WriteRoom" :)!
As Dan Lurie said, "WriteRoom does one thing, and does it well;" and I think that's Wonderful!
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Ulf Preisler said 12:23PM on 7-01-2006
If you are text-focused, I can highly recommend Scrivener (http://www.literatureandlatte.com/). It's a Beta product (see forum for info), but is probably the best writing tool I've used in recent times.
The full-screen writing mode is reminiscent of the old plasma screens - albeit without the glare. Highly recommended.
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Mark Ross said 2:25PM on 7-01-2006
Also add Blu-Tec's sublime Ulysses to the list of excellent writing apps that have this feature... In fact they might have been one of the first. For me, it's the very best one available.
http://www.blue-tec.com/
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Douglas F Shearer said 2:31PM on 7-01-2006
Some good suggestions in the comments today, anything that helps me get stuff done has to be good!
I always have trouble pinning down design specifications for new sites, so hard to concentrate sometimes.
On a side note, what is the text in the screenshot? I've seen it in several places (Website mockups, App mockups, Blog engine installs), but have never known what it is or where it came from.
Ta.
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Alex H. said 3:09PM on 7-01-2006
Douglas:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorem_Ipsum
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Tim said 3:26PM on 7-01-2006
http://www.lipsum.com/
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Blake Burris said 3:49PM on 7-01-2006
Congrats Jesse on this simple yet much needed app for writing without distraction. I sometimes take lengthly blog posts into Tofu full-screen mode to digest. Now I've got to work WriteRoom into my routine!
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Douglas F Shearer said 4:41PM on 7-01-2006
Thanks Tim. :o)
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E Grotz said 1:51AM on 7-02-2006
Brilliant concept -- how to turn a $1500 laptop into a $20 electric typewriter! Maybe I've been around computers way too long, but I'm really loving these "less is more" apps.
BTW, how does one submit story ideas to TUAW?
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Daniel said 10:47AM on 7-02-2006
I was inerested enough to go and download this until I saw that is was for OS X Tiger only. I have Panther. I wonder what is in this cool app that can't possibly be run in Panther; it is for just a editing text on the screen, after all.
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icerabbit said 8:50AM on 7-03-2006
It's nice to see & hear people wanting to focus on a single task for a change. This has been my point all along in wanting (+) in OS X to maximize the current window. That combined with hiding the dock & turning off other apps, really allows one to concentrate on the task at hand.
The neat thing is, this takes it a step further by going full screen. I love how it has just the right preferences as well to customize the page width & height, text & page colors (for some reason the page was not true black compared to the background) and font-style. Write Room is a true little gem.
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Todd said 8:58AM on 7-03-2006
Not to take anything away from Jesse, because he and Hog Bay crew have done some wonderful things, but there's a similar app called Doodim that dims everything behind the front-most app. Same thing, but a little more flexibility.
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G-Man said 1:22PM on 7-11-2006
There is also a very good Windows option to this program called the WestEdit text editor.
It can be found at http://home.online.no/~westerma/WestEdit/
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G-Man said 1:24PM on 7-11-2006
There is also a very good Windows option to this program called the WestEdit text editor.
It can be found at http://home.online.no/~westerma/WestEdit/
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