WriteRoom (Mac only)

Being a pretty avid writer, I find it quite a hassle to have to type in the default WordPress “New Post” text box. While it definitely has pretty advanced features, considering that it’s not a desktop application, I usually avoid using it when i can, for some reason or another. I’m always worried that I’ll accidentally hit something wrong or something might go wrong with my webhost (though there’s been absolutely no hiccups thus far) and all that I’ve type will just disappear. Thus, I’ve taken a liking to desktop applications as in my opinion, they’re a much more “stable” way for me to write articles, reviews or blog posts. On the Mac, my favourite text editor is undoubtedly Writeroom.

In fact, I’m writing this very post in Writeroom now. It is a pretty basic text editor that doesn’t have a lot of features that many have grown accustomed to in Microsoft Word. You’re able to do some basic stuff with it, like change text size, colour or the type of font you use, other than that, it acts more or less like notepad, albeit slightly more powerful. However, it’s main purpose is not to be used as a text editor, rather, it is to allow writers to have a distraction-free environment to write in, as the name of the program would suggest. Why is that so?

For the simple fact that by hitting the Escape key (the default keyboard shortcut) while the program is open, you’ll immediately enter fullscreen mode whereby everything goes black and you only see your document in the font colour of your choice. Personally, I use white on black as they’re the most contrasting colours, however by default the words are a certain shade of “Matrix-like” green, if you get what I mean. This may seem ridiculously simple, yet it’s amazingly effective. By blacking out every other application, one is able to concentrate fully on writing, thus allowing you to be extremely productive unlike if you were to be distracted by a new email or IM every few minutes. With WriteRoom, everything else is non-existant, and you just get into the mood of writing, allowing you to enjoy the experience even more.

By right, WriteRoom costs $24.95. However, personally I have not purchased the program. Why? Because when you use the free version, the only difference between that and the paid version is a nag screen that appears the moment you open the program. However, you’re able to immediately close it and get on with your writing immediately. The creator of WriteRoom has left this there on purpose, and in my opinion it’s great that he has decided to allow everyone to use his software for “free” as it will be really beneficial to a lot of people.

Still, I plan on purchasing this program pretty soon, more of a gesture of Thanks that anything else. I’ve been using program for quite some time now and I don’t plan to stop anytime soon. For those of you Mac users/bloggers, I suggest you start using this program now if you haven’t been all along. It’ll make your blogging life so much easier and you’ll soon see how fun writing can get with it.

Overall Rating: Just go download it now.

P.S: Windows users, go check out DarkRoom. I’ve got no experience with it, but apparently it’s pretty similar to WriteRoom for the Mac.