Cult of Mac favorite: WriteRoom (Mac OS X app)

Craig Grannell ()

writeroom-fave

What it is: A full-screen text editor.

Why it’s good: It’s easy to get distracted while writing, especially when a dozen other apps are fighting for attention. WriteRoom enables you to block out the clutter and just get on with the process of writing.

Although other apps offer a full-screen mode (such as the latest Pages and the impressive Scrivener), WriteRoom’s take remains the best, largely due to its configuration options. It starts out resembling a primitive green-text-on-black-background terminal, but you can amend colors for text, page, background and scroller, adjust fonts, and toggle statistics (such as live word count).

WriteRoom isn’t Word, but it’s not meant to be. It’s a tool for writers, to enable them to get on with writing. And, as such, WriteRoom comes highly recommended if you’re an author, writer or journalist.

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Where to get it: WriteRoom costs $24.95 and is available from Hog Bay Software.

8 comments »

About the author

Craig Grannell

Craig Grannell is Cult of Mac's designer and an occasional contributor. He also runs iPhoneTiny.com, a Twitter-driven reviews site for iPhone apps and games. Follow Craig on Twitter @CraigGrannell and visit his website, Snub Communications.

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Posted in Reviews |

  • Valerig

    We can use this function for free, Mac OS X TextEdit + Mega Zoom (SIMBL plugin) ;)

  • Valerig

    but UI is pretty nice!! Mouseover scroll bar.

  • http://www.cultofmac.com Leigh McMullen

    Also a feature in iWork 09 Pages… (which is by far my favorite word processor)

    View ->Enter Full Screen

  • Mehul Chavda

    Why pay 24 bucks when the feature is there in pages ?

  • http://www.snubcommunications.com Craig Grannell

    @Leigh—I know—I mentioned that in the piece.

    @Mehul—First, not everyone uses nor owns Pages 09 (I don’t); secondly, WriteRoom’s implementation of full-screen is much, much better for pure writing tasks. (Pages is better for layout tasks, obv.)

  • http://coreminimalist.blogspot.com Dann

    Bean has the exact same fullscreen feature, and is free….

  • http://www.snubcommunications.com Craig Grannell

    “Bean has the exact same fullscreen feature”

    Yes, aside from an unobtrusive scrollbar, typewriter scrolling, the ability to define page colour independent of background, the ability to define the info and scrollbar colour, cursor tint options, control over top margin, direct control over page width, optional auto-hiding info/scrolling components, current line highlight, line count, and probably quite a few things besides.

    There will always be free alternatives to products, or features within major apps that ape things we mention here, but neither makes something better. WriteRoom is a fantastic tool for writers, and although someone bashing out a quick note might be happy with Bean, someone who spents five or more hours a day sitting in front of the thing would probably be driven mad when used to WriteRoom’s relative nirvana.

  • http://gilest.org gilest

    yeah, craig’s right. You *can* write full screen in those other apps, but nothing comes close to Writeroom if you’re doing lots of writing all the time. It really is worth every penny.