FioWriter is yet another new iPad text editor, but with one huge difference: it has Command, Option and Control keys right there on the keyboard.
What’s more, they work as they should: hold down the modifier and hit a key to execute a command. For instance, press Cmd-F (for “find”) and a search box pops up over the keyboard. And that’s not it. Not even close.
To continue this particular example, Cmd-Option-F brings up a find/replace dialog, complete with “replace all” and a case-sensitive search. And the list goes on. In fact, rather than tell you about everything I’ll past the list here for maximum word/information density:
- Move around quickly
1) Command + f to find words.
2) Command + l to jump to a line.
3) Command + j to scroll cursor back when it’s off screen.
4) For long text which couldn’t fit in one screen, touch on the right side of the screen to show the fast scroller.
5) Tap on the status bar to scroll to the top.
- Cursor control
With shortcut keys, you can precisely move cursor around in unit of character, word, sentence, paragraph, or whole article.
1) Control + f / control + b to move forward or backward one character.
2) Option + f / option + b to move forward or backward one word.
3) Option + a / option + e to move forward or backward one sentence.
4) Control + a / control + e to move to paragraph begin or end.
5) Option + control + a / option + control + e to move to the begin or end of the article.
- Editing
1) Command + a to select all text.
2) Command + c to copy selected text.
3) Command + v to paste.
4) Command + x to cut selected text.
5) Control + shift + f / control + shift + b to select one character forward or backward.
6) Option + h / option + d to delete one word or forward delete one word.
7) Control + k to delete to paragraph end.There are more than thirty shortcuts for editing and cursor control. Press command + ? to find all of them. (Yes, if you are a Mac user, you will be familiar with most of them).
- Find & replace
Command + f to find and command + option + f to replace.
When there’s multiple search result, you can navigate to next via command + g or previous via command + shift + g.
- Punctuation
Command + space to bring up a bar with commonly used punctuation keys.
- Symbols
Option + space will show a collection of symbols for currency, trademark and mathematic. If you use some symbols more frequently, there’s shortcuts for all of them too (e.g. option + p for π, option + w for Σ).
- Built-in dictionary
Command + control + d will show the definition of the word under the cursor (from iOS built-in dictionary). If you want to define a phrase, just select several words and press the shortcut keys.
- Word count
Command + i will show the statistic of the article in editing, including character count, word count & line number.
Otherwise, FioWriter keeps it simple. You can sync with Dropbox or iCloud, export to compatible apps and e-mail your documents. There is no support for Markdown, nor TextExpander Touch.
But the biggest problem is that you can’t use any of these shortcuts with an actual hardware keyboard. This is thanks to the iPad itself, which doesn’t let apps communicate fully with external keyboards, but it doesn’t make things any less annoying. I’d love to be able to do a quick find/replace or dictionary lookup whilst working.
Still, if you don’t use a keyboard, then FioWriter might be just the thing for you. Handsome, minimal and functional. It’s also pretty cheap, at $5. Available now.
Source: FioWriter
Thanks: Han!
