I sat down at the computer tonight to write about…something. I’m not sure what, as it was one of those “see what happens when I start typing and find a funny cat picture if all else fails” sessions.
Instead, I somehow ended up doing another look at distraction-free writing software. Note this is distinct from markdown editors (which number in the millions now), though a program casn be both. Most of the apps I’ve tried before have been updated, though none with revolutionary new features that radically change or improve them. I didn’t see anything new that was compelling.
I continue to be vexed by the simple lack of first line indentation on most of these programs. This is a common feature in word processors–you’d be hard-pressed to find one without it, but official markdown does not support indented paragraphs. You want to separate paragraphs? You’ll hit the Enter key twice and you’ll like it!
But a few programs have included both. WriteMonkey 2.7 for Windows does. Alas, the author, busily working on version 3 (currently in beta) has said he will not be supporting this in the new version:
Right now wm follows markdown rules, i.e. Double return is new paragraph, single return is soft line break. First line indentation is not supported in wm3.
Sad trombone.
Ulysses supports both markdown and first line indents, but switched to a subscription model and is Mac-only.
Another sad trombone.
Scrivener has no problem with this and has a Composition Mode that is meant for distraction-free writing. And I’m okay with it, I just still have fears that the program will gobble up my text with no hope for recovery, having had that happen once several years ago (I’m willing to admit it in part user error and I know more now than I did back then. Still, it makes me nervous).
Having looked again at some others, I can eliminate the following based on my own peculiar needs and preferences:
- iA Writer. An otherwise decent minimalist editor, it now has a Windows version–yay–but still doesn’t handle indents. It sort of supports them if you import or paste in a document with them, but that’s a clunky and unreliable hack. It’s a shame, because the program is fast and looks great.
- WriteMonkey 3 (beta). As noted above, no support is planned for indents.
- Q10 does support indents–but it only runs full screen and was last updated in 2011.
- Quoll Writer has an interface that weirds me out. It supports indents, though I couldn’t find out how. Also, when I try to update it, it downloads the update and is supposed to install it when you exit the program, but nothing happens, so I dunno!
- Typora. It supports indents, but only if you edit a theme. Kind of awkward and there’s nothing about Typora that makes it seem especially worth having to tinker with it for basic functionality. It’s not too bad, though.
- Ulysses. Subscription model–boo. Mac-only. Also boo.
- yWriter has an interface that scares me. I appreciate the depth it brings, but I’m not a fan of windows/frames all over the place. This is kind of like maximalist software.
- FreeWriter has a paid version, so the name is a bit deceptive, though technically you can use the free version forever if you’re fine with the limitations. The UI is tab-happy and non-standard and sometimes aesthetics matter, even when it may seem less than rational.
- Abricotine sounds like a medication or maybe a liqueur. Preferences are in a config file you must edit. Also no indents.
UPDATE: The author of WriteMonkey replied back to a discussion thread, saying there is still hope for a first line indent feature eventually: “It is possible. I received so many requests to allow first line indentation that I’ll do it eventually. It is not trivial to do it since changes to 3rd party libraries are necessary.”
Now onto the remaining contenders:
- Scrivener. Pretty much does everything, my main concern as expressed above, is that I might lose work due to a saving snafu, especially now that most of the saves are in the ephemeral cloud.
- GhostWriter. A markdown editor that sort of supports first line indentation. It allows you to set a tab as x number of spaces, and once invoked, it will continue to pseudo-indent every paragraph otherwise. Still, there’s not much support here for long form documents, so I’m not sure.
- WriteMonkey 2.7. This is the current version and I’ve used it a lot without issue. My main concern now is it’s EOL and so won’t receive support if there are issues. It’s also a tad fiddly, though quite powerful.
- Microsoft Word. There’s always good old Word, but I really don’t like not being able to see the plumbing behind the words, because it’s a mess back there. If the formatting goes awry it can be a daunting challenge to fix things. It can be run in a sort of distraction-free mode and headers can be used to act like chapters for navigation. Still, meh.
- [unknown contender here]
In all likelihood, I’ll keep using Scrivener for now and see how it goes. The Windows version is still in beta but should be caught up to the stable Mac release sometime in the next few months (my hunch is the beta that will launch at the end of this month will be the final one before release. But I’ve been wrong a grabillion times before).
