WriteRoom
Thursday, 11 January 2007. Apple.
I am not one of natures natural writers. In 1996 I was diagnosed with Dyslexia, particularly in the area of visual/motor skills, (that's poor spelling and clumsiness). This is not an attempt to excuse myself from the spelling and grammatical errors that litter this site like the aftermath of a party. This is to give you some background as to why I love WriteRoom from Hog Bay Software.
WriteRoom bathes your entire screen in black, save for your text. It suppresses all email alerts, instant messages, for a distraction free, writing environment. It is just you and the words.
I've been using WriteRoom for a few months, and it really is invaluable when you just want to write and not get disturbed by anything else. That said, up until now WriteRoom has been free and open but now Hog Bay Software, (a rather charming little family business by all accounts), has released version 2, and slapped a price on it. I am not too certain that the new features included in Version 2.0 warrant the $24.95, (£13), fee.
For my needs the free version was steady as a rock, had the lack of features that made it so basic that you forgot it was a computer program and got on with the sheer pleasure of writing.
The original freeware version is still available for download on Mac, there is a Windows port; Dark Room, and a cross-platform Java-based freebie alternative: JDarkRoom.
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