![]() ![]() Once a story needs to go longer than a few thousand words it can be unwieldy. iA Writer works best for my journalism and blog posts. Ten years onĪfter a decade with iA Writer, it remains my main writing app on iPhone, computer and iPad. T his longer review of the latest version of iA Writer explains why it can be better than a word processor. The most recent Byword was six months ago. I recommend iA Writer over Byword because it has had more consistent attention from the developer over the years.Īt the time of writing the most recent update of iA Writer was three months old. IA Writer and Byword are both solid apps. I can, and have, started writing on a phone, edited on a desktop, polished on a tablet and send from a laptop. Phone, tablet, laptop, desktopīecause both apps store files in Apple’s iCloud, you can switch between Apple devices without missing a beat. Even after buying MacOS apps, iA Writer works out at a fraction over one New Zealand dollar a year. In 2016 iA charged a further NZ$5.99 for an upgraded app. That was the best $2.59 I ever spent on software. My first iOS version of iA Writer cost NZ$2.59 at the end of 2011. iA Writer and Bylineįor me two apps run on iOS, iPadOS, which for a long time was, in effect, the same as iOS, and they run on MacOS. Today there are Windows and Android versions of iA Writer. IA Writer started life in the Apple camp. There is a Mac version and an iOS version that will also run on iPadOS. ![]() A handful were written using Byword.īyword is a Markdown Editor for Apple users. Many of the posts on this site were written with iA Writer. Compare that with the fussiness that can happen when you past text into a word processor. It’s easy to miss this point, but if you find yourself cutting text from PDFs or web pages, pasting them into iA Writer is a cinch. ![]() The more time you stay with the keyboard, the less discomfort. That can give me overuse pains in my hands and arms. I find that over time Microsoft Word needs extra mouse activity – or touch screen action. If, like me, you can touch type, it means you can spend more time with your hands on the keyboard and less time mousing. That said, converting Markdown to Word or Google Docs is no more than a mouse click away. It can be easier to go there from the outset. I have clients who expect to receive Word files or Google Docs. There are times when I have waited much longer to get started.Ī Markdown editor is there immediately with a blank page ready to go. Then it did something in the background before opening. The app took three minutes to check for and download upgrades. A moment ago I fired up Microsoft Word on my state-of-the-art Apple M1 MacBook Air. Trust me, you can spend hours wondering if that editor waiting for your latest story prefers to get copy in Arial or Times Roman. There is no dithering over font choices or layout options. The advantage of this simple, minimal approach is you are not distracted by things that don’t matter. You can be up and running with Markdown immediately. This means there is almost nothing new to learn. That’s the same code used in word processors like Microsoft Word. In a Markdown app you could also use Command-B (on a Mac) and the symbols are inserted for you. That would be a couple of * symbols before and after the words you want in bold. You can type out the commands for, say, bold text. In this sense it is the closest thing to using a typewriter. The beauty of Markdown is there are a mere handful of commands to remember. But a chef would choose the latter to prepare a meal. If you don’t know what life will bring you, the Swiss Army knife makes sense. They do far less, but what they do, is done better with greater efficiency. In comparison, Markdown and iA Writer are like one of those extra sharp Japanese cooking knives. It aims to cater for every possible need. Microsoft Word is the writing equivalent of a Swiss Army knife. If we want to be technical about it, Markdown is a simple, lightweight markup language.Īt a pinch you can write Markdown using a plain text editor. It may not work for everyone, but switching from Microsoft Word to a Markdown or text editor boosted my productivity.Īlmost every post written on this site over the last 13 years was written using Markdown. ![]()
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