Rants & Requests

Posted May 30, 2008 by BrettM

Hi there,

i hope you don't mind my thread with few rants & requests.

First of all i like WR a lot and think it was a great idea to do such a fullscreen mode writing app.

But...

Rants:

  • $25 bucks for a simple text editor? Sure it can do fullscreen but come on is that really worth 25 dollars? Why not make it $5 or $10 bucks?

Requests:

  • I really miss an option to highlight selected text (quickly). The best solution would be if it was assigned to a key so you can quickly press/ highlight as you select the text.

  • Hud-UI (Dark transparent UI elements a la quicklook or aperture in fullscreen mode) for all the panels like font and colors, etc. So it blends well into the black and doesn't distract when you have a panel open all the time.

reply | edit

ClintMacD - May 30, 2008 4:15 PM

I really miss an option to highlight selected text (quickly). The best solution would be if it was assigned to a key so you can quickly press/ highlight as you select the text.

Try this: place your cursor at the beginning of a word. Use shift-right-arrow to select by letter, shift-option-right-arrow to select by word, and shift-command-right-arrow to select to the end of the line. Is that what you want? (Those are all standard Apple interfaces for selection using the keyboard.)

Hud-UI […] for all the panels like font and colors, etc.

I cannot speak for Jesse, but I suspect it is not possible to change the font panels, etc., because those are built-in features of the operating system, not of WriteRoom.

$25 bucks for a simple text editor?

Ordinarily, I would not respond to this. However, I will note that of all the non-freeware word processors listed on VersionTracker, WriteRoom is the least expensive at $24.95:

http://tinyurl.com/6yk9ze

Best wishes, Clint

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BrettM - May 30, 2008 4:25 PM

No by highlighting i meant you could select your text and do "highlight" and it would be marked with color field. As possible in journler for example.

As for the price. Well scrivener is only 15 bucks more expensive and can do so much more.

reply | edit

ClintMacD - May 30, 2008 4:54 PM

by highlighting i meant you could select your text and do "highlight" and it would be marked with color field.

Aha! Now I get it. I agree, that would be a useful feature. Consider this another vote in favor of that feature (and for some sort of notes feature like Stickies).

scrivener is only 15 bucks more expensive and can do so much more.

Quite possibly Scrivener is what you want. Scrivener has been very well received, and does a number of document management things as well as the whole “full screen” thing. Jesse even recommends it for users with more extensive needs than WriteRoom supplies (towards the bottom of the page):

http://hogbaysoftware.com/products/writeroom

I still like WriteRoom, but I usually find one thing I like and stick to it. Spend your money on what works best for you.

Best wishes, Clint

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BrettM - May 31, 2008 12:56 PM

I understand that the standard UI elements come from os-x but why can't Hog Bay implement HUD bezels/ UI for these kind of things like scrivener. Then a color-highlight option and a note-function like you mentioned could reside on a hud ui element as well.

I just think $25 for a simple text editor is way too much if it doesn't offer really much except full-screen mode writing.

It went from being free to suddenly it being $25!

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