Writing Apps
I read this week’s Medium post by MG Siegler on Writing Apps. I share his continuous search and exploration of good writing applications. However there are a few things we disagree on.
When I make my list of must and nice to haves of a good writing application, it boils down to:
Must Have
- A simple and open text format, with minimal formating. I settled on Markdown (or some of its flavors). The inline URLs don’t bother me. On a rare occasion I wish I had more formatting control. However, I value the focus on the content over the formatting distraction.
- I own my files. No fancy database absorbing and organizing my files. Allow me to use the right editor for the job. And therefore, don’t hide the files. Sometimes I write using iAWriter, sometimes I want to experiment with a different editor, like Obsidian. Therefore, all I want to do is point the editor to the files. I keep my files in Dropbox. If I wanted strict revision control, I could use git or GitHub to host the files.
- Exportability. Make it easy to convert the Markdown files to Google Docs, or to a Medium post. IAWriter does this well for a Medium post, and it has some nice built-in formats to export to PDF. The conversion to other formats is a little more tricky. Pandoc can help but is not easy to use, and not available on my iPad.
Nice to Have
- Integration with writing tools like HemmingWay and Grammarly.
Current Tools
Currently, I do almost all my writing in iAWriter and Day One. My files are stored on Dropbox. That’s pretty simple and straightforward.
Recently Experiments
I’ve looked at Ulysses, but was turned away at the door when they served me a 2 week try out and then pay. I am not giving you my credit card without kicking the tires first.
Obsidian looked complicated with all their plug-ins. All I want to do is write. On iOS or iPadOS, you are hit in the face with a number of obstacles: how to set up iCloud, lack of Dropbox support, and most importantly, I don’t have access to the files from outside of Obsidian.
Bear is popular. Yet, you don’t have access to the files, and given by the number of hits I get on my Medium post about posting to Medium, it is still an issue.
I’ve tried a few Markdown apps as well, although none as simple and clean as iAWriter.