Chekhov's Mistress
Mac the New Typewriter for Writers?
I am a Mac convert. I used one of the original Macs in the Eighties, but then eventually ended up with evil Windows when I couldn’t afford to pay for a Mac of my own. That’s changed and now I can’t imagine ever using a Windows based computer again, except for the old Dell I keep around just to see how bad some of my Web work looks on one.
As I do a great deal of writing both off and on-line, I’m always looking for some perfect product to write in that will let me focus on the words at hand, keep me organized and allow me the flexibility to write for various media.
That product doesn’t exist. But there are a few getting closer. MS Word has just too much functionality and I’m always distracted by that. I sometimes use BBEdit, which is a text/html editor when I want to have a lot of control over the html output, but still not right. Basic text editors are good for many things, but there’s really no functionality there.
That’s where Ulysses comes in. This program is designed especially for writers, and specifically for Mac users. You do all of your writing in one window and all of the formating when you send it for output. It has word/paragraph/line/page counts and there are some nice categorization features that allow you to keep everything in order of project, status (new, draft, revision, etc.), labeled (chapter, notes, etc) and a place to keep notes on the side, which is key for the way that I write.
One of the most attractive features is the ability to write in full screen mode, avoiding all of the distracting clutter of the desktop. It’s liberating in a way: One problem I have using the computer for writing is the fact that I also use it for so many other things. All those icons of productivity are just begging for my tiny attention span. But in full screen mode, the Mac is nothing more than a typewriter, without carbon copies or all that clackety-clack that annoys the neighbors. In fact, the Apple Powerbook has the best keyboard of any computer I’ve ever used, so the combination of computer and program is a tactile dream.
I found a review for this product at 43 Folders.
Read widely, think well, and write often.
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About this Post
- Posted by: Bud Parr
- Date: December 03, 2004
- Filed Under:
Wise Men Fish Here: Literature
- Comments:0
- Links to this Post: Technorati
