Distraction Free Writing

June 30 by | 11 comments | Lifehack, Technology | Tags: , , , ,

Download Squad pointed me to this Mac application called WriteRoom. The trick is simple: fill the page with ONLY the screen you’ll be typing on, and do autosaves the whole time you’re typing. It’s perfect if you need to buckle down and focus on writing and can’t afford the distractions.

I like that you can edit the colors, the fonts, and everything about the look and feel, but that at the end of it all, you have this uber-simple interface. I changed the font, set the color to a more golden color, and then I was in good shape. It’s a great app and worth trying, especially if you toggle to full screen mode right away.

Any Windows users know a similar free app?

WriteRoom – [Hog Bay Software via Download Squad]

Chris Brogan writes about self-improvement and creativity at [chrisbrogan.com]

  • Herb

    Alright, it’s Microsoft Word, but you could do all that through the View -> Full Screen command.

  • http://mallinson.us Erik Mallinson

    Openoffice.org does a full screen mode thing too. Essentially there are still page margins and a button to turn off full screen mode.

  • Geoffroy Magnan

    I think Evernote (http://www.evernote.com) has a full screen note edit mode, even in the free version

  • http://thoughts.livingtheliminal.com Peter Wood

    Great idea! But be sure you turn off your email notifications as well or the distractions will continue.

  • http://www.planetthoughtful.org Murray @ PlanetThoughtful

    Oddly enough, I occasionally find myself hankering for the ‘simplicity’ of using a word processor like WordPerfect 5 (or was it 5.1?) back in the days of DOS. Just you and the word processor, unless you were using very tricky TSR applications or rather cutting-edge DOS windowing applications. Even the simplicity of the look and feel of WordPerfect in those days would be nice, which is what the screenshot of WriteRoom evokes for me when I look at it. I sincerely wish there was a WinXP version.

  • http://www.chrisbrogan.com ChrisBrogan

    Turns out Download Squad followed up with a WriteRoom clone for Windows, called DarkRoom. There you go.

    And it really is a *little* different than all the other suggestions.

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  • http://www.xtrememind.com Power Persuasion

    Yes I have one such killer app. It’s called My Pad and the MontBlanc.

    Does wonders for speed writing!

  • http://www.k111k.com انمي

    tanks

  • http://hocanasrettin-nasreddin.blogspot.com nasrettin hoca

    nice.

  • http://www.domatessuyu.com Domatessuyu

    Thank you very nice