Writer.app 1.2.4

By Harry {doc} Babad

QI Software http://supertart.com/qisoftware/Writer.html Freeware Support at software@supertart.com. Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4 or later; Universal binary. Download Size 2.7 MB Released January 26, 2007

Strengths: A word Processor that behaves like a typewriter. Weaknesses: I like typewriters, especially IBM Selectrics — Is that a problem? But this application is notone I’d likely use since I spell too poorly [Copyright Notice: Product and company names and logos in this review may be registered trademarks oftheir respective companies.] The software was tested on a 1 GHz dual processor PowerPC G4 Macintosh with 2 GB DDR SDRAMrunning under OS X 10.4.9.

Introduction in Including Publisher’s Summary

Writer.app (sometimes pronounced ‘Writer dot app’ is a very simple word processorthat is much more like a typewriter than a nice Cocoa-ized text editor.

This typewriter-line word processing application is, to quote its developer, “sortof based on Khoi Vinh’s Blockwriter ( http://www.blockwriter.com ) idea. This is aquick and dirty implementation of a word processor that behaves like a typewriter.It’ll work to block out all those distractions and get you writing.

Writer is an interesting {text} processor designed to get your first draft banged out and on its way to the editing table or your word processor. Beat writers block distractions that are in part thetoys built into that great computer you use, your Macintosh. What distractions — let me count the ways. Youremail, chat sites, browser, audio casts, downloaded movies from YouTube, or creating the new CD sampler iniTunes… or just that desktop picture of your significant other.

Download it and then get started. Make sure you have your coffee or tea made already, so you have no moreexcuses to avoid writing that great… whatever.

Using the Software

So I dragged the application to the appropriate folder and then read the readme file. Why, I haven’>t used atypewriter in a while and it avoided my having to start writing this last review of a busy month.

The readme file carefully explained: “You can only go forward in Writer. You can select things to delete (like,say, the inevitable typos you’re going to make because you rely on spellcheckers and the quick cut-copy->edit of word processors), but there’s no correcting past striking something out. Export the result, minus thestrikethroughs, to a text file, or save your entire file as RTF, so you can open it in Writer again or TextEdit. Printit out to make it feel like you’ve just gone out and bought a Smith Corona.” You can even import it into yourword processor if you like.

The Setup Challenge — I chickened out

The setup RTFD file, in the installation package, is more important than the readme file so don’t forget to payattention to it. I’m serious, otherwise the product will not work the way the developer suggests and you’ll keep getting, well, somewhat distracted.

Alas, although the task would only have to be done once after reading some of the details I reproduced in thesidebar, I said no way. [There were lots of screen shots in living color, and those I tried worked seemed to workwhen I tried them, virtually of course but just peeking at the appropriate windows. Why, there was noting inthe setup instruction to tell me how to get back to having my network connections work the way its supposedto. I’m guessing the new connection only works, is err inactively-active for Writer.app, but why take a chance.This review is due to our editor tomorrow, and getting it there is a network function.

NOTE: Here’s how the thing works — One way Writer.app keeps all that other computer stuff out of your way is that ittries to switch you to a network location that has none of its interfaces enabled. [If you don’t have one of these,you can create one, and Writer will attempt to switch to it when it starts up.]

This is how to create a new network location — First, open the Network Preferences. You can access thatquickly via the Apple menu. From the Network Preferences > Location popup menu, you should choose theoption to create a New Location... If this option is grayed out, you will need to click the lock at the lower lefthand corner of the window and authenticate as a user with privileges for this sort of thing. Type in the name foryour new location in the sheet that drops down, something like “Blockwriter-BlockNetwork. Okay there’s more,that why you must read and follow the instructions in the setup.rftd file. And so on for about five illustratedpages.

So I tried the application without setting up a network location that has none of its interfaces enabled. Oh joy, itbooted up. But it politely told me off for not following instructions. No matter, my desktop was in thebackground sort of muted out. Okay on with using Writer.app!

Testing Writer.app

The first thing you notice when opening up Writer.app is a nicewhite window to type onto, think sheet of paper, and the rest ofyou screen grayed out.

Look harder, zoom broader; adjacent to the working window, there is a small X in a circle on the left hand sideof the screen that removes the muted or black background and lets you see and access your desktop.

There is also a slide bar on the upper right hand side of the screen that controls background opacity. In addition,you can neither view the dock or the menu bar when Writer.app is being used. Therefore to see the applicationicon and therefore access its preferences you must move your cursor to that spot where your menu and itsapplication icon would be and all becomes visible.

You can use Writer.app in two modes, as a typewriter completewith sound if you like. Or by selecting the preferences for moreediting features, it becomes like a very limited TextEdit. In that mode, you can now go back and make corrections. Words can be italicized (Command-I) or underlined (Command-U), but not madebold. Selecting Command-B brings up the network dialog box andthe undo command does not work (command-Z). Alternatively by going to the Edit menu you gain most the usual TextEdit options.Curiouser and curiouser.

Okay, let’s have at it. Unlike a typewriter, the words you type dowrap around the page. Also, I found by accident, if you have anything left on the clipboard from your last cut orpaste, it would be pasted into the document.

One of Writer.app’s core features is like a typewriter, you cant’ go back to correct errors no matter what. Whenin typewriter mode, the up/down and right left arrow keys work but only to navigate you to another place in thetext for purposes of strikeout. So you can go back select an item to cross out by backspacing a word, phase oreven extra-unneeded space. Another fascinating feature, in this case a limitation, is that you can’t just use thespace bar to move the cursor to the end of your text and begin typing again. To bring your cursor back to life,you must first use the right arrow key, moving a space after your last letter. At other times, when you’ve usedthe enter key to jump to the next line on your page, use the down arrow key get the keyboard working again.

You’ve Typed Your Epistle — Once your document is created you have three choices: Save it, export it or print it. The later get me back to what my typewritten copy used to look like, but otherwise seems to serve nopurpose.

•Exporting: When you export a file it becomes a text document, with all strike-through items deleted.You’ve no other choices.

•Saving: Although there are no menu bars you can save or save-as in the usual manner [command->S or shift-command-S.] Under these circumstances your choices are to either save as an .rtf file or ablockwriter (.bw) document. The file saved still contains all its text including strike-though elements.However, I'm not sure why anyone would chose saving to .bw format. More about my problems with .bw files below.

Blockwriter Documents, Humbug! — I saved a copy of my first document as a blockwriter file {.bw} but thefinder did not recognize it despite it as a Writer.app document despite its .bw file extension. Resetting it defaultapplication (e.g., in get Info) to Writer.app., worked but sometimes just returned a black document. EverythingI’d typed was gone. So, I had to redo my example. One strange behavior occurred when I’d save as .bw file.

After all that I found I could not reopen a .bw-formatted document, no matter what I tried. In one instance Igot a blank Writer.app document not the material I’d saved. In other tries, even after rebooting, the applicationor computer the application would startup but, after the usual message of network, nothing labeled .bw wouldopen. Nor could I create a new Writer app file.

Discomforts

Initial Setup Details — I almost gave up, but persevered anyway. But the developer promised that “in thefuture, this stuff will all be taken care of for you. Not the writing part, but the creating a new location part. Untilthen...” I do not know whether any of the problems were due to not creating the new “network file” or whether,in this version, I was experiencing systems incompatibility. But nothing crashed, so I kept testing.

Conclusion

Okay, I make too many typing error to do meaningful work with this application, but if you’re a blocked faciletypist this application should work well for you. Just avoid saving as a blockwriter file.

There’s only addition, but not minor problem. To use the product you must take a mind trip and changeparadigms. You must learn to work the way you did when just plain typing, a frustrating experience for thosewho now only routinely process words.

Recommendation

It’s free, and you’ve you an hour or two play with this application and need to avoid computer based distractionswhen writing, Writer.app might be just what you need. However, the doc is waiting for the next major updatebefore putting Writer.app back on his hard drive.

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