Byword might be your text editor of choice thanks to its choice of colors in white or black shades, the intuitive and consistently convenient formatting pop-over, or its writer-esque text preview that lets you focus on just a few lines of text. If you’re not yet a convert for Byword’s good looks alone, Markdown support has been added under the hood for the many of us who prefer the popular, readable language over tag-numbing HTML code. Byword’s latest update to 1.2 brings Markdown and more, all reviewed just after the break.
Posts tagged with "text editor"
Byword for the Mac, Now with Markdown
Writings 1.2 Adds Workspaces and Custom Keyboard [Giveaway]
Since I reviewed the first version of Writings for iPad back in December, I haven’t switched to any other text editor for iOS. I don’t write much on my iPhone, so an iPad application is all I’m looking for when it comes to writing long pieces that will eventually end up on my Mac or into an app like Blogsy. Writings, beautiful user interface aside, has the features I need from an iPad text editor: Dropbox support with plain text editing so I can keep writing on my Mac (or anywhere) if I want to; unobtrusive word counter; a readable default font; a handy margin feature that won’t scroll the document when I’m holding the iPad or resting my thumbs at its sides.
Writings 1.2, released today in the App Store, builds on the excellent feature set of versions 1.0 and 1.1 (the latter brought a list view to easily navigate between dozen of documents) by introducing two new functionalities that I’ve been testing in the beta and greatly improved my workflow: Writings 1.2 adds support for Workspaces – you can decide to sync certain documents to different Dropbox folders, even on different accounts. Whilst the feature sounded a little to complex to me at first, I’ve seen that being able to create a “MacStories” workspace alongside a “Personal” one with notes syncing to multiple Dropbox folders at once helps me getting my notes and articles better organized. You can create as many workspaces as you want, and each one will retain its specific settings. On top of this, you can now manually trigger sync within a document without going back to the main screen.
Last, Writings 1.2 comes with an optional extra row of most used punctuation keys above the standard keyboard. This extra row sure makes the keyboard bigger and will let you see less text on screen, but it can dramatically speed up your typing if you think the iOS keyboard could use some customization options for writers. The tab key and quick “-” access sure help me get my writing done quicker.
Writings 1.2 is still propagating in iTunes and it’s available at $4.99. We have 5 codes to give away thanks to the Ice Cream Studios developers, so follow along past the break for a chance to win a copy of Writings 1.2 for iPad.
Essay: The Smart, Intuitive HTML Powered Text Editor for iPhone & iPad
Constantly we’re bombarded or introduced to new text editors and word processors that attempt to redefine and strike a balance between what’s necessary and what isn’t. I’m personally getting to the point where enough is enough, as the focus on being new and imaginative in the iOS and Mac App Store has degraded into providing more of the same under a different name and a slightly different interface. While most of us are perfectly content with trend setters such as PlainText and Elements, Essay ended going above and beyond my expectations for an iOS text editor. Sure there’s SimpleNote, but with DropBox sync and a slew of formatting options I’ll sacrifice instant sync with Notational Velocity for HTML goodness.
nvALT 2.0 Launches with (Multi)Markdown, HTML/CSS Template Support
Notational Velocity is a huge productivity tool for keep tracking of internal notes with tags and content linking, and followers of Brett Terpstra are probably already big fans of the nvALT project that’s designed to add power-user friendly features to a favorite text client. With help from ElasticThreads, nvALT 2.0 has been released which highlights lots of killer features that can be added to Notational Velocity. I’ve listed just a few below (I encourage you to check out Brett’s site and the project page) for a quick taste of what nvALT 2.0 has to offer.
- Textile and (Multi)Markdown support with Preview window (hold down Control to view temporarily)
- Custom HTML/CSS templates can be included in saved output from the Preview
- Convert imported URLs to Markdown, and optionally strip excess content with Readability
- Word Count (hold down Option to view temporarily)
- Full-screen mode
As a fork of Notional Velocity, nvALT is a keyboard-focused text editor that’s being improved to deliver rich features that writers such as myself rely on to get things done, take notes, and quickly exit ideas from my brain box. If you’re already familiar with Notational Velocity, it works with Simplenote on your favorite iOS device, and it can be extended thanks to the great nvALT project Brett and other volunteers are working on. It doesn’t replace Notational Velocity, but runs alongside it with it’s own set of preferences and additional features.
[via Brett Terpstra]
Notational Velocity Update: Horizontal Layout, Tag Sync, New Icon
Notational Velocity is a free and open source text editor for the Mac that can read text files from anywhere on your computer and syncs with Simplenote. Thanks to its sync functionalities, Notational Velocity became popular among users who wanted to store notes in Dropbox (from where Notational can fetch files) and sync them back to Simplenote as well. With Notational in the middle, users can enjoy the power of Dropbox text editors in the App Store, and the beauty of Simplenote’s tools.
In the past months, we have covered a couple of interesting mods to the original Notational Velocity which aimed at extending the feature set of the app by adding fullscreen mode, horizontal layout, multiple note tagging, Markdown and Textile support and lots more. Those were unofficial mods (or “forks”) realized because of the open source nature of the application. An update to Notational Velocity was released last night, and it adds a number of features seen in unofficial forks: horizontal layout (simple, reminds me of iOS), tag syncing through Dropbox with OpenMeta standard, TaskPaper compatibility, support for inter-note linking. Tags can be entered in a dedicated column of the vertical view, but I haven’t found a way to show tags while in horizontal mode. These tags have full Spotlight support as they’re based on OpenMeta (which means they’ll also work with other Mac apps like Tags and Leap). Lots of changes and small fixes are included in this update – I appreciate the fact that notes can now be created with the “nv://make/” URL syntax and AppleScript search support. I also find the new icon more elegant and unobtrusive than the previous one.
Overall, it’s the same Notational you know and love only with a few changes, a new layout and lots of minor improvements you can check out below. Download here. Read more
There’s A New Text Editor On My iPad: Writings
The iPad. The perfect writing device, right? The tablet surely doesn’t miss apps meant for writers, quick note takers and bloggers alike. There are hundreds of text editors available in the App Store, not to mention the word processors and apps meant for more specific tasks such as novel or screen writing.
The iPad has the writing tools.
One may wonder whether all these tools actually have something in common or are all single pieces of software based on fundamental differences and unique features. It is undeniable that the trend amongst most text editors for iPad is to come with Dropbox sync capabilities. Of the “writing tools” mentioned above, the text editors rely on sync nowadays. And to good reason: it was a pain to save a post or note as a .txt file and manually manage it. Now everything happens in the cloud, in the background, automatically.
The Dropbox trend has lead to great apps: PlainText, Elements, IA Writer – just to name a very few. Writings, a new app released today by Italian developers Ludovico Rossi and Vito Modena, shares a feature set similar to other writing applications available in the Store, but comes with new functionalities and interaction methods that have made it stand out from the others on my iPad.
Writings makes composing text on the iPad a real pleasure. Read more
Elements 1.5: Sub-folders, Markdown Preview, Better File Saving
Second Gear’s Elements for iPhone and iPad has been updated to version 1.5 today, a major revision of the popular Dropbox-based text editor that adds lot of new (and much requested) features together with a plethora of bug fixes. We previously covered Elements here and here.
First off, Elements now supports sub-folders and Markdown previews. Sub-folders are really a huge deal for many users out there, as now you’ll be able to hook Elements up with other Dropbox-based apps that organize their documents with a similar structure, such as Plaintext. The family of Dropbox text editors keeps on getting more connected and better integrated.
For me, however, the really huge deal is the improved Markdown support: the app can now view Markdown formatted files (.md, .markdown, .mdown, .mdwn) and open Markdown files from external applications that support the “Open in…” feature. Similarly to Second Gear’s own MarkdownMail, Elements can now generate a live HTML preview of Markdown formatted text for you to instantly check on. Read more
Elements 1.1: New UI and Improved Usability
Elements is the best Dropbox-powered text editor currently available in the App Store, and the latest 1.1 update, which was approved earlier today, brings many improvements and fixes users have been asking for since the first release of the app.
A new UI, if you were not a fan of the previous “marble-like” one, with subtle navigation bars and backgrounds. Elements now comes with full-text search for your documents stored in Dropbox, so you’ll be able to either enter a title or some text and start searching. You can also rename and delete files, sort them by modified date or title.
Last, lots of fixes and “under the hood” improvements. Elements is still available at $4.99 in the App Store, and the 1.1 version is more recommended than ever. Check out the full press release and screenshots below. Read more