Full-screen writing program

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In computing, a full-screen writing program[1] or distraction-free editor[2][3][4] is a text editor that occupies the full display with the purpose of isolating the writer from the operating system (OS) and other applications. In this way one should be able to focus on the writing alone, with no distractions from the OS and a cluttered interface.[2][5][6][7] Often distraction-free editors feature a dark background and a text field, with lighter colored text. However, most distraction-free editors include customisable user interfaces.[8] Some editors support rich text editing.

List of full screen editors[]

Free and open-source[]

Name License Linux Other supported operating systems p. lang. Toolkit Spell checker Syntax highlighting WYSIWYG Notable aspects, references
Acme LPL Yes Plan 9, Mac OS, Windows Mouse chording; supports sending selected text through pipelines of programs; extensible & scriptable via any language.
CodeRoom GPLv3 Yes Mac OS, Windows C++ Qt No QSyntaxHighlighter supports syntax highlighting.[9]
GNU Emacs GPLv3 Yes Unix, Mac OS, Windows C, Emacs Lisp curses, GTK+ Yes Yes Yes supports syntax highlighting, programmable, several distraction-free packages available.[10][11][12][13]
FocusWriter GPLv3 Yes Mac OS, Windows C++ Qt Enchant Highly customizable, has basic .odt format support[14]
gedit GPLv2 Yes Cross-platform C GTK+ Enchant Unicode full-screen with F11; part of GNOME Core Applications
KoalaWriter GPLv3 Yes Mac OS, Windows C++ Qt No No No Clone of OmmWriter[15]
Marave GPLv2 Yes No Python Qt Enchant GNU source-highlight Similar to OmmWriter, CreaWriter;[16]
PyRoom GPLv3 Yes Mac OS Python GTK+ No No No [17]
QuiEdit GPLv3 Yes Windows Python Qt Hunspell Yes Markdown basic text formatting.[18]
RubyRoom GPLv2 Yes No Ruby[19] GTK+ No No No Latest version from 2009
TextRoom GPLv3 Yes Mac OS, Windows C++ Qt (+GLib) Hunspell Supports rich text[20]
Vim Vim License Yes Cross-platform C Yes Yes Distraction-free plugins available.[21]

Freeware[]

Name Operating system support Notable aspects, references
Calmly Writer Chrome OS, Google Chrome browser WYSIWYG, image embedding, OpenDyslexic mode[22]
FORCEdraft Windows Text editor that won't exit until the user's goal is reached.[23]
DarkRoom Windows Clone of WriteRoom for Windows .NET[24]
JDarkRoom Linux, Mac OS, Windows Clone of DarkRoom written in Java[25]
Poe Windows 8 (only) Word count goals, writing timers, auto-correct and resource links.[26]
Windows Portable, has word count features
Writemonkey Windows Supports Markdown Extra, Textile, WikiCreole.[27] Donors can access plugins including corkboard, timer.

Proprietary[]

Name Operating system support Notable aspects, references
Bloom Editor Windows Uses 3D rendering for special effects and dynamic visual themes. Has a free limited version[28]
CreaWriter Windows Clone of OmmWriter for Windows; has limited free version[29]
iA Writer Mac OS, Windows, Android Lightweight, has iCloud and Dropbox integration, iPad and iPhone version, Focus Mode, and Markdown support, Light and Dark writing modes, Live rendering/preview, Syntax Highlighting, Style Check
Moopato Mac OS and Windows Markdown editor and e-book publishing app[30]
NaNoScriBe Windows Rich text, on-screen word count, goals and timers. Built-in NaNoWriMo stats page[31]
OmmWriter Mac OS, Windows Supports images as backgrounds, and a player for ambient music[32]
Prime Draft Mac OS, Windows Writing mode that ensures forward progress and the avoidance of pre-emptive editing. Built-in calendar and writing target tracking.[33]
Sublime Text Linux, Mac OS, Windows customisable, for programmers,[34][35] has free trial version[36]
Write! Windows Markdown, spell-checker, cloud storage, sessions and folders scheme, RTL support[37]
Write Onward! Windows Fullscreen writing software disallowing editing, copying or pasting text to let writers focus solely on the writing process.[38]
WriteRoom Mac OS Simple[39][40][41]
Xiosis Scribe Windows
ZenWriter Windows Simple, with background images and ambient music[42]
Frost Mac OS, Windows Plays thematic ambient music, free to use, live word counter, downloading option.[43]

Features[]

Rich text support[]

Some distraction-free editors support rich text editing. These include CreaWriter, TextRoom, and WriteRoom.[20][29][44] In some cases, this feature turned off per default and must be set by a user.[44]

Syntax highlighting[]

Currently, only a few distraction-free editors support syntax highlighting. CodeRoom is an open source project with the purpose of creating a distraction-free code editor with customisable highlighting schemes.[9] The latest version of Marave supports syntax highlighting.[16] Sublime Text supports a distraction-free full-screen view.[34][35] Packages exist for GNU Emacs that turn off various features and reformat the display to a distraction-free layout while retaining syntax highlighting and other features familiar to Emacs users..

Aids to writing[]

Word count is a common feature in these editors. Other aids can include spell checkers, auto-corrections and quick text templates.[45]

Other Features[]

Many of the programs include timers to pace writing. FocusWriter and WriteMonkey, among others, include typewriter sound effects.[46]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Full Screen Writing Program (English translation)
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b "Comparison of distraction-free editors on bweaver.net". Archived from the original on 23 July 2011. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
  3. ^ "Blog post on innovations in text editing". Archived from the original on 23 July 2010. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
  4. ^ "Poll on lifehacker.com on best distraction-free editor".
  5. ^ "Tips and Tricks for Distraction-Free Writing".
  6. ^ "ghacks.net on distraction-free on the distraction-free editor ZenEdit".
  7. ^ "List of distraction-free editors". Archived from the original on 24 April 2011. Retrieved 5 February 2011.
  8. ^ "Tech Malaya blog post on some of the popular distraction-free editors". Archived from the original on 27 January 2011. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
  9. ^ Jump up to: a b "CodeRoom on Google code".
  10. ^ "WriteRoom".
  11. ^ "Emacs as a distraction free environment".
  12. ^ "GNU Emacs".
  13. ^ "tabula-rasa-mode".
  14. ^ "FocusWriter official website".
  15. ^ "KoalaWriter on Google code".
  16. ^ Jump up to: a b "Marave on Google code".
  17. ^ "PyRoom official website".
  18. ^ "QuiEdit official website". Archived from the original on 14 September 2011. Retrieved 13 August 2011.
  19. ^ "RubyRoom official website". Archived from the original on 1 September 2010. Retrieved 2 February 2011.
  20. ^ Jump up to: a b "TextRoom on Google code".
  21. ^ "junegunn/goyo.vim". GitHub. Retrieved 26 February 2018.
  22. ^ "Calmly Writer website".
  23. ^ "FORCEdraft official website".
  24. ^ "DarkRoom official website".
  25. ^ "JDarkRoom official website".
  26. ^ "Developer's website".
  27. ^ "Writemonkey features page".
  28. ^ "Bloom Editor official website". Archived from the original on 3 July 2013. Retrieved 1 October 2013.
  29. ^ Jump up to: a b "CreaWriter official website".
  30. ^ "Moopato eBook Writer website".
  31. ^ "developer's website".
  32. ^ "OmmWriter official website FAQ". Archived from the original on 25 December 2010. Retrieved 4 February 2011.
  33. ^ "Prime Draft official website".
  34. ^ Jump up to: a b "Announcement of distraction-free full-screen support on Sublime Text official blog".
  35. ^ Jump up to: a b "Sublime Text features". Archived from the original on 16 February 2011.
  36. ^ "Sublime Text download section".
  37. ^ "Write! official website".
  38. ^ "Write Onward! official website". Archived from the original on 28 April 2015. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
  39. ^ "WriteRoom official website".
  40. ^ Eisenman, Bonnie (8 July 2010). "Writeroom Review". 148Apps. TrouserMac Industries. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  41. ^ Elliott, Amy-Mae (19 January 2011). "How to: Beat Writer's Block Online". Mashable. Retrieved 23 April 2011.
  42. ^ "ZenWriter website".
  43. ^ "FROST - Minimalistic Writing App Set to Music". FROST. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  44. ^ Jump up to: a b "Comparison of distraction-free editors for OS-X". Archived from the original on 13 November 2010. Retrieved 4 February 2011.
  45. ^ Q10 is a Full Screen Writing Program
  46. ^ Comparison of Fullscreen text editors Archived 26 November 2014 at the Wayback Machine
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