On iA Writer and Microsoft Word; as well as Apple Notes
When computer became more and more prevalent between 1990s and 2000s, Microsoft Word was almost the only writing software for students, office workers and authors.
I am a Word hater who is tired of every kind of formatting, user interface, app crash which made me keep clicking SAVE frequently, endlessly saving a lot of versions because of FOMO….. I got rid of it many years ago because I met another app called iA Writer.
iA Writer is a very minimal app. On the screen you won’t see any buttons and what you need is to just write. If you need formatting like bold or italic, just type **bold** or ~italic~ respectively. During 2010s, I wrote my travel guide book on this application, and made use of their export function to word or pdf file so that I wouldn’t force my publisher to change their ways of doing while I could have a choice.
When I was an Evernote subscriber, I did the same by writing there first, and copied to Evernote as a part of database for me to easily search back.
My ways of writing keeps changing. Sometimes I choose to write on my tiny smartphone (iPhone 13 mini) because ideas always come up when I feel relaxed especially during travelling. Nowadays more and more apps have made writing easier and Apple Notes is always quick to open so that I won’t miss those ideas, and I can add tags or add to folder in order to follow up and finalise easily.
But I don’t give up iA Writer entirely, after finishing writing an article on Apple Notes, I copy them to iA Writer for a backup. The process of copying every time may be tedious but it is a chance for me to proofread and edit.
I don’t know if I should embrace iA Writer to replace Apple Notes. I ask this question because I really move the interface and typography of the app. iA Writer is more than a pure text editor since they are able to show you how many words you have and estimate reading time, as well as some tools like the syntax highlight.
But I know clearly why my every piece of writing starts from Apple Notes: because I just simply want to record my ideas, thoughts and observations. Just open the app, write and that’s it. The app will save it to the default folder automatically. I can also open the note again, add/erase some contents on the go, without the need to rename my file like on Word or iA Writer. I am not a professional writer who demands many many words, while writing is my important part of life to help me sort out things clearly which needs as few words as possible.
