Sometimes simple is better 
I don’t know about you, but I find most word processors to be overkill for many writing tasks. There are times when I just need to get words into a file, as quickly and efficiently as possible. And neither Microsoft Word or OpenOffice.org Writer (a tool I really, really like) are up to that. The interfaces ca be a bit too cluttered, and they use a bit too much in the way of system resources. Anyway, if I’m writing a draft, I really don’t need tables, images, and the like.
So, what do I recommend when it comes time to fingers to the keyboard and quickly get some words down? Well, if you want a word processor give AbiWord a peek. It’s a lean, fast word processor that doesn’t pack the features of the big guns, but does more than a simple text editor. On top of that, it runs under Windows, Linux, and MacOS. There’s also a smaller version of AbiWord that’s part of the PortableApps suite — just load it on to a USB key and take it with you anywhere. And you can save your files as Word documents or in OpenDocument Format.
If you really want minimalism, check out JDarkRoom. It’s a full-screen text editor that eliminates distractions — it’s just you and your words. I wrote about JDarkRoom at length here. The main drawback: it’s plain text; you’ll have to import your work into a word processor (unless your editor accepts text files).
What if you don’t want to install any extra software on your computer? Just turn to the Web, specifically Writeboard. Writeboard is a simple text entry system, sort of like a text editor crossed with a wiki. You can’t do much formatting in a Writeboard, just some basic character formatting, lists, and tables. It does track revisions, though. But like JDarkRoom, Writeboard doesn’t save in a word processor format, just text and HTML. I wrote about Writeboard a while back, and you can read about it here.
For your perusal, here are screenshots of AbiWord, JDarkRoom, and Writeboard.
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I like Word a lot, but it’s not very useful when it comes to writing drafts that will be converted to HTML such as website content or blogs.
Notepad is a lot better. There’s also a program called EditPlus that works quite well if you’re writing for online publication.