TextRoom: a full-screen editor with a twist
As you’ve probably read in this space, I enjoy using full-screen editors. They enable me to write without any distractions — I can focus on writing and not have my attention pulled away by email, RSS feeds, or anything else.
My favourite application in this category is JDarkRoom. But I’ve found a new one that’s giving JDarkRoom a run for its money: TextRoom.
Standing apart from the rest
Admittedly, TextRoom is like just about every other full-screen, minimalist editor out there. It has most of the same features — the ability to change fonts, configurable interface, autosave. all of that. I guess in this category of software, there’s little new that you can do (although, I wouldn’t mind being proved wrong1).
But TextRoom has one ability that sets it apart from other editors: TextRoom can keep you on your toes and remind you of your deadlines.
How? In the Options window (press Ctrl+P to open it), click the Targets tab. There, you can do the following:
- Set a target word count for a writing session. Say you decide that you need to write 500 words before going off to do something. Set that goal, and TextRoom will display the goal and the number of words that you need to reach that goal in the bottom left of the screen.
- Set a deadline for a particular piece of work. TextRoom will remind you about the deadline.
There’s also a timed writing feature that I haven’t figured out yet.
The drawbacks? No spelling checker (although TextRoom does maintain a running word count), and you have to save your writing as a text file. There’s an installation program for Windows users, but Linux users need to compile TextRoom. No Mac version is available yet.
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What I like most about TextRoom is the “flow mode” option. I keep distracting myself by correcting small errors in the middle of texts. That makes my writing slow. The flow mode forces me to ignore errors and keep on writing. I correct errors in a word processor afterwards. It’s brilliant.
Hi Scott, thanks for your nice review about TextRoom. I’m one of the programmers.
Let me explain the timed writing feture: it simply warns you when the minutes you entered in the box (up to 30 minutes) finishes. I thought this feature for freewriting sessions. But it’s still a bit buggy, I hope to return programming soon.
Have a nice day.
And for a Mac version, we’d love some help. We don’t own any Macs.