WriteRoom is a very interesting application that’s based on the very simple idea that when you’re working on getting a document done, your computer can be very distracting. It seeks to rectify this issue by creating a full-screen writing area reminiscent of the commandline computers of the good ole days, where you can focus on just what you’re writing about free from any distraction. In fact, just to give it the ultimate test, I’m writing this review in WriteRoom right now.

When you really stop to think about it, WriteRoom is one thing: a text editor. However, what makes it unique is that it has the ability to go into “full screen mode”, which covers the rest of your windows with a background and makes your document the central focus of the page. The default appearance to WriteRoom is a black background and bright-green text, reminiscent of the Apple II or similar computers (albeit they didn’t have a mouse which also glows bright green in this mode). However, you can customize the background and the text color to be anything that you like. It’s also possible to write in WriteRoom without the full screen mode, and you can toggle the full screen mode on and off by doing Command-Return. However, when you’re not in full screen mode, you get something basically identical to TextEdit in plaintext mode, the major exception being that WriteRoom uses the thick bar from Terminal, replacing the classic insertion point used everywhere else on the Mac. The point is: Don’t get WriteRoom unless you actually intend to use the full-screen mode.

However, WriteRoom also has a number of little hidden features that show that the developers really thought about this mode being easy-to-use and attractive. If you move your mouse to the top of the screen, the menu bar will glide down so you can get to it. If you move your mouse to the bottom of the screen, the name of the file you’re editing will show up, along with the path to the file. You can also turn on a display of your character count, word count, and/or line count down there from the Preferences. Another really smart feature is one that recognizes that if you’re in full screen mode, eventually you’re going to get to the bottom of the screen, and you probably don’t want to be looking down at the bottom of the screen all the time. WriteRoom calls their feature “Typewriter Scrolling”, and it means that once your insertion point reaches a certain part of your screen (you can set it for anywhere between the center of your screen to the bottom of it), the document will start to scroll up. This way, your insertion point will never be below where you set it. WriteRoom also includes a number of other preferences which allow you to fine-tune the full screen interface just the way you like it.

WriteRoom also comes with a system-wide plugin that you can install which will add a “Edit in WriteRoom” item to the Edit menu of many applications. Choosing this will take the contents of the current text field and open it in WriteRoom, so you can edit it in the full screen mode. Once you close the WriteRoom document, the text where you opened it from will update. WriteRoom works best with the plaintext and rich text formats (very similar to TextEdit), which means that it probably won’t do well with the likes of Microsoft Word or Pages, but will do well with TextEdit, other text editors, form fields in your web browser, and more.

Is WriteRoom kind of a niche product? I’d say yes. Although I’ve kind of enjoyed using it to write this review, I don’t necessarily suffer from the distractions that the makers of WriteRoom hold claim to, although for people who do like to sort of obsolete your life (I’m looking at you, Merlin Mann), WriteRoom may very well be a product that would interest you.

Final Rating:

Tags: full screen, Mac, plug-in, review, Software, text editing