WriteRoom for iPod

WriteRoom, from Hog Bay Software, is a superb minimalist word processor for your iPod/iPhone. Like its desktop counterpart, the iPod version is dedicated to the production of “distraction-free” writing. As developer Jesse Grosjean says, the program is intended for people “who enjoy the simplicity of a typewriter, but live in the digital world.”

When you launch WriteRoom, the screen is blank except for three buttons and a standard search bar. Press the plus key on your right at the top of the screen and WriteRoom takes you to the screen where you normally create your documents. We’ll come back to the other buttons on the toolbar in a moment.

Once you have created a new document, the screen divides into  a writing area and the standard pop-up keyboard. The metaphor underlying WriteRoom is the blank page. Nothing else is visible except for a Done button, which saves your current document, and a Docs button that offers you a list of all the documents you have saved. You can also scroll through your list of documents by pressing the right and left arrows that customarily hide behind the keyboard until you press Done. The program works equally well in portrait and landscape modes.

The last button on the main screen is situated between the right and left arrow buttons. Push it and you’ll be presented with four options:

-  Delete Document;
-  Email Document;
-  Rename Document; and
-  Document Statistics.

The functions of the first three are obvious. Document Statistics tells you how many paragraphs, words and characters are in your selected document. This feature is a godsend for writers, like journalists, who must hit a specific word target.

If you’re the type of writer who finds even a few little buttons distracting, you can use the normal zoom gesture on the screen and the entire toolbar will vanish, leaving you with nothing but a blank screen and the keyboard. Pinch the screen and the buttons return. Nothing could be simpler.

Aside from a certain design elegance, WriteRoom doesn’t appear to offer anything more than many of the other note-taking programs available for the iPhone. But if you return to the Docs screen you’ll find a button at the top left that allows you to synchronize your work via Wi-Fi using any standard web browser. You can also edit your documents or create new ones in your browser that sync automatically with your iPhone.

The most powerful feature of WriteRoom is also accessible from the main Documents screen. Let’s say you like the convenience of being able to edit documents on your iPhone but prefer to write on a big screen. Hog Bay Software lets you set up an account at www.writeroom.ws using your Google account information. You can then create or edit documents online and sync them to your iPhone whenever you have the chance. This free service even date- and time-stamps every saved revision. Hog Bay says this feature is still in beta, so you may not want to trust it with your most precious documents but I have used it for weeks without a hitch. The one proviso to remember is that writeroom.ws is not a secure site, so don’t do anything you may regret like using it as a repository for your passwords, credit card numbers or other sensitive data.

Mac users who do all their writing in Scrivener will be pleased to know that they can now import WriteRoom documents directly into their word processor of choice. This is a really commendable example of developers working together to benefit those who use their respective programs.

WriteRoom is a program every serious mobile writer should own. It costs just $5, and includes a coupon for $5 off the desktop version. Where I come from, this essentially means that the iPhone version is free. How can you go wrong with an offer like that?