Michal Marek
It is often very difficult to sit down at the computer and start writing concentratedly. In today's world, there are many distracting elements, and often, in addition to the surroundings, the computer itself distracts a person from creating. Various notifications are constantly flashing on the monitor, the email or Twitter icon is trying to get your attention, and even the calendar icon with the current date, which is always a little ahead of the deadlines of your projects, does not add much to your work well-being.
The tool of dreams in such a situation can be a completely clean monitor simulating a sheet of paper and containing only the cursor. Quiet harmonic music or a mix of relaxing sounds in the background can also be remarkably stimulating. New Markdown editor typed from the workshop of the British studio Realmac Software will provide you with both.
Typed, a text editor with Markdown support, is a very simple tool lacking basically any advanced features and settings. You can only customize the font (its size is also practically fixed) and the color of the background on which you write. There are six fonts on offer, only three backgrounds – white, cream and dark, suitable for working at night. So why want Typed? Maybe because of that, and because of one more feature that makes Typed what it is. That function is so-called Zen Mode.
Zen Mode is a mode whose advantage was already touched on in the introduction. When you start the Typed window, it expands to the entire screen, and at the same time carefully selected relaxing music or a mix of calming sounds is started. You can choose this "work soundtrack" in the settings, with a total of 8 music themes on offer. These include a wide range of stimulating sounds including the light raindrops hitting the roof and the gentle harmonic playing of the guitar.
At first, such a function may seem rather strange, and I was quite skeptical about it. However, after using it for a while, one finds that this almost meditative music really helps with concentration and creates a pleasant working environment. Motivational quotes, which the application displays whenever the text editor window is empty, can also help with creation.
Aside from this special creative mode, Typed doesn't really offer much functionality. However, you will find several handy gadgets in the application. Most of them are related to Markdown format support. If you don't know exactly what Markdown is, it's basically a very simplified alternative to HTML that's tailored for bloggers and columnists. The main domain of this format is the easy formatting of text intended for publication on the Internet, without the need for knowledge of the more complex HTML language.
With the help of asterisks, grids and brackets, you can easily make the text bold, set italics, add a link or set the title of the appropriate level. In addition, with Typed you practically do not even need to know Markdown, because when you use classic shortcuts (⌘B for bold text, ⌘I for italics, ⌘K for adding a link, etc.), the application will do the work for you and format the text.
Now comes the handy gadgets. In Typed, you can preview formatted text with a single button press. Just as quickly, you can copy the text directly in HTML format, and a full-fledged export to the same format is also possible, while export to RTF is also available. In addition, in the application you will find the classic settlement button that you know from the OS X environment. You can easily share your creation using the services that you have defaulted in the system settings. It goes without saying that iCloud Drive is supported and thus the ability to store your documents in the cloud and access them from anywhere. Finally, it is worth paying attention to the word count indicator, which in the original setting is located in the upper right corner of the screen and can also be supplemented with an indicator of the number of characters.
Developers from Realmac Software have always been dedicated to designing extremely simple applications, whose main domain is pleasant and precise design. Applications like Clear, ember or RapidWeaver does not impress with a wide range of functions, but it can quickly win over users with its visual perfection. Typed, the latest addition to the company's portfolio, upholds the same philosophy. Typed is incredibly simple and, from a certain point of view, incompetent. Nevertheless, you will easily fall in love with him.
Unfortunately, not only the application as such, but also its price is part of the company's philosophy. After the seven-day trial period, when you can try Typed for free, you will be surprised by the price officially set at 20 dollars, or less than 470 crowns (and this will increase by 20 percent after the introductory event). The price is really high for how much the app can do. Direct competition in form iA Writer whether Byword it is also very high quality, cheaper and also offers its applications on iOS, which can be a significant advantage for many.
However, if you want to give Typed a chance despite its outrageous price, you can download it for computers running OS X Mavericks or Yosemite from the developers website and try it out. At least you won't find Typed in the Mac App Store yet.
Interesting app, price not so much.
atom.io
trimmed ommwriter + gutted writer pro
Until Realmac fixes the iCloud sync in Ember, I won't buy anything else from them. Ember not working on Mac and iOS is a pretty big lesson for me about this company.
It looks like markdown, but mathjax doesn't work in it…