Code Syntax Highlighting Html
Syntax Highlighting Codes
Ia Writer Code Syntax Highlighting Examples
IA Writer doesnt recognize::highlight:: (HTML: ). It doesnt claim to but it would be nice. IA Writer has its own file transclusion syntax, beginning a new line with / followed by the relative path to an image or text document to include (also works with an absolute URL on its own line). Much neater than MultiMarkdown spec. Typora gives you a seamless experience as both a reader and a writer. It removes the preview window, mode switcher, syntax symbols of markdown source code, and all other unnecessary distractions. Instead, it provides a real live preview feature to help you concentrate on the content itself. Github-math-iatemplate - Custom iA Writer template with support for Math and code syntax highlighting 404 Same thing for updates iA Writer will prompt you if you want to replace the currently installed template with the new one.
Theres no doubt that we live in a distracting time. With an almost constant connection to our phones, emails, and social media, it can sometimes seem impossible to truly get away from it all and stay focused, especially when writing. Now imagine youre someone who struggles with staying focused and on task, and youre trying to finish that big writing assignment but your friends, your games, and the entirety of the internet is just a click away?
iA Writer seeks to cut out some of that noise by presenting writers with a clean, distraction-free interface that focuses only on the essentials. The app uses markdown formatting, which means that text is formatted using punctuation marks rather than using functions like in Word. This type of formatting can seem a bit intimidating at first, but once you learn the basics, youll realize that with markdown formatting your hands never have to leave the keyboard, so youre never wasting time searching for functions by moving your mouse or finger around. To learn more about markdown formatting, check out this guide that was created by the developers of iA Writer.
The app uses a simple black on white (or white on black if youre in night mode) interface with limited settings and options, and users can even turn on focus mode so that only the sentence or paragraph being worked on is visible, making it a great tool for writers who struggle with any type of attention challenges such as ADHD, executive functioning, and other focused-based learning disabilities.
iA Writer also offers some helpful editing tools such as Syntax Highlight, a feature that shows different parts of speech in different colours, so users can improve their writing by spotting and correcting spelling and structural errors. And, the new Style Check feature grays out unnecessary words or phrases, so users can check the flow of their work and make sure their writing is concise and to the point.
iA Writer is available for Mac, iOS, Windows, and Android. Click here to learn more about the app and to get access to the free, two-week trial.
his post originally appeared on the AT Help Desk (new window) website.
Tags: AT HelpDesk November 4, 2017
Its novel season, which has me thinking about the ways we write and the tools we use to get it done.
A few years ago, I compared the two front-runners: iA Writer and Ulysses. These continue to be, in my estimation, the finest plain-text writing environments out there. And each of them has come a long way in the intervening years.
With everyone sharpening their digital pencils, I figured it was time to dive in and see how their respective changes have improved the experience of using and trusting them with our words. My Approach
To make it easier to follow along with my impressions, it helps to understand where Im coming from as a writer and what my priorities are.
When I last compared these two, I identified my criteria as follows:
Beautiful, clutter-free interface
Flexible, cross-platform workflow
Powerful export options
I write primarily non-fiction, mostly for online consumption in the form of articles (like this one!) and photo essays (like this one!). Sometimes, I write for print, and I keep a few fiction projects on the go as well for when I have the time and energy to develop them.
Nowadays, I publish this site via Blot, or to plain markdown files for magazine work, so the third point in my original list is no longer that relevant to my needs.
In its place, I would put something thats become increasingly important to me as Ive accumulated (and migrated) more writing work over time:
A powerful, easy way to manage and manipulate text items, whether they be articles, snippets, notes, sections, or any other arbitrary text unit.
With that out of the way, lets see whats new in each of the two apps. Whats New in iA Writer?
Writer has had a strange history.
It started as a single app, became two apps, and then merged back into one app that brought together the best aspects of the former Classic and Pro variants. Theyve also made their way to Android, and are currently contemplating a web version too.
Writers modern incarnation is somehow both very similar and very different from the apps original vision. Polish
I was in Tanzania recently, and while there I watched the process of carving a beautiful sculpture at a local soapstone workshop. After the basic form has been fashioned, every item goes through half a dozen phases of sandingby handeach with a progressively softer paper grain.
By the end, one might wonder how much of a difference it makes.
But anyone whos experienced the end result will know that in stone carving and software design alike: theres a difference between smooth and polished .
iA Writer has broken out the fine grained sandpaper this year.
Lightcapture 1 0 2 . Where previous years saw them whittling rough edges off to reveal the underlying shape, the past few months have been about bridging that gap between smoothness and polish. Aesthetics and Style
Aesthetically, the app has returned to a more conventional layout with version 5, particularly in the case of its iOS app, whichafter a brief diversion featuring an actual File menu and other odditiesnow has a normal sidebar library view and familiar tools. Across all platforms, the library supports multiple storage locations, and the writing environment itself remains as spartan as can be: a page, a keyboard, and a blinking blue cursor.
This feels more natural, more intuitive, and less busy.
You still cant choose your own font, but iA have (reluctantly) relaxed their standards a bit to allow for a choice of three typeface variants, a night mode colour scheme, three different text size options, and the ability to customize the tools you get in their new keyboard extension. In their own words:
With a growing customer base, we constantly needed to add features to satisfy the ever-branching needs. App store ratings pushed us into adding modes, templates, and settings. And these big feature comparison charts people go to before making buying decisions? They make you look bad if you dont have night mode, WordPress export, 555 templates and an Indonesian name generator. We dont like this trajectory; step by step it pushes us into the opposite of where we came from. We handled it alright. iA Writer still has only one font for writing, but now offers night mode, WordPress, Templates and a bunch of settings. Features as such are not evil, the devil is in making sure that they stay a detail.
Writers attitude has always been a bit aloofto a fault, sometimesbut Im glad to see them allowing writers to make a few quality of life adjustments. Nothing that breaks the aesthetic continuity or pushes you down the slippery slope of customizing everything, just enough to settle in, get comfortable, and write. The Library, and File Management
Under the hood, Writer remains resolutely dedicated to working with actual files. Its very much a traditional text editor in this sensealways just files on a disk.
This is both good and bad.
Good because theyre true to the spirit of plain text, giving you control over where your files are at all times, and keeping everything in timeless, non-proprietary plain text formats. No lock-in.
But for me, one of the greatest advances in modern computing is the slow departure of file management. I dont want to manage my files any more than I want to manage my tasks. I want to complete tasks and work with files.
I want files to manage themselves, to be ready when and where I need them, and to stay safe and backed up.
While it seems like the experience would be equivalentiA Writer and Ulysses both use iCloud as the default storage location, after allthe difference between storing things as loose files in a directory versus Ulysses sheets-in-a-library monolith has deep functional implications.
Sheets can have keywords attached to add a different dimension for organization, and Ulysses offers a robust system for creating smart folders (called Filters ) to view content based on criteria including keywords, text inclusion/exclusion, and creation date.
Thankfully, version 5 of iA Writer brings smart folders (and favourite folders), but theres still no equivalent to keywords.
That doesnt bother me much though, because keywords represent more metawork than I typically want to do. Theyre helpful for long-form content where I can use them to keep track of editing progress, but I can do without for most of my writing.
My chief concern with Writers flat file approach is the relative lack of flexibility compared to Ulysses sheets. I dont mean broadly (cant get more flexible than plain text files) but within the app itself, where it matters. Content Blocks
Unlike plain text files, Ulysses sheets can contain file attachments (embedded or not) without adding clutter, and can be effortlessly merged and manipulated in ways that iA Writers files simply cannot.
iA have attempted to address this limitation with one of the highlight features of the previous (version 4) update: Content Blocks . These are essentially a file referencing system, and while they dont provide the same functionality as sheet manipulation or attachments, they are still quite useful.
The way it works is that you can include a file in your current document by adding a reference to it using a simple slash syntax, like so:
/chapter-2.txt
This results in your document preview (and exported product) showing the contents of the referenced file where youve placed it in the original document. Along with text files, you can reference images, CSV tables, and code.
This extends the inter-document workflow potential of Writer, but it does so in a way thats only useful for export and publishing, not during the editing process. Let me give you a practical example to illustrate why this limitation frustrates me:
Lets say Im working on a piece of fiction, and Im writing it out scene by scene, with each scene in its own document so I can easily re-organize them. At some point, Im going to want to assemble those scenes into chapters and edit the resulting chapter as one item to make sure it flows.
In Ulysses, each scene would be a sheet that I could put into folders by chapter. Within the folder, I could manually re-order the scenes to experiment with structure, then merge them effortlessly into a single sheet containing my entire chapter, ready for editing.
In Writer, each scene can be its own document, and I can organize them into folders, but theres no elegant way for me to merge the scenes into a single file for editing. The best I can do is use the new Content Blocks to append each scenes file to the end of the first, in order, and then export that as a new document and edit that file.
This problem applies backwards too, by the way: in Ulysses you can very easily split a sheet if you realize you need to work on a section separately. Theres no way to do this in iA Writer except the old-fashioned way of cutting out the relevant portion and pasting it into a new document.
Theres an argument to be made in favour of keeping the scenes separated though, and some might prefer to work that way. However, this workflow is also possible in Ulysses, and is easier too. If Im not yet ready to merge sheets, I can simply glue them together so theyre editable as a single unit yet remain independent sheets in the library.
There are other limitations to Content Blocks too.
Referenced files must exist in the same folder as the document, or a subfolder thereof. This quickly escalates into a lot of file clutter, as you can imagine. I write articles that often include many photos, so with Writer Im faced with a few choices:
Keep documents and images in the same directory, resulting in a folder full of loose, mostly unrelated files
Make a subfolder for each documents attachments, resulting in both a file and a folder for each thing I write (and thus two entries for each piece in the library)
Make the subfolder for each document, but also move the document itself into the subfolder, in which case the directory only has one item of each namebut then the process of navigating between documents in the library view is a mess of hopping in and out of folders, and the main view will be showing all folder names instead of files, which means you cant see content previews
Make a single attachments subfolder and either have every documents attachments loosely contained therein, or create another subfolder level for each documents attachments within the master attachments folder, resulting in longer and longer reference links in the document On the bright side, you can reference web links to images and avoid local copies in Writers directly entirely if you like.
Wifi scanner 2 9 5 advanced wifi scanner for mac. Still, I havent been able to find an option that doesnt feel unnecessarily clunky, which has kept me from using Content Blocks very much. Others with different workflows may find them more beneficial, but for my work I consider them to be a poor substitute for what Ulysses sheets offer. Keyboard Extension
The keyboard merits mention, as version 5 of the iOS app has a new customizable keyboard extension, accessible via a icon thats now visible above your software keyboard.
This extension can house a tremendous variety of features, from formatting shortcuts (like a button for adding markdown footnotes), to text manipulation (all sorts of selection options, line moving, tabs, etc.), to quick actions (like adding a markdown table, or the current date, or a content block).
This takes a lot of the pain out of using Markdown syntax (which tends to use a lot of special characters) while touch typing. It saves time and keeps you in the flow, which is crucial for any writing app.
Ulysses has a similar keyboard extension, but it isnt customizable, so youre stuck using the layout the developers have created for youan ironic point in iAs favour since theyre typically the ones restricting customization!
Keyboard interaction is also enhanced through the presence of a feature iA calls Open Quickly . Using the O shortcut, you can summon a modal window that allows you to search for and open files from your library.
This would be neat on its own, but version 5 brings a whole new aspect to this by including quick actions. Now, from the same dialog, you can type something like night mode and activate it with a single tap. Or export pdf to accomplish that task in a single step too. In fact, you only really need to type the first few letters of a query before auto-complete presents you with the full command.
This is a tremendous time saver, and works with just about everything you can imagine: focus mode, syntax highlighting, preview, etc.
Ulysses has a Quick Open feature that works more or less the same way as far as finding and opening files (including shortcuts for specifying the search area) but there are no quick actions . Instead, Ulysses relies on a robust set of keyboard shortcuts that serve the same purpose.
Its hard to say which approach is preferable.
On the one hand, learning a bunch of shortcuts is time consuming and potentially difficult compared to just typing what you want into a box. On the other hand, once you do learn the shortcuts, its faster to invoke a quick key combination than to have to do that and then also type in the beginning of your command.
Horses for courses. Focus Mode Syntax Control
Writers push for simplicity and speed isnt about aesthetic minimalism as much as a deliberate paring down to the functional essentials. You shouldnt be able to do much more than write and think and write some more.
Their famous Focus Mode is a prime example of this ethos. Not only does the window chrome fade away as you start typing, but you can also press D to hide any sidebars and simultaneously fade all but the actively highlighted sentence (or paragraph). Its a simple thing, but it really does help me focus and it makes for a stunning interface when youre working full-screen.
Building on that functionality, syntax highlighting remains one of the strongest selling points for iA Writer, at least to me.
Similar to the way Focus Mode highlights the sentence (or paragraph) youre currently editing, Syntax Control is a similar tool that highlights particular sentence elementsverbs, nouns, etc.in a different colour, making it easier to see your contents grammatical structure. Elements can be selectively enabled/disabled, allowing you to focus on one at a time or get a birds-eye view of everything.
Syntax Control helps me identify and overcome common writing obstacles like leaning on adjectives when I should be writing tighter prose, or using lazy adverbs instead of choosing stronger verbs. I can trim the fat without Syntax Control , but having it makes the process that much faster. In fact, I often find myself tossing manuscripts from Ulysses to iA Writer just to make use of Syntax Control during the final edit. iA Writer Take-Aways
With version 5, iA Writer has matured into a competent, streamlined writing app that maintains a lot of the austerity that made it distinctive, while adding key functionality to help accommodate more writing styles, content types, and author preferences.
It remains a lean and focused way to write, and doesnt require a subscription to usean elephant whose presence in the room well examine shortly. Whats New in Ulysses
The team behind Ulysses has been developing creative writing software for 14 years.
I have a deep appreciation for software that comes together after years of research and iteration, so its not surprising that I chose Ulysses as my writing environment of choice two years ago when I first compared it against iA Writer. Yet I find myself switching back and forth between the two even today.
With version 12, Ulysses has taken another meaningful step forwardits first since the switch to a subscription pricing modeladopting new iOS 11 technologies and streamlining the library. A Personal Writing Environment
Earlier this year, I replaced the old desk Id been using since high school with a new one.
I wanted something less cramped, with better organizational options. The new desk is expansive, more than twice as wide as its predecessor, with only a few decorative items and my Grovemade Desk Collection. Its less cluttered, less distracting, and fits my needs perfectly.
But I had to make it myself.
If youre willing to put thought and effort into to optimizing your work environment for calm and productivity (as you should be, as far as Im concerned), then youll appreciate Ulysses.
I liken it to the difference between people who prefer to learn on their own versus people who prefer the structure of a curriculum or teacher to keep themselves on track. Ulysses is less opinionated software than iA Writer.
Ulysses asks How do you want to do this? Then says, Great! Lets go.
iA Writer says This is how its done. Now lets get to it!
Out of the box, Ulysses is just as inviting a writing environment as iA Writer is, but Ulysses is a clean slate that adapts to suit your needs. You can choose your own typeface, and control the colours and styling of everything from headings to comments.
The risk of having these options is that youll spend more time fiddling than writing. Nothing is more easily distracted than a procrastinating writer, and if even your writing environment distracts you then youre off to a bad start. But its not the softwares job to manage your self-discipline, and in choosing to trust their users with that task, Ulysses can focus on optimizing for when its writers are in the zone.
After the initial honeymoon period, I wasnt tempted to fiddle with the settings much. Spend a day experimenting, set things up, tear them down, change colours, explore the Style Galleryand youll eventually settle on something that suits you perfectly. You made it, after all.
Then you can focus on writing.
Its flexibility allows Ulysses to be many things to many people. If youre used to writing in a serif font with rich text previews, you can style the editor to look that way. If you love iA Writers look, you can replicate it exactly within Ulysses, giving you access to the same aesthetic without sacrificing any of the additional functionality.
In fact, heres a fun experiment: can you tell which app is which in the screenshots below?
Of course, were often reminded that design is how it works too, not just how it looks, so making Ulysses look like iA Writer is only part of the equation.
There are things we can do to make the experience of writing match as well. Ulysses now has the option to fade the toolbars when you write, like iA Writer does, so that youre left with nothing but the words and cursor. Similarly, while it doesnt have a dedicated Focus Mode , you can roll your own by enabling Typewriter Mode and setting the highlight option to sentence.
So if the entire experience of iA Writer can be replicated in Ulysses, why do I find myself using Writer at all anymore?
There used to be several answers, but as Ulysses has continued to iterate, theyve whittled it down to a single reason: Syntax Control . Ulysses has no equivalent, and I find it helpful when editing long pieces, so despite the ability to re-create the look and feel of writing in iA Writer within Ulysses, I still cant replicate its editing experience. Ulysses Library
Looking at the library view of these apps side by side, the differences in approach arent immediately obvious; in both cases, it looks like a list of documents.
One immediate (and perhaps trivial) aesthetic difference is that Ulysses folders (called Groups ) appear in their own sidebar and can have customizable icons assigned to them. Conversely, iA Writers folders appear in the one library sidebar and look like plain folders. While I find Ulysses approach more pleasing to look at, theres also a semantic difference in that having a dedicated Groups sidebar is clearer than having both files and folders showing up in the same sidebar view.
I find that theres a lack of context with iA Writer, since all you can see is the current folder youre in. Theres no sense of where you are in the greater library of texts.
Ulysses can optionally focus in on a single Group, but by default you can see everything.
And there are more important advantages to a library monolith instead of loose files in a directory. In the developers own words:
Everything, literally everything, is in this one place, right there in the app. There is no need to go outside the app to search for a note or that one snippet you created last night. If it happens in Ulysses, it stays in Ulysses. Then theres the topic of file names. Or rather, the absence of file names. This may seem minor, but it allows Ulysses to scale from note pad to novel writing power horse, and even to combine both and everything in-between. You can probably compare it to the photo library on your phone. Imagine you would have to name every single photo, probably before youve even shot it. Then imagine the photos were listed in alphabetical order, and you could only search by name. This would be crazy, right? But thats how most apps still present your content, and thats what we wanted to get rid of in Ulysses.
Beyond that, the sheets within Ulysses library are more capable than plain text files, not only in terms of what you can do with them, but also in terms of what you can do within them. Sheets vs. Files
In addition to all the features afforded by Ulysses native MultiMarkdown syntax support, sheets allow Ulysses to offer functionality that goes beyond what plain text is capable of.
For example, you can add in-text comments like youd expect, but also annotations that function almost like comments on a PDF : affected text is marked to show the presence of an annotation, but the annotation text isnt visible while writing unless you explicitly open it. Comments and annotations are omitted from the preview and exported files.
Comments in Ulysses
Writer, bizarrely, doesnt even support in-text comments, let alone annotations.
Each sheet in Ulysses also has its own notepad attached that allows you to make notes that pertain to the sheet as a whole, without being embedded in the content in any way. For fiction writers, this is a great place to keep over-arching goals for the chapter for quick reference, for example. Ulysses is, of course, smart enough to ignore comment and annotation text when it calculates your word count and other statistics.
These statistics also work across multiple sheets, allowing you to calculate reading time and view word counts for entire groups. Attachments Images
Sheets can also have keywords and files attached to them. Keywords work the way youd expect, like tags do in Evernote or Bear, and can be used to help filter sheets in the library. One way Ive used them is to mark sheets that need editing, and then create a Filter (Ulysses smart folder equivalent) to gather all sheets that require more work, regardless of where they are in the library.
Ulysses sidebar can include sections for Keywords, Notes, Goals, and Attachments.
File attachments are more interesting. You can drag any file you like into a sheets sidebar on macOS to attach it (or pull them in through native Files app integration on iOS). These files are attached , not embedded, and can be placed into the document or left in the sidebar as a reference.
Images work very similarly. You can have images attached to the sheet in the sidebar without them showing up in the text, but you can also drag drop (on macOS and iOS alikethanks, iOS 11!) to insert them into the text. Best of all, as of Ulysses version 12, youll now see a small thumbnail preview of the image as you write.
For folks like me working on articles and photo essays that contain a lot of imagery, its much easier to structure and lay things out now that I can actually see the images (instead of a plain text image tag or, in the case of iA Writer, a Content Block ). Of course, in iA Writer you can keep the preview panel open while you write and see images that way, but then you have two panes open, which I find distracting.
One downside of this functionality is that attachments arent currently a criteria for filters in the library. This means you cant create a Filter to show only sheets with attachments, or one that excludes image attachments and shows only PDFs, or anything like that. Id like to see the team build out the filters with file and attachment related options in the future. Drag Drop
Drag drop has come to iOS, and Ulysses implementation is very elaborate. Text and images from other apps can be pulled into the sheet, or into the sidebar to attach them.
You can also drag sheets (and groups of sheets) around in the library to re-organize them, a task made simpler by the multi-pane view on iPad Pros. You neednt grab the entire sheet though: content from within sheets can be dragged and dropped them into other onesor even out into other apps!
Its one of the more robust implementations of drag drop that Ive seen on iOS and its very satisfying to use.
Ulysses library has also gained some great dragging swiping related features since I last wrote about it. Most notably, you can now perform swipe actions on sheets, making it easier to mark sheets as favourites, set keywords from the library view, and other similar functionality depending on whether the sheet is in Ulysses library or stored in an external storage option like Dropbox.
Swiping also works on the librarys groups, enabling a library focus feature. If youre like me and store all your writing in Ulysses, you can quickly end up with a lot of groups and a ton of sheets. When youre working on a particular project though, all that extra stuff is distracting, so now you can hide it away by swiping a group to the right.
Theres currently no way to do this in the macOS version of the app, but its one of very few examples of features that arent shared across platforms. One such feature in macOS favour is the ability to open sheets in tabs if youre running macOS Sierra or newer, which I prefer to having a bunch of windows open (unless Im actively copying/referencing content back and forth). Advanced Features
Its a little unfair to compare Ulysses to iA Writer in terms of features, because the former counts deep functionality as part of its strategy, whereas the latter is focused on simplicity.
Still, its worth at least noting the gaps so that those choosing iA Writer are aware of whats being offered on the other side of the fence.
I wont dwell on them, but here are some of the unique features I find valuable in Ulysses (in no particular order):
The ability to lock your library behind a passcode and/or Touch ID (on supported iOS and Mac hardware) for privacy
Robust automation potential via x-callback-url support. This is a deep rabbit hole that allows for sophisticated workflowsgenerally beyond the scope of what I do, but it unlocks some amazing potential. Go see Federico at MacStories for more on this
Support for the textbundle and textpack formats
Export styles (for customizable HTML , PDF , Word, and even ePub) Thats not even a fraction of the full list, but you get the idea. Ulysses has a lot of features.
That doesnt make it a better app, but it might make it a more suitable app for your needs if those features happen to align with your requirements. Subscription and Lock-in
Okay, time to talk about the elephant of subscription pricing.
Earlier this year, Ulysses announced the switch from per-app pricing to a unified subscription. Then they explained it in more detail.
The internet was angry. The internet is always angry.
Rather than re-hash what those articles and the resulting comment storm discuss, lets keep things high-level and positive. The benefits are the usual:
One price unlocks all apps across all platforms, so no more purchasing separate licenses for each
Free downloads of the apps means they can finally offer a proper trial to give people an opportunity to try before they buy
Steady income for the developers means steady work on the app, without the need to artificially bundle features into major paid point updates
Subscriptions shift the balance of effort from acquiring new users (after all, thats where the money comes from in the pay-once model) to supporting existing ones
And some of the common concerns:
Subscription = lock-in!
What happens when every app goes subscription?
I dont want to pay for platforms I dont use it on
I dont want to rent my software, I want to own it
Each side has more points, but life is short and its not my job to sway you toward or against subscriptions. Instead, I want to focus on my stance and why I am happy to pay for both of these appsonce or continuously, as required.
First of all, on lock-in: storing files in a library monolith means you need to use the apps to access them, its true, but its a weak argument for common users.
You need an app to open anything even your email needs an app to be accessed, whether its native or a web client. The advantage of iA Writer is that you get to choose whether you access it from iA Writer or another app, and you can do it from any platform you use.
That is an advantageno doubt about itbut in how many real-world scenarios does it apply? This is choice without benefit, or optimizing for the unlikely.
In the real world, people who know they need to access files across multiple platforms in difficult scenarios arent going to be considering Ulysses at allbecause its macOS and iOS only. Its not even in the running.
And if you use those platforms but want to keep a normal file copy of everything as well (separate from the excellent native backup functionality) then you can do so. Export your library as plain text and put it wherever you want. Voil. Job done.
I spend about equal amounts of time writing on my iOS devices and iMac. Im never looking to write without access to at least one of those devices, so for my usage the lock-in of not being able to access my files in any app from any device just doesnt apply. I recognize that this isnt true of every writer, but before you storm away from Ulysses in an angry huff, consider where and how you actually write and make sure that youre not throwing the baby out with the bath water.
The other side of the lock-in debate centres around a misconception about what happens when you stop paying your subscription fee. The reality is that you dont lose access to anything , and in fact Ulysses even encourages subscribing only as needed.
When you stop paying, the only thing thats disabled is writing. They dont disable opening, or reading, or even exporting. You cant put new things in, but everything youve already got in Ulysses stays accessible, stays safely backed up, and can be infinitely exported with the full feature set so you can take it with you wherever you need it.
As far as cost is concerned, Im as worried as anyone about the future where everything is subscription. I cant afford them all. But I can afford to selectively pay for the tools that enable me to do my job. Figuring out which is which is my problem, not theirs.
Ulysses costs $50 CAD per year ($40 USD ). Or it would , but the company offered a lifetime 50 discount for existing users of the standalone apps to ease the transition, so Im actually paying less than that. But lets say its $50. In fact, lets say its double that to account for future price hikes$100 per year.
A typical freelance writing assignment will cover that cost and then some. So in terms of value, that would be one of the cheapest software investments I make, even if it did cost $100/year.
What if youre not a professional though?
This is where a lot of upset people are, because theyre not making money from their writing, but they want the best tools to be available to them and had previously paid money for that. Of course, their copy doesnt stop working, but theyre no longer keeping up to date, which sucks.
Unfortunately, a lot of this upset is built on an entitled fallacy that we own the software we pay for. But the pay-once model was never about vendors selling software, it was vendors selling a license to use the softwareit just happened to be a license that never expired, so you could use it until it stopped working.
With a subscription model, the vendor is still just selling you a usage license, but now its done in a way that reflects the reality of software development, which is that nothing is ever done and that simply keeping something working requires ongoing effort.
Mackeeper 0 9 1 . Even though iA Writer isnt currently planning a subscription model, they too acknowledge this struggle: Code Syntax Highlighting Html
Trust is earned in drops and lost in buckets. Yes, we need to live. But thats our problem. Explaining that dev costs and comparing software to coffee, sandwiches or cars is not convincing. The only ones that will feel you are friends, family and other indie devs. Friends dont count money. Customers do. To own, we pay more. To rent, we pay less. Strangers dont genuinely care about our wellbeingthey compare prices and pick the best value. Subscriptions are tough. They are not bad or impossible, but they need to meet real life expectationsCurrently, at our price point, we cant get much cheaper. Our prices can only go up if we up our value. And if we offer a subscription, it wont be a forced price hike to milk poor poets and students but a cheaper alternative for organisations. Ulysses Take-Aways
Version 12 was an important update for the Ulysses team. It signals the sort of progress were meant to expect as a result of the subscription pricing, both in terms of content and speed of execution.
Support for the latest iOS and macOS technologies appeared almost immediately, and in thoughtful ways. Ulysses remains user-focused, allowing near infinite customization of the writing environment, along with a robust set of tools to support working with and exporting plain text, without the limitations of storing it in literal .txt files.
Balancing that power with the simplicity required to keep writers on task and productive is a delicate struggle, and one that I think the team is doing an admirable job of managing. TL;DR: Making a Choice
Thats a lot to take in, so lets break this down: Ulysses Pros
Robust, customizable writing environment that can scale from a complex three-pane view to a minimal editor that can be styled according to your preferences
Unified library system provides a number of meaningful advantages over file wrangling, including speed, flexibility, infinite versioning, and the beauty of never wondering where or whether a document is saved
Sheets allow for file attachments, keywords, notes, more sophisticated merging and manipulation, all on top of the syntax-based formatting of MultiMarkdown
Powerful document statistics with word goals
It trusts its users to manage themselves; the app lets me focus or not focus on writing as I see fitits a tool, not a taskmaster Ulysses Cons
No cross-platform support: just iOS and macOS
No equivalent to Syntax Control , for highlighting of sentence components to facilitate editing
No ability to filter sheets by attachments
Subscription pricing model is divisive iA Writer Pros
Extremely immersive writing experience, aided by the terrific Focus Mode and an aggressively minimal approach to design
Polished, aesthetically beautiful writing experience
Syntax Control for a more visual way to edit
Support for Android and, in the future, web access
Plain text editing of plain text files, with no frills and no library monolith
Content Blocks facilitate structuring and working with longer pieces, and make it easier to assemble complex documents for export
Familiar pay-once pricing model Syntax Highlighting Codes iA Writer Cons Ia Writer Code Syntax Highlighting Examples
Lean design means that its lacking in raw features compared to Ulysses
Reliance on regular files offers limited capabilities in terms of manipulating documents, embedding and organizing attachments, and handling features that go beyond what Markdown syntax allows for
Limited customization options: its their way or the highway Conclusion
I picked Ulysses two years ago, and it continues to be my writing app of choice today. But I often turn to iA Writer for the final editing pass thanks to Syntax Control .
For writing, Ulysses keeps me productive and organized, and Ive never had any reason to doubt the integrity or functionality of its library system, nor do I mind supporting its developers with a subscription provided they continue to build and support it as theyve been doing so far.
For others, the progress made by each app has made choosing one a more complicated decision. Hopefully this overview has helped, but I want to leave you with a thought that occurred to me as I was editing this article.
The impetus for this was the approach of NaNoWriMo, and I realized something: Ulysses has sponsored NaNoWriMo for the past four years running, and offered special trial licenses to help people experience the app in the context it was designed for: intense, distraction-free writing of something important.
This years NaNoWriMo extended trial also comes with a free introductory video, custom-made to help get people up to speed quickly, along with an email course that digs deeper. To top it off, users of the NaNoWriMo trial are offered an ongoing 15 discount on their subscription if they choose to purchase at the end.
Similarly, their blog regularly features tips tricks, writer profiles, and inspiration.
Thats a lot of support for the writing community, and its a cultural thing that makes me admire the Ulysses team. When they say they care about writers, they clearly think beyond the confines of their app, and I respect that. They support me, so I feel better about supporting them.
Writing is challenging, and intensely personal. Moreover, trusting an app with your words can be daunting. Having used both Ulysses and iA Writer for years now, I can confidently say that both are trustworthy, dependable, and capable tools for the production and polishing of text.
Which one you favour has more to do with you than with them, frankly, so dont agonize too much over choosing which is better.
Theyre both outstanding, and you have more important things to dolike write.
Did You Find This Post Helpful?
Please consider sharing it with your network!
This blog is entirely self-funded, and relies on the generosity of readers to keep things active and ad-free. If you would like to support my work, you can make a one-time or recurring donation here. Previous Post Canon 1D Mark III Review 10 years on, yesterdays flagship is still capable and reliable today Next Post LoupeDeck A review of the editing console for Adobe Lightroom
Syntax Highlighting Codes
Ia Writer Code Syntax Highlighting Examples
IA Writer doesnt recognize::highlight:: (HTML: ). It doesnt claim to but it would be nice. IA Writer has its own file transclusion syntax, beginning a new line with / followed by the relative path to an image or text document to include (also works with an absolute URL on its own line). Much neater than MultiMarkdown spec. Typora gives you a seamless experience as both a reader and a writer. It removes the preview window, mode switcher, syntax symbols of markdown source code, and all other unnecessary distractions. Instead, it provides a real live preview feature to help you concentrate on the content itself. Github-math-iatemplate - Custom iA Writer template with support for Math and code syntax highlighting 404 Same thing for updates iA Writer will prompt you if you want to replace the currently installed template with the new one.
Theres no doubt that we live in a distracting time. With an almost constant connection to our phones, emails, and social media, it can sometimes seem impossible to truly get away from it all and stay focused, especially when writing. Now imagine youre someone who struggles with staying focused and on task, and youre trying to finish that big writing assignment but your friends, your games, and the entirety of the internet is just a click away?
iA Writer seeks to cut out some of that noise by presenting writers with a clean, distraction-free interface that focuses only on the essentials. The app uses markdown formatting, which means that text is formatted using punctuation marks rather than using functions like in Word. This type of formatting can seem a bit intimidating at first, but once you learn the basics, youll realize that with markdown formatting your hands never have to leave the keyboard, so youre never wasting time searching for functions by moving your mouse or finger around. To learn more about markdown formatting, check out this guide that was created by the developers of iA Writer.
The app uses a simple black on white (or white on black if youre in night mode) interface with limited settings and options, and users can even turn on focus mode so that only the sentence or paragraph being worked on is visible, making it a great tool for writers who struggle with any type of attention challenges such as ADHD, executive functioning, and other focused-based learning disabilities.
iA Writer also offers some helpful editing tools such as Syntax Highlight, a feature that shows different parts of speech in different colours, so users can improve their writing by spotting and correcting spelling and structural errors. And, the new Style Check feature grays out unnecessary words or phrases, so users can check the flow of their work and make sure their writing is concise and to the point.
iA Writer is available for Mac, iOS, Windows, and Android. Click here to learn more about the app and to get access to the free, two-week trial.
his post originally appeared on the AT Help Desk (new window) website.
Tags: AT HelpDesk November 4, 2017
Its novel season, which has me thinking about the ways we write and the tools we use to get it done.
A few years ago, I compared the two front-runners: iA Writer and Ulysses. These continue to be, in my estimation, the finest plain-text writing environments out there. And each of them has come a long way in the intervening years.
With everyone sharpening their digital pencils, I figured it was time to dive in and see how their respective changes have improved the experience of using and trusting them with our words. My Approach
To make it easier to follow along with my impressions, it helps to understand where Im coming from as a writer and what my priorities are.
When I last compared these two, I identified my criteria as follows:
Beautiful, clutter-free interface
Flexible, cross-platform workflow
Powerful export options
I write primarily non-fiction, mostly for online consumption in the form of articles (like this one!) and photo essays (like this one!). Sometimes, I write for print, and I keep a few fiction projects on the go as well for when I have the time and energy to develop them.
Nowadays, I publish this site via Blot, or to plain markdown files for magazine work, so the third point in my original list is no longer that relevant to my needs.
In its place, I would put something thats become increasingly important to me as Ive accumulated (and migrated) more writing work over time:
A powerful, easy way to manage and manipulate text items, whether they be articles, snippets, notes, sections, or any other arbitrary text unit.
With that out of the way, lets see whats new in each of the two apps. Whats New in iA Writer?
Writer has had a strange history.
It started as a single app, became two apps, and then merged back into one app that brought together the best aspects of the former Classic and Pro variants. Theyve also made their way to Android, and are currently contemplating a web version too.
Writers modern incarnation is somehow both very similar and very different from the apps original vision. Polish
I was in Tanzania recently, and while there I watched the process of carving a beautiful sculpture at a local soapstone workshop. After the basic form has been fashioned, every item goes through half a dozen phases of sandingby handeach with a progressively softer paper grain.
By the end, one might wonder how much of a difference it makes.
But anyone whos experienced the end result will know that in stone carving and software design alike: theres a difference between smooth and polished .
iA Writer has broken out the fine grained sandpaper this year.
Lightcapture 1 0 2 . Where previous years saw them whittling rough edges off to reveal the underlying shape, the past few months have been about bridging that gap between smoothness and polish. Aesthetics and Style
Aesthetically, the app has returned to a more conventional layout with version 5, particularly in the case of its iOS app, whichafter a brief diversion featuring an actual File menu and other odditiesnow has a normal sidebar library view and familiar tools. Across all platforms, the library supports multiple storage locations, and the writing environment itself remains as spartan as can be: a page, a keyboard, and a blinking blue cursor.
This feels more natural, more intuitive, and less busy.
You still cant choose your own font, but iA have (reluctantly) relaxed their standards a bit to allow for a choice of three typeface variants, a night mode colour scheme, three different text size options, and the ability to customize the tools you get in their new keyboard extension. In their own words:
With a growing customer base, we constantly needed to add features to satisfy the ever-branching needs. App store ratings pushed us into adding modes, templates, and settings. And these big feature comparison charts people go to before making buying decisions? They make you look bad if you dont have night mode, WordPress export, 555 templates and an Indonesian name generator. We dont like this trajectory; step by step it pushes us into the opposite of where we came from. We handled it alright. iA Writer still has only one font for writing, but now offers night mode, WordPress, Templates and a bunch of settings. Features as such are not evil, the devil is in making sure that they stay a detail.
Writers attitude has always been a bit aloofto a fault, sometimesbut Im glad to see them allowing writers to make a few quality of life adjustments. Nothing that breaks the aesthetic continuity or pushes you down the slippery slope of customizing everything, just enough to settle in, get comfortable, and write. The Library, and File Management
Under the hood, Writer remains resolutely dedicated to working with actual files. Its very much a traditional text editor in this sensealways just files on a disk.
This is both good and bad.
Good because theyre true to the spirit of plain text, giving you control over where your files are at all times, and keeping everything in timeless, non-proprietary plain text formats. No lock-in.
But for me, one of the greatest advances in modern computing is the slow departure of file management. I dont want to manage my files any more than I want to manage my tasks. I want to complete tasks and work with files.
I want files to manage themselves, to be ready when and where I need them, and to stay safe and backed up.
While it seems like the experience would be equivalentiA Writer and Ulysses both use iCloud as the default storage location, after allthe difference between storing things as loose files in a directory versus Ulysses sheets-in-a-library monolith has deep functional implications.
Sheets can have keywords attached to add a different dimension for organization, and Ulysses offers a robust system for creating smart folders (called Filters ) to view content based on criteria including keywords, text inclusion/exclusion, and creation date.
Thankfully, version 5 of iA Writer brings smart folders (and favourite folders), but theres still no equivalent to keywords.
That doesnt bother me much though, because keywords represent more metawork than I typically want to do. Theyre helpful for long-form content where I can use them to keep track of editing progress, but I can do without for most of my writing.
My chief concern with Writers flat file approach is the relative lack of flexibility compared to Ulysses sheets. I dont mean broadly (cant get more flexible than plain text files) but within the app itself, where it matters. Content Blocks
Unlike plain text files, Ulysses sheets can contain file attachments (embedded or not) without adding clutter, and can be effortlessly merged and manipulated in ways that iA Writers files simply cannot.
iA have attempted to address this limitation with one of the highlight features of the previous (version 4) update: Content Blocks . These are essentially a file referencing system, and while they dont provide the same functionality as sheet manipulation or attachments, they are still quite useful.
The way it works is that you can include a file in your current document by adding a reference to it using a simple slash syntax, like so:
/chapter-2.txt
This results in your document preview (and exported product) showing the contents of the referenced file where youve placed it in the original document. Along with text files, you can reference images, CSV tables, and code.
This extends the inter-document workflow potential of Writer, but it does so in a way thats only useful for export and publishing, not during the editing process. Let me give you a practical example to illustrate why this limitation frustrates me:
Lets say Im working on a piece of fiction, and Im writing it out scene by scene, with each scene in its own document so I can easily re-organize them. At some point, Im going to want to assemble those scenes into chapters and edit the resulting chapter as one item to make sure it flows.
In Ulysses, each scene would be a sheet that I could put into folders by chapter. Within the folder, I could manually re-order the scenes to experiment with structure, then merge them effortlessly into a single sheet containing my entire chapter, ready for editing.
In Writer, each scene can be its own document, and I can organize them into folders, but theres no elegant way for me to merge the scenes into a single file for editing. The best I can do is use the new Content Blocks to append each scenes file to the end of the first, in order, and then export that as a new document and edit that file.
This problem applies backwards too, by the way: in Ulysses you can very easily split a sheet if you realize you need to work on a section separately. Theres no way to do this in iA Writer except the old-fashioned way of cutting out the relevant portion and pasting it into a new document.
Theres an argument to be made in favour of keeping the scenes separated though, and some might prefer to work that way. However, this workflow is also possible in Ulysses, and is easier too. If Im not yet ready to merge sheets, I can simply glue them together so theyre editable as a single unit yet remain independent sheets in the library.
There are other limitations to Content Blocks too.
Referenced files must exist in the same folder as the document, or a subfolder thereof. This quickly escalates into a lot of file clutter, as you can imagine. I write articles that often include many photos, so with Writer Im faced with a few choices:
Keep documents and images in the same directory, resulting in a folder full of loose, mostly unrelated files
Make a subfolder for each documents attachments, resulting in both a file and a folder for each thing I write (and thus two entries for each piece in the library)
Make the subfolder for each document, but also move the document itself into the subfolder, in which case the directory only has one item of each namebut then the process of navigating between documents in the library view is a mess of hopping in and out of folders, and the main view will be showing all folder names instead of files, which means you cant see content previews
Make a single attachments subfolder and either have every documents attachments loosely contained therein, or create another subfolder level for each documents attachments within the master attachments folder, resulting in longer and longer reference links in the document On the bright side, you can reference web links to images and avoid local copies in Writers directly entirely if you like.
Wifi scanner 2 9 5 advanced wifi scanner for mac. Still, I havent been able to find an option that doesnt feel unnecessarily clunky, which has kept me from using Content Blocks very much. Others with different workflows may find them more beneficial, but for my work I consider them to be a poor substitute for what Ulysses sheets offer. Keyboard Extension
The keyboard merits mention, as version 5 of the iOS app has a new customizable keyboard extension, accessible via a icon thats now visible above your software keyboard.
This extension can house a tremendous variety of features, from formatting shortcuts (like a button for adding markdown footnotes), to text manipulation (all sorts of selection options, line moving, tabs, etc.), to quick actions (like adding a markdown table, or the current date, or a content block).
This takes a lot of the pain out of using Markdown syntax (which tends to use a lot of special characters) while touch typing. It saves time and keeps you in the flow, which is crucial for any writing app.
Ulysses has a similar keyboard extension, but it isnt customizable, so youre stuck using the layout the developers have created for youan ironic point in iAs favour since theyre typically the ones restricting customization!
Keyboard interaction is also enhanced through the presence of a feature iA calls Open Quickly . Using the O shortcut, you can summon a modal window that allows you to search for and open files from your library.
This would be neat on its own, but version 5 brings a whole new aspect to this by including quick actions. Now, from the same dialog, you can type something like night mode and activate it with a single tap. Or export pdf to accomplish that task in a single step too. In fact, you only really need to type the first few letters of a query before auto-complete presents you with the full command.
This is a tremendous time saver, and works with just about everything you can imagine: focus mode, syntax highlighting, preview, etc.
Ulysses has a Quick Open feature that works more or less the same way as far as finding and opening files (including shortcuts for specifying the search area) but there are no quick actions . Instead, Ulysses relies on a robust set of keyboard shortcuts that serve the same purpose.
Its hard to say which approach is preferable.
On the one hand, learning a bunch of shortcuts is time consuming and potentially difficult compared to just typing what you want into a box. On the other hand, once you do learn the shortcuts, its faster to invoke a quick key combination than to have to do that and then also type in the beginning of your command.
Horses for courses. Focus Mode Syntax Control
Writers push for simplicity and speed isnt about aesthetic minimalism as much as a deliberate paring down to the functional essentials. You shouldnt be able to do much more than write and think and write some more.
Their famous Focus Mode is a prime example of this ethos. Not only does the window chrome fade away as you start typing, but you can also press D to hide any sidebars and simultaneously fade all but the actively highlighted sentence (or paragraph). Its a simple thing, but it really does help me focus and it makes for a stunning interface when youre working full-screen.
Building on that functionality, syntax highlighting remains one of the strongest selling points for iA Writer, at least to me.
Similar to the way Focus Mode highlights the sentence (or paragraph) youre currently editing, Syntax Control is a similar tool that highlights particular sentence elementsverbs, nouns, etc.in a different colour, making it easier to see your contents grammatical structure. Elements can be selectively enabled/disabled, allowing you to focus on one at a time or get a birds-eye view of everything.
Syntax Control helps me identify and overcome common writing obstacles like leaning on adjectives when I should be writing tighter prose, or using lazy adverbs instead of choosing stronger verbs. I can trim the fat without Syntax Control , but having it makes the process that much faster. In fact, I often find myself tossing manuscripts from Ulysses to iA Writer just to make use of Syntax Control during the final edit. iA Writer Take-Aways
With version 5, iA Writer has matured into a competent, streamlined writing app that maintains a lot of the austerity that made it distinctive, while adding key functionality to help accommodate more writing styles, content types, and author preferences.
It remains a lean and focused way to write, and doesnt require a subscription to usean elephant whose presence in the room well examine shortly. Whats New in Ulysses
The team behind Ulysses has been developing creative writing software for 14 years.
I have a deep appreciation for software that comes together after years of research and iteration, so its not surprising that I chose Ulysses as my writing environment of choice two years ago when I first compared it against iA Writer. Yet I find myself switching back and forth between the two even today.
With version 12, Ulysses has taken another meaningful step forwardits first since the switch to a subscription pricing modeladopting new iOS 11 technologies and streamlining the library. A Personal Writing Environment
Earlier this year, I replaced the old desk Id been using since high school with a new one.
I wanted something less cramped, with better organizational options. The new desk is expansive, more than twice as wide as its predecessor, with only a few decorative items and my Grovemade Desk Collection. Its less cluttered, less distracting, and fits my needs perfectly.
But I had to make it myself.
If youre willing to put thought and effort into to optimizing your work environment for calm and productivity (as you should be, as far as Im concerned), then youll appreciate Ulysses.
I liken it to the difference between people who prefer to learn on their own versus people who prefer the structure of a curriculum or teacher to keep themselves on track. Ulysses is less opinionated software than iA Writer.
Ulysses asks How do you want to do this? Then says, Great! Lets go.
iA Writer says This is how its done. Now lets get to it!
Out of the box, Ulysses is just as inviting a writing environment as iA Writer is, but Ulysses is a clean slate that adapts to suit your needs. You can choose your own typeface, and control the colours and styling of everything from headings to comments.
The risk of having these options is that youll spend more time fiddling than writing. Nothing is more easily distracted than a procrastinating writer, and if even your writing environment distracts you then youre off to a bad start. But its not the softwares job to manage your self-discipline, and in choosing to trust their users with that task, Ulysses can focus on optimizing for when its writers are in the zone.
After the initial honeymoon period, I wasnt tempted to fiddle with the settings much. Spend a day experimenting, set things up, tear them down, change colours, explore the Style Galleryand youll eventually settle on something that suits you perfectly. You made it, after all.
Then you can focus on writing.
Its flexibility allows Ulysses to be many things to many people. If youre used to writing in a serif font with rich text previews, you can style the editor to look that way. If you love iA Writers look, you can replicate it exactly within Ulysses, giving you access to the same aesthetic without sacrificing any of the additional functionality.
In fact, heres a fun experiment: can you tell which app is which in the screenshots below?
Of course, were often reminded that design is how it works too, not just how it looks, so making Ulysses look like iA Writer is only part of the equation.
There are things we can do to make the experience of writing match as well. Ulysses now has the option to fade the toolbars when you write, like iA Writer does, so that youre left with nothing but the words and cursor. Similarly, while it doesnt have a dedicated Focus Mode , you can roll your own by enabling Typewriter Mode and setting the highlight option to sentence.
So if the entire experience of iA Writer can be replicated in Ulysses, why do I find myself using Writer at all anymore?
There used to be several answers, but as Ulysses has continued to iterate, theyve whittled it down to a single reason: Syntax Control . Ulysses has no equivalent, and I find it helpful when editing long pieces, so despite the ability to re-create the look and feel of writing in iA Writer within Ulysses, I still cant replicate its editing experience. Ulysses Library
Looking at the library view of these apps side by side, the differences in approach arent immediately obvious; in both cases, it looks like a list of documents.
One immediate (and perhaps trivial) aesthetic difference is that Ulysses folders (called Groups ) appear in their own sidebar and can have customizable icons assigned to them. Conversely, iA Writers folders appear in the one library sidebar and look like plain folders. While I find Ulysses approach more pleasing to look at, theres also a semantic difference in that having a dedicated Groups sidebar is clearer than having both files and folders showing up in the same sidebar view.
I find that theres a lack of context with iA Writer, since all you can see is the current folder youre in. Theres no sense of where you are in the greater library of texts.
Ulysses can optionally focus in on a single Group, but by default you can see everything.
And there are more important advantages to a library monolith instead of loose files in a directory. In the developers own words:
Everything, literally everything, is in this one place, right there in the app. There is no need to go outside the app to search for a note or that one snippet you created last night. If it happens in Ulysses, it stays in Ulysses. Then theres the topic of file names. Or rather, the absence of file names. This may seem minor, but it allows Ulysses to scale from note pad to novel writing power horse, and even to combine both and everything in-between. You can probably compare it to the photo library on your phone. Imagine you would have to name every single photo, probably before youve even shot it. Then imagine the photos were listed in alphabetical order, and you could only search by name. This would be crazy, right? But thats how most apps still present your content, and thats what we wanted to get rid of in Ulysses.
Beyond that, the sheets within Ulysses library are more capable than plain text files, not only in terms of what you can do with them, but also in terms of what you can do within them. Sheets vs. Files
In addition to all the features afforded by Ulysses native MultiMarkdown syntax support, sheets allow Ulysses to offer functionality that goes beyond what plain text is capable of.
For example, you can add in-text comments like youd expect, but also annotations that function almost like comments on a PDF : affected text is marked to show the presence of an annotation, but the annotation text isnt visible while writing unless you explicitly open it. Comments and annotations are omitted from the preview and exported files.
Comments in Ulysses
Writer, bizarrely, doesnt even support in-text comments, let alone annotations.
Each sheet in Ulysses also has its own notepad attached that allows you to make notes that pertain to the sheet as a whole, without being embedded in the content in any way. For fiction writers, this is a great place to keep over-arching goals for the chapter for quick reference, for example. Ulysses is, of course, smart enough to ignore comment and annotation text when it calculates your word count and other statistics.
These statistics also work across multiple sheets, allowing you to calculate reading time and view word counts for entire groups. Attachments Images
Sheets can also have keywords and files attached to them. Keywords work the way youd expect, like tags do in Evernote or Bear, and can be used to help filter sheets in the library. One way Ive used them is to mark sheets that need editing, and then create a Filter (Ulysses smart folder equivalent) to gather all sheets that require more work, regardless of where they are in the library.
Ulysses sidebar can include sections for Keywords, Notes, Goals, and Attachments.
File attachments are more interesting. You can drag any file you like into a sheets sidebar on macOS to attach it (or pull them in through native Files app integration on iOS). These files are attached , not embedded, and can be placed into the document or left in the sidebar as a reference.
Images work very similarly. You can have images attached to the sheet in the sidebar without them showing up in the text, but you can also drag drop (on macOS and iOS alikethanks, iOS 11!) to insert them into the text. Best of all, as of Ulysses version 12, youll now see a small thumbnail preview of the image as you write.
For folks like me working on articles and photo essays that contain a lot of imagery, its much easier to structure and lay things out now that I can actually see the images (instead of a plain text image tag or, in the case of iA Writer, a Content Block ). Of course, in iA Writer you can keep the preview panel open while you write and see images that way, but then you have two panes open, which I find distracting.
One downside of this functionality is that attachments arent currently a criteria for filters in the library. This means you cant create a Filter to show only sheets with attachments, or one that excludes image attachments and shows only PDFs, or anything like that. Id like to see the team build out the filters with file and attachment related options in the future. Drag Drop
Drag drop has come to iOS, and Ulysses implementation is very elaborate. Text and images from other apps can be pulled into the sheet, or into the sidebar to attach them.
You can also drag sheets (and groups of sheets) around in the library to re-organize them, a task made simpler by the multi-pane view on iPad Pros. You neednt grab the entire sheet though: content from within sheets can be dragged and dropped them into other onesor even out into other apps!
Its one of the more robust implementations of drag drop that Ive seen on iOS and its very satisfying to use.
Ulysses library has also gained some great dragging swiping related features since I last wrote about it. Most notably, you can now perform swipe actions on sheets, making it easier to mark sheets as favourites, set keywords from the library view, and other similar functionality depending on whether the sheet is in Ulysses library or stored in an external storage option like Dropbox.
Swiping also works on the librarys groups, enabling a library focus feature. If youre like me and store all your writing in Ulysses, you can quickly end up with a lot of groups and a ton of sheets. When youre working on a particular project though, all that extra stuff is distracting, so now you can hide it away by swiping a group to the right.
Theres currently no way to do this in the macOS version of the app, but its one of very few examples of features that arent shared across platforms. One such feature in macOS favour is the ability to open sheets in tabs if youre running macOS Sierra or newer, which I prefer to having a bunch of windows open (unless Im actively copying/referencing content back and forth). Advanced Features
Its a little unfair to compare Ulysses to iA Writer in terms of features, because the former counts deep functionality as part of its strategy, whereas the latter is focused on simplicity.
Still, its worth at least noting the gaps so that those choosing iA Writer are aware of whats being offered on the other side of the fence.
I wont dwell on them, but here are some of the unique features I find valuable in Ulysses (in no particular order):
The ability to lock your library behind a passcode and/or Touch ID (on supported iOS and Mac hardware) for privacy
Robust automation potential via x-callback-url support. This is a deep rabbit hole that allows for sophisticated workflowsgenerally beyond the scope of what I do, but it unlocks some amazing potential. Go see Federico at MacStories for more on this
Support for the textbundle and textpack formats
Export styles (for customizable HTML , PDF , Word, and even ePub) Thats not even a fraction of the full list, but you get the idea. Ulysses has a lot of features.
That doesnt make it a better app, but it might make it a more suitable app for your needs if those features happen to align with your requirements. Subscription and Lock-in
Okay, time to talk about the elephant of subscription pricing.
Earlier this year, Ulysses announced the switch from per-app pricing to a unified subscription. Then they explained it in more detail.
The internet was angry. The internet is always angry.
Rather than re-hash what those articles and the resulting comment storm discuss, lets keep things high-level and positive. The benefits are the usual:
One price unlocks all apps across all platforms, so no more purchasing separate licenses for each
Free downloads of the apps means they can finally offer a proper trial to give people an opportunity to try before they buy
Steady income for the developers means steady work on the app, without the need to artificially bundle features into major paid point updates
Subscriptions shift the balance of effort from acquiring new users (after all, thats where the money comes from in the pay-once model) to supporting existing ones
And some of the common concerns:
Subscription = lock-in!
What happens when every app goes subscription?
I dont want to pay for platforms I dont use it on
I dont want to rent my software, I want to own it
Each side has more points, but life is short and its not my job to sway you toward or against subscriptions. Instead, I want to focus on my stance and why I am happy to pay for both of these appsonce or continuously, as required.
First of all, on lock-in: storing files in a library monolith means you need to use the apps to access them, its true, but its a weak argument for common users.
You need an app to open anything even your email needs an app to be accessed, whether its native or a web client. The advantage of iA Writer is that you get to choose whether you access it from iA Writer or another app, and you can do it from any platform you use.
That is an advantageno doubt about itbut in how many real-world scenarios does it apply? This is choice without benefit, or optimizing for the unlikely.
In the real world, people who know they need to access files across multiple platforms in difficult scenarios arent going to be considering Ulysses at allbecause its macOS and iOS only. Its not even in the running.
And if you use those platforms but want to keep a normal file copy of everything as well (separate from the excellent native backup functionality) then you can do so. Export your library as plain text and put it wherever you want. Voil. Job done.
I spend about equal amounts of time writing on my iOS devices and iMac. Im never looking to write without access to at least one of those devices, so for my usage the lock-in of not being able to access my files in any app from any device just doesnt apply. I recognize that this isnt true of every writer, but before you storm away from Ulysses in an angry huff, consider where and how you actually write and make sure that youre not throwing the baby out with the bath water.
The other side of the lock-in debate centres around a misconception about what happens when you stop paying your subscription fee. The reality is that you dont lose access to anything , and in fact Ulysses even encourages subscribing only as needed.
When you stop paying, the only thing thats disabled is writing. They dont disable opening, or reading, or even exporting. You cant put new things in, but everything youve already got in Ulysses stays accessible, stays safely backed up, and can be infinitely exported with the full feature set so you can take it with you wherever you need it.
As far as cost is concerned, Im as worried as anyone about the future where everything is subscription. I cant afford them all. But I can afford to selectively pay for the tools that enable me to do my job. Figuring out which is which is my problem, not theirs.
Ulysses costs $50 CAD per year ($40 USD ). Or it would , but the company offered a lifetime 50 discount for existing users of the standalone apps to ease the transition, so Im actually paying less than that. But lets say its $50. In fact, lets say its double that to account for future price hikes$100 per year.
A typical freelance writing assignment will cover that cost and then some. So in terms of value, that would be one of the cheapest software investments I make, even if it did cost $100/year.
What if youre not a professional though?
This is where a lot of upset people are, because theyre not making money from their writing, but they want the best tools to be available to them and had previously paid money for that. Of course, their copy doesnt stop working, but theyre no longer keeping up to date, which sucks.
Unfortunately, a lot of this upset is built on an entitled fallacy that we own the software we pay for. But the pay-once model was never about vendors selling software, it was vendors selling a license to use the softwareit just happened to be a license that never expired, so you could use it until it stopped working.
With a subscription model, the vendor is still just selling you a usage license, but now its done in a way that reflects the reality of software development, which is that nothing is ever done and that simply keeping something working requires ongoing effort.
Mackeeper 0 9 1 . Even though iA Writer isnt currently planning a subscription model, they too acknowledge this struggle: Code Syntax Highlighting Html
Trust is earned in drops and lost in buckets. Yes, we need to live. But thats our problem. Explaining that dev costs and comparing software to coffee, sandwiches or cars is not convincing. The only ones that will feel you are friends, family and other indie devs. Friends dont count money. Customers do. To own, we pay more. To rent, we pay less. Strangers dont genuinely care about our wellbeingthey compare prices and pick the best value. Subscriptions are tough. They are not bad or impossible, but they need to meet real life expectationsCurrently, at our price point, we cant get much cheaper. Our prices can only go up if we up our value. And if we offer a subscription, it wont be a forced price hike to milk poor poets and students but a cheaper alternative for organisations. Ulysses Take-Aways
Version 12 was an important update for the Ulysses team. It signals the sort of progress were meant to expect as a result of the subscription pricing, both in terms of content and speed of execution.
Support for the latest iOS and macOS technologies appeared almost immediately, and in thoughtful ways. Ulysses remains user-focused, allowing near infinite customization of the writing environment, along with a robust set of tools to support working with and exporting plain text, without the limitations of storing it in literal .txt files.
Balancing that power with the simplicity required to keep writers on task and productive is a delicate struggle, and one that I think the team is doing an admirable job of managing. TL;DR: Making a Choice
Thats a lot to take in, so lets break this down: Ulysses Pros
Robust, customizable writing environment that can scale from a complex three-pane view to a minimal editor that can be styled according to your preferences
Unified library system provides a number of meaningful advantages over file wrangling, including speed, flexibility, infinite versioning, and the beauty of never wondering where or whether a document is saved
Sheets allow for file attachments, keywords, notes, more sophisticated merging and manipulation, all on top of the syntax-based formatting of MultiMarkdown
Powerful document statistics with word goals
It trusts its users to manage themselves; the app lets me focus or not focus on writing as I see fitits a tool, not a taskmaster Ulysses Cons
No cross-platform support: just iOS and macOS
No equivalent to Syntax Control , for highlighting of sentence components to facilitate editing
No ability to filter sheets by attachments
Subscription pricing model is divisive iA Writer Pros
Extremely immersive writing experience, aided by the terrific Focus Mode and an aggressively minimal approach to design
Polished, aesthetically beautiful writing experience
Syntax Control for a more visual way to edit
Support for Android and, in the future, web access
Plain text editing of plain text files, with no frills and no library monolith
Content Blocks facilitate structuring and working with longer pieces, and make it easier to assemble complex documents for export
Familiar pay-once pricing model Syntax Highlighting Codes iA Writer Cons Ia Writer Code Syntax Highlighting Examples
Lean design means that its lacking in raw features compared to Ulysses
Reliance on regular files offers limited capabilities in terms of manipulating documents, embedding and organizing attachments, and handling features that go beyond what Markdown syntax allows for
Limited customization options: its their way or the highway Conclusion
I picked Ulysses two years ago, and it continues to be my writing app of choice today. But I often turn to iA Writer for the final editing pass thanks to Syntax Control .
For writing, Ulysses keeps me productive and organized, and Ive never had any reason to doubt the integrity or functionality of its library system, nor do I mind supporting its developers with a subscription provided they continue to build and support it as theyve been doing so far.
For others, the progress made by each app has made choosing one a more complicated decision. Hopefully this overview has helped, but I want to leave you with a thought that occurred to me as I was editing this article.
The impetus for this was the approach of NaNoWriMo, and I realized something: Ulysses has sponsored NaNoWriMo for the past four years running, and offered special trial licenses to help people experience the app in the context it was designed for: intense, distraction-free writing of something important.
This years NaNoWriMo extended trial also comes with a free introductory video, custom-made to help get people up to speed quickly, along with an email course that digs deeper. To top it off, users of the NaNoWriMo trial are offered an ongoing 15 discount on their subscription if they choose to purchase at the end.
Similarly, their blog regularly features tips tricks, writer profiles, and inspiration.
Thats a lot of support for the writing community, and its a cultural thing that makes me admire the Ulysses team. When they say they care about writers, they clearly think beyond the confines of their app, and I respect that. They support me, so I feel better about supporting them.
Writing is challenging, and intensely personal. Moreover, trusting an app with your words can be daunting. Having used both Ulysses and iA Writer for years now, I can confidently say that both are trustworthy, dependable, and capable tools for the production and polishing of text.
Which one you favour has more to do with you than with them, frankly, so dont agonize too much over choosing which is better.
Theyre both outstanding, and you have more important things to dolike write.
Did You Find This Post Helpful?
Please consider sharing it with your network!
This blog is entirely self-funded, and relies on the generosity of readers to keep things active and ad-free. If you would like to support my work, you can make a one-time or recurring donation here. Previous Post Canon 1D Mark III Review 10 years on, yesterdays flagship is still capable and reliable today Next Post LoupeDeck A review of the editing console for Adobe Lightroom
