The minimalism of iA Writer continues under the hood: the file format is plain text, and the default location to save files is on iCloud.

I know some writers for whom this would be a godsend! This mode has an additional feature designed specifically for those writers who can’t resist going back to rewrite the paragraph they’ve just finished: text grays out as it scrolls up and away. If you want an even more typewriter-like feel, you can select typewriter mode, in which the text you’re typing stays centred on the virtual page and previous text scrolls upwards. All you see is your virtual sheet of paper and your words.

No toolbar, no status bar, not even the header strip with close, minimize and maximize buttons. While you are actually typing, everything else disappears from the screen. The app has a super-minimalist UI designed to give a typewriter-style feel. If you’re one of those people who seems to spend more time choosing your typeface and tweaking app settings than you do actually writing, iA Writer may be your saviour. But if you’re writing shorter pieces, and want to get to work straight away, Pages is a solid choice. mobi – which is one of several reasons I recommend using a more sophisticated app for a novel. Pages doesn’t, though, support other ebook formats like Kindle’s. If you’re writing for publication, you can export your manuscript to Word to send it to agents and publishers, or choose ePub to turn it into an iBook. That functionality is baked right in, so you don’t need to do anything special to take advantage of it. Pages uses iCloud by default, so you can create a document on your Mac, continue writing it on your iPad and add the finishing touches on your iPhone. If you want to add tables, illustrations or photos, you can. By default, none of the formatting or page setup features are shown, just a single row of buttons with largely intuitive functions.īut as soon as you want to apply formatting, for example, clicking the Format button opens up a column offering everything from bold and italics through line-spacing, justification, indents, bullets, links, columns and borders – through to more advanced features like widow & orphan control (ensuring that a single word or line from a paragraph doesn’t end up on a new page). It achieves this by keeping the bells and whistles tucked away out of sight until you need them.įor example, create a new blank document and you’ll see a pretty clean view (below). That’s because the app is intended to look simple and non-intimidating to new users, while offering plenty of features under the hood for power users. Pages is a deceptively powerful app on both platforms with a superbly-designed user-interface. In fact, some might question why you would ever need anything else, so let’s start with this before considering some of the alternatives … The obvious starting point, of course, is the app Apple gives you for free: Pages. In my comments, though, I’m focusing on the Mac versions as that’s the platform on which most people are likely to do the bulk of their writing. But as writers are sometimes known for their procrastination techniques, and choosing the right app could be the excuse for putting off work on your Great American Novel for several days, we thought it would be helpful to provide a few pointers.Īll of the apps featured are available for both Mac and iOS, as I feel it’s important that you can work on the move as well as at a desk. Whether you are tentatively planning your first ever blog post or are a best-selling novelist working on your latest blockbuster, there are plenty of apps out there designed for writers.

Pages for mac air free