Microsoft Word is the classic do-all text editor for everyone, used by over 70 million people. What are the advantages of a modern, focused writing app like iA Writer? Which of them is good for what?
Created in 1983, Microsoft Word was conceived in a time when documents were created by one person and printed on one printer. For many people it’s the default option at the office, or when they need to exchange documents with colleagues, clients, or publishers.
iA Writer was created in 2010. The New York Times describes it as “a clean, simple and distraction-free writing environment for when you really need to focus on your words.” iA Writer is the digital equivalent of a typewriter. It offers a clean slate where everything gets out of the way and lets you type immediately.
| iA Writer | Word/Office | |
|---|---|---|
| Created | 2010 | 1983 |
| Price | $29.99 PC $49.99 Mac/iOS | $129.99 PC $99.-/year $299.- Home $399.- Pro |
| Output | Multichannel | Print/PDF |
| Purpose | Writing | Writing, Layout |
| Sold | 2 Million × | 2 Billion × |
| Users | 500,000 | 70 Million |
| Format | .txt | .docx |
What Does Word Do?
When you open Microsoft Word, you’re invited to choose a template. This is symptomatic. Word offers layout and writing in one package. It constantly makes you think about the design, which makes it slow and unfocused to use. If you pick “Blank Template,” Word takes nine seconds from opening to writing your first sentence. Now, compare that to iA Writer:
In Microsoft Word you type inside the final layout of a letter, PDF, or book. The upside is that you see your text in its final shape. What you see is what you get. The downside is that there is no final shape in web publishing. And if you’re producing a PDF, the reading layout is not necessarily a great layout for writing text. Writing and reading require different mindsets.
| Reading | Writing | |
|---|---|---|
| Tempo | Fast | Slow |
| Process | Linear | Iterative |
| Design | Fixed | Liquid |
Reading is fast. Writing is slow. Reading is a linear process. Writing needs flexibility to move words and blocks of text around. Reading happens in a designed, defined frameset. Writing must create text that’s independent of different layouts. Shouldn’t writing and reading environments follow different design principles too?
| iA Writer | MS Word | |
|---|---|---|
| Layout | Screen layout | Print Design |
| Look+feel | Digital | Paper |
| Character | Focus Mode | Panels |
| Text size | Dynamic | Print size |
| Structure | Via Keyboard | Point+click |
| Input | Mostly keys | Mouse, keys |
| Output | .txt | .docx |
| HTML/CSS/PDF | .docx/PDF | |
| Multichannel | Printing |
Today, writing is rarely done by one person or in one program alone. Documents are widely shared before publishing. Many apps now read Word’s .docx, a proprietary format which requires an app that reads and writes .docx files. Docx is a widely shared standard—but by using a proprietary format you risk losing formatting, conflicts between different platforms or document versions, and losing data. Things go wrong because the .docx format is complex. Here’s how a .txt file looks compared to a .docx file:
In 2018, writing and publishing requires a sharable basic format. Ideally, form and content are separated, as it is in HTML and CSS, because each platform has different formatting conditions.
| Plain Text | .DocX | |
|---|---|---|
| Weight | Minimal | Heavy |
| Readability | 100% | Dependencies |
| Sharing | 100% | Dependencies |
iA Writer uses universally readable plain text and strictly separates between form and content. With iA Writer, you can share the draft and publish the final document in different formats.
Finding Focus
We’re most likely to procrastinate when we need to do something important. By putting it off, we don’t need to face others and ultimately ourselves. The only way to fight that fear is through focus: to get started— and get it done.
iA Writer’s Focus Mode hides everything except the sentence or the paragraph you are working on. It’s iA Writer’s signature feature. Microsoft’s “Focus Mode” puts a black frame around the paper sheet and hides its bells and whistles:
iA Writer‘s Syntax Highlight shows you stylistic errors, while Content Blocks allow you to work with tables and pictures, and connect documents without ever leaving plain text.
Auto-Markdown formats your text as you type. All you need to learn are a few characters, and you never need to push any buttons to structure your text. Compared to using both mouse and keyboard, Writer is fast. Most importantly, it keeps your mind on the text.
iA Writer Duospace is a special writing font that comes with all the benefits of a classic typewriter font but gets rid of the downsides.
Writing is most efficient when you do it carefully. Instead of hacking your text out and revising it without end, you should write as you speak: coherently, slowly, carefully.
Conclusion
Designing a writing app can go two ways: 1) Write in the published form, or 2) Optimize the writing experience. Microsoft Word was created when the final form was clear (paper). iA Writer was created to optimize the writing experience. And it shows:
“iA Writer is an example of how powerful simplicity and accessibility can be for creating commercially successful interfaces, applications or services.” –The Guardian
“Everything goes away, except the Writing Experience” –Stephen Fry
“Your program is the single most useful and remarkably clever—invisibly so—device for writing that I can name.” –Augusten Burroughs
Word lets you do anything you lile, which also means it needs an infinite number of features. That also makes slow, complex, and heavy. By contrast, iA Writer is focused on writing. It’s designed to be fast, simple, and light. Microsoft Word is hard to beat if you need an app that lets you design, program, comment, and format text. If all you want to do is write, you should give iA Writer a try.
