“My favorite iOS app for writing in Markdown, without question, is iA Writer. iA Writer is just beautiful. To me it’s the gold standard for Markdown syntax styling — great colors, real italic and bold styling for _italic_ and **bold** spans, and, my very favorite touch, outdented #’s for headings. iA Writer is even so presumptuous as to only use its own custom typefaces: Mono, Duo, and Quattro. But they pull it off — all three of iA Writer’s typefaces are very good (I’m a Duo man myself). The best way I can put it is that iA Writer is a classy app. BBEdit and MarsEdit are like pint glasses or coffee mugs. Occasionally, though, the mood calls for an elegant champagne flute. That’s iA Writer for me.” –John Gruber, Creator of Markdown
“Like many professional writers, I reluctantly used Microsoft Word, and Apple’s Pages worked slightly better for me, but I still felt that it had too many distractions. When I write, I want to be able to concentrate on ideas, words, phrases and storylines. The last thing I need is software nagging me with features irrelevant to the writing process. Since I discovered iA Writer, I’ve used it as my main writing tool. It has the simplicity of a typewriter, which is why I love it. It’s just letters, sentences and paragraphs that form angles, headlines, narratives, articles and scripts. There’s no noise, no interference and no clutter. There’s also no hiding from what you really need to do, which is to wrestle with words and craft a compelling read.” –Dimitri Michels, Senior Copywriter, Amsterdam.
“I’m not a professional writer, but I write for recreation and the cleanness of the iA writer platform really helps me get into a mood where writing is relaxing. I used to write in MS Word, Pages and Google Docs. But writing felt very structured and less driven by creativity. After finding iA Writer, writing has become more of a flow. I find I’m not concerned at all by end formatting or choosing a font. And I’m not distracted by menu bars, which is a plus when working on a smaller screen like an iPad Pro.” –Kenneth Saw, Project Manager, Australia.
“My creative writing work was a disorganized mess of files before iA Writer. Finding iA Writer brought clarity, organization, and regular, focused writing. I have written the best poetry of my life in iA Writer.” –Dan Knauss, Web Designer, Writer, Canada.
“As a volunteer, I teach a course in programming and general nerdiness to a group of children on the autistic spectrum. It turned out that it wasn’t all that easy to find the right course material and I ended up writing it myself and turning it into something of a proper book. Seeing the children actually use my material and improve themselves, having fun with it, changed something in me, but I think also in those children. Some of them really found their future in what we were teaching them. I doubt that I would’ve undertaken writing that course material if I wasn’t confident that my editor wouldn’t be in my way.” –David van Gemeren, Creative Director, Netherlands.
“Before I started using iA Writer I was, to put it bluntly, all over the place and too easily distracted. Writer changed all that for me. I immediately fell in love with the beautiful streamlined look and feel of the app. No distractions, a beautiful uncluttered look and an elegant typeface. This all meant that the writing flowed more easily. The year after iA Writer was launched, I used it to write a story which was performed on the radio, and at a literary festival, winning a major radio award here in Ireland. That story pretty much was the real start of my writing life. Since then I have had many short stories, poems and non-fiction articles published and broadcast on national and local radio.” -Patrick Griffin, Writer, Ireland
“Before iA Writer, I didn’t really write much. But at some point I was looking for a simple Markdown editor. Three years later, I find myself using this editor to think. I write my process, then grind over it to find flaws until I make things clear. The documents I deliver to my team benefit from this too. But the outcome I had never expected was something else. I just began writing fiction. I can not recall why or when, I had not put two words together for pure leisure probably since I was twelve, but suddenly, I felt compelled, there was something inside me trying to get out, and now a monster of hundreds of thousands of words is taking all my free time, and I am happier than ever. I started writing a thriller, spies in the middle of a made-up war in the nineties. But this year real life struck me hard and I switched to romance, looking for something cheerier. Also with spies, of course. One can never get enough spies in a story. I will never know whether iA Writer had anything to do with this or not, but I feel confident it did because I had not felt so comfortable using a piece of software before. It doesn’t get in my way, it is calm but inviting, inspiring in its raw elegance. It just feels right. I dare to say iA Writer helped me see how much I can love writing.” -Inmaculada Bermejo Salar, UX Designer, Writer, Spain
“I’m dyslexic, and I found other writing tools such as Pages and Microsoft Word very difficult to use. I also work as a digital designer, so I spent a lot of time instead of writing trying to make the page look pretty – this was probably a coping mechanic lol. I’ve been using iA Writer for about two years now, and personally, I find it much easier to write. Markdown forces me to focus on my writing, making the process a lot easier for me. I’m no longer worried about fonts, layouts, sizing, etc. I also love the syntax highlighting tool – it really helps me focus with my dyslexia; as sentences become colourful, each word becomes easier to distinguish. I feel a whole lot more confident writing nowadays now that I have iA writer. I have both the iOS and Mac versions. As both versions work together, I find myself confidently writing on my iPhone / iPad, knowing that I will pick it up once I’m back on my Mac – it’s great!” –Rizwaan Akhtar, Digital Designer, United Kingdom
“I write academic papers, translations, book chapters, and the like using iAW. Before switching, I wrote much less frequently and in lesser quantities than I do now. The beauty and clarity of the tool imparts a measure of beauty and clarity to my prose. The medium is the message, as Marshall McLuhan said. I think his insight proves true in my particular case insofar as iAW speeds up my thought, declutters my awareness, and draws my attention. The tool itself reminds me of my favorite book on writing: Strunk and White’s _Elements of Style_, particularly Strunk’s rule Omit needless words. By omitting all that is not needed in a writing tool, the tool itself becomes as concise and elegant as the prose that it is meant to capture. Now, even in the midst of academic administrative duties, I find it possible to write at least two serious original conference papers a year, and this year I have already managed to double that productivity. iA Writer is easily one of my most important and beloved tools.” –Andrew Hayes, Division Dean, Associate Professor, Texas
“Before I found iA Writer I used to write much less and the tools I used to write on my computer were confusing and frustrating. These days, I use iA Writer for absolutely everything: from drafting a short email, making to-do lists, to outlining a major article or book chapter. I can’t begin to describe the pleasure I get from an evening writing session, laptop sitting on my uncluttered desk, iA Writer on full-screen + dark appearance + focus sentence mode. The blue cursor blinking at the centre of my screen triggers a deep desire to put words down, follow a train of thought, elaborate on an idea… I have been trying to significantly cut down on my screen-time, but I can’t imagine my life without iA Writer; it is an integral part of my workflow as a writer (I’m a professor, so I have to write papers and prepare lectures constantly). iA Writer is the perfect tool to draft a text. It is a pleasure to use, like a perfectly sharp knife. I wrote my entire PhD thesis on iA Writer. It felt like discovering a magical sword on the third-act of a hero’s journey. Thank you for all your work through the years. iA Writer has changed my relationship with writing; I feel the same connection to this software that old-time writers used to feel with their typewriters.” –João Ferreira, Assistant Professor (Design), Portugal
“Discovering iA Writer and Markdown changed my life! It was so clear and simple yet super efficient. I often have problems concentrating for a long period of time and get massive headaches. I found myself writing faster using iA because I’m not bothered by formatting or exporting. I just have to write my stuff and I know it will be fine. I love the minimalist style which is kind with my eyes and focus mode, like a typewriter, reminds me of when I was playing with my grandfather’s. This year I left a job I didn’t like to become a full time freelance writer and you played a great role in this. You help me to stay focused and efficient without distraction. It’s precious nowadays. Because of this, I have more time to spend with my family. My sister lives in Switzerland and my writing best friend in Japan. It makes me smile to see iA is like us.” –Cécile Biaudet, Writer, SEO, France
“Astonishingly simple. Everything goes away except for the writing experience.” – Stephen Fry describing his iA Writer experience in 2010 when asked about his favorite apps on the iPad
“如果想找一款界面更简洁的写作应用 […]，不妨试试 iA Writer，屏幕上几乎没有按钮、控件之类的杂物。从界面到字体，它都借鉴了传统打字机。最巧妙的功能是‘专注模式’：除了正在写的那一行或那一段，文档中的其余文字都会淡化显示。就像使用打字机时，目光会自然停留在纸上刚打出的字上。iA Writer 还有一项巧妙的功能：用不同颜色标出形容词、名词、动词等，帮助你避免过度修饰。预览模式简洁清楚，可以看到文档按传统书籍格式印出来的样子。应用也具备查找和替换等常见文字处理功能，还能把文本导出为 Microsoft Word 等文字处理软件兼容的格式。” –如今，在地铁上也能写出伟大的美国小说
“无论是学生、职业写作者，还是有志成为作家的人，面对空白的一页，都会感到无比自由，也可能无比忐忑。iA Writer Pro 把这种体验搬到屏幕上，隐藏其他应用和菜单栏，让用户免受干扰。它能做的还不止这些：词性标注功能会用颜色标出形容词、名词、动词、副词等，帮助你把文章写得更清楚。删去多余的修饰语，文字就更紧凑；用好动词，句子就更有力。” –新 Mac 值得安装的 10 款最佳应用
“iA Writer 是过去几年里最成功的 iPad 文字处理应用之一。它是一款简单的工具，去掉了复杂软件中那些选项、字体选择、干扰和校正功能。它把一件事做得很简单，因此赢得了许多用户的喜爱。开发者 Oliver Reichenstein 把它比作瑞士军刀世界里的一把手术刀。iA Writer 证明，简洁易用的设计能为界面、应用或服务带来商业成功。即使你刚入行，面对的是软件业的巨头，这一点也一样成立。” –极简设计总能胜出
“Writer 不是 Pages 那样的桌面排版应用。如果说文本编辑器的作用是方便你修改、重排已经写好的文字，那么它甚至算不上文本编辑器。开启‘专注模式’后，连拼写检查和剪切粘贴都没有。它只让你写——在这一刻，写下这个短语、这个句子、这个词。正如开发者所说：‘我们的想法是，在你写不下去时开启它，把其余的一切都挡在视线之外。’可自定义的地方不多，但这恰恰是用意所在。别再折腾页边距和字体了。我们已经替你选好，也已经针对你的屏幕做好了优化。” –Writer for iPad：专注、美观、简约
“……一个简洁、没有干扰的环境……一款为 Markdown 爱好者打造的纯文本编辑器。” –让写作更有说服力的工具
“iA Writer 最主要的功能，就是没有太多功能。这个程序基本上就是一个白色长方形，用户用一套专门设计的等宽字体打字，除此之外几乎做不了什么。没有页眉、页脚、绘图工具，也没有喋喋不休的回形针助手。极简的界面使用 Markdown 这种简单的格式标记语言，通过特殊字符设置粗体、斜体或其他格式。这样一来，写作者的双手可以留在键盘上，心思可以留在文字里。” –“无干扰”设备能否改变我们的写作方式？
