You would think the act of writing on the iPad was as straightforward a process as can be. A simple list of documents, a simple sync mode, and a simple text editing window. But there’s a reason why we don’t use the default notes app (apart from the crappy sync workflow). Because there’s simple good, and then there’s simple better.
I’m sure most of you have settled on your favourite notes app. There’s Simplenote, with its fantastic cloud sync, in-app revisions, note sharing, everything. Then we have PlainText, which is a more barebones text editor, syncs via Dropbox, my personal favourite. And iA Writer, which is geared less towards managing notes, and more toward punching out words to make lengthy articles. You could use a combination of these, and still have all your notes when you need them.
Fact is, we’re never going to have the best writing app, because there’s always something better coming along, that will offer some more features you can’t live without. Writings, by Italian developers Ludovico Rossi and Vito Modena, probably won’t replace PlainText or Simplenote — it’s more of a writing app than a notes app — but it features the best writing mode I’ve come across.
And that conclusion is largely based on the way it can move the cursor around. I find that if I’ve entered the wrong word while typing on the iPad, and sort of overshoot by entering a few more, it’s far easier just to delete the newly entered words than to move the cursor back and forth. Yes, the text selection implementation is superb on the iPad, but it can be quite frustrating while placing a cursor in between words and such. Writings adds a new layer, where you can tap on the left or right margin, to move the cursor back and forth. You can tap and hold the margin to rapidly move it between characters. This little UI improvement is so radical, it changes everything. iA Writer can move the cursor that way, but you have to hit a button on the special characters panel above the keyboard.
Besides that, Writings is a very good writing app. When you start typing, the entire UI disappears, leaving you with just a textured page with text on it — very organic, without overdoing it with torn edges and whatnot. When you start interacting with your text, the word count fades in (which also updates according to a selection). Even the title of the document stays out of vision, and you have to tap at the top to bring it into view.
Writings also has some customisation options. First, it can show you either a textured page background, or switch to your customised background/text-colour combo at the tap of a button. You can also change things like font sizes and adjust the margins, but you don’t have to, because the defaults are just right.
The only thing I didn’t like about the app, was how it presents documents. It’s got this cartoony wooden UI, where each document takes up a whole screen. That probably emphasises that this an app for longer articles, but it’s kind of a slow UI. That said, it’s a way prettier UI than iA Writer’s plain jane pop-over drop down list of articles — I guess it just comes down to personal taste.
Writings of course syncs with Dropbox, though yet again, it reserves its own folder, which means you’re going to have to use some folder sync workflow (rsync in Terminal) on the desktop if these documents are going to be accessible in other Dropbox based writing apps. Recommended, if you like what you see, though not necessary if you’re happy with what you have. Available in the App Store on December 17th. Meanwhile you can check out the demo video on the Writings site.
