6 ms·

Onword - a simple, distraction-free writing web app

19 points by _dte 14y ago

spleeder 14y ago
The app is beautifully simple. Good job.
pestaa 14y ago
I'm a bit hesitant to click through. What will I get when I sign up? Will it cost me anything now or later? Can I bring my own domain? Is there anything I can bring my domain to? And first of all, why is it any better than my favorite text editor that has no need to connect to the internet, no browsers, no URLs and no accounts to connect. Sounds like a good niche product, though.
spindritf 14y ago
Very neat, I like the general feel, including simplicity and colours, the minimal permissions from twitter and the list of documents, though I don't know why saving changes quits to the list. It also forces a pretty narrow column for text (~20 characters). It's hard to get that feeling of immersion with a webapp though. You can fullscreen, I know, but browsers tend to be easily excitable. Locally, I'm using pyRoom[1] which just covers everything and with a little configuration can show nothing except for the text you're writing. [1] http://pyroom.org/features.html http://pyroom.org/features.html
Julianhearn 14y ago
Nicely done, but how is this better than using google docs?
caiob 14y ago
The save button could be hidden for less distraction (Use SUPER + S to save) and logo + logout link on hover only.
abozi 14y ago
I like it. It's simple and I guess it does what it says it does. However, it's no different to other "minimal writers". Plus, personally, I don't "just write". By that, I need formatting, I need bullet points. I need bold, italics, underlines if I want to emphasize, stress and make my point. It's great to just write things down and I guess this wouldn't be for heavily formatted documents, but I feel that it's just too minimal for my use.
teopeurt 14y ago
Is it by design that all notes are public?http://onword.co/100 http://onword.co/100 Love the Interface.
pruett 14y ago
looks fantastic no doubt. i am hesitant to click the twitter auth button, however. maybe some sort of app preview would cure my (and possible some others') paranoia? looks great, well done!
Swizec 14y ago
This looks really cool! I've used a lot of distraction-free writing tools in the past. First it was DarkRoom, then I tried that thingy that was/is a YC startup ... forget the name, but it had the feature of recording your editing so you could view it later. Lately I'm using iA Writer to write my book and it's the best I've used so far. The idea behind iA Writer and Onword looks pretty much the same - take away my freedoms and force me to focus on the writing. But I think iA Writer is better at it. Because it's native, it can take over my whole screen, very important because it then feels like I'm writing paper where the "screen" also doesn't have any other features. I also prefer iA's colour scheme ... but this is just a preference. I will give Onword a try, but for any serious writing I would need files on a hard drive.
- lemiffe 14y ago
  Please notice posts are PUBLIC by design, but it is not specified anywhere. You can navigate to any post by using a (sequential) ID in the URL. Just in case you have not noticed.
CHEWX 14y ago
@teopeurt "Thanks everyone. Just a heads up - currently, all posts are public to anyone. Bear that in mind. Private posts are coming." From Twitter.
joshuahornby 14y ago
Nice app. But i dont understand the point.
lemiffe 14y ago
Come on! Public posts with no warning? I mean, I seriously thought I could start migrating all my short stories. I actually migrated 4 of them. Then I noticed the URLs being generated. Then I messed with the IDs and found out I can see anyone's posts! Developers: Consider. Please.
pan69 14y ago
Like try it but I don't use Twitter.
kiwidrew 14y ago
I don't have a Twitter account. Is it too hard to add at least one other signup method for folks like myself?
dirkk0 14y ago
very nice. I would've wished for an even more pulled back interface. I tried to do prototype something similar some time ago, but never finished it: http://jsfiddle.net/dirkk0/MySJf/show/ http://jsfiddle.net/dirkk0/MySJf/show/
thesmok 14y ago
This app very lacks autosaving.

19 points by _dte 14y ago

The app is beautifully simple. Good job.

I'm a bit hesitant to click through. What will I get when I sign up? Will it cost me anything now or later? Can I bring my own domain? Is there anything I can bring my domain to? And first of all, why is it any better than my favorite text editor that has no need to connect to the internet, no browsers, no URLs and no accounts to connect. Sounds like a good niche product, though.

spindritf 14y ago

Very neat, I like the general feel, including simplicity and colours, the minimal permissions from twitter and the list of documents, though I don't know why saving changes quits to the list. It also forces a pretty narrow column for text (~20 characters). It's hard to get that feeling of immersion with a webapp though. You can fullscreen, I know, but browsers tend to be easily excitable. Locally, I'm using pyRoom[1] which just covers everything and with a little configuration can show nothing except for the text you're writing. [1] http://pyroom.org/features.html http://pyroom.org/features.html

Julianhearn 14y ago

Nicely done, but how is this better than using google docs?

caiob 14y ago

The save button could be hidden for less distraction (Use SUPER + S to save) and logo + logout link on hover only.

abozi 14y ago

I like it. It's simple and I guess it does what it says it does. However, it's no different to other "minimal writers". Plus, personally, I don't "just write". By that, I need formatting, I need bullet points. I need bold, italics, underlines if I want to emphasize, stress and make my point. It's great to just write things down and I guess this wouldn't be for heavily formatted documents, but I feel that it's just too minimal for my use.

teopeurt 14y ago

Is it by design that all notes are public?http://onword.co/100 http://onword.co/100 Love the Interface.

pruett 14y ago

looks fantastic no doubt. i am hesitant to click the twitter auth button, however. maybe some sort of app preview would cure my (and possible some others') paranoia? looks great, well done!

Swizec 14y ago

This looks really cool! I've used a lot of distraction-free writing tools in the past. First it was DarkRoom, then I tried that thingy that was/is a YC startup ... forget the name, but it had the feature of recording your editing so you could view it later. Lately I'm using iA Writer to write my book and it's the best I've used so far. The idea behind iA Writer and Onword looks pretty much the same - take away my freedoms and force me to focus on the writing. But I think iA Writer is better at it. Because it's native, it can take over my whole screen, very important because it then feels like I'm writing paper where the "screen" also doesn't have any other features. I also prefer iA's colour scheme ... but this is just a preference. I will give Onword a try, but for any serious writing I would need files on a hard drive.

lemiffe 14y ago
Please notice posts are PUBLIC by design, but it is not specified anywhere. You can navigate to any post by using a (sequential) ID in the URL. Just in case you have not noticed.

CHEWX 14y ago

@teopeurt "Thanks everyone. Just a heads up - currently, all posts are public to anyone. Bear that in mind. Private posts are coming." From Twitter.

joshuahornby 14y ago

Nice app. But i dont understand the point.

lemiffe 14y ago

Come on! Public posts with no warning? I mean, I seriously thought I could start migrating all my short stories. I actually migrated 4 of them. Then I noticed the URLs being generated. Then I messed with the IDs and found out I can see anyone's posts! Developers: Consider. Please.

pan69 14y ago

Like try it but I don't use Twitter.

kiwidrew 14y ago

I don't have a Twitter account. Is it too hard to add at least one other signup method for folks like myself?

dirkk0 14y ago

very nice. I would've wished for an even more pulled back interface. I tried to do prototype something similar some time ago, but never finished it: http://jsfiddle.net/dirkk0/MySJf/show/ http://jsfiddle.net/dirkk0/MySJf/show/

thesmok 14y ago

This app very lacks autosaving.