MacFormat UK – September 2019

SEPTEMBER 2019 | MACFORMAT | 89

for multiple platforms: you don’t need to use

one app for blogging, another for creating Word

documents and yet another for

making ePub files or PDFs.

The five apps we’ve tested

here all enable you to export in

multiple formats, but they differ

in almost every other respect.

For example Bear is fun, friendly and instantly

accessible, while Scrivener’s many powers take

a bit of time to learn. iA Writer and Byword get

out of your way so you can focus on your words,

while Ulysses enables you to tweak all kinds of

things to get your environment just-so. They’re

very different from one another, but they all

have one thing in common: they can make life

easier for all kinds of writers.

... or lower?

Grammarly

Free

grammarly.com

Grammarly doesn’t do

that much, but what it

does is useful: it analyses

your writing and

suggests changes that

should make it better.

illustrate and lay out, but if you’re producing

finished documents formatting matters.

4

Do you need to store research?

Each of our chosen apps enables you to

include images in your documents, but what

about providing a home for things you don’t

put in the final document – your notes, your

transcripts, your source documents or drafts?

It’s important to have this information

accessible for easy reference.

5

Does it work with other OSes?

All the apps here have iOS companion

apps, but you may want to view, add to or

edit when you’re on an Android device or a

Windows PC. That’s obviously much easier

to do if your app supports cross-platform

services such as Dropbox.

Writing apps APPLE CHOICE

W

riters can be a picky bunch. Some

have special pens; others demand

a particular kind of notebook or a

certain writing location. And on Macs,

writers definitely have their favourite apps.

Like pens and places, those favourites differ

from person to person. Some prize the beauty

of the writing environment; others, the speed

of the search engine. Some want to use the

same app for scripts, scribbles and shopping

lists; others want an app that focuses purely

on paid-for projects.

There is one thing many can agree on,

though, and that’s Markdown. Markdown was

created by John Gruber, aka Daring Fireball,

and it’s designed to make it really easy to create

structured text without sacrificing readability.

That structure makes it easy to output the same

document in multiple formats, something that

writing app developers were quick to notice: if

you create a document using Markdown you

can then output it to pretty much any format

you like. That’s really handy for those who write

Some writers prize the beauty of the

writing environment; others, the

speed of the search engine

Things to consider...

Everything you need to know before getting started

1

Do you need to blog?

Many apps offer integrated publishing

to major blog and content management

platforms, so it’s wise to look for one that

supports your chosen platform if you blog

a lot. Otherwise you’ll end up having to do

a lot of laborious copying and pasting.

(^2)
How do you backup?
If you’re writing for a living, you need to
be sure that your work is safe and won’t get
lost. Some apps, such as Ulysses, store your
documents in their own library; others store
documents as easily backed-up text files.
(^3)
What can you export?
How much control do you have over the
finished product’s format and formatting? This
isn’t an issue if you’re writing for others to
How we
tested
We tested each of our
apps with a range of
destinations and
documents including
blog posts, plain text
and formatted work
in various formats.
We focused not just
on ease of use but
on whether we could
complete the entire
job without turning to
another app. We also
used tagging, keywords
and search to test the
apps’ document
organisation and
retrieval.
Higher...
Notion
$8 (about £6.40)/month
notion.so
Notion offers writing,
editing and sharing for
teams. Its cloud-based
app aims to replace
Google Docs, Evernote,
Trello and more.
Image credits (top to bottom): iA, Notion Labs, Grammarly
iA Writer doesn’t just highlight code and formatting. It can
highlight grammar to help make you a better writer too.