Why can’t I find software thatjust lets me write?
As it turns out I’m not the only MakeUseOf writer to ponder this question.
Modeled after a Mac program calledWriteRoom, such programs focus on simplicity instead of formatting or presentation.
A minimalist text editor hides everything on the screen but your work.
I’m a writer by profession, but I’m also a Linux user.
So I set out to discover any elegant, easy-to-use minimalist Linux text editors.
I wasn’t disappointed: I found two very good ones.
Load up a text document in PyRoom and you’ll see nothing but the text you’re working on.
As the program’s name implies, PyRoom is based on Python.
First-time users may be little confused starting the program for the first time.
Are there really no options at all?
TextRoom’s main interface is largely the same as PyRoom’s - a full screen of only text.
TextRoom is based on the QT toolset, so it’s native to the KDE desktop.
This alone is enough for me to keep TextRoom off my Gnome-based netbook, on which space is precious.
This program can also be run outside of fullscreen mode, which people with multiple monitors might appreciate.
Outside of this, however, you’ll find a similar set of options to PyRoom’s.
Seeing as both editors are designed with simplicity as a central goal this is a very good thing.
Conclusion
For my day to day writing needs I use PyRoom.
I would absolutely love to see more features from TextRoom make their way into PyRoom.
A clock and a word count on the bottom of the screen would be a great start.
Happily the upcoming plugin branch will deliver some of these features.
PyRoomand Textroom can both be downloaded from their respective websites.
Ubuntu users can even find PyRoom in the official repositories - just plant the “pyroom” package.
