WriteRoom
Every time I use Microsoft Word, I feel like I’ve just strapped a 60 lb. rucksack on my back. Sure, at some point I may need the Sterno stove, pots, pans, and dehydrated meals that are stuffed into the pack. But most of the time I just need a windbreaker and some trail mix. I don’t want to deal with implements I may never use; they just get in the way.
Word is the de facto standard for legal documents. You turn in briefs, papers, and other written assignments in Word because the .doc format has squeezed out all others (though some old school lawyers and judges still use WordPerfect). However, just because you have to turn the final product in as a Word document doesn’t mean you have to use Word every step of the way.
For example, when you’re just trying to get your thoughts out of your brain and into your computer, thinking about formatting is an unwanted distraction. You want software that opens up a blank screen and lets you type without “helpful” reformatting, without spellchecks, and without endless buttons and menus.
Enter WriteRoom from Hog Bay Software. This marvelous free tool does the trick. It starts up in a flash. It can be used in normal window mode (see screenshot below) or it can take over your entire screen, so you have no distractions; there’s nothing between you and the text.
When you’re done getting your thoughts into WriteRoom, you can save the document as a .txt file, which is readable by any word processing software. You can then open the file in TextEdit, Pages, or Word to add citations, check spelling, set leading (line spacing), check wordcount, and so on.
I’ve used WriteRoom on a brief, a research paper, and even drafts of important emails. I find that because its interface is so clean and there literally is nothing I can do to format the text, I am forced to concentrate absolutely on the words I am writing.
It may seem perverse to create a word processor that is essentially a glorified typewriter. But before you dismiss WriteRoom as a waste of time, consider how much time you’ve already spent grappling with Word’s overbearing interface. Give WriteRoom a try. You’ve got nothing to loose but frustration.