Old-Style Writing on Your Brand-New Mac

When it comes to text processing, the options available on the market are endless and many of the offered products are designed to meet the needs of a creative writer. The goal, in most cases, is to eliminate the technical issues from the “production” process, in order to give the user the tools to easily organize their work and deliver a coherent product by providing innovative features, like the possibility to create a graphic for the action timeline, or the possibility to keep the character descriptions in a separate folder, where they can be accessed at all times.

Although each and every one of these applications is amazing, you will have to spend time learning how to use them and it will take a while to actually get comfortable enough with each function to use it automatically, so it won’t disturb your thought flow. By the time you will be able to do that, you will have been for countless times on the verge of looking for your dusted typewriter, so you will be just for once alone with your thoughts and a piece of paper.

Fortunately, there is a better way to stay focused. OmmWriter is the text processor that takes all your technical problems, mail or chat notifications, deadline post-its or your favorite social-networking website and shoves them under its elegant interface, allowing you to freely follow your “wild monkey mind, incessantly swinging from branch to branch.”

The Looks

The entire OmmWriter concept is very simple: what you don’t know cannot bother your. That is why, on launch, you will be facing a clean window that has a calm background and is ready to receive the expression of your inner thoughts. The application menu will appear on the right side of the window, but only when you drag your mouse over the respective area. Which means that you are finally able to write on your computer just like you would do on a real piece of paper. And the best thing is that OmmWriter also includes typewriter sounds, so you will actually be able to experience the look and feel of the real deal.

The Works

OmmWriter’s goal is not to replace your current text editor, but to bring a little peace and tranquility to your hectic work habits. As the name suggests (“Om” is a sacred syllable for Buddhism and Hinduism), OmmWriter is trying to help you reach inner peace by surrounding you with a harmonious environment and is using visual and audio effects to do it.

Even though OmmWriter provides customization options, all the sounds and background designs follow almost the same line. The features are organized in six categories that can be accessed through the button-shaped menu displayed on the right: text style, text size, background image, ambient, keyboard sound and saving.

Each time you move your mouse over a certain category, you will see the available choices. The first button allows you to change the font style, offering three possibilities: normal, one that is a bit bigger and cursive. The same rule applies for the font size: normal, +1 and +2. The next step is to choose the background that suites your needs: solitaire trees, paper texture or bright white. When it comes to the ambient and keyboard sounds, you should explore a little to find your favorite combination: each function has seven modes or you can choose to disable them.

The last menu allows you to save your work in OmmWriter format or in txt mode, or open another document. OmmWriter is still in beta stage, hence there are some things that have escaped the developers. The biggest problem encountered so far is the inaccurate conversion of documents created in OmmWriter 1.0 Beta 1 when opened with OmmWriter 1.0 Beta 2, although the developers have provided a workaround immediately. Still, considering the beta stage, you should make sure you back up your data. In case you forget saving periodically, OmmWriter is automatically saving your work every three minutes. You can find the autosaved document in “Library/OmmWriter/OmmWriterBackup.omm.”

By default, the writing area is situated in the middle of the screen, but you can resize it and you will also be able to see the word counter on the bottom of the window. OmmWriter does not provide a spelling checker, but you have the possibility to enable the one that comes built in the system by right-clicking in the text box and enabling the spelling checker for the current system language.

The Good

OmmWriter is perfect if you have problems concentrating, but also if you need to create an alternative space where you can relax and really get in touch with your creative spirit.

The Bad

Even though the application's goal is to bring peace of mind and help you concentrate, tranquility has many shades and one might feel constrained by the limited customization options. Still, I believe the problem could be easily resolved by adding a “load your own” background/ambient/keyboard sound feature.