Write Without Distraction Using Sleek and Simple Text Editors

One popular theory of writing productivity is that all the bells and whistles in word processors actually make us less productive. I can attest to spending pointless time formatting a story when I should have been editing or free-writing. Some people also find that writing on a dark background is easier on their eyes, leading to less fatigue and longer writing sessions.

The following applications, of which many are free and online, all let you write at fullscreen and on a dark background. The potential boost in productivity is worth an afternoon's experiment to see if they help you write with less distraction.

Q10

Windows only. Free. Small enough to fit on a USB drive, Q10 offers auto-save, timed writing sessions, a customizable color scheme and layout, along with several other neat features (so many that it might have defeated my need for less distractions).

WriteRoom

For Mac's OSX only, and $24.95. Among the features listed are auto-save, disappearing/cursor activated toolbars, and being able to "retro" fit your cursor to an 80's style block instead of a bar. The background and text colors can also be changed. I'm a broke Windows user, so I can't critique the pros and cons. Except that it costs $24.95.

DarkRoom

Free, created as a Windows clone of WriteRoom.

DarkCopy

Free, web based. Another clone of write room, but web based only. It may be the most minimal of the low distraction text editors. Your only options are "save as file" and to toggle to fullscreen or back. DarkCopy saves to a .txt file on your desktop. It only comes in one flavor, and that's green text on black.

Writer

Free, web based. Writer offers online storage, a word counter, and the ability to change your text and screen color, line spacing, and font.

JDarkRoom

Free. Windows/Mac/Linux. Inspired by DarkRoom. One big difference is it uses Java while DarkRoom requires Microsoft's .NET framework.

Pyroom

Free. Another WriteRoom clone, this time written in Python.

Adobe Buzzword

Free, web based. Adobe is billing it as "The First Real Word Processor for the Web". Athough not retro-styled, Buzzword is included because it is sleek, beautiful, and with some simple tweaks a low distraction word processor. Definitely worth a look if you prefer to write online.