

Writer for iPad: First Reactions - slig
http://www.informationarchitects.jp/en/writer-for-ipad-first-reactions/

======
jckarter
I don't know about how that font looks on the iPad, but my first reaction
looking at it on my laptop was that it looks extremely awkward with those
thick character-wide serifs. I know this is a bikesheddy thing to bitch about,
but I'd personally be less distracted if Writer stuck with a familiar
monospace font like Vera, Monaco, or Consolas...or if, as drcode mentioned, it
used a proportional font.

------
nsfmc
Am i the only one that finds it ironic that they basically recreated a
typewriter?

~~~
oloolo
It's not ironic, it's conscious. The typewriter was the blue print for the
app. It was supposed to be called writing machine (from German Schreibmaschine
= typewriter).

~~~
nsfmc
ok, so that's super informative. In my life, i've had a few trysts with
writing and ended up buying an Olivetti when i was in college. that's been a
good investment and it has also had the effect (which i find positive) of
slowing down the speed that i type at and making me more thoughtful about how
i write (i have a two color, non-correcting ribbon). My love for that flawed
device is probably similar to model m keyboard affection.

Writer seems, conceptually, like using an old ibm word processor (remember
those with the one/four line text display that would then typewrite that onto
the page?) It seems like a sophisticated version of that. maybe with the new
printing in ios 4.2, you could make a usb-teletype that would print out the
document you had just written. (aside: i would love a usb-teletype printer)

still, props to y'all for making that leap. i don't have an ipad, otherwise
i'd probably have some other comments.

------
msbarnett
So far I like it, but I definitely miss Elements-style autosyncing. Switching
to my main computer and then having to switch back in order to manually sync
my work is sub-optimal.

~~~
jaaron
I've become very partial to PlainText myself.

------
drcode
I love monospace fonts when I'm coding... but writing regular English text in
monospace sound excruciatingly tedious.

~~~
oloolo
What's the difference between coding and writing a careful solid consistent
text?

~~~
kujawa
Reading monospace text sucks.

It's only good for coding for alignment issues. But reading monospace
characters for long blocks of text is hard on the eyes. (Not to mention that
proportional spacing is more efficient -- you can get more text on a line with
roughly the same letter forms.)

~~~
oloolo
It's not about reading, it's about writing. Many measures in writer came from
studying coding programs.

~~~
kujawa
I dunno about you, but I barely type when I'm coding. I'd guess about 90% of
my day is reading and thinking.

------
NathanKP
I really like the concept and the unique focus features. However, I don't have
an iPad (yet) so I hope they come out with a web app or desktop application
version.

~~~
oloolo
Yes, we will. Hopefully before Christmas. BTW: We're looking for Cocoa
developers... <http://www.informationarchitects.jp/en/work-ia/>

