Squarespace's New Apps→

When I launched techese, I had been yearning to get away from the likes of WordPress. I had settled on Squarespace back then and have been with it ever since. I still wholeheartedly recommend Squarespace to folks who ask me what they should use to create a site.

One thing I have always had issue with was their iOS app. It wasn't all that good back on Squarespace 5, and since Squarespace 6, it has been a bag of hurt.

Thankfully, Squarespace has released two new apps to handle the crowded functions of the previous app.

Blog handles the writing and posting part while Metrics handles all your stats. Both apps are gorgeous and work really well. These were worth the wait. I'm really happy that Markdown is a first-class citizen in the Blog app.

I have two issues which will hopefully be taken care of in updates. The first is that the Blog app is missing the social sharing toggles of the web interface. If it had those, I could truly do everything I wanted with posting from iOS, which would rock.

The second issue is that Metrics doesn't have an iPad UI, so it scales up in the ugly 2x mode.

Beyond those two omissions, the apps work great, are fast, and chock full of the feature set you would expect. I hope Squarespace treats these apps as first class, iterating often, instead of letting them languish as the previous app did for so long.

Byword 2 | Review

I've been beta testing Byword 2 for OS X & iOS for a while, and I am really glad it's finally here. It has many little improvements I've been thirsting after for some time, and a great big feature I wish my host/CMS — Squarespace 6 — had an API to use with.

If you're not in-the-know already, Byword is a fantastic app focused on writing. It simply gets out of your way gives you a page to write on, with minimal fluff to deal with. The best part is that it is designed for web publishing as it is one of the best — no, wait, I'll just say the best — Markdown-centric apps I've used.

The grand marquee feature of Byword 2 is blog publishing. You can now publish your text directly to Wordpress, Tumblr, Blogger, Scriptogram, or Evernote. I've been dabbling a bit more into Evernote use, so maybe I will find a home for this feature via the big green elephant. I haven't used the publishing feature, to be completely honest, so I can say very little about it.

Byword 2 also sports improved conflict resolution, showing you each conflicting version in their entirety, so you can make an informed decision on which is the keeper. The update also includes better handing of new, edited, renamed, and deleted documents in Airplane Mode.

The remaining features are the removal of friction points that I have run into with previous versions. When viewing the Markdown preview, Byword 2 now keeps the scroll position intact. This is one of those things you subconsciously knew was annoying that is now fixed.

On iOS specifically, you can now move and duplicate documents. This is handy if you decide you'd rather have a document on Dropbox instead of iCloud, or vice-versa. Fonts on iOS are also much better. Rather than some obscure fonts you've never heard of, Byword 2 now uses Avenir Next (yay!), Helvetica Neue, Courier, and Georgia. I, for one, am in love with the Avenir font family, so I am really glad the developers added it (they were extremely gracious when I was being super-annoying about it during the beta).

If you regularly write for the web there are two things that will help make your life so much easier: learn Markdown, and use Byword.

Byword 2 is a free update for existing users and $10 (OS X)/$3(iOS) for new users. The publishing feature is an in-app purchase for $5 on each platform.

Avenir

A nice little gem in OS X Mountain Lion is its inclusion of a new font called Avenir. According to Wikipedia, Avenir is French for “future”.

I found out about it when I started using Day One (my review), since it uses Avenir by default if installed on Mountain Lion. To get a better taste for Avenir I have had Byword for Mac set to use Avenir for the past couple weeks, and I have found it to be a really enjoyable font.

Turns out Avenir will also be included within iOS 6, and will be front and center in the new Maps app. Day One for iOS will also use it by default on iOS 6, and I suggested to my friends at Byword to include it as an option for their iOS app.

In the past, I have always sought the timeless classic Helvetica Neue as my font of choice for writing. I think Avenir may actually be my new default. If you have OS X Mountain Lion, give it a whirl.

¶ Day One

On and off over the years I have tried my hand at journaling. It has never stuck. I have several reasons behind why it I have never done well with it.

1. I’ve never really set a clear purpose for journaling, hence motivation to do so wanes quickly.
2. I hate writing by hand, partly because my penmanship is terrible.
3. I never felt motivated to really try journaling via a text file or an app, directly related to reason 1.

Then I read Shawn Blanc’s review of Day One. I had seen Day One in the App Store before, but hadn’t given it much thought, because I never had a clear reason to journal.

Then Shawn wrote this:

As a writer, I believe journaling on a regular basis is critical. It’s writing that will never be judged. It’s writing that doesn’t require an editor. It’s the only place where I am completely free to write for my truly ideal reader: a future me. I have my own inside jokes, my own running story arc, my own shorthand. I love the freedom to write whatever I want, however I want, with no need to make it tidy or clear or concise. And I have no doubt that it makes me a better professional writer.

I realized I had always attempted journaling with the thought that my audience would be someone who would eventually read it. It had never crossed my mind that I could just write for myself and not worry about that writing being judged or analyzed. I could have fun with it.

So I’m giving Day One a shot. I bought the Mac & iOS apps, and after a couple weeks I’m happy to say I have stuck with it.

Being able to attach photos is a nice touch to tie words more vibrantly with memories. I love the automatic tagging of location and weather. Most of all, though, I like brig able to journal from anywhere. I can be at my Mac, or use my iPhone or iPad. iCloud keeps it all in sync.

Most of all, I think I am learning how to approach writing more casually and have more fun with it. Journaling is a new avenue for me, one I like taking a daily stroll down.

You can get Day One for Mac for $5 on the Mac App Store and Day One for iOS for $5 on iTunes.

"50 Things I’ve Learned About Publishing a Weblog"

Shawn Blanc on what he has learned from 5 years of writing:

…what I consider to be the most important advice I have for writing a successful weblog it would be consistency and honesty.

Shawn has a fantastic list of insights. Many of them are things I needed to hear.

¶ Byword for iOS | Review

If there is one genre of app that I have more than my fair share of, it’s text editors. Since launching techēse, I have been seeking the perfect writing environment that gives me the least resistance to getting words written. I started with OS X’s TextEdit, and eventually found myself doing my long form writing in TextMate after I began writing in Markdown.

TextMate worked for a time. It is very much a coding environment. And even though Markdown is a syntax that relates to code, it is very much a writer’s syntax versus a coder’s syntax. TextMate is great for coding. But it has never satiated the writer in me.

I started using Byword just about a year ago on my Mac, when it added Markdown syntax highlighting and declared its focus to be the best Markdown editor for writers — which it most definitely is. In fact, nearly every article here has been written in Byword.

Byword is great on the Mac. But often I want to write on my iPad, and even sometimes, though rarely, on my iPhone. I’ve used Dropbox to sync and either Elements or iA Writer, which are both fine writing apps. But I have long wished for Byword on my iOS devices.

Today, the wait is over. Byword for iOS is here.

I’ve been beta testing Byword for iOS since early December last year. It’s a universal app with iCloud and Dropbox support.

Byword for iOS also has a handy keyboard accessory which shows word and character counts (tap it to switch between the two or show both simultaneously). The accessory can also. Be swiped to show quick cursor arrows and common syntax used when writing in Markdown. There are two different parts of the accessory for Markdown, pictured below.

Byword Keyboard Accessory

Byword also allows you to preview Markdown, export as HTML, send as an email, and print. It also includes TextExpander support.

Byword for iOS doesn’t yet have the dark theme like the Mac version, but it is coming in a future update.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the update to the Mac version, which now has iCloud integration. iCloud on the Mac is still pretty clunky when it comes to setting up files to be synced. That’s definitely a limitation of OS X Lion, which should be alleviated this summer by OS X Mountain Lion’s revamp of the Open/Save dialog.

First, on the Mac, you have to save the file locally. Then, while the file is open in Byword, you click the File menu and then click Move to iCloud. Once the file is in iCloud, everything becomes pretty seamless. Setting up a file within iCloud on iOS is straightforward. Just click the + button from the file list and give it a name.

In fact, you can have the same iCloud file open on your Mac, iPhone, and iPad, then type on one device and watch it appear on the other two a moment later. It really feels like magic.

Byword for iOS is a fantastic, well-designed app that gets out of your way and let’s you write. It also has the best Markdown-optimized keyboard accessory I have seen on iOS yet, making it hands-down the best tool for a writer using Markdown.

If you are a serious writer, you need Byword.

Byword for iOS is being introduced at $2.99 $4.99 on the iOS App Store, and Byword for Mac is $9.99 on the Mac App Store.

P.S. This entire review was mainly written on the iPad, with a little bit on the iPhone and Mac, kept in sync the entire time with iCloud.

You Need a Reader

Randy Murray:

If you’re a writer, you need a reader.

That may seem dazzlingly obvious, but I’m not talking about the person who may eventually read what you’ve written. I’m talking about someone you have in mind before you begin writing.

I don’t care if you’re a “blogger”, a poet, a novelist, or someone who writes marketing copy. You need a reader. You need someone who is your model, someone who you are writing specifically for. Without this idea of who you’re writing for you might find that you’re writing just for yourself, or worse, for no one at all.

This is something I have heard a couple times in the past, and I have to admit I still don’t have a clear picture of a person or type of person I imagine reading these words I write. Further reflection on this today has me thinking the pursuit of writing for a reader is the first crucial step of refining a writer’s voice.

¶ The Serious Writer's Syntax

Just over a year ago, I decided to do a little experiment with the way I write. Not so much the style or voice of my writing — which is being continuously developed — but rather with the process.

Up until last September, I relied upon the WYSIWYG editor of whichever platform I was using. I had a fair understanding of HTML basics, but HTML is a bit messy to deal with when composing a written work. It can really derail a train of thought. Often, I would write out an article then go back and add links and such, but with a lengthy article, even that could be burdensome, trying to remember the exact phrases I wanted to have as a link.

Never mind the markup that WYSIWYG editors produce is fairly horrendous.

I switched to Markdown. Markdown is a simple markup language that converts plain text to valid HTML. It’s clean, easy to learn, easy to use, and — best of all — makes sense on its own if you were to print out a written work marked up with Markdown and hand it to someone to read.

Another advantage of Markdown is that it is just text. I store everything I write in Markdown as a simple .txt file. Plain text is probably the closest thing we have to an eternal and universal file format. Any computer has the capability to read plain text, and it is likely to always be supported.

The only tool you need to write in Markdown is a text editor, which every computer has. On the Mac there is TextEdit, Notepad on Windows, and heck, you could even use Notes on your iOS device. This are all very serviceable tools. However, there are other tools that can greatly enhance the Markdown experience. On the Mac I use the wonderful Byword, and on iOS I use Elements.

If you need more convincing, check out Brett Terpstra’s Two-Minute Explanation of why Markdown is amazing.

Markdown is an indispensable tool for the modern writer. Whether you write for print or the web, for fun or your profession, an article, blog post, or a book — Markdown simply gets out of your way and lets you write.

If you are a serious writer, I can’t see why you’d want to use anything except Markdown.

Quote of the Day: Lisa-Jo Baker

Lisa-Jo Baker:

If you've only got one hour in the day to write, don't spend it defeated. Spend it writing.

I need to hang that on my wall.

Webcolumn

Chuck Skoda talks about his disdain for the term "blog":

When I tell people about this website, I still hesitate whenever referring to it as my blog. The thing is, I really hate that word. ‘Blog’ incites visions of the nearly endless wasteland of garbage.blogspot.com sites that were started in March of 2004 and fell into disrepair a half-dozen posts and two pageviews later.

[…]

When I try to boil down the broader category of websites that technochocolate falls into outside of the context of the Internet, they could be pretty accurately described as self-published, editorial columns. Wouldn’t that be a mouthful. But hey, column isn’t bad. Is that too misleading? How about webcolumn?

I also loathe the term "blog". When I tell people I write, they inevitably ask where. I tell them, "My site". And then I hear, "Oh, so you're one of those bloggers". I hate that.

I am not a blogger. I am a writer. When I sit down to type out my thoughts, I agonize over structuring my thoughts correctly into something of value to others.

Webcolumn sounds absolutely fantastic.

My name is Chris De Jabet, and I publish a webcolumn.

[Thanks Ben]