Software Tools – ByWord
There are several software tools that I prefer.
First, from a link from The Brooks Review, I stumbled into several applications that have served me well. I’m less of an experimenter/gadget tinkerer than before.
There was a point when I was toying with every application that the The Brooks Review endorsed; however, some of the apps have a short life span, these days, with a two or three that have died, or or hit an “End of Cycle” point in non-production.
I just like a tool that accomplishes a goal with a minimum of fuss.
ByWord was one of the ones I bought, played with, didn’t like, tossed then went back to, and downloaded again, only to fall in love.
It’s a writing tool, but more specific, it’s a Mac/iTablet (phone) tool that works seamlessly across the Apple ecosystem, and it’s for people who write for websites. Like I do.
It’s specifically built for a Tumblr | WordPress | some-blog-motor sites – which works for me. It’s an easy way to write and then load, skipping the copy/paste dance.
It was too simple, at first as I preferred Apple’s “Pages” for all the writing chores that involve heavy-lifting, but for a blog-style work? ByWord is winning, now. At first, it was hard to figure out, as it didn’t have the intuitive flow that I’m used to, but after poking around, it all got much easier. I think I consulted instructions once or twice. Be nice if they had the “instructions for people who don’t read instructions” included and thusly marked.
It’s a classy little text processor, and in keeping with my renewed interest in simplicity? It does a few tasks quite well, optimized for both a Mac and the iPad environments.
“Plays well with others.” It’s that simple, no complex features, and to post an item on the blog motors? Hit the “publish” button and away it goes.
I’m not married to any motor, with WordPress being this week’s darling favorite – subject to change – and ByWord serves as a highly compatible front-end loader.
As a software tool, it’s a (web) writer’s equivalent of an artist’s sketch pad. Some of those sketches are worth framing.
Other mentions here.
