As noted in an earlier entry, I have a hard time writing anything from within the visual confines of a graphic user interface. It may be that, as a graphic designer, I’m overly sensitive to visual space. But when it comes to designed experiences I retreat retreat retreat. I need my mental autonomy!

What I neglected to mention is that a while ago I found a program that grants me this isolated writing space, free from the tyranny of the visual interface: WriteRoom, from Hog Bay Software. I use it to compose emails, keep notes, write assessments of projects, etc. It goes without saying that it’s the word processor in which I composed this blog entry. It has become a very comfortable friend.

WR occupies your entire screenspace, giving you nothing but an empty zone for words to occupy. It does not format. It does not make tables. It will not output to HTML. It sticks to a very strict idea of what a word processor is. There is no visual interface to speak of, save a blinking cursor block. A word count will fade into view if the mouse is placed in the corner of the screen. A scrollbar is also invisible, off to the side, until called into use.

And that’s it. Nothing but possibility. All your other programs are hidden from view; nothing gets through its inky black space (or royal blue or lush green – the background color is adjustable).

Actually, according to the marketing material and public testemonials, the main selling point of Write Room is that it takes up your entire screen, thus freeing you from distractions. No bouncing IMs, no iTunes, no e-mail notifications. As one review puts it, “This is an awesome app! Without distractions, I was able to pump out a few blog posts in about half the time it normally takes.” Whether this is a desired state of affairs is a question left unanswered.