The Portable Freeware Collection Forums

[Moderator note: this thread was split from the Dark Room thread.]

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There is an alternative though: WriteMonkey is still actively developed right now. Similarly to DR, it requires .NET, which is the only reason why it isn't portable (though the author is trying to see what can be done about that).

DotNET WriteMonkey is an interesting alternative mentioned above that has an up to date private entry in TPFC's database -- private status apparently on account of it not being fully portable (untested!); for more info, check https://www.portablefreeware.com/?id=1627.

Although development seems to have stalled (the last release is about two years old), a third party mini-review of WriteMonkey has recently been posted:

A Distraction-Free Text Editor For Uncluttered Writing
https://www.techsupportalert.com/conten ... riting.htm

@webfork - Request for WriteMonkey to be split into its own thread.

This program appears to have stopped development but has a few really nice features I liked including stats about writing, readability, headings, and its integration with regex elements.

http://writemonkey.com/download.php
http://writemonkey.com/features.php
https://www.softpedia.com/get/Office-to ... nkey.shtml

Status: Not portable, writes to AppData\Local ... it appears to be a duplicate of the local data file, but if you delete it, the program settings start over from scratch. Deleting the contents of the file will prevent the program from starting.

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See also: Zettlr - https://www.zettlr.com/

Apparently, news of WriteMonkey demise may have been overly exaggerated:

WriteMonkey v3.2.0 released 2020-04[-19] (changelog is at https://github.com/writemonkey/wm3/wiki/Changelog).

Writemonkey 3 is a new incarnation of the original Windows only application that has been around since 2006. 10 years old and still kicking. It is quite possible that WM was the first text editor for writers with full markdown support. It was also among first distraction free editors out there. Writemonkey 2 will still be available for download, but won't be developed any further. WM3 is available for all three major OS platforms -- Windows, OSX and Linux and this is something that couldn't be done with the old code base. Also, hi-res displays are becoming popular and WM2, without unreasonable makeover, just isn't ready for that.

Midas wrote: ↑Wed Sep 23, 2020 10:40 am WriteMonkey v3.2.0 released 2020-04[-19]

Had a chance to retest v3.2.version and unfortunately still not portable.

Steps:

1. Download the zip file version for Windows
2. Unzip and launch nw.exe

Clarification: WriteMonkey 2 is the distraction-free text editor, meaning nothing else on your screen but the text. WriteMonkey 3 has a minimalist interface but not distraction-free.

Screenshots of v2: https://www.snapfiles.com/get/writemonkey.html (28 megs)

Screenshots of v3: https://writemonkey.com/wm3/ (190 megs)

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This came up when I was digging around for available usability software here on the site. The readability menu is only available in v2. It's available by right-clicking on the main window and selecting "Progress"


Unfortunately, you can't export contents of the report. On the second screen (press ">") you can see a list showing of word complexity (more bold = more complex) organized by word frequency:

WriteMonkey has the best typing sounds, imo.
Markup Export is another feature worth checking out. You can set up any number of CSS templates to output your work for proofreading, getting a fresh perspective on the text layout or trying different formatting options.

Personally, I favor the distraction-free version 2. Actually, I wrote a help file 10 years ago, it's interactive (kind of), clicking on a menu item will take you to an explanation of this feature.

Download:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zDtiEu ... sp=sharing

FileHandler wrote: ↑Fri Apr 01, 2022 4:55 am WriteMonkey has the best typing sounds, imo.
Markup Export is another feature worth checking out. You can set up any number of CSS templates to output your work for proofreading, getting a fresh perspective on the text layout or trying different formatting options.

Very interesting, thanks

Topic update: Writemonkey v3.3.0 released 2023-01-22 (changes at https://github.com/writemonkey/wm3/wiki/Changelog).

No news regarding portability. The database private entry is still at https://www.portablefreeware.com/?id=1627.



BTW, Writemonkey 2 is at v2.7.0.3 released 2014-11-08 (changelog at http://writemonkey.com/new.php).