There’s no doubt that we live in a distracting time. With an almost constant connection to our phones, emails, and social media, it can sometimes seem impossible to truly “get away from it all” and stay focused, especially when writing. Now imagine you’re someone who struggles with staying focused and on task, and you’re trying to finish that big writing assignment but your friends, your games, and the entirety of the internet is just a click away?

iA Writer seeks to cut out some of that noise by presenting writers with a clean, distraction-free interface that focuses only on the essentials. The app uses markdown formatting, which means that text is formatted using punctuation marks rather than using functions like in Word. This type of formatting can seem a bit intimidating at first, but once you learn the basics, you’ll realize that with markdown formatting your hands never have to leave the keyboard, so you’re never wasting time searching for functions by moving your mouse or finger around. To learn more about markdown formatting, check out this guide that was created by the developers of iA Writer.

The app uses a simple black on white (or white on black if you’re in night mode) interface with limited settings and options, and users can even turn on focus mode so that only the sentence or paragraph being worked on is visible, making it a great tool for writers who struggle with any type of attention challenges such as ADHD, executive functioning, and other focused-based learning disabilities.

iA Writer also offers some helpful editing tools such as Syntax Highlight, a feature that shows different parts of speech in different colours, so users can improve their writing by spotting and correcting spelling and structural errors. And, the new Style Check feature grays out unnecessary words or phrases, so users can check the flow of their work and make sure their writing is concise and to the point.

iA Writer is available for Mac, iOS, Windows, and Android. Click here to learn more about the app and to get access to the free, two-week trial.

his post originally appeared on the AT Help Desk(new window) website.

Tags: AT HelpDesk