A text editor for the easily distracted

Some writers fear the “tyranny of the blank page”—that inescapable moment when you have to stop tinkering with formatting preferences and just start writing. If that’s ringing a bell, then myTexts Pro is absolutely not for you because putting the blank page front and center is why this application exists.

It's computing in the 1980s all over again.

This nifty software is designed to do away with all the distractions and complexities of programs like Microsoft Word. When you fire it up, you’re presented with white text upon a dark gray background. There’s no menu bar, no Dock, and no floating palettes to get in the way of simply typing one word after the other. It may sound simplistic, but rest assured that a robust engine running behind the scenes offers some very handy features.

Documents are automatically saved in the background as you work, but choosing Snapshot from the menu will save a copy of the current document, which you can jump back to at any time. The Quick Group feature allows for easy organization of related files, either by saving to a particular Quick Group or by dragging and dropping selected text to the desired Group.

When it comes to styling text, Markdown mode offers a way to add special formatting to your text without memorizing keyboard shortcuts or mousing over to palette buttons. To create italicized text, simply preface your word or sentence with an asterisk; double asterisks creates bold text. We wish other programs would adopt these intuitive shortcuts.

MyTexts touch is the fastest way to move files between your Mac and your iPhone.

Despite this focus on simplicity, myTexts offers the formatting and metadata features you actually use, leaving out all the cruft. Working on document metadata is as simple as mousing over to the left side of the screen and opening the Sidebar. There, you can add tags and notes to your document; dynamically change the font and margin sizes; view statistics like word and character count; and preview, export, or print. MyTexts Pro is available for Mac ($19.95), iPad ($4.99), and (as myTexts touch), iPhone ($2.99), and all three versions support simultaneous editing of the same document via Dropbox or iDisk, which is super-handy.

The bottom line. For those of us who want a cleaner way to write, this deceptively simple application offers a wealth of options for an outstanding price.