Unlike the novel of the same name, this Ulysses is straightforward.

Ulysses is a text pad for creative writers or slightly scatterbrained folks who want to record their thoughts on-the-fly. Think Microsoft Word without the formatting clutter, and with more work areas displayed at any given time.

The app's interface is its core strength. Two editing panels sit in the middle of the screen. To the right of the panels are the note-taking area and a browser showing different areas of your project (writing sessions are saved as projects), and to the left is an area that shows the subdivisions of that project with color tags. These might be different chapters of your book, or plot sketches. It's an effective way to quickly bring up previously saved notes.

When you've finished penning your masterpiece, you can export it as plain or formatted text. The formatting is done through templates; if you choose this as an option, the first line that you type will appear with a certain font type and size, and paragraphs will follow a set style. Ulysses also has a simple and helpful built-in code of its own that adds formatting to elements in the body text. For instance, typing { - text - } outputs the text insert as a footnote.

Ulysses isn't a unique application. Mariner Software's MacJournal ($39.95, www.marinersoftware.com) is a speedier note-taker and equally well designed; PaperToolsPro ($55, www.papertoolspro.com) goes further than Ulysses with its footnote and bibliography tools. Both MacJournal and PaperToolsPro are relative bargains considering that Ulysses costs almost $130.

The bottom line. Ulysses is a tidy, simple, Mac-friendly tool for creative writing, but we doubt that a struggling writer is going to pay this much when cheaper alternatives are just as good.

COMPANY: The Blue Technologies Group
CONTACT: www.blue-tec.com
PRICE: €100 ($128 at press time)
REQUIREMENTS: Mac OS 10.3.9 or later
Simple and effective layout. Tailored for creative writing. Universal binary.
Expensive. Better alternative applications exist.