Ommwriter is a Mac word processor with a bit of a gimmick. Like one of my favorite writing apps for the Mac, WriteRoom, Ommwriter goes full-screen, with a minimal interface and a focus on avoiding distractions. Ommwriter is even more extreme, though, adding a calming background and soothing music to the mix, and restricting your control over text formatting to a bare minimum to reduce fiddling.

The good: that fiddling-reduction thing really works. You can make your text larger or smaller, and choose between three fonts, but that's it. It keeps you away from the controls and focused on your words. Also good: there are 7 different musical selections, and the option to turn the music off altogether (which I recommend you exercise). The default background is quite attractive, but you can switch to basic white if you don't like it.

The bad: your only options for saving your Ommwriter docs are plain .txt or Ommwriter's own format. I suppose that's in keeping with the word-centric theme of the app, but sometimes a .doc comes in handy if you're sharing with an Office-devoted friend or colleague. Also - and this is clearly a matter of taste - the whole zen schtick feels a bit hokey to me. I'm all for removing distractions, and Ommwriter succeeds in that regard (except, perhaps, when it comes to the music) but I prefer the plain black screen and more robust formatting capabilities of WriteRoom.

Have you ever wondered why you can't simply author PDF files directly in a word processor? Most word processors like Microsoft Word use their own proprietary format, or a standard format like RTF. But Adobe's PDF format is the recognized standard in cross-platform page layout file formats; if you send someone a PDF file, you can be virtually guaranteed that they will be able to open and view it. And better yet, what they see will be exactly what you intended.

Though it may not seem like the world needs another word processor, the folks at PageHand decided that the ones that are currently available left something to be desired. And thus, PageHand, the word processor, was born.

PageHand has to be the most approachable word processor I've ever seen. When you first launch it, a sample document opens that is essentially a written tutorial. You are encouraged to change and edit the sample document as a way to get comfortable with PageHand's features, and can always revert back to the original sample document right from the Help menu item. With this tutorial, a new user could be comfortable navigating PageHand and using its various features very quickly.

TUAW previously covered PageHand prior to its release during WWDC, when they posted a first-look preview video. It's now in release, and is available for a limited time for $39.95, after which it will go back to the regular price of $49.95. There is a 30 day trial version available, and a money back guarantee.

While some modern browsers include built-in spell checkers, and some operating systems include built-in spelling and grammar checkers, there are people out there using operating systems and browsers that do not have these features.

If you're looking for some help with your writing and don't have access to Microsoft Word or a similarly-powered word processor, there is a solution available on the web called After the Deadline. The site (at the memorable URL polishmywriting.com) offers spelling and grammar help, and even writing style suggestions.

So you love Mac OS X. We love Mac OS X. But you don't have the money to pony up for Office 200whatever, or maybe you don't even like it. Microsoft Office is overkill for most people who just need a simple word processor. We've used Open Office, but it's probably too much to play around with if all you want to do is write a document.

Enter the Bean.

We've mentioned Bean before, along with other Mac "toolkit software", but a new version came out late in April (version 1.2.0)l, so we felt it deserved another look.

First there was WriteRoom, which gave Mac users a very simple black interface in which to write. No distractions, just a black screen with glowing green letters, which probably appeals particularly to people that have been working with computers long enough to remember monochromatic terminals.

And it was a very cool idea, but there was nothing similar for Windows. Until Dark Room came along. Dark Room basically emulates WriteRoom's functionality on Windows.

So what's missing? A web-based version, of course.

Now, normally I'd say that doing a web-based version of a text editor when very strong versions offering identical functionality already exist on both Windows and Mac would not be worthwhile. But as much as Writer, the web based version, is simply replicated the functionality of these other applications, it still stands on its own merits.

Two things about it make it worth having in your bookmarks. The first is that you can use it anywhere. No memory key to carry around, no worrying about what OS you're using. It just works, wherever you are. The second is that if you create an account, all of your documents also follow you around.

So if you like the look and feel of Dark Room or WriteRoom, check out Writer.

PalmOS and Windows Mobile devices generally come with basic document viewing and editing software. You an create and edit simple spreadsheets and text documents. But if you want advanced features like editing footnotes or on-the-fly spell checking, you need to look elsewhere.

In the last month, two of the biggest names in handheld office suites have released updates. DataViz Documents To Go for PalmOS is up to version 9, and SoftMaker Office 2006 final edition for Pocket PC was released this week.

Some of the new features:

Documents To Go

• View and edit footnotes and endnotes in word processing files
• View and edit comments in word processing files
• Added new zoom levels for pictures and presentations
• Added an integrated file explorer
• There's no longer support for Word 95, Wordperfect, WordPro, RTF, Palm Doc, Excel 95, Word 6 for Mac files.
• There's also no longer support for Palm's Tungsten T, T2, Zire 21, Zire 31, Zire 71, or for what looks like pretty much Sony's entire line of PalmOS PDAs. For a complete list of changes, click the read link.
  

SoftMaker Office 2006

• Import OpenOffice.org and OpenDocument files
• Track changes to your document
• Improved filters for Microsoft Word and RT documents
• Split and Merge table cells
• Bibliography support

Documents To Go is available for $30 for the standard edition (just a word processor and spreadsheet), or $50 for the premium edition, (with support for PDF files, presentations, spell-checking, and other advanced features). Upgrades from an earlier version are $30

SoftMaker Office is available for $70. Or you can pick up just the spreadsheet or word processing software for $50 each. For $100 you can get the whole bundle plus versions of the software for Windows. Upgrade options are available as well. Both programs offer 30 day free trials of their software.

In this issue of Googleholic we cover:

• Google Map Search gadget
• Grannies and Google Coupons
• Google Music Trends
• Brazil sues Google
• Google Anniversary
• Writely is open for business
• China.com teams with Google

Welcome to Friday's Googleholic edition...

Zoho offers a complete line of powerful office suite and productivity tools, all through the use of a browser.

The Zoho toolset includes:

• Zoho Show - online presentation
• Zoho Writer - word processor
• Zoho Sheet - spreadsheet application
• Zoho Virtual Office - email, document and calendar
• Zoho CRM - CRM
• Zoho Creator - create web applications
• Zoho Planner - Online organizer
• Zoho Chat - chat

Zoho also has a set of online utilities including website monitoring software, and online poll solutions.

Online applications that run in the browser is part of this whole Web 2.0 social software era, and it looks like Zoho is in the forefront with a great complete application list. They have almost any application you would require to run your business directly from your browser. And Free! Zoho produces pretty much all of their applications with a $0 price tag.

They do give access to demo versions before you decide to signup and try their browser based tools. So check them out, they look really good!

[via TechCrunch]

On Friday I linked to a little app for OS X called WriteRoom, which is a minimalist word processor for writers. A few of the commenters didn't quite "get" it (sorry, folks, but maximizing Word and changing the colors isn't remotely equivalent to a distraction-free writing environment*), but a lot of writers certainly do, including one developer who missed it so much when he had to use Windows that he just built a Windows version. Dark Room is a WriteRoom clone for Windows that's just as minimal and just as free.

*Though one commenter suggested installing Word 5.5 for DOS, which is closer.

[Thanks, Sam!]