Software Review: DarkRoom v. JDarkRoom

Someone did a search for "Darkroom vs. Jdarkroom" [sic] and it brought them to my blog.  I've reviewed and recommended both pieces of software in the last several months, and I still swear by them.  But I've not done a comparison, however precursory, of the two side by side.  I thought today, since I have nothing else to post and I'm not generally interesting, I would do a light treatment of DarkRoom in comparison to JDarkRoom and see how the two stack up to one another.

First off, both editors have their roots in WriteRoom, a black-with-text editor that does nothing but process text files, and which is exclusively for the Mac platform.  With nothing out there for Windows or other *nix platforms, some clever folks came up with some knock-offs for other platforms.  DarkRoom was thus born, and in an attempt to extend the portability to other platforms (like those *nix platforms aforementioned), some other clever duck came up with JDarkRoom.

What's the difference?  DarkRoom (hereafter referred to as DR) is a Wind0ws-based text editor, built on Microsoft technologies and utilizing Microsoft technologies in its implementation.  It's based on the .NET programming architecture and utilizes the .NET Framework within the Windows infrastructure to run.  One of the requirements of the latest build of DR is to have .NET Framework 2.0 running on your Windows machine, or to download and install it.

JDarkRoom (hereafter referred to as JDR) is a Java-based text editor.  It's built using Java, and is therefore not platform-specific.  Because the Java programming language was designed to allow programs to run without specifically targeting any operating system in general, JDR is compatible with any and all platforms running the appropriate Java environment.  This may also have to be downloaded, but it's a simple task to install it.  Once completed, JDR will run on a Unix-based machine, a Windows-based machine, or a Mac (which, technically, is also a Unix-based machine).

So, why choose one over the other?

Well, if you're a Windows user, there are certain conventions you've become used to.  Your keyboard shortcuts, for example, or being able to use your wheel mouse to scroll up and down a long page to keep reading, editing or whatever without having to use the horizontal and vertical scroll bars.  They're nice little touches that make the PC more friendly and familiar to us, and we come to depend on them.  In some cases, you don't really know how to work without those shortcuts, so being able to have them available to you is important, not just a luxury.

Enter DarkRoom.  DR allows you to use a lot of your standard keyboard shortcuts within Windows.  It also includes the familiar Windows interface in its menus and selection dialog boxes.  Since it's Microsoft-technology built, its menus and dialogs make standardized Windows menus and dialogs.  With JDR, you have to navigate through the textual menus.  That's not difficult, and when you're in them it's not like you'll be lost, but the standard, theme-based Windows look may not exist in JDR the way it does in DR.

JDR and DR both allow you to control the font and background colors in their environment.  Both have a nearly unlimited array of selections you can make in those capacities.  In DR, you get the standard Windows color selection screen when making your color choices; in JDR, you get one that's not quite as familiar but is just as easy to use.  And JDR's selection dialog presents tabs for RGB and HSB sliders.  Utilizing these, you can adjust the color infinitely to get exactly what you want.

DR and JDR both allow font selections, but here's a big difference.  In JDR, there are 5 fonts to choose from:  Bitstream Vera Sans Mono (whatever the heck that is), Courier New, Lucida Console, Lucida Sans Typewriter, Monospaced.  Remember, the purpose of this thing is to produce text, not get fancy with formatting tricks, and that includes fonts.  So those are your font choices; love 'em or leave 'em.

In DR, you have your entire compliment of standard Windows fonts to choose from.  If it's in your Fonts folder, it's available for use in DR.  That amounts to hundreds of font choices in my case.  Which, naturally, makes the decision a bit harder, but also allows me to find one that fits my mood or the piece I'm working on.  Of course, none of that information is going to be saved in the final document, because it'll be a text file with characters and nothing else.  So pick to your heart's content -- it's not going to make it into the final save regardless.

JDR allows you to configure things pretty deeply, but it doesn't allow you to set the column width.  It's a fixed width, which is easy on the eyes, and prevents you from having to jump long strings of text from one side of your monitor to the other.  It's a nice feature, but you can't control it.  DR, on the other hand, does allow you to set the column width.  You can also adjust other aspects of the page within DR.

Both allow you to see the number of words and lines used in your document.  DR includes a couple of arrows at the upper right of the screen instead of the scroll bars standard in Windows.  This means you can use your wheel mouse to roll around on the screen.  JDR now has this feature too, but it doesn't include the little scroll arrows on your screen.

JDR is a full-screen environment.   When you're in it, you're in it.  You can't see your system tray, your Start button, your desktop or anything else.  Just the editor.  It's fantastic for getting things done.   There's no IM window popping up to let you know your annoying friend from MySpace just came online and is trying to get your attention.  You don't see the clock ragging at you, telling you you're up past your bedtime.  You don't have the distraction of that stupid little animation on the web page trying to get you to click.  Nothing.

That's great for getting things done.  It is -- you can just concentrate on what you're writing and get it done.  It's a Godsend.  NaNoWriMo'ers, take note for 2008!

DR is a bit more flexible here.  It allows you to have that same, black-out type of distraction free environment, but it also permits you to make the app a separate window on your desktop like any other Windows application.  This was a cool and much-needed feature, and one I would love to see implemented in JDR.  Especially while at work, where distractions may be necessary (like your boss IM'ing you or sending you an urgent email you'd better know came).  You can normalize the window into a size that allows you to scoot it off to one side of your Windows desktop and work on things when you can, want to, etc.  Or, you can maximize it so that it takes up your whole screen, but still shows you the task bar, systray, etc.  Or, you can go full-screen, and be left distraction-free.  That's a nice touch.

And, as a bonus, in any of the window modes, DR allows you to see the menus available, so you can use the commands without having to memorize the keystroke combination(s) to call them.  In fact, I usually normalize DR when I need to do something requiring a menu command, just so I get the menu bar.  Then I put it back into full-screen mode for editing when I've finished.

I thought, and it could just be me, JDR's interface was a little crisper.  I don't know why, but the text seemed clearer, and the program seemed to respond more sharply.  DR isn't slow by any means, but it seemed to be more "blurry" for lack of a better term and it seemed the tiniest bit sluggish relative to JDR during editing.  (I could be imagining that, though, so judge for yourself.)

In the end, the decision to use one over the other came in the output file for me.  When I launched a JDR-generated file in a standard text editor (Notepad), the Java-created file included little sets of squares instead of paragraph spaces.  (This is due to the interpretation of the program of the commands and translation into characters, I'm sure -- or something equally techie and over my head.)  So, when I went to copy and paste that text file into a web-document, or my beloved Windows Live Writer, it didn't work out very well.  I ended up having to open it in some program that interpreted the little squares correctly and re-saving it, then copying and pasting into WLW for posting to the web.  This was a considerable PITA when considering how many things I was writing at the time, and JDR became a slow-down instead of a help.

With DR, I didn't have that trouble.  I saved; opened it in Notepad; there were no little squares anywhere, it was just a reproduction of what I'd produced on the screen, including paragraph breaks.  So, I started using DR instead of JDR, but I still recommend JDR to anyone and everyone interested in creating a distraction-free writing environment that lets you be alone with your thoughts and words.

JDarkRoom is available from www.codealchemists.com, and DarkRoom is available from www.they.misled.us/darkroom.  Give 'em a try -- I think you'll like them.

-JDT-

Update:  Bryce Beattie of Baby Katie Media and StoryHack has chimed in to let me know you can add more fonts to JDR.  You simply have to find the installation folder (where the program files are), and edit the jdarkroom.properties file; specifically, the line that starts with "font.choices=".

Just add in the fonts you want separated with commas but no spaces, and you can have any fonts you want available.  You could add them all if you want, but you have to know the font names to add them here.  Until and unless the source code is made available, at least.

Technorati Tags: software, reviews

Dude, I'm Nevah Gonna Do It ...

Okay, so ... this guy is my hero.

Here's an "I'm up in the middle of the night and can't figure out why" list of 10 reasons why I want to be him:

1. He lives in New England.  I wanna live in New England, and not just to be nearer my beloved Patriots, either.  There's the soup factor, too, y'know.   And the rest of the seafood.  Mmm ... seafood.
2. He has a full beard, and people "respond to the natural grass."  Dude, I so know it.  I can't grow a full beard at gun point.  I can't do a lot of other things at gun point, either, but that's a big one.
3. He has the classic New England accent.  If I have to have an accent, at least let it be that one.  Jeez.  Or the deep south.  I thought I'd make an awesome redneck, but ... nah.  New England.  It rocks.
4. He's got the kick-ass sweatshirts.  Dude ... 'nuff said.
5. He's a business owner.  It's a car wash he runs with his brother, but still -- how awesome is it to never be laid off?  I wouldn't know.  But I bet it's awesome.
6. He's secure enough in his masculinity to admit that Tom Brady is the most attractive man on earth in his opinion,  who beats out Carson Palmer even when jaundiced.  I'm not ... yeah, I'm not there yet.  Sorry.
7. He says "dude" a lot.  Dude, that rules.  Just ask Raga.  Chicks like guys that say "dude" a lot.
8. He's got like an eight foot wingspan.  Just ask him.  That means he can bring down Devin Hester in a diner in less than 14 seconds.  And he thinks Peyton Manning looks like an aerobics instructor out there, waving his arms around.  "I'm not really changin' the play -- but this looks smaht an' cool, right?  Call my agent, I'm available for pahties."  Best.  Commercial.  Ever.
9. He's got a blog dedicated to the Patriots.  My wife has a football blog, and she did it up in Pats colors (with a gentle bit of guidance from some artist she's sleeping with), but it's not a Pats blog.  Pats bloggers rule -- and they get paid, too.  I saw a job opening on one of the job boards for it.  I was so tempted to apply, but knew I couldn't dedicate the time to it.  Dude.
10. He's on TV.  Again, 'nuff said, right?

So yeah.  He's my hero.  I wanna be Matty.

You go, dude.

Technorati Tags: football, blogging, Patriots, random thoughts

Merry Christmas to All!

I wanted to take a moment -- because I don't have anything else to do, and Christmas is about this sort of thing -- to tell all of you I hope you have a wonderfully blessed, happy and safe Christmas. May all the richest of blessings be poured out upon all of you, each and every one, and may your joy be increased and magnified greatly.

To Raga: God bless you and your family. You've come to mean so much to us, and we are so very grateful the network of digitized data packets routed over circuits and server farms somehow managed to bring you to us. If you ever decide to start a blog, be sure to let us know. We're going to bookmark it immediately, add it to our feed readers and Technorati favorites, pimp it all over our humble little corners of the blogosphere, and visit it every day to drive your hit count up. We love you, and I wish I could tell you what a gift you've been to me.

To Bryce: You've been a great friend, Bryce. I know we don't know each other too well, but I've really enjoyed the time we've spent exchanging comments, posts and emails. It's been a lot of fun to watch you hammering away at Oasis, and over the last few months I've realized how much fun I've had following along. Oh, and I think it would make a great Broadway musical. If Andrew Lloyd Webber can't do the writing, maybe you can get Clay Aiken to write it for you. He might even try to cover your mouth for you.

God bless you and your family. Your generosity has touched me, the strength you've shown has made me respect you as a person and not just a writer and blogger/webmaster/programmer, and you will continue to be in our thoughts and prayers. Know that you are close to our hearts.

To Dwight Wannabe: Thanks for all the great information and fun stuff you provide to wannabes on your blog, Dwight. It's really nice to know that someone cares enough about the rest of us nobodys to try and help us get along and get through, even if it's just with Eff-Around Friday fun stuff. We appreciate what you do ... even if you scare my wife a little.

To Sherri: I'm not sure what to say to you, Sherri. You've grown into a close friend for LOML and I think you're pretty terrific too. You've got your own special challenges and life's little hang-ups haven't ignored you, but you've still managed to form a bond with my wife that is something really wonderful to watch. Thanks for extending that hand to her, and to me.

To Stranger: You've been heavy on our hearts and minds for a long time now, Stranger, and we want to tell you how much we admire you. You're an intelligent, articulate and caring young woman, you're together and strong, you're wonderful. We think the world of you, and have nothing but the utmost respect for you. We're so glad you're doing better and now have found the culprit throwing you for a loop. And, we want you to know you are everything we'd love to be if we ever grow up.

And, to anyone that reads this blog that's not listed, or hasn't commented, and is lurking quietly in the background (if there are any of you): Thank you too. You're always welcome to speak, if you want. We don't bite. And I hope you've enjoyed what you've seen so far, and God willing, will continue to see. It means a lot to me to know you're having enough fun to come back and read some more.

God bless you all, and have a very Merry Christmas. You've made our holiday season special in your own unique ways, and that is a wonderful gift. We all humbly thank you for it.

-JDT-

Technorati Tags: random thoughts, blogging, life

Inspirationally Challenged

During my ever-s0-brief stint in college, I had problems with, of all things, English.

That's a little embarrassing to admit now, but it's true.  I struggled with English.  Not so much the class itself, but the assignments.  They didn't seem to be much related to English as a language, and they certainly didn't do much to enrich my command of it either.  There were a series of papers, given by a young woman with thick glasses who was, as far as I could tell, trying to assert her position in the class over the students.  In retrospect, this was likely because she wasn't very much older than we were, was a bit mousy and mealy-mouthed, and not very intimidating or commanding as a classroom presence.

At any rate, she issued stupid assignments, didn't provide any instruction, never taught from a textbook (and if there was one I can't even recall it anymore), and took every opportunity to make sure we were reminded she was in charge.  She took a particular shine to me.  I was going through some personal things at the time, and wasn't the best student in the class.  She wanted to make sure I understood there would be no leniency with her.  She got the message across, loud and clear.

At any rate, one of those particular assignments which I didn't understand (and still don't twenty-odd years later) was for us to write a paper about how to do something.  It could be anything, she told us, but had to be the instructions on how to do something.  The style we took -- instructional, procedural, technical -- was up to us.  It had to be so many words, typed with thus-and-such line spacing, page numbers here, name and title there, yadda yadda, blah blah blah.  We had something like a week or two to do it, so it shouldn't have presented any problems.

Except I wasn't a very good student, and I'm really bad about being told what I have to write about.  When you give me confining parameters, I go blank. This was no exception.  I couldn't think of a single topic about which I knew enough to write a "how-to" manual.  I also don't like being told how many words it has to be.  Margins, line spacing, all the formatting?  Fine.  I can live with that, although I must confess, as an artist, aesthetics are likely more important to me than most.  But I can handle those aspects of the assignment.  The topical assignment?  Well, that sucks, because what you think is interesting and what I want to write about may not be in alignment.

So, I stewed about it.  Since I was young and fairly inexperienced with anything but schoolwork, I considered asking someone else.  But, that would be even more restrictive.  I'd be relaying information from a third party, information I probably wasn't familiar with.  And I wasn't very good at "putting things in my own words" (that was a real buzz phrase when I was in school).  So asking for input was essentially out.

Finally, a couple of nights before the assignment was due, I decided to write the paper on how to write a paper.  I ground away at it over the next couple of nights, along with my other assignments, and I turned it in on time ... one of the rare occasions when I did so.

When we got our papers back a few days later with grades, there were a few the instructor held aside.  She told us before she gave them back, she wanted to read some of them aloud and anonymously to show how the different approaches to the blah blah blah were yadda yadda, and how blah and yadda were blah yadda'd.  Okay, whatever.

She grabs the first one off the stack and sets her unattractive backside on her beat up old schoolmarm desk, looks at us all and says, "I don't like when people write how-to papers about how to write how-to papers.  I think it's a cop-out and shows a real lack of creativity, and generally I give it an 'F' without even reading it."

There I sat, filling my Fruit-of-the-Looms with rice pudding, hearing I'd just been given an "F" outright, without consideration, for doing something I thought was incredibly original and creative, because it showed a lack of originality and creativity.  And she'd never bothered to tell us the topic was off-limits, either.  She never gave us the rules.  (Bitch.)

She continued, "... but this one's really well done, and I thought I'd read it for all of you to show you how the style was addressed."  She then read my paper to an appreciative audience who all giggled at the appropriate times, and gave only positive feedback.  No one said anything negative, and no one knew it was mine.  Unless the beet-red color of my face and sheets of nervous sweat running down my face were a giveaway.

Anyway, at the end of it all, I got an "A-", marked down from an "A" because I didn't do an original topic.  I stopped and considered asking her what how-to article I could have written that hasn't, somewhere, already been written to make it original, but refrained.  What could an 18-year-old college student write about that hasn't been written about before?  The stupidity of her statement gave me clear insight, even then, to the mentality of the person I was dealing with.  So, I took my low "A" and left in peace.

As an aside, I ended up failing the class for not turning in an assignment by the deadline for the umpteenth time, but that's neither here nor there.

The point, if you can use that word here, of this post is, right now, I'm feeling very much the same lack of inspiration I felt when I faced that mousy, hard-assed instructor with thick glasses and a chip on her shoulder all those years ago.

I'm starting a second novel.  I'm using characters I'm familiar with, because I just finished a novel with them in it.  I have a general idea for the story, and I thought I had a plot, too, but danged if I do.  When I looked at it after the initial excitement wore off ... well, I wasn't real fond of the plot after all.  So now I'm three installments into a serial novel which doesn't have much to support it.

This probably isn't a problem for good writers.  Weak writers, inferior writers, however, are easily flustered and put off from their initial stories.  We flee instead of seeing what can be done with what we have -- trying to make it better or revising as necessary.  And weak, inferior writers use the snag as an excuse to stop writing.  Good writers, on the other hand, probably don't start writing until they have the general plot worked out in their heads (at least) and are excited and happy with the direction it's going.

I am not one of those writers.

So, I know a few of you have come here hoping for the next installment.  And I really wanted to give it to you -- really, I did.  I just ... can't right now.  I don't have it, because I haven't written it, because I don't like the plot my wife and I dreamed up as much as I thought I did.

Fortunately for me, it's Christmas Eve, and no one's likely to be around to notice, but when you get back, you'll find my justification.  Just like that English teacher, so long ago, you'll have to decide if this lack of creativity should be dismissed before it's even read, given the worst of all possible assessments and discarded.  For what it's worth, I'm telling you the God's-honest truth, and I'm humbly sorry for it.  If I manage to rescue the story, I'll come back and continue it.  If I don't, I'll probably remove the old installments and go forward with some new ones ... after I have a plot worked out and like it.

Or maybe I'll just write posts telling you how to write posts for a blog.  Would that be worth reading?

God bless and Merry Christmas, everyone.

-JDT-

Technorati Tags: writing, random thoughts

List of Six - Software Review

List of Six, available from Baby Katie Media and created by Bryce Beattie, is a nifty, small program that does exactly what it says it does: keeps short (6 items or less) lists of things-t0-do in an easy to use, user friendly interface that masks the real power of the program.  It's astounding how many things you can accomplish when you keep the list of things you need to do short and sweet.  It's something I know I certainly need, and I have a feeling that when my wife tries this, she's going to be hooked.

See, my wife loves to-do lists.  She likes to keep a running task list in Microsoft Outlook, and Outlook allows her to check a box marking when the item is completed.  The problem is, Microsoft Outlook is an expensive and expansive program with a lot of nuances.  Just getting it installed is a chore.  Getting it to get it installed isn't easy either.  This is no free download from Microsoft, people, this is going to set you back enough money to buy the entire Microsoft Office suite, which is expensive, and that's a lot of disk space to eat just to have a task manager.

Sure, there are others you can use.  Many of them will be free, and dedicated just to being a task manager.  That's fine.  What Bryce has done, however, is take an idea for the software from a story written a few decades ago (when there was still a steel industry in the United States and which is provided on both the website and in the readme file) and based his software on that principle.  It works great, it's efficient, and it's so simple.  I doubt you can find another task list manager that will be as nifty.

The beauty of List of Six is that it forces you to keep the list short.  One of the things that makes my beloved sigh and procrastinate is the length of the list of things she has to do.  Her Task Manager doesn't do anything to help her prioritize the things she's staring at, either.  All of them are just tasks waiting to get done, staring out at her from the Task Manager pane with their metaphorical arms folded over their chests and tapping their tasky little toes impatiently.  All of them clamor for equal attention, and when they don't get done by the deadline they turn a nice, urgent red so that you'll see them better.

Problem is, they're lost amidst the other red items in that task list, which manages to always look like a roulette betting board.

Enter List of Six.  It's simple.  The program presents you with a text field, where you can see the items you have on your list.  It has a handful of buttons that are clearly labeled in normal, everyday English.  No cryptic terminology or jargon to figure out.  You can complete a task, add one, see the history of what you've done, and delete them as necessary from the list.  You can then print the list out so you can take it with you, which is great for those quick runs to the grocery store to pick up a few items.  Now, instead of letting yourself get all off-track and doing the aisle-surfing thing, ending up with a cartful of items instead of the four you actually wanted to get, you can take a moment, make a List of Six list and print it out to take with you.

And, if you get too ambitious and try to add more than 6 tasks to the list, you'll get this little message indicating you can only have 6 activities at a time on the list.

This'll keep you from getting overwhelmed.  Nothing's as flabbergasting and paralysis inducing as staring at a list of 300 things you need to get done before the end of the year.  This way, you put in the top six, order them according to their importance, and get them done.  Voila, no more arm-length lists of stuff to do over the weekend.

As writers, we need some help sometimes to get things moving forward.  List of Six can help us do that by helping us eat the elephant one bite at a time instead of trying to take it all in one gulp.

The program's flexible in its ability to allow you to re-order the priority of your activities, too.  Just throw your list up there as it occurs to you.  Drag the items up or down the list with the mouse to put them in a new order.  It's that easy.  If a task suddenly drops off your radar screen, delete it or re-order the list to address the new priorities.  In addition, there's a history of the activities you've finished over a specified period of time - the prior week, month, year or all time.  Cool, huh?

It's terrific, it's cheap and Bryce provides a money-back guarantee if you're not pleased with the program for any reason.  See the List of Six website for more information.  Is it worth $14 to you to be able to increase your productivity?  Even if you have a hundred things you have to do, tacking those things in groups small enough to see them all in one clear, clean screen and getting them knocked out will make you feel better about yourself.

Give it a try, and let the efficiency begin.

-JDT-

Technorati Tags: software, reviews