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Rough Draft for iPhone & iPad — The worst text editor -- because it doesn't let you edit
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@rrhoover OK, OK you got us 😝 Maybe we’re not *the worst* — but I’m pretty sure we’re one of the only writing apps that actively tries to be terrible... at editing 😉
We wanted to give people a space to just write without the pressure to edit so early. So we stripped out all the feature of a text “editor” and then added some negative reinforcement to get you to stop second guessing yourself when writing.
The result is an experience that (we hope!) gets you into a flow that’s a lot like writing on paper, where you can’t just delete and start over… and over… and over, as many of us tend to do.
I beta tested this when it was a *rough* Mac app with a fantastic team working hard to nail the experience and they did. As someone who had my own publishing startup and a love for writing, I immediately took to it. And I've loved following what the team has done ever since. The fact that it's mobile now makes it 100x better. Get to writing!
@imcatnoone Thanks for all your support, Cat :)
As you highlighted, the experience here is a long time in the making. Crafting something that will (hopefully) fit into an author's flow is a very tall order. Writers pay attention to details, and so we've been held to an exactingly high standard. Building this has also been an exercise in staying out of the way while trying to provide enough value to be part of a writer's flow, which also happens to be a challenging message to communicate!
We're refining that message and the product experience on a daily basis, and we're excited to be on PH to hear everyone's feedback, again :)
Someone very wise once told me he gets up and writes around 4AM because the editor in him wakes up at 8. I think Rough Draft has the potential to help solve our self-censorship and allow us to get our ideas out faster. Not sure how much writing I do on mobile, but definitely going to try.
@bryceoflife Yeah, I tend to just grab the beginning of ideas when I'm on the go on mobile. When I do get a chance to sit down at a cafe and get out my BT keyboard it is writing heaven though. This keyboard is really great: http://www.logitech.com/en-us/pr... Speaking of which, I should hunt it 💡
Reeeally interesting UX, encouraging quantity and shipping over preciousness & white-washing. This is compelling @hunkefunk write a screenplay!
@elizabethhunker Thanks for sharing it with@hunkefunk! Can't wait to watch his screenplay!
Rough Draft started with Mac, but I'm really excited to write with RD on iOS since the focused nature of an iPhone/iPad better match the focus needed for drafting–not editing–than a multi-tasking Mac. Also, when you have a bluetooth keyboard and iPad there's no mouse for idle hands to wander to when my mind is wandering looking for a word.
That's my biased opinion as part of the team that made Rough Draft, would love to hear what you love and hate! And just talk writing too :)
Having used the mac app, I'm so excited this is finally released on iOS. Writing on mobile really exacerbates all my writerly anxieties, so I'm thrilled to have something designed to push me through them. I'm also made about 96Problems' "try before you buy" model, which gets around all the worst things about the app store just beautifully - I wish more app developers would follow their lead!
?makers is this still available? I love the concept and have been trying to create something similar because I couldn't find it anywhere.
I often useRD on the Mac. It has turned out there that I don't really need to store my drafts - they just get copied to the final destination. The game probably changes with the sync between mobile and desktop. I have often missed the opportunity to dictate my thoughts, i need to be alone 👀 for it. That's what i will try out first with the iOS app.
@llabball Happy to hear that your drafts are getting out of Rough Draft, into your text editor, and towards their destination as fast as possible! Looking forward to hearing if the sync between the two makes a difference for your draft storage needs.Looking forward to hopefully reading some of your ideas that you capture on the go!
Hey makers,
This product is the software equivalent of Zeus smacking you in the back of the head as you're writing - deleting - writing - deleting - writing again. I can't tell you how much time I've wasted while writing, out of lack of confidence or just plain stupidity, deleting and rewriting something.
I use Medium and Celtx (https://www.celtx.com) for pretty much all writing I do and Celtx has a pretty brutal way of reminding you how much time you've been "thinking" vs "writing". I've asked myself not to delete content after I've written it, but self-control is hard when you want everything to be perfect.
This is awesome, really digging it so far. The only feedback I'd give is regarding the fullscreen onboarding. As the first thing you run into when you launch the app, it's a bit disconcerting. The onboarding itself is great, but is there a reason why it needs fullscreen? It seems like none of what it does really needs that, right? Is it because you render the frame around the UI, and grayscale a screenshot of the rest of the desktop? Is there a way to render the frame differently? Because that would improve the onboarding experience significantly.
So far I love it, congratulations team!
@antonio_bustamante Thanks for your feedback about the onboarding being fullscreen :)
On second thought it would probably be better to take it down from the full screen experience on the Mac App. We'll have to think about this in the future. We got a lot of great feedback on the onboarding for our onboarding of LookUp (a menubar app), so decided to take it in a similar direction. With the app window a fullscreen experience probably isn't quite as necessary though! Did you get to try the onboarding on our iOS app? It's a little different. Would love to know your preference between the two 🤔💭
Is a novel idea, but at $25 IAP, seems pretty overpriced for what kind of tool it is
@linusedwards Thanks for your feedback :)
With the unlock you not only get the iOS version but the Mac as well -- we built it in a way so that you aren't forced to purchase two separate apps (how most writing software is priced now). So one purchase gets you cross-platform goodness. I hope this changes your mind! Thanks again :)
I found that using Rough Draft was a chance to take a fresh look at my own writing process – when editing was taken out of the equation, I had the opportunity to really think about how I write, and how I capture ideas. Though initially it was frustrating to get used to (I like to edit as I go), ultimately the experience was hugely rewarding for the way it taught me that the first time you put an idea down it's allowed to be messy and ugly and awkward – you can make it pretty and perfect later.
I should add that the above experience got me in touch with the makers of the app, and I'm now happy to be sharing these thoughts as a member of their team.
If you're using RD, I'm curious to know how you find it, and I hope you'll let me know in a reply! :)
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