'UX Write' for iOS Promises Powerful Word Processing for Long Documents

[MacRumors]

UX Write [App Store], a new iOS word processing app by UX Productivity, aims to compete with Apple's own Pages, Dataviz's Documents to Go and other heavy-hitting word processing apps currently available in the App Store. UX Write touts several features to streamline the writing process for long and complex documents, including unique cursor and text selection controls, extra punctuation keys on the iPad, and powerful style formatting tools.

The full list of features is as follows:

- Styles: Separate content from presentation, and easily achieve consistent formatting throughout your whole document.

- Outline editor: Easily navigate and rearrange sections

- Automatic numbering and cross-references: for all headings, figures, and tables

- Automatic text reflow: Document layout and text size is adjusted to suit your screen size and orientation, for an improved reading and editing experience

- Extended keyboard (iPad only): Extra keys for punctuation and formatting, plus swipe gestures for cursor movement and text selection

- Painless file synchronisation: Full integration with Dropbox and WebDAV. Documents are kept in sync automatically.

- Printing and PDF export

- Built on the latest web technologies: HTML5, CSS3, and WebKit

A demo video showcases UX Write's major features:

UX Write faces tough competition in the App Store. At this time, UX Write can only create and edit HTML files though the ability to work with Microsoft Word and LaTeX files is coming in the future. At $14.99, it is currently more expensive than Pages and Documents to Go that both offer more features in total than UX Write though may arguably be less intuitive and efficient at working with long documents comparatively. Additionally, rumors indicate that Microsoft may be developing a version of Microsoft Office for the iPad that could be released in November.

Article Link: 'UX Write' for iOS Promises Powerful Word Processing for Long Documents

[Dewroo]

Does anyone really need a text editor other then pages on their iPad? I don't use my iPad to write anything now that i have a Macbook Air.

[Snowy_River]

Originally Posted by Dewroo

Does anyone really need a text editor other then pages on their iPad? I don't use my iPad to write anything now that i have a Macbook Air.

Uh... Good for you. Not everyone has a MBA, though. For those that have an iPad for portability and an iMac for heavier duty computing jobs, having a good WP is a very desirable thing. Granted that Pages is pretty good, but I keep hoping for more. (I'd like to see the same level of functionality that Pages had 10 years ago on the Mac make it to the iPad version...)

[Mad-B-One]

Originally Posted by Dewroo

Does anyone really need a text editor other then pages on their iPad? I don't use my iPad to write anything now that i have a Macbook Air.

Yes, I think I will need the MS Office suite as soon as it hits the iPad. Just for compatibility. Pages is not bad per se, but due to my work, I'm used to MS Office and as long as they get it stable and smooth, I'm in! I'm not draging more than an iPad into a library etc.

[coder12]

I like the idea of more text editors with more power for the iPad. Pages can be light, and this seems like a moderate step up actually.

[Igantius]

Originally Posted by Dewroo

...Does anyone really need a text editor other then pages on their iPad? I don't use my iPad to write anything now that i have a Macbook Air.

Personally, I much prefer Writing Kit - partly because of wanting Markdown and/or Fountain formats and being able to do online research without leaving the app.

[ArtOfWarfare]

Hmmm... interesting... but as someone else said, I have a MBA, so I don't think this is worth it. While I agree an iPad is lighter, and probably good enough for 90% of situations, I never know when I'm going to need that last 10% that'll only come from having an MBA.

[smulji]

Originally Posted by Mad-B-One

Yes, I think I will need the MS Office suite as soon as it hits the iPad. Just for compatibility. Pages is not bad per se, but due to my work, I'm used to MS Office and as long as they get it stable and smooth, I'm in! I'm not draging more than an iPad into a library etc.

"Yes, I think I will need the MS Office suite as soon as it hits the iPad. Just for compatibility."

Or you could get the up-coming MS Surface for Win8 Pro. You'll get full MS Office compatibility. And for some of the other posters, you won't need a separate iPad & MB Air.

[Mad-B-One]

Originally Posted by smulji

"Yes, I think I will need the MS Office suite as soon as it hits the iPad. Just for compatibility."

Or you could get the up-coming MS Surface for Win8 Pro. You'll get full MS Office compatibility. And for some of the other posters, you won't need a separate iPad & MB Air.

I don't have a MB Air. In fact, I have a netbook and a laptop, both maybe used 10x since the original iPad came out. Too heavy, too loud, too fragile. Yes, fragile. The iPad does forgive more drops caught with the shoe than any laptop (plus you don't have to go to the ER because your 17" hit your big toe). My son (turning 3 this month) is using my iPad 1 since the iPad 2 came out. Trust me, it falls... has the Apple foam sleeve around it and looks almost like mint. There is one tiny scratch on the display I caused with a key on accident once. That's it. Also, the battery power and instant-on is just way beyond what most notebooks can do. I understand that the MB Air is coming close, but for me, iPad is the way to go. I switched and never looked back.

[Navdakilla]

Originally Posted by Mad-B-One

I don't have a MB Air. In fact, I have a netbook and a laptop, both maybe used 10x since the original iPad came out. Too heavy, too loud, too fragile. Yes, fragile. The iPad does forgive more drops caught with the shoe than any laptop (plus you don't have to go to the ER because your 17" hit your big toe). My son (turning 3 this month) is using my iPad 1 since the iPad 2 came out. Trust me, it falls... has the Apple foam sleeve around it and looks almost like mint. There is one tiny scratch on the display I caused with a key on accident once. That's it. Also, the battery power and instant-on is just way beyond what most notebooks can do. I understand that the MB Air is coming close, but for me, iPad is the way to go. I switched and never looked back.

Agreed to this all

[gorskiegangsta]

Originally Posted by Dewroo

Such useless posts above me.

Does anyone really need a text editor other then pages on their iPad? I don't use my iPad to write anything now that i have a Macbook Air.

Interesting logic. So no one needs a good word processor on the iPad because you don't see a need for one. Talk about useless posts...

[Sardonick007]

I use my iPad for almost everything I do in the field. Business use, not gaming or social or whatever else. So yes, there are those of us, and plenty indeed, who need good apps whether they be writing, scanning, camera, note, or other.
For the record, I have an MBP and an IMac both at work and at home, yet my iPad has eliminated the need for the laptops and two satchels full of regulatory books. I eagerly wait for every "new" app release to see if it increases my productivity.

Originally Posted by Dewroo

Such useless posts above me.

Does anyone really need a text editor other then pages on their iPad? I don't use my iPad to write anything now that i have a Macbook Air.

[FloatingBones]

Originally Posted by Mad-B-One

Yes, I think I will need the MS Office suite as soon as it hits the iPad. Just for compatibility. Pages is not bad per se, but due to my work, I'm used to MS Office and as long as they get it stable and smooth, I'm in! I'm not draging more than an iPad into a library etc.

The big question is if MS will be providing the full-blown functionality while maintaining usability. Will it have redlining? That seems to be a key requirement that some critics of current iPad WPs need.

If Word compatibility is less important, then I think that the upcoming iOS version of Scrivener will be intriguing. Using the iPad as a satellite to gather data and do some light writing sounds quite tasty! At the very least, I hope that students seriously consider this alternative to Word for their research and writing.

The iPad WP Wars this fall will be very interesting.

[Mad-B-One]

Originally Posted by FloatingBones

If Word compatibility is less important, then I think that the upcoming iOS version of...

Well, exactly that is the point though. Everything else, you get probably in Pages. There might be the one or the other thing competitors do better - especially price - but other than that, Pages does the job. The only problem I see with Pages is that it is not 100% in the MS Office world. Not everything formats the same etc. That is what I expect from the MS Office suite though when it finally hits the iPad.

[Amazing Iceman]

So far, I have not found a better word processor than Pages. It may not have all the features a desktop word processor has, but still it has a lot more features than QuickOffice and the other contenders.
Today, I needed to create a Work Order form, and found Pages to be complicated and not too accurate, So I gave Inkpad a try; it serves it's purpose very well; a few minor complains, but overall, it's a winner.

Let's see what MS Office for iPad brings us.

[FloatingBones]

Originally Posted by Mad-B-One

Well, exactly that is the point though. Everything else, you get probably in Pages. There might be the one or the other thing competitors do better - especially price - but other than that, Pages does the job.

No. I categorically and utterly disagree. Just like Word, Pages is a tool for publishing and formatting a document. Tools like Scrivener are a whole workflow for researching, writing, and publishing documents. One is far less concerned than the appearance of the overall document than the ability to research, draft, and write a set of cohesive segments of the document. IMHO, it is a vastly superior tool for anything but the most trivial of papers.

The only problem I see with Pages is that it is not 100% in the MS Office world. Not everything formats the same etc. That is what I expect from the MS Office suite though when it finally hits the iPad.

If people are rapidly turning around MS Word documents, then Office will be a boom. The most interesting question is whether or not MS has chosen to provide the full desktop functionality on their iPad version of the product. MS faces risks if their iOS product is either limited in its functionality or entirely too capable of replacing the desktop version. How will they walk that tightrope?

At the same time, researchers and writers are drawing a distinction between Word/Pages and the tools that do a much better job facilitating the structure of researching and writing. Those who don't need frequent translation to MS Office users can do far better with this new generation of tools -- especially since they will have innovative ways of using multiple devices for inputting and aggregating works.

Yuvi Zalkow recently published a great little video about the good and bad of using MS Word for editing documents: http://vimeo.com/44052084 . For those of us around in the 80s, it has a fun movie reference at the end.

[signs]

I think it looks exciting!

Pages is a masterpiece in weighing what to leave in or out of the feature set, BUT that doesn't help you when you want to travel with your long documents, or load a document with enough tables in Pages and it becomes unusable.

I think the touch UI paradigm is begging for programmers to explore how to do full fledged functionality in it. One half of the solution definitely is sensible simplification (something like the UNIX discipline, but for the touch age), but the other... well, this is a step! I can't wait to try it out.

When it's achieved, I think our bicycle for the mind will have arrived at a new level - immediacy and portability are SO important!

----------

Originally Posted by FloatingBones

No. I categorically and utterly disagree. Just like Word, Pages is a tool for publishing and formatting a document. Tools like Scrivener are a whole workflow for researching, writing, and publishing documents.
[...]
MS faces risks if their iOS product is either limited in its functionality or entirely too capable of replacing the desktop version. How will they walk that tightrope?
[...]
Those who don't need frequent translation to MS Office users can do far better with this new generation of tools -- especially since they will have innovative ways of using multiple devices for inputting and aggregating works.

Excellent and interesting points, thanks! Things are definitely changing in Office land, I believe. Especially for all those who depend on producing long-form text these days!

[Doctor Q]

I used to use FrameMaker for long documents and I miss its nice handling of footnotes, cross references, and tables of contents. I doubt I'll have much need to create or edit long documents on a mobile device. Still, it's nice to know that there are products waiting if I do.

[old-school]

Looks great. I wish the app store gave 30 minute trials.

[Digital Skunk]

Originally Posted by old-school

Looks great. I wish the app store gave 30 minute trials.

Same here. At $14.99 it needs one just incase I don't see me using it more than Pages. Or the App Store needs an easy squeezy return policy.

I'll wait to see what MS Office for the iPad offers before I sink another $10+ into a word processor for my iPad.

[Don Kosak]

I bought it.

Seems pretty well executed. And I'm very particular about Apps.

I like the way they did formatting -- makes it much easier to use styles.

I like the way they implemented the "slide your finger around the keyboard area to rapidly move the caret or select text" feature.

The autocorrect replacement they came up with is much better IMHO than the native iOS autocorrect.

The Dropbox seems very solid, and lets you keep folders off line for traveling or whatnot.

I wish there was a way to "hide" margins quickly. I know you're editing in WYSIWYG and I appreciate the fidelity they achieved -- but showing the left and top margins when screen real-estate is so valuable is a little wasteful. I'd like to be able to turn them on or off. (My work around is to set margins to 0 while writing and change them back when saving as PDF or printing, but that's awkward and alters text-flow/paging, so it's not ideal.)

I think I'm going to get a lot of use out of this App. It's already moved to a prominent place on my iPad's home screen.

I haven't tried it out on my iPhone (it is a Universal App), but I expect I won't use it as much on my phone.

I use my iPad as my primary computer quite often, and although the Pages App is good, I don't like it as much as Pages on my iMac. UX Write looks like it might fill that gap.

[nadinbrzezinski]

Originally Posted by Don Kosak

I bought it.

Seems pretty well executed. And I'm very particular about Apps.

I like the way they did formatting -- makes it much easier to use styles.

I like the way they implemented the "slide your finger around the keyboard area to rapidly move the caret or select text" feature.

The autocorrect replacement they came up with is much better IMHO than the native iOS autocorrect.

The Dropbox seems very solid, and lets you keep folders off line for traveling or whatnot.

I wish there was a way to "hide" margins quickly. I know you're editing in WYSIWYG and I appreciate the fidelity they achieved -- but showing the left and top margins when screen real-estate is so valuable is a little wasteful. I'd like to be able to turn them on or off. (My work around is to set margins to 0 while writing and change them back when saving as PDF or printing, but that's awkward and alters text-flow/paging, so it's not ideal.)

I think I'm going to get a lot of use out of this App. It's already moved to a prominent place on my iPad's home screen.

I haven't tried it out on my iPhone (it is a Universal App), but I expect I won't use it as much on my phone.

I use my iPad as my primary computer quite often, and although the Pages App is good, I don't like it as much as Pages on my iMac. UX Write looks like it might fill that gap.

After much thinking about it, I got it. It has a few advantages over pages, such as the outline that allows me to work on snipets of text. And since Scriverner is taking it's sweet time to come to the IPAD... by the time they get to the IPAD... anyway, between that and Notebooks (which is coming to the Mac and PC platform as well), it seems I might be set.

The promise of footnotes (there is a work around for Pages), and tracking changes... The only downside... no word count. But I am sure that should be easy to implement for the developer.

Ok, it saves in html... that is what they invented copy and paste for. So if I need to get a document off it and into a format that the rest of the world can use (and are not computer literate), that is it. I need to write a light web page... it is a light coder too.

[skaertus]

Does it have support for footnotes and cross-references?

I work with long and complex documents and I always have to leave the iPad home and bring my heavy laptop with me due to the lack of advanced apps supporting the features I need...

[wyneken]

Bumping this thread in light of ongoing developments. Most notably:

• Full support for .docx has been added, according to the developer.
• The price has risen to USD 24.99.

The writer part of me really wants to add this app to my collection of pro working tools. It really does look more like a serious document-creation app than Pages. I like Pages and use it all the time, but can't escape the feeling that its word-crunching functions come second to its page-layout capabilities, which are awesome and fun.

US Write looks better even at this early stage, and the developer (a one-person shop) seems to have sensible roadmap for adding new capabilities. These are, from the dev's site:

Enhanced table editing (incl. styles).
Enhanced structured writing: headers, footers, footnotes, bibliography, and citations.
Find and replace and word count.
Equation editing.
Document comparison and change tracking.

But ... $25 USD? Not a lot in the context of desktop apps. (I used to use Nisus Writer on OSX, which ran about $80.) And I do believe in supporting indie developers.

So I'm wondering, do any users of UX Write have comments or experiences to share, one way or the other?