About

What is writing but a dream on a page? Ishmael is my dream writing app.

Every time I started a new writing project I would look for something like Ishmael. There have been a few contenders over the years; apps that stripped back word processing to the essentials. But nothing quite lived up to the app I had constructed in my mind. Editors declared themselves distraction-free but added in the distraction of Markdown and removed features I still wanted.

A messy desk is a distraction. But you don't fix it by throwing away everything. You find a place for the objects on the desk, so they are out of sight but nearby—should you need them.

Typography is not a distraction. Let's keep that. Spelling is a distraction (think red squiggles). Let's put that in a drawer until we need it.

It's these decisions and many more like them that influenced the design of Ishmael.

The author

Ishmael is built by Will McGugan on sabbatical in Thailand.