It might indicate a complex sentence structure, but that isn’t the criticism from Hemingway App. “Therefore” is not a very complicated word. For instance, if you say someone was “fastidious” when you might be better off saying they were “neat,” this would be a welcomed comment from a proofreading app. The point of the purple-highlighted text from Hemingway App is to make sure you aren’t using unnecessarily complicated words. In this simple example, the app has targeted the word “therefore” as one that should be simpler. All examples are excerpts from Strunk and White’s Elements of Style (1918). Sometimes, Hemingway App’s more specific advice is wrong or inapplicable. You get a nice estimate, but as will become a theme in this review, this is far short of gospel. It is based solely on the average characters per word and words per sentence. This is not a scoring method specific to this software, but rather a somewhat old way of matching a text’s difficulty to a US grade level. The most obviously useful tool it gives is the readability score, which is calculated via the Automated Readability Index. However, it is no replacement for careful proofreading or a copy editor. It just needs to be good enough for the kinds of people who would never shell out that sort of cash. In that sense, they’re hardly competition to Hemingway App, because it doesn’t have to be better than Grammarly and the like. Legitimate competitors exist in this arena, like Grammarly and WhiteSmoke, both of which cost well over $100 per year. I wouldn’t hold out for a fix, either, since the app has gone without updates since it was introduced in the summer of 2014. I believe it only happens when you have filled the editor window, causing a need to scroll. It took me a little while to figure it out, but all you have to do is press enter once or twice to get things back in line. As you can see in the screenshot below, the lines all mush together for no apparent reason. I haven’t figured out the exact cause of this just yet, but it happens just about every single time I use Hemingway to compose. Last but not least for the interface, sadly, are bugs. One issue I do have when comparing the composition and editing modes is that since the writing mode hides the scoring and errors, there is a lot of wasted space on the side of the window.
#Review hemingway editor software#
Some more sophisticated proofreading software takes quite a while to do its checking, but there is no discernible wait time with Hemingway App. The transition between writing and editing modes is smooth enough and, perhaps more importantly, quick. I don’t have any complaints about the way they have put together the proofreading look it draws attention to the elements effectively and does a good job of layering when the same word has multiple criticisms. The “edit” mode, which is at the top of this article and sprinkled throughout, obviously has more to look at. The “write” mode, as seen just above this paragraph, is where you have the most minimalistic interface. There are no options to customize the look and feel of the app, which is another thing that may or may not bother you depending your needs and expectations.
This is forgivable, of course, because Hemingway App is more than a text editor. Hemingway App lacks the smoothness, typography, and overall attention to detail that makes a minimal text editor great.
#Review hemingway editor free#
While the design approach is fine, there will be better options if all you really want is a simple text editor free of distractions. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as the current trend in text editors is to be minimalistic. The general look and feel of Hemingway App is rather spartan. Check out our review of Hemingway App 2.0. Since this article was published, Hemingway App's developers published an update. I’ll break things down, feature by feature, from here. This can be a virtue or a curse, depending on your needs. At first glance, Hemingway App on the desktop is nearly indistinguishable from Hemingway App on the web. You can guess the use cases for each, with the highlighting and scoring features only visible in “edit” mode. There are two basic modes for use: write and edit. Generally speaking, per the advice of Hemingway App, lower scores are better. Likewise, the app will give you a word count and an overall readability score. We will get into more detail as we go, but you will immediately notice that it highlights sentences and words that require attention.
#Review hemingway editor mac#
I don’t have any particular reason to believe that the Mac and Windows versions are different, but you can take the appropriate grain of salt if needed.Ībove is a capture of Hemingway App at work. Hemingway App for desktops review: Promising, but probably not worth your moneyĪ quick note: I used the Mac version for this review.
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