I listened to you guys on Mac Power Users talking about Byword and I'm still not quite clear about why you prefer Byword to your own app for writing. What does it do that nvALT doesn't it? Or is it not a question of features so much as the aesthetics? No knock against Byword but it seems that the preference for text editor is more a function of looks than anything else. Thanks.
It really is 80% about looks (and feel) for me. If I'm going to stare at a page for a while, I'd just assume it be a pleasant experience. Byword also does an excellent job with subtle syntax highlighting, auto-pairing, selection wrapping and autosave. It's just plain better for writing. nvALT can do all of it, but the aesthetic of Byword makes it my top choice.
How would you compare Marked to Byword? Advantages/disadvantages?
At the moment I am thinking about buying a nice little text editor with Markdown support and those two seem the most worthy competitors. And while I am intrigued by Marked's simplicity and price, I adore Byword's style and the possibility to format text via context menu.
Marked isn't an editor, it's a viewer that watches a file for updates and keeps a live preview of Markdown/MultiMarkdown files going. Byword is an excellent editor for Markdown. While Byword can render your Markdown (and provides options for copying HTML source), Marked has a few more export options and the ability to handle custom stylesheets.
The two work beautifully together, but if you're only interested in an editor, Byword is the way to go.
I'm flattered by this as well, Brett. Thank you.
I just want just put emphasis in the fact that in the last couple releases we have completely changed gears towards the more useful side of a writing app.
Of course, having released such barebones 1.0, we now face the hard task of explaining everyone Byword is much more than just a pretty distraction-free writing tool. Good thing articles like this tell us we are headed in the right direction and that's the best motivation I can ask for.
Last but not least, I'd also like to add I'm not the sole developer behind Byword. There's also Rúben and Bruno who put a whole lotta love in Byword.
Remarkbox