Two major writing apps for iPhone, iPad and Mac have received updates. Ulysses now handles tables, and iA Writer lets you create internal wikis.
Two popular writing apps for iPhone, iPad and Mac that have also been available on the App Store for many years – Ulysses and iA Writer – are announcing major new updates. In Ulysses, tables can now be created. iA Writer, meanwhile, can now also be used as a knowledge database with internal links (wikilinks).
Ulysses can create tables
The writing app Ulysses, first released in 2003, comes from Germany. A team of 16 is now coordinated from Leipzig, Germany, working to further develop the app, which was conceived by Marcus Fehn and Max Seelemann. Version 27, which was released on June 20, 2022, is something special because, according to Marcus Fehn, it fulfills an often-heard user request with the introduction of tables. These can be optionally created in the editor or imported from a DOCX, HTML or Markdown document. An export function to PDF, DOCX (Word), HTML, ePub and Markdown formats is also provided. In addition, the ability to publish tables to the WordPress, Ghost and Micro.Blog blogging systems.
Meanwhile, the app’s basic approach of eliminating distractions so users can focus on the text has not changed, Fehn said. Ulysses is offered on a subscription model.
iA Writer as a knowledge base
The writing app iA Writer also has a very long tradition. The company Information Architects originated in Tokyo (Japan) in 2005 and opened an office in Zurich (Switzerland) in 2009, where it has been based ever since. Originally specializing in websites, apps and infographics, the company released iA Writer, one of the best-selling writing apps for iPhone, iPad and Mac, in 2010. Versions for Android and Windows are also available. The programs, which sell for an unusually high one-time price for apps, have been purchased more than 750,000 times,
but for the high purchase price, existing customers also get the new version 6 as a free update. The biggest change in 12 years was worked on for two years with the help of 1000 beta testers. While at the beginning of the development of the app was the focused writing with Markdown, the focus of the new version is to develop iA Writer into a small knowledge database. The use of the syntax familiar from Wikipedia is also intended to reduce inhibitions about contributing to public wiki projects. Within the app, individual text contributions can be easily linked to one another. In addition to the knowledge database, there are other significant improvements, such as an auto-completion of hashtags, automatic link recognition and different colors for highlighting text.
