I wrote this in Ulysses

10.30.2015 | in Technology | by Aidan Coady

When I first started writing I didn’t think twice about what software I was using. I had long been involved in the Microsoft way of thinking - from Excel to Powerpoint and Word, I was a loyal Bill Gates customer, so to speak.

It wasn’t until I came to work as a content creator at Headspace that the question came up: is there a better way to be drafting copy? It was with Headspace’s Web Producer and Editor Benjamin Sullivan, who also happened to be my new boss, that the conversation was sparked. It went something like this (don’t mind my taste for screenplay):

FADE IN:

INT. HEADSPACE OFFICE - AFTERNOON

The Inbound Marketing team, whose current roster is Aidan Coady and Benjamin Sullivan, are furiously typing away. This is their first day together in a shared office.

AIDAN

I hate how the new Microsoft Word is always updating. I’m not even convinced the updates are changing anything, anymore.

Benjamin’s fingers stop their furious barrage against the keyboard. He remains still for some time, almost like a statue. He then slowly turns his head and stares at Aidan.

BENJAMIN (almost a whisper)

You use word.

A question in the form of a statement. It was in that moment that I came to understand two facts: 1. Benjamin doesn’t use Word and 2. I need to stop using it if I plan to see day two. OK - an over-dramatization, but you get the idea.

He would go on to explain to me that he had once used Word for copy, but had done a serious number on his eyes thanks to the blinding white background that Microsoft so courteously forbids you from changing. Once he discovered Ulysses (and it’s game-changing Dark Mode) he never looked back. After a few months of using it myself I can see why, and the perks go way beyond healthier eyesight.

Ulysses, for Mac, was built on the premise that the fundamental modern writer needs a specific suite of functionalities, but also that there are varying types of writers who have drastically different needs. At Headspace, collaboration is the name of the game. Once I had tasted the power of Dropbox syncing, collaborative edits, and the ability to break free from the Microsoft ecosystem, I was sold. Don’t worry though - I can still export to .DOCX.

Collaborate with me!

There are few occupations quite like writing when it comes to validating the claim that two heads are better than one. You could even argue for three, or four depending on the subject matter (our design team likes to chime in when we get to writing about colour palettes or Expression Engine). Everything I’ve ever written has come out better on the other side when you add an editor to the mix. The fact that Ulysses can be configured to automatically sync with Dropbox is a game changer; share a folder, wait for edits, and profit.

Headspace’s Inbound Marketing team is fuelled by Dropbox. Not ‘marketing line’ fuelled - I mean to say that if Dropbox went down for a day, business would stop. Ulysses integrates with Dropbox in the most wonderful sort of way: easy sidebar navigation a la Apple's Mail app.

To be clear, anything that reduces the amount of time I spend in my email client is a product I’ll pay for. Dropbox sync means my writing is not only available to anyone I share it with, it means the changes they write in Word, or Byword, or TextEdit, or their preferred poison will be made instantly. Think shared Google docs, but without all the Google.

Peace of mind

There’s nothing more frustrating than losing a piece of writing. I’ve lost pages of work (and bushels of hair) thanks to Word’s temperamental crashes. Now some of you might say that the reason I lost my work was because I wasn’t saving regularly enough, and that’s partially correct. When I’m in the zone I do forget to hit that pesky save button.

Here’s my counter in the form of a question: should my word process subject me to considering anything other than my writing? Worrying about whether or not your files are up to date is a problem we solved a decade ago.

Formatting and Markdown

One of the main selling points of Ulysses is that it plays nice with Markdown. You can read our Markdown article here, but for those of you in a hurry Markdown is a plain text formatting style. I can format a word to be italicized without hitting a italicize button, simply by writing an underscore on each side of it. Alternatively, hitting the italicize button in word means that in most cases that document will only have italics in it when opened in Word - problematic when you publish content on multiple websites and send documents around in varying formats. Markdown speeds me up, and works anywhere. Case closed.

The verdict

At Headspace, Ulysses is a must-have. It blends the utility of flexible export and publishing with the wonders of collaborative creation. Gone are my days of drafting in Word, or worse, drafting in a CMS. To learn more, head over to the Ulysses website, and a big thanks to The SoulMen for changing the name of the game.

• Ulysses
• Productivity