Whenever I write for a blog entry, I either use Microsoft Word or the online WYSIWYG program that is included in my blogging software. The problem using these methods for writing content, however, is that there are a lot of distracting elements in either of these writing platforms.

If you look at Microsoft Word for example, then you will notice the barrage of toolbars (for pre-Office 2007) and ribbons (for Office 2007) that clutter your monitor. Although the toolbars are there to provide quick shortcuts for complex functions, for writing there are no needs for special formatting. Similar problem goes for online writing software. Although there are great online WYSIWYG programs that has a simple layout, they still suffer in terms of slow response, loss of data (If you stay in session for too long and forget to save!), and HTML markup formatting issues. Many might tolerate these problems either way, but I have decided to explore a good writing platform that is simple and reliable. My findings lead me to a nice small program called "Darkroom".

Darkroom is a simple text editor that covers the entire screen with black background and your green texts. There are no menus, and even the taskbar is covered up with the black background. I was a bit skeptical of the program effectiveness in providing a distraction free writing environment, but as I write this blog entry I can truly say that I can write effectively in this unique program environment.

I still need some functions for my blog entry before I post them, including spell check and minor custom HTML markups. That won't be a problem, because I plan to import my blog entry (which is saved in *.txt format) to word to check grammar and spell-check before posting it online. After writing this relatively long entry without hiccups, I highly recommend anyone to try this unique, yet simple program.

Download the program from this website and try it!