Distraction Free Writing with TextEdit and BackDrop
TUAW has a neat little write up on using TextEdit plus BackDrop to make a minimalist, distraction free writing environment. I quite like the idea. Have a look:
But as every would-be writer knows, getting started is half the battle. To ease the friction of entering into this ‘distraction free’ scenario, I made a little AppleScript to give you one less excuse.
tell application "Finder" to set windSz to bounds of window of desktop
set w1 to item 1 of windSz
set w2 to item 3 of windSz
set h1 to item 2 of windSz
set h2 to item 4 of windSz
set nw2 to (w2 * 0.7)
set nh2 to (h2 * 0.9)
set nw1 to (w2 - nw2)
set nh1 to ((h2 - nh2) - 20)
tell application "Backdrop" to activate
delay 0.1
tell application "TextEdit"
activate
set winNo to (count windows)
if winNo is less than 1 then
make new document
end if
set bounds of window 1 to {nw1, nh1, nw2, nh2}
end tell
What Does the Script Do?
Please have a look for yourself.
How Does the Script Work?
The above bit of AppleScript first checks your monitor size and does some calculations to determine an appropriate size for a TextEdit window. Secondly, it checks if you have a TextEdit document open. If so, it grabs it and resizes it in front of BackDrop. If not, it makes you a new one. It’s quite simple and, in my opinion doesn’t require much explanation. Let me know in the comments if you disagree.
Download BackDrop. It’s freeware.
March 25th, 2009 at 6:29 am
Well I just do this (13″ Macbook):
tell application "TextEdit"activate
if number of windows is 0 then error number -128
set bounds of front window to {0, 22, 1280, 800}
end tell
tell application "System Events"
keystroke "r" using {command down}
end tell
March 25th, 2009 at 8:25 am
@CD Your script will set the TextEdit window to the full width of your monitor. I think personally I’d find it difficult to write across that much horizontal space. My script creates and resizes a TextEdit window relative to the monitor size, leaving some space on either side of the document (as well as some at the top and bottom, which is personal preference). I tested it on a 24 inch screen and a 15 inch and found it to create acceptably sized documents for both.