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The first thing that happened when I started typing was a big pop up balloon appearing at the top of the screen telling me to follow them on Twitter and requiring me to click a small cross in order to close it. I'm confused, how is this in line with "focus on writing" and "chrome fades away"? It seems like there are some conflicting priorities here.

I also find the crossfading chrome to be jarring, but that might just be me.

I wish that they would simplify it and remove the social media prompts.
This website seems to pop-up on hacker news each week. I've got nothing against it but I'd suggest saying the difference between last time..?! If I remember well, it was way more minimalistic before. I find "The best text editor" to be a bit "strong" as google doc is clearly better and I don't really see why quietwrite would be better..?
Don't want to toot my own horn, but this is very similar to something I wrote a while ago and released on GitHub. For those who want to run their own copy see https://github.com/boyter/BATF
I like it a lot! I use Omniwriter on my Mac, but there are lots of computers I need to work on that aren't Macs and where I can't install desktop software.

@richcollins there are tons of good minimalist writing apps out there, but they are all downloads - this solves the problem where you aren't at your main computer but need to write...

@nametoremember are you serious? Google Docs has many great features, but for the simple task of writing it is actually pretty clunky and definitely NOT minimalistic.

Why would i use something like this? If i want to write something quietly, i can just write it in MS Word.
Is it just me or have there been a lot of "check out how minimalistic ally I can implement a text editor on the web that saves" lately? Personally not seeing too much value here, though the design direction is nice.
The obsession with minimalism at the expense of features is some kind of illness.

Simple to use is good. But making something simple to use by removing useful features is pretty dumb.

Breaks my back button.

And I'll join in the chorus of "what's the point?".

For those that are overwhelmed by the features of google docs, just open gmail, hit compose and start typing. Your message will get auto-saved as a draft. I've been using this as my "minimalist text editor" for a while now.
Big popup balloon?

Also chrome doesn't fade away. False title.

I am wondering if too much obsession with minimalism and claiming that "google docs features distracts me" are minor symptoms of some mental disorder (like form of autism or something)?
Different people have different preferences. This has always been the case, and is equally true for user interfaces. I don't see why you have to drag autism into this.