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DESCRIPTION

Bean is lean, fast, and uncluttered. If you get depressed at the thought of firing up MS Word or OpenOffice, try Bean.

If you use Text Edit but have to jump through hoops just to get a word count or change the margins, try Bean.

If you're pining away for Write Now-esque simplicity or just want a low-pressure writing environment, try Bean.

Features:
  • a live word count
  • a Get Info panel for in-depth statistics
  • a zoom-slider to easily change the view scale
  • an Inspector panel with lots of sliders
  • date-stamped backups
  • autosaving
  • a page layout mode
  • an alternate colors option (e.g., white text on blue)
  • an option to show invisible characters (tabs, returns, spaces)
  • selection of text by text style, paragraph style, color, etc.
  • a floating windows option (like Stickies has)
  • easy to use menus
  • remembers cursor postion (excluding .txt, .html, .webarchive formats)
  • all of Cocoa's good stuff (dictionary, word completion, etc.)
  • please keep in mind that Bean is betaware
Download Now
WHAT'S NEW
Version 1.2:
  • images now indicate when they are selected with a selection-colored box (user suggestion)
  • added a small ‘EXIT’ button in the status bar as a hard-to-miss way to exit full screen mode
  • Find > Define Word now accepts multiple word selections, like ‘local time,’ or ‘turn on the charm’
  • added Style > Select by > Font Style/Ruler
  • added Style > Select by > Font Family/Ruler (like above, but selects italics, bold, etc. variations)
  • Changed the factory default rich text font to Times New Roman instead of Times. Text lays out up to three times faster using Times New Roman, despite the fact that the two fonts are nearly identical!
  • new keyboard shortcut for Format > Justify: Cmd-\ (the old one stopped working after the move to the 10.5 SDK)
  • Style > Select by... menu now contains all select-by-style actions
  • restored show/hide Font Panel action to Cmd-T (toggle function disappeared after the move to the 10.5 SDK)
  • fixed a problem where Inspector wouldn’t display correct initial settings for any document opened with the cursor at the start of the document
  • file links containing spaces now open immediately
  • fixed minor ruler widgets drawing problem
REQUIREMENTS
Mac OS X 10.4 or later.
RELATED LINKS


SCREENSHOT

Developer:James Hoover
Downloads:19,401
  - Version d/l:1,554
Business:Word Processing
License:Free
Date:29 Apr 2008
Platform:PPC/Intel
RATING
****½
Bean User Reviews (34 posts)Write A Review
May 13 2008
*****

WASTED MY TIME  -

Bean is great!

Possible enhancements:

- Convert multiple spaces to one space (I often type two or more spaces if I write fast.)

Search & Replace is such a long way for that correction. A shortcut for that (maybe ctrl-alt-apple-space) would be great.

- Delete line breaks/line feeds in a selection (usefull if you get a hard formatted text with to long lines from someone) A shortcut for that

- Ability to delete points in a selection (Some people use points instead of spaces in some documents, Search & Replace can't replace points, I don't know why it can't do that)

- Standard background in another color (light grey or so) instead of white (white is so hard for the eyes on modern LCDs)

- Delete given background colors

- Save Search & Replace actions for later use (if possible)

- The Multilingual Edition is still at 0.91...

Is it hard to localize for some reasons?

Again: even in it's early state an absolutely great app, many thanks.  (Version 1.2)

[ Reply ]
May 8 2008
*****

DANSILLUMINE  This is by far the best text editor I have encountered for my needs. I find it to be intuitive and streamlined. It allows for as many or as few features I need for any given preliminary writing project. The full screen mode allows me to write without the distraction of background programs or toolbars. At times it is easier for me to focus utilizing a black background with light colored text, that is a great benefit. It is also good for outlining a project without the fuss of loaded word processors. I think the Bean crew has done an excellent job of creating an editor which inspires a writer with a bad case of writers block, that is no easy task!   (Version 1.2)

[ Reply ]
May 2 2008

ALEX111  If Bean had columns it would be the bees knees. Despite that, it is such a neat, tidy little package - and so pleasing to use. Thanks very much!  (Version 1.2)

[ Reply ]
Mar 27 2008
****.

MIKURO  Bean is basically an improved TextEdit. They share the same foundation. Many people are not aware that TextEdit can do some fairly advanced things like tables and headers, because the features are not well-presented in TextEdit. Bean presents them well. It also adds some features TextEdit lacks, like word count and the ability to show invisible characters (spaces, returns, etc.). Bean's interface is generally simpler and more powerful than, in my opinion.

The downside is that since Bean uses the same core as TextEdit, it shares the same basic faults as TextEdit. If you need to open .doc files, Bean will give you the same shoddy conversion as TextEdit — so you'll still want NeoOffice for that. Bean has some quirks with table editing, as well, just like TextEdit.

I like Bean. It's simple and very good for what it is. It is a not a full-featured word processor, but it's great for when you don't need a full-featured word processor — which for me is most of the time. I view Bean as a replacement for TextEdit, not a replacement for NeoOffice. If that's what you're looking for, you will be pleased with Bean.  (Version 1.0.1)

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