How we made Scribbble completely distraction free

I want to share a few things we've done with Scribbble to make it the most distraction-free writing app that exists on the market.

Removed editing options from the writing prompt

While some apps opt for highlight-to-edit functionality to remove the burden of looking at the edit options, I believe this is still a major shortcoming as it simply retrains your brain to highlight text as you type. This naturally becomes a burden to the writer as they wrestle with their thoughts. It's tempting to edit a few lines or words when the exact word doesn't come to mind.

We took a different approach and made a Focus and Edit modes. When you're in focus mode, as I am right now, the editing functions are completely gone. There is nothing you can do while you type. The switching cost to edit is literally moving your mouse to the top, switching views and editing there. This is not an easy feat if you want to make quick changes, but this is by design.

Now, when you type, your mind is not going to ask you to take a little break and bold a word or creating a heading for your writing.

Editing is available when you are actually finished writing.

Hid the top menu when writing

We did something unique that I have not seen any writing app do - we automatically hide the link menu when you are writing. This allows you to see nothing but your text. Now you are truly in the ultimate focus mode you can possibly be in an app.

Well, almost. We have another ultra focus mode planned but that's a surprise!

Disabled auto-correct

By default, auto-correct does not work in the focus mode. Here, you can type and make all sorts of errors without knowing it. This is also by design. Great writers will tell you not to edit yourself until you are finished. We took this to the extreme to disable auto-correct. This way you are not right-clicking every mistyped word to correct it. You can do all of this in editing.

In fact, we'll introduce another fun power-editing function that's going to make your editing magical. I won't say what that function is just yet, it'll be a surprise.

Removed the title

Every platform in existence will ask you for a title before you even start writing. We think this is backwards. Your writing comes first and title last.

Many of the greatest writers struggle with book titles. The greatest copywriters write ten or more headlines, often many more just to get one that feels right. We felt it is backwards to have to dedicate that kind of effort to a blank piece of paper when what you should really be doing is getting your thoughts out as fast as possible. Only when you start writing a lot, can you actually edit down to the bare necessities that make for good writing.

These seemingly small changes will make for a much more focused writing experience. We're eager for you to try it out and let us know if it works in practice for your personal writing style. 🙌