Writing-Improving Apps

Hemingway is an app that helps improve the user's writing by highlighting text that may be problematic or require tweaking. The app is named by the great American writer Ernest Hemingway, who gained much renown as a result of his uncomplicated and easy-to-understand style of writing.

The app highlights problem text in different colors depending on the nature of the problem. Sentences that are fragmented or somewhat tricky to read are highlighted in yellow, while sentences that are downright difficult to process are highlighted in red. Adverbs are highlighted in blue, while words with simpler alternatives are highlighted in purple. Finally, instances of use of the passive voice are highlighted in green.

However, the use of adverbs and passive voice isn't always a bad thing, and the Hemingway app knows this. The app recommends a suggested quota of these elements based on the length of the piece of writing.

The current edition of the app is strictly web-based and cannot accept files, meaning text has to be pasted into the webpage. The developers are working on a desktop version which would include the ability to open and save text files.