Other Sites

Provides: Idea/event management and blog posting

Format: Download or CD

Developer: Mariner Software

Minimum Requirements: Mac OS X v10.3.5 (including Universal Binary), Mac OS X v10.4 or higher for audio feature

Processor Compatibility: Universal

Retail Price: $39.95 boxed edition, $34.95 download edition, $139.95 family five pack, $14.95 upgrade

Availability: Out now

Version Reviewed: 4.0.5

I'm quite certain that software developers hate people like me. I'm the type of guy who takes a program, figures out how he wants to use it, and uses it that way only. This makes me fairly efficient up front, as I spend more time using programs than I do learning them, but I know it also means I'm wasting the potential of many programs. Even more maddening is that I'll often find programs designed to do one or two specific things when another program I already own has that capability built in.

This is both a positive and a negative for MacJournal. Obviously, I could use any word processor for writing and maintaining a journal (programs such as Nisus Writer and Mariner Software's own Mariner Write, for example), but fact of the matter is that MacJournal just does this better. On the other hand, MacJournal does offer blogging and podcasting capabilities, but I still use iWeb and GarageBand for those...because fact of the matter is that they just do it better. Before I get to that, though, let's recap exactly what MacJournal is.

MacJournal is a program for writers who seem to start more projects than they can finish. It's for those who come up with their best jokes and ideas when they don't have time to add them to their work in progress. Simply open MacJournal, add your idea, and close MacJournal. Back to what you were doing. I've been using MacJournal to document character descriptions, story ideas, jokes, particular lines I like, etc. I can create a different journal for different projects or for different items, and various items are easy to retrieve once they're entered.

Your journals and their entries are organized in and easily accessed through the Journal Drawer. A calendar at the bottom of the drawer allows you to select your entry by date. You can also assign keywords to your entries and search for them that way. Within the entries themselves, you can alter the text as you would for any word processor (typeface and font, color, etc.), and a built-in spell checker can help keep your entries error free. I was especially impressed with the clean-up features that automatically remove line breaks, convert multiple spaces to a single space, remove or discover hyperlinks, and so on. Very, very handy if you're pasting text from another source.

Even better, you can add images to your entry with drag and drop simplicity. The photo abilities have proven quite helpful. When I draw up my character sheets, I usually picture a specific person to help me stay focused on the character's appearance and attributes. Whether a celebrity or a personal acquaintance, I find it's a good idea to have a photo of that person handy when writing. With MacJournal, I keep the photos easily organized in my journal entries rather than scattering them about my desktop...which, as I've learned from my wife, is an especially good idea when a character is based on an old girlfriend. And obviously, if you're using MacJournal for blogging, the simple inclusion of photos is pretty much a necessity.

Speaking of blogging, those using MacJournal for this purpose obviously aren't worried about keeping their documents from prying eyes. But, if secrecy is needed, MacJournal offers two-level security (password and AES-256 encryption). When you are ready to share your thoughts with the world, MacJournal allows for exporting to text, Word, RTF (with or without attachments), HTML and MacJournal formats. More importantly, you can publish your entries directly to your blog. And although this method is improved a bit since v3, it's still not as simple as I'd like. I don't blame this entirely on MacJournal, it's just that it's working hard to be compatible with many different blog servers (including Movable Type, Blogger, WordPress, LiveJournal, and .Mac). So, the bad news is that you have to do some configuring in order to prepare MacJournal for your particular blog server. The good news, however, is that you're not stuck with one in particular. In fact, different journal entries can be configured for different blog servers, so you can keep multiple blogs in MacJournal and not be stuck with .Mac for all them, for example.

MacJournal v4 works with your Mac's built-in microphone to offer podcasting capabilities, but don't expect too much from this feature just yet. It records only in 64Kbps/44.1MHz mono, making it useful for voice only, and the procedure for getting your audio online is a bit archaic. This is what I was talking about earlier; finding the right tool for the job. Although I appreciate MacJournal's podcasting option, there's just better software out there for this. Rather than offer the ability itself, I'd rather that MacJournal offer better integration with these programs (such as GarageBand) to utilize their podcasting capabilities.

In fact, I'm somewhat disappointed with the lack of interaction between MacJournal and the rest of the outside world...and even the inside world. Sure, you can publish to your blog and export to other programs, but I'm surprised there's still no link between MacJournal and Mariner Write or Montage. I'd love to be able to access MacJournal from a button in the Mariner Write toolbar, and would be even happier if it would go right to the proper journal depending upon the document in which I was working. I'd also like to be able to publish my MacJournal to .Mac and have MacJournal automatically check there for updates when opening. This would make it easy to keep my files up to date when working from different locations.

And then there's the Full Screen option, which is something MacJournal has and every other text editing program needs. In Full Screen mode, MacJournal turns your entire screen black, enlarges the type and switches the text to green. This is much easier on the eyes, and is a wonderful feature, but it's more suited for long periods spent typing. Don't get me wrong...I love having it in MacJournal, but I tend to write in short bursts there. I'd rather see this in Mariner Write where I often spend hours at a time doing nothing but typing text.

I can't say that MacJournal isn't growing with each new release, because it certainly is. My complaint is that it's not necessarily growing in the directions I feel it should. This is because I don't use it for blogging purposes, however. Those who do are going to love the new version (provided they don't already love it, as it's been out for a while). If the rest of you are like me and prefer to use MacJournal specifically for organizing thoughts and ideas without the need to share them on the web...well, you may not need this particular upgrade, but you certainly need this program.