Examined: Writing and Markdown tool Ulysses 2.7 for macOS and iOS

The Mac and iOS versions of Ulysses got handy, incremental improvements on Wednesday, and AppleInsider puts virtual pen to paper to test them out.

Ulysses 2.7 is a writing studio, or a writing environment, rather than a straight word processor. Users write in it like they would Pages or Microsoft Word, but Ulysses is focused equally on writing, organizing all writing work, and then preparing it to be read online or in print. 

This is software that has earned a following —the new 2.7 updates for iOS and especially for macOS are aimed at pleasing those existing fans. Rather than substantial changes that might draw new users, the updates are about steadily improving what Ulysses already offers.

The most visible development is that Ulysses 2.7 for macOS Sierra now supports the Touch Bar on the new MacBook Pro. Without taking your fingers off the keyboard users can get the Ulysses version of a table of contents in a document —or what this app refers to as a "sheet." 

Sheets are a content list compiled from Markdown-style headings, so if you use Markdown, you're happy. If you don't, the button and its equivalent on the app's main window do nothing at all.

Markdown?

Markdown is a markup language with plain text formatting syntax, designed so that it can be converted to HTML and many other formats easily with an assortment of utilities. The syntax is often used to format readme files, for writing messages in online discussion forums, and to create rich text using a plain text editor. 

If you've used the Slack correspondence tool, you've probably used Markdown.