Freeware

Bean: The Most Minimal of Word Processors

By EAN ⋅ August 9, 2007 ⋅  Email this Post ⋅  Print this Post ⋅ Post a Comment

Developer: James Hoover
Version: 0.9.6
Price: Free (and Open Source)
Download Bean Here.

Because of the “huge” popularity of my review of AbiWord, I’ve decided to another review of a word processor. This time, one specifically designed for OSX and written in Cocoa. Now, this is in contrast to AbiWord, a program that was designed for all three major operating systems but has yet to be updated for Intel processors on Macs - making it one of the worst word processors available for OSX.

Anyway, Bean is a very tiny word processor that fits into a niche that I’m not really sure we needed. Think of it as a cross between a full featured word processor with all of the fixings, like Microsoft Word, but with a set of components that are more in line with a traditional Notepad or TextEdit type of program. In other words, it’s the perfect word processor for writing down the small stuff: grocery lists, blog entries, paragraph length school paper, and the like. However, when it comes to the major, heavy duty word processing stuff like Microsoft Word contains, Bean falls a little short.

But that’s not really a problem because Bean is designed to be a very small word processor that replaces your need for the default TextEdit program. And it does a fine job at doing so. There are a few benefits packed into Bean that I simply cannot find on any other free word processors for my Mac.

So what are these features I speak of? What makes this seemingly worthless program actually worth while? The big feature here is something that I absolutely adore from Microsoft Word 2007, a live word count right there on my document. A lot of the work I do involves the need to see how many word’s I’ve written. Essays, web copy, etc. all requires that I stay within a certain word limit, and when I’m flying through an assignment, the last thing I want to do is hunt around for a button or menu item that takes me to a pop up word counter. Nope, I need my word counter right in front of me.

Another big benefit of the latest version of Bean is to set a default save file type. This was a complaint in my review of AbiWord - and Bean comes through by providing this highly useful feature for its users. Splendid! Bean also contains a decent list of file types to choose from.

Aside from those two big guns, Bean also has a couple of other features that are worth looking at, especially for such a small program. For one, Bean can import pictures into documents, making it easy to create quick fliers and the like. Also, Bean’s window and menu items are nicely styled to flow with the whole Mac look, really giving it a friendly and accessible feeling.

So, is Bean as good as some of the other free word processors out there? No. But it does the job it is designed for, has a couple of features that I (and I’m sure some of you) need, and it is so lightweight that I don’t have to worry about it soaking up system resources. It’s one of those programs that I’m really glad I happened across. If you’re looking for that elusive non-Microsoft word processor for your Apple, give Bean a spin.

Hope you enjoy using Bean as much as I do.

Try Bean for Yourself.

- Eric Norton