Penzu
So I have been having fun with a little program called Penzu.
Basically it’s an online journal but instead of a world like LiveJournal, it’s primary purpose is to be a private journal. It has a sleek interface with few frills, very Web 2.0 they would say. It also has very few customization options, being able to insert pictures into your posts is basically it.
It allows you to print, e-mail, and “lock” your posts. Locking is basically a secondary security feature should anyone enter your account, allowing you to place a second password on specific posts.
Then the question then becomes well why would you use this program over say your word processor? I think there are actually several reasons it might be appealing.
1. Tabbed structure:
Every entry you write is organized to the side of the page on tabs listed by date and title, nice simple organization. Much preferable to a word processor environment where you would either be spending all your time opening different documents or scrolling, scrolling, scrolling.
2. Lack of distractions:
I am very easily distractible. If I had been born five years later I probably would have been diagnosed with ADD. (Seriously I just finished typing that statement and then I was off telling my cats to get along and watching my Siamese pull himself from a hole in his cat tree to the top platform. He’s getting porky, I think he needs to go on a diet.) I know I’m not the only one. I’m sure we’ve all come across blogs or online journals that look absolutely fantastic and have plenty of links and “widgets” but completely lack on the content end of it. Too many options just distract from the actual task, which in this case, would be writing. With Penzu most people would have no problem buckling down and getting straight to work.
3. Privacy
Not only is Penzu a private system but it is designed around being private. Unlike options such as the LiveJournal engine which is optimized for community with an option to limit who is allowed to see it. This allows someone to create a truly private environment, much like a paper journal or diary, with the added benefit of being able to password protect and without the messy ink. The ability to add an extra ‘lock’ also adds a security to people who have to share computers with family members or roommates.
4. “Penzu” just goes really well with “Schizmu”
Ok not really.
Will Penzu be a good tool for aspiring journal writers out there? I honestly can’t say for sure. I can see people who really want simplicity in programs loving it, and I can see a lot of people hating it’s “boringness”. Right now it is in beta status so large changes could also still be made. If you think you might like it you really just have to try for yourself.
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