iA has released version 8 of iA Writer.

It’s been a stable item in my toolkit for years. I reach for it whenever I need to write long-form or really need to focus.

You can read the full breakdown on their website, but two things stood out.

The command palette is now invoked either as a keyboard shortcut or as a menu item. They probably noticed that users stuck to one or the other, so they made it a choice and removed a button from the interface.

The new search opens to the table of contents of the current document by default. Start typing and the first results come from that document, followed by others in order of recency. One button, three purposes: global search, in-document search, table of contents.

What I appreciate most about iA is that their updates never feel like padding. They don’t add things. They fold them in.