Add a word count to TextEdit with NanoCount

The less running on my wimpy little 800 MHz iBook the better. I know some folks around here *cough*C.K.*cough* have to tough it out on their shiny new PowerBooks, but my little sub-GHz G4 whomps them soundly— in the latency division... So I don't always have the processor cycles to spare for Word or OpenOffice. Especially when all I need is a little word count love. And counting words on a 12" screen is no fun either. Since all my favorite apps (except one) are tiny little single-purpose apps with a small footprint, I was ecstatic to find yet one more to add to the heap: NanoCount. It's a simple little floating window app that, when you're using TextEdit, will keep a running count of words in your current document. Switching to another document will reset the counter, and switching between docs keeps the count accurate across them.

A new version just came out, compacting the window, and adding a couple of fixes and features. Now for you writers (pro or student) out there, one handy feature is a word count goal. Setting this enables the little progress bar to "fill up" (or progress) as you type towards your final word count goal. This might have come in handy for this guy... Remember, NaNoWriMo starts in a week, and you gotta keep track of those 50,000 words somehow...