MiniWord

A minimal word processor in python. In development but already great.

Key Aspects

• Real WYSIWYG editing (no HTML layer, no embedded browser)
• Lightweight and fast startup
• Minimal dependencies (wxPython + Cairo)
• Clean, simple file format (human-readable, diff-friendly, git-friendly, AI-friendly)
• Good Markdown support
• Extensible via Python-plugins

Dependencies

Miniword is developed under Linux. In principle it should run under Windows and Mac as well.

The following dependencies are required:

• Python >= 3.9
• wxPython >= 4.0
• Cairo >= 1.2

On Debian all dependencies are installed by

sudo apt install python3-wxgtk4.0 python3-cairo

Testing

Running miniword without installation is possible:

cd miniword
python -m miniword

Install (Linux)

Install all dependencies. Then

cd miniword
pip install .

MiniWord stores its configuration and plugins in ~/.config/miniword/ (Linux). If you want to install the plugins (you probably will)

mkdir -p ~/.config/miniword/plugins
cp examples/*.py ~/.config/miniword/plugins

If you want to register MiniWord to the desktop (you probably will)

cp miniword/icons/miniword.svg ~/.local/share/icons/
cp miniword.desktop ~/.local/share/applications/

Install (Windows)

Installation on Windows is possible, but more challenging. You should use cairocffi instead of pycairo:

pip install cairocffi

You also need to install the Cairo DLL. The easiest way is to install the full GTK3 runtime from: https://github.com/tschoonj/gtk-for-windows-runtime-environment-installer/releases

You must add the directory containing libcairo-2.dll to your PATH environment variable. In my case, this is:

C:\Program Files\GTK3-Runtime Win64\bin

If you want to install the plugins (you probably will)

mkdir %APPDATA%\miniword\plugins
copy examples\*.py %APPDATA%\miniword\plugins

MiniWord stores its configuration and plugins in %APPDATA%\miniword\ (e.g. C:\Users\<you>\AppData\Roaming\miniword\).

Note that MiniWord is not yet optimised for Windows. While it mostly works, the rendering quality is lower and startup times are a bit slow.

Install (macOS)

If you want to install the plugins (you probably will)

mkdir -p ~/Library/Application\ Support/miniword/plugins
cp examples/*.py ~/Library/Application\ Support/miniword/plugins

MiniWord stores its configuration and plugins in ~/Library/Application Support/miniword/.

Note that MiniWord has not been tested on macOS.

License

This project is licensed under the GNU General Public License v3.0 – see LICENSE for details. Contact me if you need something else.