April 10, 2026
No browser, no peace?
Show HN: A WYSIWYG word processor in Python
No-browser word processor thrills purists, but Mac users hit a missing‑file wall
TLDR: A lightweight Python word processor with true what‑you‑see editing and no browser layer charmed old‑school fans, but Mac users hit a missing‑file error. The thread split between applauding the simplicity and urging fixes, with a side debate over classic text‑editing tricks—proof there’s demand for fast, offline tools.
A tiny new Python word processor just dropped, promising real WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) without any web browser tricks. It’s lean, starts fast, and leans on two old-school graphics tools—wxPython and Cairo—plus a clean, human‑readable file format that plays nice with version control and even AI. Devs cheered the throwback vibe, with one fan gushing, “Love to see wxPython!”
But the honeymoon didn’t last long. Mac users quickly sounded the alarm: an error about a missing module—miniword.core.utils—sparked day-one drama. One commenter even claimed the file doesn’t exist in the repo, turning the thread into a live bug hunt. Meanwhile, the anti-browser crowd lit candles and blew kisses—“I adore anything that avoids using a browser. <3” became the unofficial rallying cry.
Then came the nerd-snipe: someone dropped a link to the classic Rope data structure—a decades-old trick for handling big text edits—implying the hard parts were “already solved.” That nudged the conversation into the eternal debate: reinventing wheels vs. building something delightfully simple. Fans love the Markdown support and Python plugins; skeptics want cross‑platform polish now. Verdict? It’s a scrappy, promising throwback that made the web-averse cheer—and made Mac users reach for the bug spray.
Key Points
- •MiniWord is a minimal Python-based word processor offering real WYSIWYG editing without HTML or an embedded browser.
- •It emphasizes lightweight operation, fast startup, and minimal dependencies (wxPython and Cairo).
- •The file format is human-readable, diff-friendly, git-friendly, and AI-friendly, with good Markdown support.
- •It is developed on Linux and intended to run on Windows and Mac; dependencies required are Python ≥ 3.9, wxPython ≥ 4.0, and Cairo ≥ 1.2.
- •Users can run MiniWord without installation; optional desktop integration involves copying an icon and a .desktop file. The project is licensed under GPL v3.0.