lewan@utpsych.toronto.edu (Stephan Lewandowsky) (05/11/89)
I've been using WordStar for years and years, and refuse to give
up my habit of moving the cursor around using simple ^Fs or ^As.
On the other hand, aside from this feature, the WordStar interface is
of course dreadful and even seems to be getting worse with each "new"
release.
After looking at other major word processors (Word Perfect, Word)
my frustration has grown even more: they are, in my opinion, even worse
than WordStar.
So here is my wishlist for the *perfect* word processor. Does anyone know
of any package that has all these features (or comes even close)?
o Multiple Windows
o Multiple files, cut & paste between files
o Multiple Undo
o LIGHTNING FAST!
o VGA support (>25 lines if desired)
o Small (<1MB)
o Programmable macros
o Intelligent search & replace
o Key redefinition (to give me those ^Fs and ^As :-)
o On-line spellchecker and synonym finder or dictionary
o Some arithmetic
o Escape to DOS shell
o *GOOD* outlining capabilities
o File conversion utilities (import ASCII, WordStar, etc.)
o Footnote/bibliography management
o *GOOD* WYSIWYG (no ^PS^PB aberrations)
o Dynamic reformatting of paragraphs (no ^B^QP cludges)
o Postscript support (HP LaserJet goes without saying...)
I guess I want a word processing clone of BRIEF or VEDIT. By the way,
I've heard that XY Write 3+ has all (or most) of these features. Is this
true? If so, where has XY Write been reviewed recently?
Please reply to lewan@psych.toronto.edu. I may post a summary of replies
if they appear interesting.
Thanks for your help.kjeld@iesd.dk (Kjeld Flarup) (05/12/89)
I would suggest that you use Borland's sprint. It has the ability to emulate a lot of other textprocessors userinterface and document types. If you are a real hacker you can also setup your own userinterface. Anyway it comes both with a WordStar userinterface and a Borland interface which is much like wordstar, only a little better. As the best part. It comes to Borland prices. Kjeld Flarup Christensen
leif@ambush.dk (Leif Andrew Rump) (05/12/89)
Do I need to say more (than the summary)? I use WordPerfect 5 (I'm thinking of moving back to 4.2 because of _ALL_ the bugs but I still want to use WordPerfect) - why? In article <1989May10.221510.20511@utpsych.toronto.edu>, lewan@utpsych.toronto.edu (Stephan Lewandowsky) writes: > o Multiple Windows You get two - OK - I would like to have more and simutaneous update > o Multiple files, cut & paste between files No problem - but still only two files > o Multiple Undo I know it's bad - Brief's undo would be _PERFECT_!!! > o LIGHTNING FAST! It is fast > o VGA support (>25 lines if desired) No problem (as far as I know) > o Small (<1MB) Hey hey - first your wan't it to be perfect and then ...!!! > o Programmable macros Got it! > o Intelligent search & replace It could be much better > o Key redefinition (to give me those ^Fs and ^As :-) No problem > o On-line spellchecker and synonym finder or dictionary The best you can ever get and I mean it! > o Some arithmetic Total, subtotal, ... > o Escape to DOS shell Ctrl+F1 > o *GOOD* outlining capabilities Like Word's? (ups!) > o File conversion utilities (import ASCII, WordStar, etc.) Your got it- but does it work? > o Footnote/bibliography management No problem in 5.0 > o *GOOD* WYSIWYG (no ^PS^PB aberrations) Not while you are writing, you have to press 3 keys. > o Dynamic reformatting of paragraphs (no ^B^QP cludges) Default! > o Postscript support (HP LaserJet goes without saying...) Works like a dream! o Context sensitive help You can't use the help key when you are in a menu o Menu driven _AND_ functionkeys You must use a functionkey to get into the first menulevel o _BUG FREE_ WordPerfect 5.0 _ISN'T_!!! (More informations to come on a news server in your galaxy) Leif Andrew Rump, AmbraSoft A/S, Roejelskaer 15, DK-2840 Holte, Denmark UUCP: leif@ambra.dk, phone: +45 42424 111, touch phone: +45 42422 817+313 > > > Why are tall Irish girls with red hair so wonderful ? ? ? < < <
stone@cunixb.cc.columbia.edu (Glenn Stone) (05/13/89)
You're right, XYwrite has most of the features you listed. But the product that's especially interesting to academics is NotaBene, a hybrid of XYwrite and FYI's text database. NotaBene retains all the features of XYwrite but gives you access to a powerful text search & retrieval system, which can be set up to search on keywords or strings. The two are not totally integrated yet; text is displayed in the database in "expanded mode" (analogous to WordStar 3.0's way of displaying ^Sunderlined^S text), but the NotaBenitos assure me the next version will take care of this. They also stress that the next version will be less intimidating than the present one (which comes with a 1000+ page manual). Contact Dragonfly Software, 285 W. Broadway - Suite 500, NYC 10013-2204. Phone 212-334-0445.
mms00786@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (05/13/89)
I feel obliged to put in a good word for LOTUS MANUSCRIPT, (inspite of the company it comes from!). It has all the features you want except for the size part, and all functions (almost) are selectable from a menu. It's slightly slow if you want to page preview a lot of graphics, but otherwise is an excellent program for writing large sectioned documents. No affiliation with LOTUS (God forbid!), just a satisfied user of *one* or their products. Milan.
daves@dbase.UUCP (Dave Schnepper) (05/16/89)
Framework III from Ashton-Tate also has most of the features you desire. It is an integrated program, so you get database, Spreadsheet, Graphics, electronic mail, and telecommunications abilities as well. Dave Schnepper Ashton-Tate
ellisond@gtephx.UUCP (Dell Ellison) (05/24/89)
I just wanted to point out another plus to WordPerfect (besides all the others). The fact that more of them have been sold than any other word processor, so it's much more likely that your word processor (if it's WordPerfect) is compatible with your neighbor's. ellisond@gtephx
gary@dvnspc1.Dev.Unisys.COM (Gary Barrett) (05/25/89)
In article <43669bfe.190fc@gtephx.UUCP>, ellisond@gtephx.UUCP (Dell Ellison) writes: > > I just wanted to point out another plus to WordPerfect (besides all the others). > The fact that more of them have been sold than any other word processor, so > it's much more likely that your word processor (if it's WordPerfect) is > compatible with your neighbor's. > > ellisond@gtephx I understand that WordPerfect is fully featured and widely used, but does that make it the BEST? I must be missing something. I have seen people fighting with WP's less than intuitive user interface time and time again. Excuse me for this flame, but that interface is TERRIBLE. Please, someone out there tell me that there is some magic secret (other than key macros) that can make WP acceptable to beginning users.
peter@aucs.UUCP (Peter Steele) (05/26/89)
> I understand that WordPerfect is fully featured and widely used, but > does that make it the BEST? I must be missing something. I have seen > people fighting with WP's less than intuitive user interface time and > time again. Excuse me for this flame, but that interface is TERRIBLE. > > Please, someone out there tell me that there is some magic secret > (other than key macros) that can make WP acceptable to beginning > users. There is no secret. WordPerfect's learning curve is greater than just about any wordprocessor I've seen. I've help people out of problems in Wordperfect that if I'd seen it in any other wordprocessor, I'd swear it was a bug in the program. But in WordPerfect, misplaced codes can create havoc. It *is* a full featured wordprocessor, and very popular, but WordStar used to be very popular too... (I do all my personal wordprocessing on a Mac in Word--give me WYSIWYG any time.) -- Peter Steele, Microcomputer Applications Analyst Acadia University, Wolfville, NS, Canada B0P1X0 (902)542-2201x121 UUCP: {uunet|watmath|utai|garfield}!dalcs!aucs!Peter BITNET: Peter@Acadia Internet: Peter%Acadia.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU
wew@naucse.UUCP (Bill Wilson) (05/26/89)
> > I understand that WordPerfect is fully featured and widely used, but > does that make it the BEST? I must be missing something. I have seen > people fighting with WP's less than intuitive user interface time and > time again. Excuse me for this flame, but that interface is TERRIBLE. > > Please, someone out there tell me that there is some magic secret > (other than key macros) that can make WP acceptable to beginning > users. You seem to be contradicting yourself. You asked for the best which may not be the easiest to use for a beginner. If you want the easiest for a beginner why don't you try using MacWrite on the Macintosh. But I would not say that is the best. When you are looking for a good package you need to take many things into account. First is ease of use. I find it easy to use... Second is the amount of features and the power of the package. Other that MS Word I would say that Word- Perfect is one of the most powerful and feature laden packages. MS Word is also very powerful and is also not the easiest to learn package. But does that make it bad? No! So, in essense, make up your mind. Do you want a wimpy package or one that will do all your work down the road? Pick a good one like MS Word or WordPerfect. -- Bill Wilson (Bitnet: ucc2wew@nauvm) Northern AZ Univ Flagstaff, AZ 86011 {Let sleeping dragons lie......}
casey@well.UUCP (Kathleen Creighton) (05/27/89)
WordPerfect's interface will improve with version 5.1 (Fall 1989). Built in mouse support and drop-down or Lotus-like menus. I agree that WP can be conceptually difficult for some people.
jwi@lzfme.att.com (Jim Winer @ AT&T, Middletown, NJ) (05/30/89)
In article <555@dvnspc1.Dev.Unisys.COM>, gary@dvnspc1.Dev.Unisys.COM (Gary Barrett) writes: > I understand that WordPerfect is fully featured and widely used, but > does that make it the BEST? I must be missing something. I have seen > people fighting with WP's less than intuitive user interface time and > time again. Excuse me for this flame, but that interface is TERRIBLE. > Please, someone out there tell me that there is some magic secret > (other than key macros) that can make WP acceptable to beginning > users. WordPerfect is intended for the professional business user (several hours every day), not for the novice. If you need the full features (and WPs are the best), pay the price and learn it. Similarly, Xywrite III Plus is designed for professional writers (mostly magazine) who use it several hours every day for writing but not formating, and Note Bene is designed for the academic user. If you need something simmple, buy something simple. Q&A Write comes with a nice data base and the package will do 90% of what the others will do but is much easier to run. If you don't need the 10%, don't pay for it in learning curve. WORD is mouse oriented -- some swear by it, but as far as I know, nobody who actually writes anything -- it's a pain in the ass to have to take your hands off the keyboard -- loses your thoughts every time. One other thing. If you only use the basic subset of WordPerfect, you won't have many function keys to worry about. Basically just Print (Shift-f7), Exit (f7), Search (f2), replace (Alt-f2), spell (Ctrl-f2), block (Alt-f4) and move (Ctrl-f4). Use the color coded keytop decals and the function key template and it's easy. Jim Winer ..!lzfme!jwi I believe in absolute freedom of the press. Pax Probiscus! Sturgeon's Law (Revised): 98.89% of everything is drek (1.11% is peanut butter). Rarely able to send an email reply sucessfully. The opinions expressed here are not necessarily Those persons who advocate censorship offend my religion.
gto@neoucom.UUCP (Thomas Osterfield) (05/31/89)
In article <1362@lzfme.att.com> jwi@lzfme.att.com (Jim Winer @ AT&T, Middletown, NJ) writes: > >If you need something simmple, buy something simple. .... > >One other thing. If you only use the basic subset of WordPerfect, >you won't have many function keys to worry about. ... Some book publisher (I think McGraw-Hill) sells a "basic subset of WordPerfect" as the College Edition of WordPerfect. It's the only word processor my wife will use. What's more, it will fit in the 256K my Tandy 1000EX is limited to (by our finances); however, we had to make our own function key labels to fit the "non-standard" layout of the early 1000's. [I, on the other hand go back and forth among PC-Write, Free VI, and the text part of Personal Deskmate, depending on requirements of the task. I have WordPerfect 5.0 on my machine at work, but very seldom use it. -- "then again," I sometimes return to TSEdit or Color Disk Scripsit on my CoCo 1, but that's another story.] Tom -- G. Thomas Osterfield archivist (216)325-2511 x531 CIS:74106,1153 gto@neoucom.UUCP {cwjcc,pitt,hal,scooter}!neoucom!gto
gary@dvnspc1.Dev.Unisys.COM (Gary Barrett) (05/31/89)
In article <11849@well.UUCP>, casey@well.UUCP (Kathleen Creighton) writes: > > WordPerfect's interface will improve with version 5.1 (Fall 1989). Built > in mouse support and drop-down or Lotus-like menus. I agree that WP can > be conceptually difficult for some people. Thanks for that information. Yes, there is no question that Wordperfect is laden with features, but BEST word processor implies to me one that balances feature content with good human-interface engineering. Wordperfect has not done that, in my opinion. As one who often works with "beginners" who have Wordperfect foisted on them in the workplace, I feel for the employee that suddenly has to fly a 747 when s/he can hardly handle a piper cub. In most such cases, Wordperfect is overkill. Nonetheless, "corporate policy dictates that Wordperfect be our word processor of choice" and all that. However, I am glad to hear that help is on the way.
BVAUGHAN@pucc.Princeton.EDU (Barbara Vaughan) (06/01/89)
In article <1362@lzfme.att.com>, jwi@lzfme.att.com (Jim Winer @ AT&T, Middletown, NJ) writes: >In article <555@dvnspc1.Dev.Unisys.COM>, gary@dvnspc1.Dev.Unisys.COM (Gary Barrett) writes: > >> I understand that WordPerfect is fully featured and widely used, but >> does that make it the BEST? I must be missing something. I have seen >> people fighting with WP's less than intuitive user interface time and >> time again. Excuse me for this flame, but that interface is TERRIBLE. > >> Please, someone out there tell me that there is some magic secret >> (other than key macros) that can make WP acceptable to beginning >> users. > >WordPerfect is intended for the professional business user (several hours >every day), not for the novice. My daughters, aged 12 and 16, have both been using WP for all their school reports for several years. I didn't teach them how to use it at all. One of them spent some time with the tutorial; the other just tried commands from the template. My older daughter has become a very sophisticated user, creating macros and doing chem labs that have dia- grams and tables. I would think that if my kids can learn it on their own, practically anyone can. >One other thing. If you only use the basic subset of WordPerfect, >you won't have many function keys to worry about. Basically just >Print (Shift-f7), Exit (f7), Search (f2), replace (Alt-f2), spell >(Ctrl-f2), block (Alt-f4) and move (Ctrl-f4). > I agree; I use a limited subset of WP. Anything beyond my 15 word vocabulary sends me to the manual, which is a good one. The most difficult thing was setting it up to work with my printer. By the way, I've upgraded to WP 5.0 and it's really worth the cost. I still use KEDIT to write programs, but I prefer WP for everything else. Barbara Vaughan
djo7613@blake.acs.washington.edu (Dick O'Connor) (06/01/89)
I've used WordStar, WordPerfect, even dabbled in Word, and I'm always
amused by the religious wars over the World's Best Word Processor. Because
a lot of excellent choices are marketted by smaller companies that folks
never seem to hear of...
My personal choice is WatchWord by a small (very!) company called S&K
Technology in San Antonio, TX. $129 for a very easy to use yet very
powerful editting and word processing tool. How many others start the
manual with a discussion comparing the two philosophies of word-processing
(i.e. function keys versus command menus)? WW uses *both*, employing the
function keys for simple commands involving no arguments and a command
line at the bottom for more complex commands. I have yet to come across
a situation WW couldn't handle (including files too large for memory,
oddball printers, extremely personal customization requirements, etc.).
More info by email if you're interested. I would just remind folks that
big advertising budget doesn't always mean best product...
[Not affiliated in any way with S&K except as a satified customer, blah, blah]
"Moby" Dick O'Connor
Washington Department of Fisheries
Olympia, Washington 98504
Internet Mail: djo7613@blake.acs.washington.edu
****************************************************************************
DISCLAIMER: I speak only for myself, not for the Department. Here, anyway!
****************************************************************************
So long, and thanks *from* all the fish...dmimi@ecsvax.UUCP (Miriam Clifford) (06/02/89)
I use WatchWord on a Z100, as well as WordPerfect on clones. I've used a number of other editors also. The bottom line is, it depends on what you're doing. I like WatchWord, especially for programming or short, simple files. It IS indeed powerful, for what it does. Has macros, can deal with non-printing ASCII characters, etc., etc. I've used it any number of times for 'translation' tasks that WordPerfect and others can't manage. BUT-- It does not have some abilities that WOrdPerfect manages easily--indexing, automatic outlining, automatic re-formatting of paragraphs (sometime this is not good, but usually it's a big help), etc., etc. While WatchWord has a speller, it's not as big, nor nearly as convenient as WordPerfect's. No Thesaurus either. The combination is great. I also use and like qedit for very small files. So, really, it depends. Now, I've tried WORD and hated it. And WordStar was great in its day (under cpm), but was never much fun for me to use. Interesting that no one has cited EDLIN as the best editor around (:-) ).
ellisond@gtephx.UUCP (Dell Ellison) (06/07/89)
In article <555@dvnspc1.Dev.Unisys.COM>, gary@dvnspc1.Dev.Unisys.COM (Gary Barrett) writes: > I understand that WordPerfect is fully featured and widely used, but > does that make it the BEST? I must be missing something. I have seen > people fighting with WP's less than intuitive user interface time and > time again. Excuse me for this flame, but that interface is TERRIBLE. I think that with the use of the little help card that fits around the function keys, WordPerfect is Quite intuitive. All the commands are quite straight forward, even if you haven't used anything like that before. (IMHO)
jeffmu@microsoft.UUCP (Jeff Muzzy) (06/08/89)
In article <1362@lzfme.att.com> jwi@lzfme.att.com (Jim Winer @ AT&T, Middletown, NJ) writes: > >WordPerfect is intended for the professional business user (several hours >every day), not for the novice. If you need the full features (and >WPs are the best), pay the price and learn it. Similarly, Xywrite >III Plus is designed for professional writers (mostly magazine) who >use it several hours every day for writing but not formating, and >Note Bene is designed for the academic user. I don't beleive this is true. I doubt people will want to buy 2-3 different word processors as their learning curve moves from the simple to more complicated types of documents. > >If you need something simmple, buy something simple. Q&A Write comes >with a nice data base and the package will do 90% of what the others >will do but is much easier to run. If you don't need the 10%, don't >pay for it in learning curve. WORD is mouse oriented -- some swear >by it, but as far as I know, nobody who actually writes anything -- >it's a pain in the ass to have to take your hands off the keyboard >-- loses your thoughts every time. Word is not only mouse oriented, It has quick formatting keys for all most everything. Examples: (without style sheets) Alt-I=Italics, Alt-B=Bold, Alt-C= center paragraph, and on and on. I hardly ever use the mouse expect for column selection. [Stuff deleted about learning a few function key combinations] I don't know, God forbid I should every lose that keyboard template. Jeff Muzzy