Tech Toys IIWord ProcessingbyRobert Fabian |
I have always been in search of a better word processor. For years, I used XyWrite. It had a great feature set, and was blazingly fast. It was my kind of product. Then along came Windows.
XyWrite did not make a successful transition. A Windows version was produced; I still have the disks. But it was a bad port. XyWrite went from having a great feature set, to a very weak feature set under Windows. I was strongly motivated to move on.
I've never been happy when forced to use a product just because it had a dominant market position. The market did restrict my word processing options. Everyone is using Microsoft Word. I must pay attention when my paying clients are using Word, and expect me to provide compatible files. I found myself driven to Word.
For the last few years, I have been actively searching for an alternative. I tried WordPerfect and WordPro. They were interesting products, but did not provide full conversion between their internal file formats and the file format used by Word. I was driven back to Word.
Then I saw the press announcements for Lotus SmartSuite Millennium Edition. The promise was that WordPro, the SmartSuite word processor, is able to read and write files in Word format. I could work in WordPro, but keep my files in Word format. At last, I had an option to Word!
I shamelessly exploited my press connection and got a review copy of the new SmartSuite. It came complete with ViaVoice, the voice recognition software developed by IBM. WordPro is an interesting alternative.
For me, WordPro has a style that fits the way I work. I get fine control of format using a floating information box that shows all of the properties of an object. It's an easy, and natural, way to change everything from type face, to kerning, to margins, to an object's anchor.
XyWrite was able to automatically capitalize the first word of every sentence. I know it's not a big deal, but the omission of that feature in previous versions of WordPro was irritating. And Lotus have now implemented the feature properly -- I can predict how WordPro will capitalize words.
There are a number of ho-hum "features". The new Dummies book on SmartSuite is included. Makes you wonder if this is an editorial comment on users. I find the series to be particularly bad as reference works. And Lotus doesn't even provide a proper electronic reference.
SmartSuite contains the now obligatory web publishing features. The resulting html pages are okay, but I find that every page requires tweaking before it looks really good. I use one of the editors designed to work with html files (HomeSite from Allaire).
Word file compatibility is there, ... more or less. WordPro allows you to select Word format as the default file type. It's easy to work in WordPro, but communicate with the unwashed masses who are using Word. It's not a perfect conversion, but it's pretty good. All static formatting seems to translate correctly.
For a time, I'll be content with WordPro. It gives me an alternative to Word that meets my needs. Sooner or later, however, I will want to move on. I'll then be in search of an option to WordPro. That new search can be the subject for a future column.
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