The macosxhints Forums - Replacement for Appleworks Word Processing?

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- - Replacement for Appleworks Word Processing? (http://hintsforums.macworld.com/showthread.php?t=23039)

From my point of view (as someone who does technical writing in marginal english) Nisus Writer Express is on my short list for a word processor.

Given Your list of needs, and based on what I've heard about these products, Mellel sounds like it might be a good option to explore.

My only problem with Mellel is that they replaced the normal text services dialog with their own font mechanism. As you sound like this is not needed for your purposes, that wouldn't be a problem.

The services from Nisus Thesaurus and OmniDictionary will work with Mellel, and for access to Roget’s Thesaurus (including the International version) along with a large number of other references I've been using Watson (attached is a list of resources from Watson's References tool). The problem with this is that Watson is out of production and Sun is (way) behind schedule on the replacement they were developing.

Also on Mellel's page there is a comparison chart (it is old, and other products have been up graded, but it is a starting point). Almost everything these days can save text to at least Word 97 format which can be then read by most word processors.

With my limited experiences with people in your area, these are the best leads I can offer currently.

I've had to go searching for a replacement

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArcticStones

Thanks for posting.

Yeah, Word seems like overkill. But I feel trapped. I only use a small fraction of the features, not because I’m lazy or an ignoramus, but because as a copywriter I deliver texts to advertising agencies and other clients – and it raises needless hassles if those files contain unnecessary formatting.

Word has a strange mix of functions that merely get in my way, and others that are sorely lacking.

One thing that really annoys me is the abominally poor spell check in Word. I would like, for instance to (seamlessly) replace Microsoft’s word list with the entire listing from Webster’s Encyclopedic Dictionary or Oxford’s Concise English Dictionary. And a corresponding Norwegian dictionary. Can’t do it! Microsoft has apparently blocked such an option!!

I would also like to have a digital equivalent of Roget’s Thesaurus available/integrated. Another handy function would be to have easily accessible the full range of special characters from various European alphabets – enabling me to write the names of Polish artists, Czech writers and Sami musicians without endless frustrations. (Something more comprehensive than PopChar X)

In short – I want to use my word processor as that: to process words. Not for page designs, diagrams and all sorts of other stuff.

But I have to be able to deliver Word files to my clients. I cannot risk any compatibility problems.

Do you recommend Nisus Writer for this purpose?
I would be interested in any additional thoughts on Nisus functions and plug-ins.

Best regards,
ArcticStones

word processor switching to X .... I've tried Mariner Write, Nisus and Mellel. They are all good. They will all open a .doc without blinking an eye, some retain formatting better. At 40 Bucks, Mellel is a steal. Nice slick bit of work that is. without double checking .. Nisus is the only one with a direct save as .doc format. The other two use rtf

All this talk makes me miss WriteNow. Mellel is great but still has a ways to go to catch up with what WriteNow could do.

Quote:

Originally Posted by schneb

All this talk makes me miss WriteNow. Mellel is great but still has a ways to go to catch up with what WriteNow could do.

now isn't that a blast from the past