Conference hydra::amiga_v1

    Scribble is the pits.
    
    Word perfect is tremendous, although I hate the keyboard bindings
    and you can't change them. See the word perfect note earlier, get
    it for $99 if you're a student (even part time).
    
    dov

    I'm currently waiting for ProWrite v2.0 to arrive in the mail. 
    I bought ProWrite when it first came out some time ago, but the
    first release was too buggy and weak for me to use.  I'm currently
    using TextCraft Plus, but although it is very easy to learn and
    use, it doesn't support fonts or graphics.  No spell checker, either.
    
    All I really want(ed) in a word processor was something on a par
    with MacWrite, with support for Amiga color graphics.  ProWrite
    2.0 promises to be all this, and more.  According to the upgrade
    flyer, it will support:
    
    * 95K word spell checker
    * Mail merge
    * all graphics, including HAM
    * re-sizable graphics
    * flow text around graphics
    * sideways printing
    * user-defined defaults 
    
    Also, v2.0 will include the new printer.device (faster printer drivers,
    with intelligent dithering and smoothing.
    
    I wouldn't want to write War and Peace with ProWrite.  For serious
    work, WordPerfect is the only real choice for now.  ProWrite seems
    good for small reports with graphics.
    
    Ed.
    

    ProWrite v2 (I got my update a couple of weeks ago) comes on 2 disks,
    has a large and small (20k) dictionary, mail merge, bunches of
    additionalfeatures, and hasn't crashed once yet.  I don't use it
    (ProWrite) often, but it is handy for color emphasis or including
    graphics in your docs.  Plus, for $20, its worth the upgrade.  
    It also comes with a brand new manual instead of addendums... a
    nice touch...
    
    John
    

    My vote is for word Perfect.
    
    It comes with a spelling checker which I need. I haven't tried it's
    thesorous but it's nice to know it's there. I seems to have more
    options then I will ever use but it's comforting to know that I'm
    not likely to outgrow it.
    
    I used TextCraft before that. What a Dog.

    Word Perfect can be configured to accept (DEC)multinational character
    sets and is thus compatible with my LA100, furthermore files can
    be sent to the office VAX to be printed on LN03's.  I am still in
    the process of learning all the bells and whistles but it fills
    the bill quite nicely.
    
    Jean
    

    I also like ProWrite V2.  I bought it for $75 plus my VisiWrite
    disk.  I don't use it for mail-merge, I use TeX for that and for
    writing anything like a book.  However, it is fine for short reports.
    I recently created a chart using MultiPlan, cropped it in DeluxPaint,
    and included it in a report using ProWrite.
    
    The advantages I see over VisiWrite are: 1) spelling checker,
    2) text can be positioned beside graphics, 3) graphics can be moved
    around, 4) support of the full character set from the keyboard.
    
    That last point needs explanation.  Although VisiWrite allows any
    of the Amiga characters in a document, they don't support the dead
    keys, which create accents for letters.  As a result, to get some
    characters I had to do cut-and-paste from a file created with Amiga
    Basic, which contained all the character codes.  With ProWrite I
    can enter all the codes from the keyboard.
    
    Although they claim that text can "flow around" graphics, I haven't
    found a way to do this.  To me, "flow around" means you can specify
    the starting and ending position of each line of a paragraph.  As
    best I can tell, they don't permit that--If you want to change margins
    you have to start a new paragraph.
        John Sauter

    Ah!  Both WordPerfect and ProWrite experts.  Can I pick your minds?
    
    Most of my writing is done at work, so word processing on the amiga is
    for the kids school work and the occasional business letter.  We have
    been suffering with Scribble! while waiting for an acceptable
    alternative. My complaints with Scribble are its human engineering, and
    its feeble capabilities to sub/super-script, footnote, etc. and in
    general format a document in conformance with school requirements. 

    I have been considering WorkPerfect, but when I dropped in for a demo
    at Memory Location there was no one who knew how to use it. In response
    to a bingo card from AmigaWorld they were so kind as to send me a
    reprint of the AmigaWorld review.  Big help!  I could go out and buy
    one of the books on WP, but they will not tell how it has been
    amiga-ized. 

    I presume WordPerfect has all the necessary capabilities, but I am
    concerned that it might be too complex and poorly human engineered for
    casual use by kids, wife, etc.  I also have the impression that it
    might not be able to drive my LA50.  Are these valid concerns?  

    I have heard very little about ProWrite.  What is it lacking?
    Is it capable of handling a term paper with footnotes, endnotes,
    etc., and specifying the formatting of them?  The graphics and color
    capabilities would be desirable if it has enough other capabilities.

	Paul

    re: .7, ProWrite
    
    I haven't tried writing a term paper with ProWrite, but my wife
    has written papers using VisiWrite, and that produce could handle
    endnotes OK.  I assume ProWrite would have no more trouble with
    endnotes than VisiWrite, since it isn't hard to do.
    
    Footnotes, however, is a much harder problem.  I don't recall anything
    in the ProWrite manual about footnotes, though it has page headers
    and footers.  When you write something with footnotes you are starting
    to get away from the WYSIWYG environment, since you want to enter
    the text of the footnote at the reference point, but have it printed
    at the bottom of the current page.
    
    If I were writing a paper with footnotes, I'd use TeX.  It has a
    very flexible footnote feature.
        John Sauter

    My vote is for WordPerfect. It's a very professional product, and
    will serve you well. My wife is convinced she's jinxed re: computers
    (must be her magnetic personality), but she uses it for recipes,
    letters, etc. without fuss.
    
    The support is amazing. I sent in a note asking about upgrades,
    and they sent me four new, upgraded disks including the dictionary,
    thesauras, 250 printer drivers, and four bug fixes.
    
    Highly recommended. 

    Is WordPerfect WYSIWYG?  Scribble pretends to be, but really isn't.  It
    ends up exhibiting the worst features of both.  I would like something
    which really is, but failing that would rather go to an SGML type of
    thing than a kludge like Scribble.

	Paul

    WordPerfect isn't WYSIWYG, and doesn't pretend to be. It's probably
    not the easiest piece of software to learn to use either, and it
    doesn't do graphics. However I don't know of a single feature I've
    ever seen implemented in any other word processor (other than graphics)
    that WordPerfect can't do. It's very powerful.

    Additionally, WordPerfect has an excellent documentation package
    including a dozen or so lessons on disk with full support in the
    manual.
    
    WYSIWYG (or a preview feature) is in WordPerfect 4.2. I'm looking
    forward to it, especially since the upgrade path will be painless.

I picked Word Perfect because of the kids.  If they are going to learn one it
should have lots of features and be available on any machine they might end up
using. I looked at it as an investment in my kids' education.  My 6th grader
can use a major part of the features and my third grader writes birthday lists
of games which he prints on the printer.  That's why I bought it and the wife
and kids think it's great. 

I don't like its user interface. I think they could make much better use of the
pulldown menues and mouse functions.  It lacks the intutitive interface you
seem to find on much of the AMIGA software.  I expect it will get better and I
will learn easier ways to do some of the stupid multi-step operations.  For all
of these reasons I think it is worth it.  It gets used more than any other
piece of software I have. 

-Tom-

    Hi,

    I'm considering buying a WP package and have just about made my mind up
    to buy ProWrite V2.0 (WordPerfect is just too expensive for me) but
    there was just one point I wanted clearing up. An earlier not mentioned
    the fact the the original ProWrite only worked in interlace mode. Now
    I'm still using a TV so if this is the case then ProWrite is a no-no.
    Can someone tell me if the new ProWrite can use a non-interlaced
    screen.

    Thanks in advance,
	Colin.
    

    Yup.  The disk actually contains two versions, one called ProWriteMR
    for medium resolution.  It has all of the features of the hi-res
    version, and even conserves a bit of chip ram to boot.
    
    Ed.

    Well, I cast a vote AGAINST WordPerfect.
    
    Too complicated.  Getting something to print out correctly is far
    to complex, time consuming and problematic.  There are menus for
    everything...far too many menus.  One screen with all the printer
    settings would have been much, much better.
    
    Yeah, it's loaded with features.  So what?  The last time I needed
    to do a footnote was in college, a long time ago.  For the type
    of work I do for DEC, WordPerfect is far too overengineered for
    me.            
                                                              
    If Kind Words supported other Amiga fonts, it would get my vote.
    Everyone is down on TextCraft.  I find it easy to use, even if it
    is a slow package.  Kind Words was written by the same people (to
    be the newer version of TextCraft.)
    
    If you are a heavy word processor, are used to the IBM world, need
    tons of features...then WordPerfect is the way to go.
    
    If you spend most your time composing letters, notes, memos and
    simple documents, save your money.
    
    Randy
    

	Has anyone seen EXCELLENCE! from MicroSystem Software ?
	Is it real, or just some more vaporous fumes ?  In the
	May issue of AmigaWhirl, there was an ad that looked
	pretty impressive (but then, that's why it was an ad...)

How about that PD Word Processor on a recent FF disk?  

For someone like me who doesn't even know what a word processor is :-)
it might be more usefull than NOTEPAD or DPAINT (Although DPAINT makes some
real neat flyers and such!)

John

    John, 
    
    If you're referring to WW (WordWright), I'd suggest that you stay
    away from it.  It's got a clumsy feel to it, and it tends to flake
    out in certain circumstances.  It gave me nothing but headaches.
    I went back to using DME, and I just do without italics, underlines,
    etc.
    
    Gary