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WPOverview
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WORD PROCESSING AND TEXT EDITING
****** Anyone who has got to know any WP or other program well and would
like to submit a review would be welcomed - we're looking for
reviews by people who have something to tell everyone else. So
if you've found some good features of any package, please send
them in (and get free Megadiscs and other good stuff!)
The original main use of personal computers was Word Processing, and
so it remains, in spite of the explosion of program genres of all kinds.
WP itself has gone through a number of rapid developments, from the first
key-combination controls (as Wordstar for the IBM still is) to mouse- and
menu-driven WPs such as are available for the Amiga. And word processing
has moved on to Page Processing and Idea Processing - in other words,
Desktop Publishing. All of these are fairly vague terms and they overlap
a lot. They overlap so much in fact that you can now set up a seamless
publishing system on your Amiga, as I'll describe.
There are a number of WP packages available for the Amiga and the list
is growing. The best known are Textcraft (provided with the Amiga)and
Scribble!, but there are also Wordwright, E.T. Writer (which turns the
Amiga into a full-featured electronic typewriter), Talker (which speaks
as you type!), VizaWrite, Write Hand, and a couple of others unavailable
in Australia. Most of us have used Textcraft, and have formed opinions
about it - it does the job with some unnecessary frills like flying
pidgeons; it's simple to use with a built-in tutorial; and it doesn't use
the multi-tasking abilities of the machine, or have resizeable windows.
As they say, an "entry-level" WP package. I've seen a pre-release version
of TextcraftII, and it's much improved, but still has a few glitches.
Perhaps there will be a TextcraftIII. (Stop Press - there is a finished
Textcraft Plus available now in your local computer store).
The one I've used exclusively for some months is Scribble!2, (i.e.,
it's the second edition) and it's a real word processor, with practically
everything you'd need, and it uses the capabilities of the machine. So
the windows are resizeable, up to four windows can be opened at once on
screen, high resolution mode is possible with a full-screen page to
allow you to see twice as much of your document and all the usual
Intuition gadgets are used to good effect. There are Amiga-key commands
available for most operations if you prefer not to use the mouse. And for
partial converts from the IBM world, all the Wordstar keyboard commands
are available - though I think that inevitably, such people would
inevitably move towards Amiga-style use in time. Scribble!2 works best
under WorkBench1.2, which everyone should have been able to get
by now (about $30 at your dealer for WorkBench, Kickstart and Extras, with
a manual, and certainly worth getting) - you can enter information in
requestors without clicking in them; all requestors accept the first
letter of commands from the keyboard ( so C for Cancel will work); and
for storing, getting or replacing a file you don't have to wait until
the requestor is fully loaded, you can interrupt at any time. There is
a nice touch, where you can save a file as a .DOC extension, and
select only those files to appear in the requestors, saving time and
space. The other benefit of using 1.2 software is that you can use
Interlace from Preferences. In spite of what you may hear, it is possible
to get a flicker-free screen in hi-res, by simply selecting the right
combination of colours, and you get much more space available, whether
you want to have one full-screen project running, or a combination of
two or three simultaneous programs. I would recommend using this for
your normal WorkBench/CLI screen for the same reasons.
Along with these functions come a few useful extras: there is a
Dictionary provided with the program to which you can add words - this may
be necessary, since it's not huge. The best way to use it is to load it
into RAM, for the sake of speed, and check the spelling of your documents
at will. The screen display is not WYSIWYG, but there is a Preview command
which allows you to see the document as it will appear printed, before
printing. There are also numerous menu selections for formatting your
document on screen and for printing. The other good extra is a Mail-Merge
facility, allowing you to set up form letters with variable names, etc. Not
everyone will need this, and it takes a little study of the explanation
(on disk), but a powerful facility it is, extending the range of the
program.
In short, I think Scribble!2 is a powerful, easy-to-use Word
Processor, and has set something of a standard for the Amiga, with the
result that other programs, such as PageSetter (see below), have been
devised to accept output specifically from it. Another plus is that
Brown-Wagh Publishing, who market it, also have available a spreadsheet
called Analyse! and a database called Organise!, both of which use the
same "look and feel" as Scribble!2, with easy transfer of data among the
three.
TEXTCRAFT
Version 1 of Textcraft had quite good online help in the form of
semi-animated tutorials, though the flapping pidgeons became a little
irritating. These took you through most of the capabilities of the
program, and the virtue of it was that you were very soon doing real
word processing, a fact much appreciated by newcomers to computing. For
simple WP requirements, Textcraft was quite sufficient, and I'm sure
that there are many packages still being used.
There are, however, a few drawbacks to the program, which will become
serious limitations to anyone who wants serious word processing which
uses the power of the Amiga. The first of these is access to external
disk drives: this is almost impossible the way the requesters are set
up, and requires you to load and save from the system disk. There are
ways around this, but getting around it implies you know a good deal
about the machine, which further implies that you've moved on to other
word processors. Secondly, the multi-tasking abilities of the machine
are not really used: only one Textcraft window can be opened, and there
are no "depth arrangement" or "resizing" gadgets provided, so that you're
essentially stuck with the window you've got (it is possible to use the
RightAmiga-N and -M key combinations to switch to Workbench and back,
however; and it is best to have opened some other program such as the
Clock first, to allow access to the rest of the system). There are other
limitations on the extent of the formatting of the text possible compared
to other packages, and of course there are no exotic features like
vertical block manipulation (as distinct from the usual horizontal block
operations). None of the keys is programmed or programmable as macros
(to allow a series of keystrokes or operations to be performed with a
single keystroke), and in general, what you see is all you get.
In short, considering the program comes free, it's good value. It's
what you'd call an "entry level" word processor, and quite sufficient
for simple needs - in fact, programs such as Wordperfect have so many
features and capabilities, you start wondering if anyone has ever
regularly used half of them. I have seen a "beta" version of "Textcraft
Plus" which did have some bugs while solving others, and
it is just about to be released in its final version (see next issue
for a review). In the meantime, however, I'd suggest looking at some
of the alternatives.
Distributor: Commodore Business Machines.
WORD PERFECT FOR THE AMIGA
For some years, WordPerfect has been a standard in the IBM world
and is a very powerful text manipulator. Now WordPerfect Corp. has
adapted the program for the Amiga, and by the look of the package,
started to do so some time ago.
The package comes on 4 disks, none of which is copy-protected: the
WP program on a bootable disk; the spelling checker and thesaurus; the
Print disk with a stack of printer drivers; and the Learning disk with
copies of all the tutorial files referred to in the manual. The manual
itself would account for a couple of felled redwoods, stretching to about
600 pages in a ring binder and very attractively put together.
Oddly enough, you can only have one copy of WP running at a time,
unlike other Word Processors and Text Editors for the Amiga. However,
if you have a lot of RAM, you can have up to 32 documents open at any
time (only 2 on the IBM). It is a
large program, and would be best installed on a Hard Disk, especially
if you tend to use spelling checkers often. There is also a RAM-consuming
feature which allows you to do "Timed Backups", ie, you can tell the
program to save a copy of the document every x minutes. Likewise,
backup files of documents in their pre-edited state are kept.
The online HELP facilities are truly extensive, more so than any
other program I've seen: press the Help key, followed by a function or
cursor key and you'll get a screenful of information about it. Or Help
followed by the first letter of the operation you want to perform will
give you a screenful of explanations about all tasks starting with that
letter. Not bad, considering how many functions are possible.
The way these functions are accessed is necessarily schizoid - you
can either go via the IBM-style key-combinations, or you can use the
mouse-menu interface. With greater familiarity, you'll undoubtedly end
up combining both methods, as each has its advantages. The nice thing
is that with the Amiga you have that choice. There are so many control
key combinations in this program that you'd have to be a full-time
word processor to ever get to use them. Most people need a limited
array of commands, and the more intuitive the better - less to remember.
As a result, however, the program is deep, and a fully professional tool
for the serious word-cruncher. To help the ailing memory, there are
summaries and templates provided.
Price for the package at this writing is $595, though I'm sure that
will be discounted with time. At that price, it's a serious investment,
and considering that there is a number of much cheaper alternatives,
I wonder about the volume of sales that will occur. But for business
applications which require very professional and intensive word
processing, you won't get anything better than WordPerfect.
Distribution: Sourceware
Tel: (02) 411 5711.
RRP Price : $595
WORD PROCESSING/TEXT EDITING
ZIRKONICS PROFESSIONAL TEXT ENGINE
This is a heavyweight, high quality text editor, with a wealth of
unobtrusive features, sufficient to make it a very passable word
processor as well. The history of text editors versus word processors
comes down to ASCII versus embedded codes. ASCII documents are most
useful for transferring to other machines in various ways, since they
will appear on another computer in a generally similar format. Most
word processors tend to incorporate "embedded commands" in the text,
which is fine when talking to your printer or integrated programs, but
not much good when moving text to other machines, over the phone lines
via modem, for example. Text editors are preferred by power users
and programmers for this reason and because of the many specific
features possible which allow for all kinds of manipulation.
Zirkonics PTE is a powerhouse of features - it stops just short of
making the coffee. It is a program which has stepped up a level beyond
the usual text editor genre by making it possible to customise your
environment completely. As an example, one of the "environments" or
"definitions" is a full emulation of the entire IBM Wordstar Word
Processor - ie, the definition (which can be modified as you like)
programs the keyboard to behave just as if you're running Wordstar!
This has been provided on disk by Zirkonics among about 8 different
environments, including straight vanilla text editor, "manual" mode
(ie, ideal for writing manuals) and so forth. Just as a butler is a
"gentleman's gentleman" so PTE is a "tool's tool".
The upshot of all this is that you are provided with a tool which
can be any number of tools, and you can define the environment you
want, by a series of DEF commands in a file, to do things exactly as
you'd like. Any key can be defined as you wish for any definition, and
you can have as many of these definitions as you like. I think most
users would find themselves very well catered for in the definitions
provided by Zirkonics on the disk, but it is totally open-ended. It
has, for example, the ability to operate on vertical blocks, rather
than just the usual horizontal blocks, meaning that you can cut, copy
and paste any section of your display - every other text editor or
word processor I've come across always does full horizontal "marking".
Very useful for those who get into heavy text editing.
The interface/appearance is clear and simple, with a window for
text input and a command line below, for the many commands possible.
A further line provides messages and help. There is extensive online
help in the form of a 10-page summary which is nicely designed, and
there is a number of files to explain specific aspects of the program,
and to complement the manual. The program is not copy-protected, and
comes on a single disk.
One drawback I found with this program is its inability to open to
a full Hi-Res screen (640 X 400) - however, there are many people who
don't use the hi-res mode, and this will not be a problem for most.
There's a lot more that could be said about this program, which is
really a user-friendly meta-program. For anyone who does a lot of
text editing, whether for programming purposes or Desktop Publishing or
whatever, this package is definitely going to do it if it can be done.
Price: about $170 - Enquiries to I. Vanderfield (02) 903380, who
is importing this and other hard-to-get software.
By Tim Strachan
END OF WORDPROCESSING OVERVIEW