Labels:text | screenshot | red OCR: WordStar v1.5 for Windows by Tony Curro WordStar has been around for long time for DOS. There are even some text editors, and even editors rum on BBSs, that conform to the WordStar keystrokes. Recently, they released a version for Windows. How, they have updated that version, and released WordStar for Windows v1.5 (WSWIN). For starters, WSWIM is full featured word processor. Actually. that is a misnomer. WSWIM is a complete package for processing just about anything, from words to graphics: from dBASE to Excel. It will then turn this information into a professional looking document; be it a letter, or newsletter, or a brochure. Yes, it also has excellent desktop publishing capabilities. Your lack of creativity, will be the only thing to stop USWIN. If you can think about it, and it has to do with words or graphics, chances are WSWIM can do it. It even has OUTLINE capabilities. WSWIN v1.5 is currently packaged with Correct Grammar, which is made by Writing Tools Group, Inc ., a subsidiary of WordStar International, Inc. The installation process is very painless. As with other Windous products, you must run the INSTALL program from within Windows. This requires 11MB for a complete installation of WSWIN, and another 1.6MB for the installation of Correct Grammar. One of the main reason for the amount of disk space needed, is the tutorial. WSWIM, has a very well done and extensive tutorial, Overall, ISWIM has a high learning curve. You can simply sit down and type a letter several minutes after you complete the installation. But, you can cuen do that with Notepad, or any simple text editor. The time spent learning WSWIN will pay off in eye catching documents. The tutorial consists of 8 sections, with a total of 29 lessons. The first 4 sections will be enough to get you fairly well along. However, completing all of them will give you a better understanding of the capabilities of WSWIM. Lessons take from 1-10 minutes to run. You can do omly one to two lessons at a time: WSWIM cmembers which you have covered, and places am X in the box. USWIN comes with button bars along the top of the screen, making it easier to control all aspects of the program, without needing to remember keystrokes. The first bar consists of STYLE. FONT, SIZE, and a collection of text formats: Bold, Italic, UnderLine, Double UnderLine, Super and Subscripts, and & VIEW mode. Style allows you alter how your text appears on screen. In a document you most often with be using BodyText, which defaults to TimesRoman 12. This can be modified and saved using the Style option from the pull-down menu. You make these changes once, and then you cam select them in the future. In the STYLE button there are options for various ore-defined formats. So changing text to a HEADER (there are 4 different ones), or a Footer, or adding a bullet, or an outline, can be done painlessly from this spot, Selecting Font drops down a Menu of all available fonts on your system. Likewise, choosing Size, will show you the available Font Sizes for the selected font. The other buttons are self-explanatory, except the VIEW MODE. Clicking on the. < >. will switch from a mode were you see all carriage returns, Tabs, and spaces (which are designated by a period to indicate a space, to one where you just see the plain text, as it would appear on the page. You can switch back and forth by clicking this button. The next line of buttons control TABS, Justification: Left, Right, Center, Justify (where both left and right margins are even), line and paragraph spacing, and columns. The columns' options are to change the text that is flowing from left to right, into 2 3, or 1 columns. Clicking on the 2 column mode, will change all the text on the page into two columns. Un the left side of the screen you have another button bar. This contains: Graphic Edit tool, Edit tool, Frame Creation tool, and several others including tools that allow you to create a drawing using the basic tools from WSWIN. You have an ARCed line, straight line, curved line Dual, rectangle, rounded cormer rectangle and a rotate tool. USWIN comes with over 40 templates, covering almost everything. Included are templates for: menos, cwvelopes, stationery, newsletters. fliers, brochures, reports, fax cover sheets and others. The USWIN manual has an appendix that shows all the templates and associated filesanes. These templates come with graphics and other designs. All are in color. I did not mention that you can use color for text and graphics within WSWIN. This writer created a whole set of stationery including business cards, from the templates included with WSWIM. When you select NEW, you see a nenu with files bearing the extension of WST (WordStar Template), The one labeled DEFAULT.WST, is always highlighted. You can select anyone you wish. After selection, on the top of your screen, you will see the path to the file. The filename however, will be UNTITLED.WSD (WordStar Document). This is so when you select SAVE, you do NOT accidentally overwrite the template. The program will prompt you for a name. WSWIN uses two directories for storing these files. By default they are: DOCS (for .WSD), and Template for WST). It will always save into these directories, unless you specify a different path or drive. As with all quality word processors, WSWIN comes with a Spell Checker, Thesaurus, and the aforementioned Correct Grammar, I have been noticing that some word processors are including a grammar checker with their programs. The grammar checker provided with WSWIN will give you an explanation of words and usage, and has a tutorial for further help in understanding these explanations, Do you do mailings? WSWIM can print those long lists very easily. first, you create a .DIA or data file to store the information: Hane, Address, etc. After you save this file, you open your letter, From the FILE hemu choose, SELECT DATA FILE. Once you have this file loaded you can enter your information. At this point select INSERT from the drop-down nome, and select the VARIABLE option. You will see the fields that you created carlier. Selecting date will put the {date} variable on the letter. Others work in the same format. Once you have finished, you select Print, from the File menu. Once your Print menu comes up, you will see a button maned MERGE PRINT. Selecting this will merge your data file into the current document, ising the variables you selected, and print the whole file out. This also works when printing envelopes. 1 own a HP Laserjet 11P printer with the optional louer tray, which I use for letters. For years I have had problems printing envelopes. How ny problems are solved, Using WSWIN, I created a printer set up for only envelopes, and selected Landscape mode and my other settings, then saved it, and installed it as a printer. Mow when I want to print an envelope, I bring up the envelope template I created, and select the EMV printer from ny printer list. I enter the name and address to whom I am writing, and select print. A perfect envelope every time, and I do NOT have to sit there and manually feed envelopes. I insert several, and just change the nane each time. If I am going to be printing several, I create the DTA file, as mentioned above, and MERGE PRINT all the information. Another feature that works well is LIMKING. This is the process where you can link two frames together. When you are typing, the information that does not fit on page 1 automatically goes to page 2. By .INKing frames, you can have that information go from page 1 to page 3 or page 4. This is especially useful in creating a newsletter, and you may want all your stories to start on the first two pages. These like mostly all the WSWIM features, are accomplished by a few mouse clicks or key strokes. They are not a major procedure. Other things you can do are add Headers, Footers, Index, and Table of Contents. Adding a graphic image is very simple. It can be done in five easy steps: (1) Click on Frame Create (2) Select the Frame tool. (3) Place the tool, which looks like a page with a circle and square on your document, and create the size of the frame. (1) From the File nemu, select INSERT graphic. (5) Size and center the graphic. You can import graphics from several different formats, including: BMP, WMF, WPG, PIX, DRW and others. Once you have a graphic inage up you can scale and crop it if you wish. Function keys are another feature that can be used. Except for F1 and F10, which are reserved from Windows, you can use the others alone, or with CTRL and SHIFT, for many different options. Let's say you always you a specific format for a certain line. Rather than having to select it from the STYLE option, a quick press of the F key will perform the operation. The creation of Tables is another casy feature. You select a table and drag it out to as many columns as you want. Then as you enter data the text will automatically wrap to the next line. However, you can set the stops' on the table to expand them, and make the columns wider. Information is handled just like any text. You can center, bold, left justify and so on. A table does not give you amy limitations to how you can manipulate the text. I have stated many times, that doing this or that is easy. Truthfully it is easy, once you learn the program. I deplore programs that have a long learning process. But, we must face the facts. Many of today's programs are both large and powerful. There is no denying this. Being so extensive, most of them, require a bit of learning. You see videos on the market on how to learn various programs, like word processors, databases, spreadsheets, and even DOS and Windows. Many people also advertise, and there are companies giving classes that run from a day to a week, on the various programs mentioned above, A video on learning WSWIM might be nice. Depending on how you learn, it might be best for you. Then you have people who do not have a TV near their PCs. In either event, spending several hours , at the PC, doing the WordStar for Windows tutorial, should be all that is needed. Do MOT sit there and do it in one day. After a while your mind will get muddled. Do a lessom or two a day. At that pace you can ibsorb more. Another suggestion is, after doing a few lessons, try what you have learned. Do it several times. Don't get bogged down though, in trying to do something you did not cover yet. Concentrate on what you did in the tutorials. At this pace you will become proficient in WordStar for Windows very quickly. There is one thing I did not find in WSWIN. This is a SORT option. I entered a list of manes in three columns, They were not in any order. After I inserted them, I found I could not sort them. I have to EXPORT then to an ASCII file, rum another program to sort them, and them IMPORT then Into the document. Needless to say, the formatting was off, and I had to e-set ny three columns. It was not a major chore, but one that should have been avoidable. I am assured from WordStar technical support that they should be working on this. It is in their DOS-based products. Barring this one thing, WordStar for Windows v1.5 is a good buy for the money. Until December 31, 1992, WordStar has a very aggressive price plain in effect. You can get WordStar for Windows v1.5, which lists for $495 and Correct Grammar 2.0 that lists for $100, for the total price of $119 list: most likely lower priced in retail stores. It seems as if. almost every day, another company is releasing & new word processor for Windows. Some might be as full-featured as WSWIM: others cheaper: others hore expensive. Pound for pound I think WordStar is a good boy, in these cost-conscious times. Product Information WordStar for Windows v1.5 List Price: $119 (till 12/92) WordStar International, Inc. 201 Alameda Del Prado P. O. Box 6113 Mouato, CA 94948
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