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Subject:Re: Favorite wp programs From:Matt Ion <soundy -at- NEXTLEVEL -dot- COM> Date:Thu, 16 Nov 1995 21:52:09 PST
On Thu, 16 Nov 1995 16:12:39 -0600 you wrote:
>I'm new to tech writing, and the things
>I'm working on don't require DTP software (although I can see
>that Framemaker could be something I might want someday). I'm
>interested in people's word processing software preferences.
For actual "word processing", I use QEdit. Fast, easy, very powerful. If
there's a lot of text to be written, it's usually faster to just pull up QEdit
in a fullscreen session and blast all the text down, then import it into some
monstrous WYSIWYG beast later for formatting, etc.
>I've been a WordPerfect weenie for many years now, and I still love it,
>possibly just because I know it very very well.
That seems to be the basis of msot people's chosen software - familiarity.
Pity that so many get SO stuck on familiarity that they never bother to learn
something new (that wasn't aimed at you, BTW, Mary - just an observation in
general).
>So can anyone tell me
>why you use Word (or other stuff) as opposed to WordPerfect?
I use DeScribe 5.0 - partly because it is (for the moment at least, I hear
there are some pretty cool things on the horizon) the *only* decent
"heavy-duty" word processor available for native OS/2, and certainly the only
one to take full advantage of the environment. Yes, there is a version of
AmiPro 3.x for OS/2, but it's severely lacking compared to its Windows cousin.
Word is though that its successor, Lotus WordPro, is going to kick some
serious a$$.
IBM Works (bundled with Warp) has some great features, especially in how all
its components (word processor, spreadsheet, PIM, etc. etc.) are integrated
with each other, and with the Workplace Shell and thus other apps via SOM.
However, it's a "beginner" level package, along the same lines as MS-Works,
and lacks the wigged-out powerhouse features of Word, WP and DeScribe.
>Is there something I don't know that would be helpful to me as a tech writer?
Well, it depends on what you find helpful. I find DeScribe's multithreading
to be indispensible. Fifty-some-odd page document complete with index, TOC,
appendices... need to print it... just click the print button and go back to
work. No hourglass, no waiting for the thing to spool. Timed autosave,
spelling and grammar checker... all the same. Launched as a background thread
so smoothly you'd never notice it when you're busy typing away.
That's just me though. I'm a pretty warped individual all-around. :-)
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