Path: utzoo!censor!geac!torsqnt!lethe!yunexus!ists!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!wuarchive!julius.cs.uiuc.edu!psuvax1!rutgers!cmcl2!esquire!esquire.dpw.com
From: baumgart@esquire.dpw.com (Steve Baumgarten)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.apps
Subject: Re: Word 5 Wishes
Message-ID: <2985@esquire.dpw.com>
Date: 16 Jan 91 13:52:41 GMT
References: <155706@felix.UUCP> <1991Jan16.025335.11832@cs.umn.edu> <1991Jan16.040412.14182@nntp-server.caltech.edu> <1991Jan16.064929.15592@Neon.Stanford.EDU>
Sender: news@DPW.COM
Reply-To: baumgart@esquire.dpw.com (Steve Baumgarten)
Organization: Davis Polk & Wardwell
Lines: 66
In-reply-to: torrie@cs.stanford.edu (Evan J Torrie)

In article <1991Jan16.064929.15592@Neon.Stanford.EDU>, torrie@cs (Evan J Torrie) writes:
>palmer@nntp-server.caltech.edu (David Palmer) writes:
>
>>USE FONT NAMES INSTEAD OF FONT NUMBERS IN SAVED FILES, PLEASE.
>
>  YES, YES, YES!  [...]
>  Do the other word processors currently out there handle this any
>better?  (I'm thinking of Nisus in particular, which is likely to get
>my vote if Word 5.0 doesn't shape up in a big way).

Yes, it uses font names.  I can't imagine using Word, simply because
it doesn't.  Almost guarantees nasty surprises if you print on a
system other than the one on which the document was created.

Also, from a related posting by David Palmer, other Word 5 wishes:

# Styles sheets at the character level, as well as at the paragraph level.
# 
# Variable names for labeling figures etc.
# 
# USE FONT NAMES INSTEAD OF FONT NUMBERS IN SAVED FILES, PLEASE.
# 
# Make it possible to select 'make backup' the first time you save something,
# instead of having to save, and then 'Save As...'
# 
# Allow the backups to be on a different disk.

Nisus does all of these things with a minimum of fuss.

# Fix the bugs.  (Is 4.00C out yet?)

Bugs are one thing that Nisus doesn't seem to have -- at least I
haven't run into any yet.  I'm sure there are some obscure ones in
there, but certainly nothing obvious.

# In the command box, have a way of finding out what all the currently
# assigned keys do (e.g. you should be able to type a option-clover-control-F1
# and have it tell you that that calls the 'Translate to Pig Latin' command.)

This is one of Nisus' strongest points.  Whenever a dialog is on the
screen, holding down the command key shows you all the shortcuts.
When you release the command key, the dialog looks like a standard
dialog again.  So even if you have a poor memory for these kinds of
things, you can still use shortcut command keys in dialogs.

Also, while you have a menu pulled down, pressing Shift or Option
changes some of the menu items to their alternate versions.  Again,
you don't have to remember that "Option XYZ" means something slightly
different than "XYZ" alone -- Nisus shows you.

Of course, all the command keys are changeable, so you can customize
things to your heart's content (though you can't change the position
of the menu items themselves).  And I won't even go into how useful
having multiple active selections and unlimited undos/redos are.

All in all, Nisus is a refreshing change from the limitations of Word.
I switched back when Word 4 came out and really haven't regretted it
(though having built-in tables is pretty nice -- that's something that
Nisus doesn't do yet).  People who are waiting on Word 5 might do well
to give Nisus a look.

--
   Steve Baumgarten             | "New York... when civilization falls apart,
   Davis Polk & Wardwell        |  remember, we were way ahead of you."
   baumgart@esquire.dpw.com     | 
   cmcl2!esquire!baumgart       |                           - David Letterman