Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!rutgers!ub.d.umn.edu!jness From: jness@ub.d.umn.edu (Joel Ness) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.apps Subject: Re: WordPerfect 2.0 Message-ID: <835@ub.d.umn.edu> Date: 6 Feb 91 23:21:21 GMT References: Organization: University of Minnesota, Duluth. Information Services. Lines: 88 In article RAFST3@vms.cis.pitt.edu writes: >Hello out there. >I am getting ready to upgrade my WordPerfect package from 1.0.x to >2.0. I have not yet seen any comments or reviews about this new >version, and I was wondering if there was anyone that would like >to put their 2 cents in. I'm not sure of what the major differences >are, and I am curious. > >Looking forward to replies....... > Well, I just got our software subscription copy from WP and, although I really haven't had a chance to try it out much at all, here are a few impressions. It is incredibly more powerful than V1.0.5. This wouldn't be hard since the previous version, although it had a few nice features, was one of the more brain-dead Mac word processors. WP is the campus standard here for both Mac and PC so the current version of WP on the Mac has been a major thorn in my side. My overall impression is that I am very much impressed with the new version. Additional features include several graphics layers (many of our users now won't need MacDraw), much more powerful layout facilities (don't have to go to PageMaker for a lot of stuff now), borders, text boxes, tables (using columns and the text boxes), sorting, indexes, TOCs and a whole lot more. The macro capability is a full programming language that seems to be able to do some amazing things. One of the supplied macros puts any text you enter onto a circle and pastes the resulting graphic into the text. WP 2.0 also now has style sheets. I haven't had a chance to compare these to the Word/PM type style sheets, but they seem comparable. When will WP or Aldus be coming out with a PM filter for 2.0? The entire interface is very much improved and much more Mac-like. Even a few nice innovations like dialog boxes having their own pull-down menus (cleans up some of the more complicated boxes nicely). Code view is still available, but it's not necessary to have to use it as much as with the older version. I've always said that a "code view" belongs nowhere on any true Mac word processor. A "Show paragraphs" command should be good enough (and WP 2.0 had it). In 1.0.X you _had_ to use code view a lot when reformatting because of the nightmarish way WP inserted codes into the document (kind of like having to be able to rebuild your transmission just to shift into reverse). You have three "Environment" options in WP 2.0. One way is just like the old WP, make a change to your tabs while your cursor is in the middle of a line and it inserts a tab change code at that point in the document which applies until the end of the document or until you hit another tab set code. This means that if you edit in the front half of the line the tabs are set one way, but move your cursor to the end of the lines and the tabs are set differently (you can start to get a feel for how much of a pain this can be). The second, default option is for all formatting "codes" to be inserted at the beginning of the current paragraph and they then apply from that paragraph on through the rest of the document as before. This is better. The third option, which I haven't had a chance to really evaluate to see if is best, appears to be much like the way that Word does it. Make a change in a paragraph and it affects only that paragraph. You'd have to select the whole doc to change all paragraphs. Now, I am used to doing things this way in Word, but I'm not sure if this means that this is best. Maybe the default option will make the most sense to our current users. Import capabilities are improved. WP can read in PC Wp versions up to 5.1 as well as graphics such as Pict, Paint and EPS. WP2.0 can also use the Claris XTND filters to read MacWrite, Word 30 and 4.0, etc. Here's where I'd like some info. WP2.0 does not come with these Claris XTND filters, meaning that you can't read any of these other formats until you get them. Are the XTND filters freely distributable? If not, it seems that WP2.0 takes a step back in what it can import "out of the box". I'll try to report more when I've had a chance to play with it. I've been getting a fair amount of quits and crashes but that just may be because I keep my system on the edge with lots of toys and add-ons. I'll know more as I play with it more. Potentially, it looks like we may have a very powerful Mac word processor here. It's still a little early, though to say for sure. Joel Ness INTERNET: jness@ub.d.umn.edu Information Services BITNET: JNESS@UMNDUL University of Minnesota, Duluth Phone: (218) 726-8841 Duluth, MN 55812