Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!rutgers!ames!sdcsvax!ucbvax!ESDVAX.ARPA!myerst%si03.DECnet From: myerst%si03.DECnet@ESDVAX.ARPA ("SI03::MYERST") Newsgroups: comp.sys.apple Subject: Word Perfect Message-ID: <8705141124.aa11643@SMOKE.BRL.ARPA> Date: Thu, 14-May-87 11:26:00 EDT Article-I.D.: SMOKE.8705141124.aa11643 Posted: Thu May 14 11:26:00 1987 Date-Received: Sat, 16-May-87 13:34:21 EDT Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU Reply-To: "SI03::MYERST" Distribution: world Organization: The ARPA Internet Lines: 100 I N T E R O F F I C E M E M O R A N D U M Date: 14-May-1987 10:26 From: Terry L Myers Username: MYERST Dept: SCOP Tel No: 5554 TO: _MAILER! ( _DDN[INFO-APPLE@BRL.ARPA] ) Subject: Word Perfect I waited for the experts to answer, but nothing happened. So here's my two-cents worth. Bill Dickson asked "anyone who knows anything about word processors" about a word processor that would use all the memory in a IIgs. I recently bought Word Perfect for my IIe (128k, unenhanced). I immediately had trouble running it. After it booted, I couldn't get it to list files on either drive. Turned out I had a bad memory chip on my extended 80-col card. (I guess Wizardry doesn't use the second 64k, so I never used the expanded memory.) After getting the bad chip replaced, it ran just fine, and I'm glad I bought it. I had been using AppleWriter II before, and find Word Perfect to be much more powerful. I have had some trouble trying to convert my AppleWriter files to Word Perfect files (using the utility provided with Word Perfect), but I found that calling my old files plain ASCII (instead of AppleWriter) then editing to replace the old imbedded formatting commands works well enough. FEATURES Word Perfect uses one disk for temporary files, so you aren't limited by the size of your memory and you can recover if your kid trips over the power cord. If you want, you can assign the temp files to a RAM disk. (It even recognizes my second 64K as a RAM disk and lists it when I ask what volumes I have in the drives.) It has special installation instructions to make use of large memories, so it ought to work well with the IIgs. (I vaguely remember hearing about a new version just for the IIgs coming out soon. Is that right?) It has all the usual features and easily handles headers/footers (with the ability to define different ones for even and odd pages, if I remember correctly.) It has footnotes, macros (easy to use, but possibly hard to debug if you make big ones), and a 50,000-word dictionary. It is a what-you-see-is-what-you-get word processor. It reformats semiautomatically or all at once on command. LIKES AND DISLIKES A bad part of the what-you-see-is-what-you-get display is the way it handles lines over 80 columns wide. I typically set up for 12 pitch and 1.25" margins, so I have margins at 15 and 90. That's only 76 columns, but Word Perfect displays the blank columns on the left until you get far enough to the right that it can jump over to display the right half of the line. It never shows the whole line, even though it could if it wouldn't treat the left margin as important text. The solution was not difficult. I just created a macro to shift both margins left 10 when I want to edit and one to shift right 10 when I want to print. (You can display all the hidden codes, and you can search on codes, also, so the macros were trivial to create. I saved them as open-apple commands so I wouldn't have to call for the macro and type in the name. Nice feature.) When I changed from continuous-form paper to single sheet, the printer started with an unexpected reverse vertical tab. After getting the margins just right in drafts on cheap paper, I was a little upset when it suddenly changed rules on me. Changing the printer configuration to another controller card solved the problem. (You can define three printers at once and change between them easily.) The spell checker is one of the most useful I've seen short of a main-frame. It has a short list of very common words that it checks before the main list, it checks in context, it suggests corrections, and it allows look-ups. It's easy to add words to either the short or long list, and it even has some proper names. (I was surprised when I found it had Aztec in the dictionary, but when it corrected Descartes for me, I was really impressed.) A minor point that I find useful: when it lists files on a volume, it always sorts them alphabetically (with creation and update dates, plus size, etc.) DISCLAIMER OF RESPONSIBILITY Lest I be accused of publishing my reminiscences here, let me point out that questions for general comments on Word Perfect usually go unanswered. As I pointed out in the beginning, I waited for postings from the people who know what they're talking about before I put this in. Anyway, I hope this rambling review and collections of beginner's impressions helps those who are thinking of buying Word Perfect. Terry Myers Hanscom AFB Expert in Inverse Artificial Intelligence ------