Path: utzoo!dptcdc!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!bgsuvax!rlancast
From: rlancast@bgsuvax.UUCP (Ron Lancaster)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: MacWrite II
Keywords: MacWrite, word processing
Message-ID: <4026@bgsuvax.UUCP>
Date: 19 Apr 89 00:18:20 GMT
Organization: Bowling Green State University B.G., Oh.
Lines: 52

Several requests have appeared for information about MacWrite II.  I have been
using the program for about three weeks, and am quite satisfied.  Prior to
MacWrite II, my word processing involved using Word about 20% of the time and
MacWrite 5.0 the remaining 80%.  (In most cases, I don't need the additional
features of Word and I much prefer the friendly MacWrite user interface.)
Based on the improvements made in MacWrite, I expect my use of MacWrite to
increase to about 95%.  There are still some documents which benefit from
styles, for which there is no direct counterpart in MW II.  I also need, for
some documents, the ability to prevent a given paragraph from being split
over a page boundary.

The most obvious improvement to me is that the new spelling checker is FAST.
Spacing between lines of a document can be single-spaced, double-spaced, or
any other kind of spacing (1.5-spaced, 5-spaced, etc.).  Multiple columns
are supported (although I don't need that feature at present), and it is
possible to have text adjacent to a figure.

I really like the introduction of "stationery," a concept which has been
available in other software for some time.  I set up a standard memo form
which automatically inserts the date at the appropriate line within the memo.

The mail merge feature is quite flexible and easy to use.  The WordFinder
Thesaurus, which comes with MW II, is something I hadn't seen before, but
it's quite good.  When you ask for synonyms for a word and receive a list,
you can then choose any word in the list and ask for synonyms for that
specific meaning.

The Find/Change feature now has all of the capabilities of the old
FaceLift program.  You can ask that all 10-point underlined text become
9-point italicized, or that all New York font text be changed to Times
font.  The "Define Styles" feature lets you define combinations of
font, size, and style (underline, plain text, etc.) that can henceforth
be referred to by a single name.

I regularly need to import and export files in Word and in MacWrite 5.0
to be able to communicate with my colleagues at the university, and I can
do that with ease in MW II.

So far, this is just a random list of features which I have found useful
in MW II, and I'm not sure where to stop.  Suffice it to say, having used
it several hours per day for more than two weeks, I am quite happy with
the product.  Most people will probably like the one feature which I have
yet to get used to.  Each paragraph now has its own ruler, so changing the
ruler in a paragraph adjusts only that paragraph.  I've gotten used to
that in Word (even though I don't like it) but I keep forgotting to use
that feature in MW II.

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Ron Lancaster                       csnet: rlancast@andy.bgsu.edu
Department of Computer Science     BITNET: RLANCAST@BGSUOPIE
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, Ohio  43403-0214