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Not another word processing program, right? Well, Nisus Writer Express 2.0 is not your average word processing program. For one thing, it costs less, and a few tools are available that are not easily found or formatted in other word processing programs. For instance, endnotes, inserting of pictures or images, formatting of text as an "endnote," "footnote," or even "normal." I like this feature being readily available as you write.
Installation is similar to other programs, namely, you just drag and drop a few files onto your hard drive. The same is true in this case. All that is required is inserting the installation CD, dragging two files, Nisus Thesaurus and Nisus Writer Express, to your applications folder, and you are done. Upon starting the application, you will be asked to register, of course, but that is all. If you have downloaded the full working, 30-day version of Nisus Writer Express, just click "Continue Demo" which will allow you to continue using the program, or if you have purchased it and possess a registration number, click "Add License" and enter it, and you will no longer be prompted to do so.
System Requirements are simple: Mac OS X 10.2.8 or later, and a G3-based processor or better is all that is required for use with Nisus Writer Express.
After installation, I wanted to test Nisus Writer Express with two things in mind. First, will it open Microsoft Word Files as advertised? As a sub-issue, I also wanted to test its handling of two common formats: rich text file (RTF) and plain text file (TXT). Secondly, I wanted to test its spell checking ability.
Let me start with the spell checking, though. I purposely misspelled words in my text documents so I could see how Nisus Writer Express indicated to the user a misspelling. Well, it did not take long to see that one. Much like other word processing applications, Nisus uses a red underline as an indicator of a misspelled word. Next, I wanted to see how easy it was to correct those misspellings...okay, I‚m back...that was easier than I thought it would be. I paged back, highlighted the misspelled words, held the Control key down (I use a one button mouse), clicked my mouse, and, there, within a contextual menu was the suggested correct spelling of the word(s). You know what? In every instance, the suggestion was exactly the right one, too, or was listed first in the listing. [Side Note: the word "Nisus" was not recognized throughout my document. You would think they would have added that to the default dictionary, right? Oh, well. And, yes, I wrote this review using Nisus Writer Express.]
Next, I tested Nisus Writer Express‚ ability to open Microsoft Word documents. I attempted opening several documents, large and small, and just once was there a problem with formatting. Files formatted in RTF, TXT, and, of course, Word (DOC) were easily opened by Nisus; however, the one Word document it had a problem with contained headers, footers, and two tables, one table filled an entire page, and the other table was about half a page. When the document opened, one table made it but the other did not, although, header and footer formatting remained intact. Altogether, I was pleased with the conversion of documents from other formats. By the way, Nisus Writer Express‚ "task pane" is always available on the right side of your screen. Contained within this pane is a constantly running (updating) thesaurus window providing alternative words as you type. Good feature, and, yes, you can always turn it off.
All in all, I am very impressed with Nisus Writer Express. It was easy to install, performed as advertised, and the user interface is easy to navigate. The "File Save As..." feature allows saving documents as RTF, HTML, Microsoft Word, WordPerfect, and Text. Again, good features.
Bottom line: Does Nisus Writer Express match its marketing? I would agree? Do I recommend it? Yes.
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