Function: Word processing and basic page layout.
- Nisus Writer Pro Vs Microsoft Word
- Nisus Writer Pro Is A Great Alternative To Word For Mac Free
- Nisus Writer Pro Is A Great Alternative To Word For Mac Download
- Nisus Writer Pro Is A Great Alternative To Word For Machine
Jun 18, 2020 Nisus Writer Pro is for those who need the features of apps like Word or Mellel, but want an easier to use interface, better typography and great, responsive support. While I usually recommend Scrivener for outlining, researching and do large part of the writing of long (scientific) texts, Nisus is the TOP choice to make corrections, layout. Its target market is students, academics and professionals. It works with several word processors, including Microsoft Word, Apple Pages, Mellel, Nisus Writer Express, OpenOffice.org Writer and others. Bookends is made by Sonny Software and maintained by its owner and developer Jon Ashwell.
Developer: Nisus Software, Inc.
Price: $79; upgrade, family pack, and other options are available.
Requirements: Mac OS X 10.4.
Trial: Fully-featured (15 days).
For many Mac users, the search for a capable, versatile, and affordable optionfor word processing and basic layout has become much more complex in the pastseveral years. Long-time users of Microsoft Word, wanting to stay current inoperating systems and updated hardware, may have found themselves frustrated bythe lack of scripting (after the shift to Intel-native versions, starting withOffice 2008) or the sluggish performance of older software (i.e., running Office2004 on an Intel Mac)—both of which, incidentally, were remedied by the mostrecent edition of Office (and at a reasonably low upgrade price, as well).Others, daunted by Word’s expansive—some would say bloated—feature set, mayhave turned elsewhere. Pages, Mariner Write, Mellel, OpenOffice (and itsderivatives), and Bean may offer fairly satisfying results for some; for others,tools such as Scrivener, TextMate, BBEdit, or others might be the answer—orsomething close to it.
Mac users looking for something very close to what is available in Word, butscaled down a bit (or simply more “Mac-like” in its interface) have, for severalyears now, found Nisus’s offerings (Nisus Writer Express and Nisus Writer Pro)to be delightful options. For me, in my own day-to-day usage, I find that Iwrite 80% of my basic documents in Nisus Writer Pro, even though I own Pages,Mellel, Word, Scrivener, TextMate, and others! Most of these fill a particularneed in my various workflows, but Nisus Writer Pro is capable, lean, and easy touse for just about any purpose.
These applications have been reviewed before in ATPM: Express was reviewed by Watts Martin in November 2004, andI reviewed Nisus WriterPro three years later in November 2007. In May of this year, however, Nisusoffered a major upgrade to Nisus Writer Pro, version 2.0, which brings a host ofimprovements and an impressive list of new features as well. (Because of thecontinuity of several reviews, I won’t re-hash old points, except wherethere are significant changes.)
Following Up
In my previous review, I identified several aspects of Nisus Writer Pro that Iconsidered lacking: it choked on larger font libraries; it supportedcollaborative, Track Changes–style markings only partially; its full-screenmode was too simple and less than usable; and it assumed too much in terms ofunderstanding the drawer. Let me follow up on these.
First, and worst: the full-screen mode hasn’t changed. I still find the textfar too small, and there is only one customizable preference for it (percentageof screen width to utilize). Those of us who appreciate the Zen-like simplicityof a full-screen mode but who have been spoiled by the likes of Literature andLatte’s Scrivener for usability and adaptability, will be disappointed withNisus Writer Pro in this way.
Next, I found that a font library of more than 1,200 typefaces caused NisusWriter Pro 1.x to freeze up, though scaling it back to only a little more than100 remedied this problem. I’ve never reinstalled all 1,200, though my libraryis now back up in the mid-300s; Nisus Writer Pro hasn’t had a problem with thisat all. My suspicion is that this will depend as much on the RAM and processorspeed of the Mac in use, as well as the number of other applications running, asit will on Nisus Writer Pro itself. Nevertheless, your results may vary here.
Finally, when it comes to the drawer, I think several things are now in place tomitigate this complaint. First, the use of a drawer-like interface is far morecommon today than perhaps it was nearly four years ago. Most users will probablyalready be aware of how this works, and won’t need to turn to the documentation.(I’ll note again, however, that the documentation for Nisus Writer Pro remainswell written and easy to navigate.) Also, Nisus Writer Pro also opens alldocuments with the drawer open, leading the user to more naturally find his/herway around the features therein. And Nisus Writer Pro has always employedisomorphic icons in the drawer (i.e., the icons at the top of the drawer arevisually intuitively connected to the functions they represent), easing theuser’s navigational difficulty considerably.
The biggest victory for users, however, is Nisus Writer Pro’s highly capable andcompatible Track Changes toolset. Whereas previous versions offered only limitedsupport (as noted in my 2007 review), the current version brings appreciableimprovements across the board. Users who are familiar with Microsoft Word’s(and/or Apple’s Pages’s) execution of this function will find Nisus Writer Pronot only fully compatible, but also nearly identical to Word’s approach.Finally, those who need to exchange collaborative documents with Word users neednot switch applications simply to accommodate.
![Nisus Writer Pro Is A Great Alternative To Word For Mac Nisus Writer Pro Is A Great Alternative To Word For Mac](https://static.macupdate.com/screenshots/237642/m/nisus-writer-pro-screenshot.webp?v=1576834520)
Other Improvements
A number of other aspects have been tweaked or extended in useful ways. Indeed,almost every major tool that might be employed in drafting more complexdocuments and/or applying basic layout to them—tables, graphics, styles,margins, hyperlinks, file formats, page and line numbering—all have at leastsubtle improvements added. Cars cdp 2.11.3 crack. Many preferences have also been added or extended aswell, allowing the overall user experience to improve.
Nisus Writer Pro is also evolving to embrace many of the Mac OS X features, justas so many other applications have: gestures for trackpad users are nowsupported to a limited extent. Nisus Writer Pro is not yet fully Lion-compliant,so the new instant-on and versioning options are not yet present; I suspectthese will come, however, in an incremental update.
New Features
Nisus Writer Pro also offers a full list of new tools and features in version2.0. Some, such as Track Changes, are changed enough that, though present inprevious versions, may as well be considered as “new” features (and are byNisus). Others are welcome additions, such as Watermarks and full-scale drawingtools.
Nisus Writer Pro brings substantial tools to the output side of documentcreation, as well. Creation of full-featured, navigable PDFs is now possiblewithin the application—no need to reopen it in Adobe Acrobat Professional to addthings, such as a live Table of Contents or other cross-references. It’s alsopossible to output to ePub, which is becoming a de facto feature in wordprocessors; while these ePubs won’t be as prettily displayed as a custom filecreated by an XML code warrior, they are more than capable of being a functionalmeans for portable proofreading.
Version 2.0 also adds features to Nisus Writer Pro that were noticeably absentin previous versions, such as vertical rulers, image padding control, and somenavigation/editing tools (for things such as finding styles and “correct all”for spell-checking).
Overall, Nisus Writer Pro’s new additions and changes represent an impressivelist; true to form for Nisus’s excellent history of documentation, these arescrupulously detailed on itsWeb site.
Nisus Writer Pro Vs Microsoft Word
Concerns
Beyond the aforementioned lingering issue with full-screen mode, I have only tworemaining concerns with version 2.0 of Nisus Writer Pro.
Nisus Writer Pro Is A Great Alternative To Word For Mac Free
First, I wonder that Nisus Writer Pro is adding feature on top of feature, somuch that the list of functions available now rivals most (if not all) of thosethat come to mind with Microsoft Word. Because of Nisus’s careful attention tousability, this hasn’t yet created a bloated feel to the usability of theapplication. Unlike Word, opening a document in Nisus Writer Pro does notpresent a window with so many buttons, toolbars, “ribbons,” and other tchotchkesthat I feel a bit daunted by what they all do. But I want to re-emphasize the“yet” there. One of the inherent problems with Word is simply that there are somany features that users don’t realize all of the power available. I wonder ifthe same isn’t becoming true of Nisus Writer Pro as well.
Second, the price has remained the same. I don’t consider $80 an out-of-reachprice for many users—and certainly the $50 upgrade cost for licensed users of1.x is also reasonably fair. However, the trend—for good or ill—with even morefull-featured applications is that the prices are dropping considerably: Apple’sPages, for example, is available through the App Store for only $20, and evenMicrosoft Office (which also brings Excel and PowerPoint with it) is availablefor prices that rival or beat Nisus’s $80. Whereas Nisus Writer Pro was once themore affordable alternative to Word, it is hard to argue that angle at thispoint.
Wrap-up
Nisus Writer Pro Is A Great Alternative To Word For Mac Download
Nisus Writer Pro 2 is a great upgrade to a capable, user-friendly wordprocessor. Few users will find any “missing” tools that hinder them fromaccomplishing what they want or need to do, whether individually orcollaboratively. The interface remains friendly and easy to use, despite therobustly competitive feature set. While other applications may be moreaffordable or offer greater capability for particular needs (such as layout orlong, academic/technical document handling), users seeking a solution to 90% oftheir word processing needs in a single application will find Nisus Writer Pro2.0 a welcome option—and an even more welcome upgrade.
Nisus Writer Pro Is A Great Alternative To Word For Machine
Copyright © 2011 Ed Eubanks Jr. Reviewing in ATPM is open to anyone. Ifyou’re interested, write to us at [email protected].