Re: A bit more about wp programs.

[Elna -dot- Tymes -at- SYNTEX -dot- COM]

In article <TECHWR-L%94090219204800 -at- VM1 -dot- UCC -dot- OKSTATE -dot- EDU>,
<97372509 -at- wsuvm1 -dot- csc -dot- wsu -dot- edu> writes:


> Just out of curiosity, what do other technical writers think are the
advantages
> of MSWORD as opposed to WordPerfect 6.0? I have noticed that MSWORD seems to
> be the standard for most companies. Yet, I find that WordPerfect is much more
> user friendly. Is it just personal preference?

I have active on my desktop at this very moment Framemaker 4.1, Word for
Windows 2.<something>, and WordPerfect for Window 5.2.  Because of division
conventions, we are working in Frame, although if we had our druthers, we'd
use Word for Windows.  I regard Frame and Word for Windows as approximately
equal in use, each having features the other doesn't quite have.  I regard
WordPerfect a far, far distant third, and will use it only if I must, since
it is far less user-friendly  and less powerful than either of the other
two packages.

I have been playing with virtually all of the word processing/dtp packages
for years now, and have come to realize that one highly important feature
(to me) is the ability to import and export files and chunks of information.
Word for Windows will read and write just about anything.  WordPerfect won't
read as much, and won't export much. Frame will read just about anything but
gets difficult about exporting it.

I really like the way both Frame and Word for Windows handle art -- and I now
believe that I couldn't work very well without anchored frames for art.

Frame takes longer to learn but has more dtp facets built in; Word for Windows
is easy and intuitive and powerful up to a point.   I *love* the book features
of Frame and wish that Word had them.

So - pros and cons, from my point of view.

Elna Tymes
Los Trancos Systems