Thwack!
I started with that word because, to my amusement, the spellchecker in Microsoft Word 2007 says I spelled it correctly. How many word processors or spellcheckers are you aware of that can spell "thwack"?
Games aside, and I haven't been playing much of them lately, I justify owning a computer by writing. Just because it's been 20 years since I sold anything doesn't deny me the claim. So I'm always looking at what the latest writing software is like.
When I leapt from my Smith-Corona to computers, I used an Atari running LJK Letter Perfect. Not a hint of WYSIWYG in that program, but it was fast, pretty easy, and the standard for real Atari-based writing. When I dabbled with Apples, I discovered WordPerfect, and when I migrated to MS-DOS machines, WP was there waiting.
At the same time, though, dark forces hovered in the shadows, softly whispering a dreaded curse word. That word being, uh, "Word."
I have long hated Word. It has taken me years to get used to its idea of "styles" and, more often than not, they still trip me up. I've never enjoyed the interface and I despise not being able to really see what format codes are being applied (its "reveal codes" feature is a joke). Yes, I understand that WP is based on a much older model for document formatting, that Word is more "modern", but when it comes to creative writing, that older model is perfect, and also explains why lots of creative writers continue to use WordStar. (A program that once threatened to drive me insane; who in Hades invents those keystroke combinations?)
To remain current, though, I've always updated Word and WP. I've had a copy of Word via the Office Suite since Office 95. Of late, I just buy the Student & Teacher edition because I'm a student, damnit. (Honest. I can show you my student ID.) That version is fine because I really only need Word and Excel.
Now, along comes WP X3 and Office 2007. Sigh. Goodbye WP. All things must end, and my romance with you has hit its dead-end. There are three reasons.
First, WP X3 is bug-ridden. At least for me. You may have a stable version and a stable install. I don't. Ugh. And it adds little to nothing over WP v.12, except for being a little big prettier.
Second, Word 2007 opens WordPerfect files almost perfectly. Good enough that I can work on the formatting. This means the megabytes of existing files I've got are easily accessible.
Third, I've installed a copy of OpenOffice which opens both Word and WP documents, thus creating a second back-up for file access. I'm not enamored with OO Writer, though, because it's way too much like pre-2007 renditions of Word and not enough like the stuff I like about WP, so why bother?
Oh, there is ODF, Open Document Format, which would remove my paranoia about any future inability to open documents. And I'm all for that. So this is tempting, but hark, I read that Word 2007, via an add-on, will support ODF.
So what is it about Word 2007?
It's clean. It's that simple. Well, that and the document map, which works now. At least well enough for me.
The reviews for the Office 2007 products -- at least of the beta versions -- have focused on the change from traditional menus to "ribbons". This is a massive change, and actually something I don't like too much. Trying to find an old menu choice via these ribbons is a regal pain in the rump. Fortunately for me, I'm one of those that happily only uses 10% of the software's capabilities, so I can find what I need relatively quickly and just won't worry about the rest.
The neat thing, though, is I shift can into draft view, hide the ruler, and hide the damn ribbons. What I'm left with is stark and minimal, a bare set of icons (that I can customize) and a thin row of menu choices. The result is a screen that visually gets out of my way. I've tried coming close with past versions of Word and WP, but this is close to perfect.
Bonus: Along the bottom I have a status display that gives page count, what page I'm on, line number, and a running word count. Plus a simple bar for adjusting the zoom, or changing view modes (e.g., from draft to page). I am frankly staggered by how clean this all looks.
As for document map, I started playing with it in the beta version of Word 2007, and even then it was better than what I saw in previous renditions of Word. In my copy of Word 2003, for instance, the text in the document map was too small, impossible to read unless I blew everything up full screen. Which I hate. And yes, I'm picky.
For my latest novel, I built an outline with chapter headings and key events that would happen in a given chapter. I flag those as level 1 or level 2 within the outline. In Word 2007 I select "view document map" and that outline appears in a vertical bar to the left. Voila, I can jump anywhere in my document I want with a single click. It is, as advertised, a map of my document.
As I finish a chapter I remove the little event notes and the outline collapses to just the chapter heading. Perfect! Alternately, I can flag key paragraphs for later reference, revision, edits, or just to make it easier to find a key scene.
So I'm hooked. MS has me, again, as a customer when this thing ships the end of this month. And the Teacher & Student is now simply the Home version. And I have a home. And that student ID card.
Oh, and as for that file format thing, for the near future I'll just use the "old fashioned" .doc format which my other versions of Word can open, that my copies of WP can open, and especially what OO Writer can open. That will suit me fine until the Word 2007 .odt utility comes along. Simple!
Never thought I'd be enthusiastic about Word, though. Will wonders never cease?
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