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OuterNotes: Word Processors and Tutorials
http://www.editorium.com If you use Microsoft Word for complex editorial projects, you'll certainly benefit by exploring The Editorium, a site created by Jack M. Lyon to showcase his amazingly useful set of Word add-in programs. Topping the chart are FileCleaner, which lets you remove multiple spaces, multiple carriage returns and unwanted tab stops, and MegaReplacer, which lets you apply formatting changes to multiple Word documents in one fell swoop. Trial downloads are free, but but if you wish to continue using them for more than 45 days, fees range from $34.95 to $39.95 per single-machine license. Another reason to visit the site is the free e-mail newsletter, which each week tackles a different way to master another of Word's complex functions. --Steve Baldwin 0pen-Source Word Processor Draws Rave Reviews http://www.abisource.com/ Finding a capable word processor that's not a wallet-busting resource hog can be a discouraging task, but help is on the way from the Open Source movement. Though still in the early stages of development, AbiWord already boasts an attractive interface that lets you cut, copy, paste and print; basic formatting, such as bold, italic and underlining also work fine; you also get a spell-checker that underlines typos as you write in a 727K package. There are still some gaps -- clicking on a function such as Insert Page Numbers, opens a dialogue box stating that the particular feature isn't available, but these are listed on the site and should soon be remedied as the global developer community begins adding features and improvements in earnest. --Debbie Cissell Dutch Master Builds a Better Notepad... http://www.mypeecee.org/rogsoft/index.html Rogier Meurs' NotePad+ is a much-needed replacement for the standard Windows 95/NT 4.0 Notepad.exe that corrects many of that program's major shortcomings and removes writers from the nether land between Notepad and MS Word (yes, we know about Wordpad, but...). Notetab+ lets you quickly open multiple files, (Notepad.exe's 64k-file size imitation is also history) display them in two different fonts beside Courier, and use a capable search-and-replace function and keyboard shortcuts without wasting time and system resources needed to open up a full-blown Word processor. Its still-svelte 444k file size makes it an easy download and installation, and it can be configured to replace Notepad.exe as your default text-file opener. Best of all, it's free to download, but you'll probably find yourself sending Mr. Meurs the $15.00 registration fee out of sheer gratitude, and to stay in the loop on future updates -- a customizable spell-checker would be a most welcome addition. --Mariateresa Thiery [Editor's OuterNote: Well, it didn't take me long to download -- and and fall head-over-heels in love with -- this program, especially since I do a lot of work in plain-text. It's strongly recommended for anyone in a similar situation, but if you need even more functionality, check out Ms. Thiery's next selection -- another well-kept secret that's saved countless hours working with MS Word...] ...And a Swiss Firms's NoteTab Tames Text and HTML http://www.notetab.com Geneva-based developer G.V Fookes' NoteTabs are a series of a Windows-based text and HTML editors that in past years have garnered a bucketful of top shareware industry awards -- and a devoted following among online editors, when it went by the wholly justified moniker of SuperNoteTab. The current versions can open (and give tab access to) stacks of huge files, format text and perform system-wide searches and whole-directory global replacements with ease. You can also use it to covert text to HTML, produce document templates, customize HTML code and add bookmarks. The toolbar can be customized with up to 90 commands, and the very handy Editor Clipbook lets you create custom text strings that are retrieved from an easily accessible list -- or by just typing the first matching characters of the header into your document and hitting a function key; the Clipbook repository holds over one hundred libraries submitted by NoteTab users since 1997. NoteTab Light is available as a free download; NoteTab Standard includes most of the above features for a $9.95 registration fee, and the $19.95 NoteTab Pro adds a thesaurus and a multilingual spell-checker. --Mariateresa Thiery TextPad Offers a Good WP in a Small Package... http://www.textpad.com/ Writers find that Microsoft Word to have an excessive amount of bells and whistles; on the other end of the spectrum, Notepad is far to limited to be useful. TextPad may just assuage your needs. It is a small (approximately 2.5 megabytes) download with a variety of desirable features such as a spell checker, dictionaries in 10 languages, the use of Universal Naming Conventions, the capability of editing huge files, multiple language interfaces, the ability to simultaneous edit files, a keystroke macro recorder, and much more. The download is free, but the cost is $27.00 if you decide to keep the program. Hundreds of free add-ons, such as utilities, clip libraries, dictionaries, macros, and syntax definitions let you opt to keep it simple or customize Textpad to fit your specific needs. --Karin Call ...And RoughDraft Does the Same for Free http://www.rsalsbury.co.uk/roughdraft/index.htm Like TextPad, it doesn't have Microsoft Word's extensive feature set, but if you never use the advanced functions (or can't afford Microsoft's opus), you'll like this free gem that occupies only 4 megabytes of hard disk space. The File, Find, Insert, and Pad tabs allow easy access to your files on your computer, let you find and replace items, count the instances a word appears in your document, and make side notes about your work in progress. A pop-up spell-checker that lets you insert special characters and links to reference materials (such as Dictionary.com and Online English Grammar) under the Help menu are other nice added touches. --Debbie Cissell OuterNotes is produced using the OuterForce Platform, which allows publishers to easily recruit and manage remote and freelance content creation and export it into their publishing platform of choice. For more information, see http://www.outerforce.com. Copyright 2000 by OuterNotes and Trotta Media, Inc. All rights reserved. OuterNotes is a trademark of OuterForce Systems, Inc.Return to OuterNotes Home |