Word Processors: It’s Time To Speak Up!
Frankly, I’m astonished at the results of our poll about the word processor preferences of you, the readers of this blog. Just take a look to the right to check the poll — and vote on your choice, if you already have not done so. Once you vote, you will see the results.
As I write this, over 100 readers have voted. And, to my amazement, the results are absolutely evenly divided among the four choices. Only a quarter of us rely exclusively on Microsoft Word, while another quarter of us supplement Word with other word-processing tools. Yet another quarter prefer other word processors, but turn to Word occasionally, and the remaining quarter never use Word at all.
These results point to an interesting hypothesis: Aside from the business world, where Microsoft Office is so dominant, folks who identify themselves as “writers” are much more adventuresome in their choice of word processor. I was not expecting this outcome.
Perhaps the results are a reflection of this blog’s readership, writers who are attracted to discussion about the tools of writing. The results also mean that our readership obviously have a lot to share about their own thoughts and experiences regarding writing tools.
Now I would really like to know: what writing tools do YOU use? what are the reasons for YOUR choices? Please take a couple of moments and share your thoughts by clicking on the COMMENTS link at the end of this post. It’s time to speak up!
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!
Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically to your feed reader.
Comments
For simple writing with little formatting I prefer Google Docs for the sheer ease and accessibility of the service - particularly since they have added folders.
I have a fondness for the entire Zoho office suite which is richer in features than Gdocs though admit I don’t use as often.
Unfortunately if the document that I am working on is to be submitted to a third party and requires any type of formatting, I still rely on Word.
Since none of the others (Gdocs, Zoho, Open Office) are yet fully compatible style wise with Word it can be an embarrassing problem if the client or third party sees a different looking final product (via spacing issues, text formatting, etc.)
Wismark To be fair, it’s only recently that I never use Word (this sentence would probably make M$s grammar checker vomit), and I do create documents in .doc format.
OpenOffice was what I used to wean myself off it.
Darkroom, thanks to an article you wrote, is what I have started using more often. So minimalist, so anti-distraction. Given I now write almost everything in plain text, Darkroom is the perfect companion for when I _just want to write_.
Jeremy Osborne I just wanted to pop in and mention first that there are a lot of comments all the way at the bottom of the home page, not just here 
Since I have an old computer and have always used Word, that’s my computer tool (I write first drafts with pen and paper). I often here about wonderful writer’s software and I’m hoping someday I’ll get to try one out. I would think it makes the whole task of writing more efficient
Meanwhile, I’m extremely grateful for Word, and word processing in general. I often think of how much more time-consuming it must’ve been when there were typewriters, and even more so — before that when it was all done, painstakingly, by hand! Just think of the revision process!!! AAAAGGGHH!!!!
:Donna Have you tried saving your work as RTF files? That format seems to be the best universal format, readable by almost all word processors. Of course it has its limitations in terms for advanced formatting.
I also am attracted to Zoho, but don’t yet use it alot. In fact, if you click on the link in the right sidebar called Your Writer’s Office, you will be taken to my PageFlakes project in which lots of tools and information is gathered — including a sign-on link to ZOHO. Try it out!
Tom Colvin The easiest was to read them is simply to click on the link “Word Processors: Does Your Choice Make Any Difference?” above, under the RELATED POSTS heading. They are indeed worth reading, along with this batch of comments as well.
Tom Colvin Tom,
Sorry for the late response, but to answer your question: Most of the formatting errors I encounter are in spacing issues.
A recent example would be a 10 page proposal I made for a org regarding social media initiatives. The document originated as a Word doc and the completed item looked great.
At some point my laptop died and I needed to make a change to the document. Using a borrowed computer which did not have MS office installed, I tried viewing and editing the document using Gdocs, Zoho and Star Office. In all three cases, the spacing had changed in the proposal.
I had fixed all the issues and saved the doc back as a word format (per request of the org) and unfortunately the spacing as set up on the Star (open) office changed slightly again when they opened the document in their MS office environment.
I have not tried the RTF format which may correct such issues in the future.
I do feel however that with MS announcing their Albany Beta, and the growing compatibilities between all the competitors that the issue will be moot to a degree within a year or two.
Wismark When I came back to catch up on this thread, I saw that, in MY post, I typed “here” instead of “hear”! I’m quite the anal one when it comes to stuff like that and just wanted to point out that “YES”, I do know the difference and never had a problem with stuff like that in my life, and “NO”, my excessively foggy brain’s been doing that for a couple of years now and it makes me NUTS! *sigh*
Now, if I’d written that in Word, it wouldn’t have picked it up as a mistake, simply because “here” IS a word! lol Does any other software actually pick up those kinds of mistakes?
:Donna Your description of the handling of .doc files among various word processors claiming “compatibility” is illuminating. In my own excursions into .doc compatibility, I too have discovered that “compatibility” does NOT mean that documents will turn out identical in appearance. Writers need to be aware of this. Thanks for pointing it out.
Just observe how HTML renders in different browsers — the appearance is startlingly different. It seems that compatibility means merely that the file is “readable” among different programs.
I’m not at all certain that RTF formatted docucments shared among different word processors will turn out identical. That’s a very high bar of compatibility and may be unattainable.
Thanks also for mentioning the recent announcement of the Microsoft Albany beta. I’ve once again been travelling and missed that announcement of 4 days ago altogether. I’ve done a quick Google search, which brought up information from Microsoft about this new initiative. It will clearly be worth following — maybe the most important news out of Redmond for some time.
Tom Colvin You may wish to check out White Smoke, which claims to go beyond spell checkers to examine grammar and usage. I’ve not tried the program myself. Maybe you can step in and do an evaluation for us? Check it out at www.whitesmoke.com.
Tom Colvin LOL Tom, you are VERY funny! ME do an evaluation? The woman who’s computer needs oxygen almost 24/7, who’s only ever used Word? ROFL! I DID bookmark the link though, ’cause it sure does “sound” good! I still hope in “someday” when I’ll be able to actually get stuff like this
:Donna 
Loading ...
I use Microsoft Word 2007 because it is easy to use and you have all tools in good places, with all live previewing functions and etc. The control of program and text is really comfortable and the design of is quite good and atractive too.