Both the April and May 2007 issues of the online e-magazine MacCompanion are aimed squarely at writers. I’ve never used a Mac myself, thinking it was designed more for designers and musicians, rather than writers. These issues of MacCompanion give me second thoughts. I have never seen anywhere else, in book or magazine — well, can I say it, maybe with the exception of Becoming A Writer Seriously — comparable focus on how a computer can help a writer.
The April issue [Vol. 5, Issue 4] is available online, and I’ve downloaded a PDF version, all 190 pages of it.
This issue gives extensive and mostly informative reviews of commercial writing software such as Mellel and Final Draft and shareware programs such as Glass Writer Pro and Writer.app. It covers hardware too, such as the AlphaSmart Dana [I'll be reviewing the company's Neo within a few days]. There are even some general articles, such as “Why I Write,” with contributions from the MacCompanion staff.
One of the staff writers, upon looking back over past issues, was startled to discover that the magazine had only limited coverage of tools for writers. These issues set out to correct that.
Novelists will be interested in the review of Glass Writer Pro. Designed by a novelist who yearned for a word processor that suited his needs, the program has a number of attractive features, according to the reviewer, such as “a running word count per day, per chapter and for the entire manuscript as well as a page count and quick click list of chapters.” That’s enough to catch my attention. However, the reviewer goes on to point out some serious short-comings.
The review of Final Draft is definitely worth a read by anyone contemplating writing screenplays, even those using PC’s as the software is available on that platform as well.
I was sadly quite disappointed in the review of the word processor Mellel, which is particularly appealing to academics and non-fiction writers requiring footnotes and bibliographies. I need just such a software, and my search goes on. The review just did not illuminate the software and its workings, other than demostrating its capability with many different languages and character sets. I was left with the impression that Mellel is not yet a mature package. However, a description of the software in Wikipedia suggests otherwise. At some point down the road, I look forward to comparing Mellel and Nota Bene, a comparable software for the PC.
The software receiving the strongest endorsement is Spell Catcher X, a must-have for writers, according to the reviewer. The April issue also reviews two freeware programs, a typewriter emulator and a text editor.
The May issue of MacCompanion, also available for download as a PDF file, is heavily weighted toward software reviews, quite a few of them of interest to writers.
Columnist Rick Sutcliffe, aka The Northern Spy, tells the sad story about the new version of the Nisus word processor, which suffers when compared to the earlier Classic version. Here’s a cautionary tale, reminding us that advances in computer technology sometimes carry some losses as well. He also takes on the book industry, which he declares is hopelessly out of date, pursuing a dying business model. He points to eBooks as the future, once some hardware manufacturer comes up with the right “reader.” Provocative.
Software reviews cover two story development programs, Dramatica Pro and Power Structure, along with Montage, a maturing script-writing package. Also reviewed are Opal, an outlining software, and the freeware NeoOffice Writer, which is based on the open-source OpenOffice software, while introducing capabilities associated with the Mac. NeoOffice Writer, the reviewer says, may knock Microsoft Word off of many Macintosh desktops. Finally the magazine presents QuarkXPress, the acknowledged best-of-class multi-platform desktop publishing program.
The reviews in this issue are much more thorough and much better illustrated with screenshots than in the April issue. All of these programs are recommended for use by the reviewers, who write enthusiastically about each one. The Opal review also provides links to information about the process of outlining and the various products that have come out over the years.
These two issues of MacCompanion are must read issues for Mac users — and PC users will benefit from them too.
Sorry, comments are closed.
Comment by
Rob Lombardi
28 Feb 2010
Have you had a chance to compare Nota Bene and Mellel yet? I've been using Nota Bene now for approximately a year. I've re-looked at Mellel and I'm also not impressed. I think Nota Bene is incredible and I wish it had more people supporting it. They are working on a version 10 of Nota Bene that will be the next major leap for the tool's technology. If you are interested in comparing, wait until Nota Bene 10 comes out sometime this year or next year.
Comment by
tomcolvin
28 Feb 2010
Rob, I actually paid for a copy of Nota Bene, version 7 or 8. At the time –and up until now — I've been struggling with the research, organization and writing of an account of a major historical event from 1800. I closely reviewed all of the word processors and related software for PC's that had a research bent to them, and I even looked very closely at Scriviner for the Mac. For a while I thought that Nota Bene was the best.
However, I found myself slowly using it less and less, for these reasons: I found the rigid structuring and layout of content according to academic standards very constricting for most of my work. I tried to set up my own "layout and format style", but found the process difficult and never got results I liked. And, finally, at the time of purchase, it was not possible to include photos or graphics in the body of my work. Some communications with the Nota Bene help desk [they were very responsive] indicated that graphics capability might come along in a future release, but I have not checked out later releases.
I've never tried Mellel — have only read user reviews. I'm intrigued, but not enough to get a Mac or the software Parallels, which allows running Mac and PC software on the same computer.
I've always wanted to do a thorough review of Nota Bene on this blog. I agree, it has not received the attention it deserves. It's a powerful program for academic writing.
QUESTION: Would you be willing to do a GUEST REVIEW for my blog?
Comment by
tomcolvin
28 Feb 2010
Rob, the link to the contact form on your blog [nice looking, by the way] seems not to be working. I tried to leave a comment on your blog, but kept getting error messages. So I'm coming to you via my blog's comment facility.
Thanks for your comment on my blog about Nota Bene. Would you be willing to write a Guest Reivew about that program? I own an earlier version of it, but found the rigid document structuring a bit too confining for most of my work — but I still think it is a fine, powerful and under-appreciated software for its niche.
Also, for the first time in a year, I clicked my way onto your Intense Debate comments page. That answers your question about how often people actually use that facility! And you are one of the few commenters on my blog who's got an IntenseDebate profile. But I'm glad I did visit, because I learned a trick about use of bit.ly — I'll look into it today and probably follow your suggestions. THANKS.
BTW, my frustration with the Intense Debate comment form on your blog may encourage me to ditch that service and try something else.