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An Applelinks reader who goes by the nom de plume of "Shades" has kindly supplied this mini-review of Mariner Write:
Mariner Write Evaluation As I consider the move to OS X, there are three types of programs that are essential for me: word processor, page layout, and spreadsheet. Therefore, I am examining Mariner Write and ThinkFree Office as well as RagTime (when the OS X version ships in September). Having used MS Word since version 5 and Nisus since version 4.1.16, I have some experience and expectations of word processors. Style Sheets:
Fairly straightforward. Easy to set up and adjust. There does not seem to be any way to update the styles through examples, only dialog boxes - but that was simple to do. However, I find the cascading effect of dependent styles in the drop-down style sheet to be effective, visually helpful at a glance to see what is affected by any style change. Reapplying styles worked well. Changing style sheet definitions was perhaps one of the easier tasks to achieve in all word processors.
One oddity with style sheets - when I would copy a section that had two different paragraph styles, after pasting, the lead paragraph style showed a + in the style sheet name, which usually (PageMaker, etc.) indicates a change in the style for that specific text. I re-applied the style sheet but saw no changes.
I set up Greek and Hebrew character styles and they worked okay. The problem with Hebrew is the right-to-left direction, so that means writing the Hebrew backward. I don't have the Hebrew WorldScript installed yet to rectify the issue - my next project. But it worked as well as MS Word 2001 does in that regard.
Comparing Mariner Write with ThinkFree Write, MW offers more options to change the work environment. The "Menu" tab in Preferences presents many options for keyboard short-cuts ˜ essential for those who work with repeated tasks and the mouse is inconvenient.
Convenient, handy to have. When I cycled through the options, I noticed "Force..." I didn‚t think much about it until I tried to go from "Title Case" to "Sentence Case." It didn‚t let me do that. Then I went back and saw the "Force Sentence Case." Not sure the reason for it, but it proved essential to undoing the Title Case option.
I had never encountered this until using Nisus Writer. It is great to see that MW has included the capability. Two options are offered: one allows multiple text selection (use SHIFT + OPT), the other non-contiguous selection (use CMD), the latter being used in multiple lines with tabs to select vertically tabbed items.
A separate window appears for footnotes. But when finished and clicking the close button, the footnote appears on the page, as expected. Footnotes are critical for my work in theology, so I was pleasantly surprised by how easily they worked. When I inserted footnotes between other footnotes, the text and renumbering goes without a hitch. Likewise, when deleting a footnote - select the footnote number in the text, and delete. To edit the footnote, double click on the number (either in the footnote area or in the main text - nice to have two options!).
I was surprised that the Table command was under the FORMAT menu, rather than the INSERT menu. Works as it should, but unusual. The rest of the table work is conventional, efficient, usable.
Columns are nice to have, but as with Nisus Writer, columns apply to the entire document. There doesn‚t seem to be any section capability.
Good capability there. The first time using the headers/footer command (under FORMAT menu, not under VIEW as I might expect), it was a little confusing. But after a couple of minutes I figured out what to do. Someone approaching as a complete novice might require more. But headers and footers worked efficiently and effectively.
Small thing: But in Nisus (and in early versions of Word), when you hit the down arrow when you were somewhere in the last line, the cursor would move to the end of the line. MS Word took that out (I think with version 6). In other words, hitting the down arrow anywhere in the last line did not move the cursor (hold CMD + down arrow). Mariner Write joins Nisus in maintaining this simple navigation device. Minor ˜ but very important.
This was a great surprise. Sometimes (most of the time!), help files can be awkward and not too helpful. Mariner Write has put together one of the best, clearest, simplest Help File ever. Good job!
Again, this is an initial look at the program. I like what I see, and will use it more in the coming days for further evaluation. Of all OS X (except MS Word, which I do not have) word processors I have tested, this would be my choice, by far. Yes, I would like to see Nisus finally make it. But based on this quick look, Mariner Write gives me enough of the word processor power that I need until that happens.
Unfortunately, I cannot print from OS X (Epson has not upgraded the drivers for my printer), so I cannot test the page setup and printing capabilities.
I did not try to open MS Word documents. I looked at MW as a stand alone and created and worked as an independent app, not one dependent on Word. However, this is one area I will examine in the near future.
HTH is helpful for you and others.
shades Thanks for the great review, shades. I'm sure many readers will find it helpful. Mariner Write 3.0 Low cost, Full Featured Word Processor With DocDrop Mariner Write is a powerful yet streamlined word processor for the Macintosh. Boasting an elegant and easy-to-use interface, Mariner Write can run on only 2MB of RAM. And that’s not typo; only 38 MB less than Word! 
Mariner Write 3.0, delivers significant performance improvements, new features and additional refinements such as: OS X compatibility, readability of Microsoft Word documents, mail merge functionality, sharing documents by saving as a PDF and spell checking-on-the-fly capabilities. 
Whether you are creating a simple document or composing the next great novel, Mariner Write has the functionality to be your writing tool. Finally, a word processor for the rest of us. 
Features 
System requirements: 
Nobody wants to struggle to get their files out of Microsoft’s proprietary format. Not everyone can afford Microsoft Office. Maybe a colleague keeps sending you files in Word Format? DocDrop will convert those Word files into the open standard, Rich Text Format. Switching Word Processors shouldn’t be so difficult, right? With DocDrop at your side you can get out of Microsoft Word and into Mariner Write. DocDrop How To: DocDrop System Requirements: Known Limitations: DocDrop is offered by Mariner Software gratis. Technical support is not provided. For more information, visit:
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