The Nisus Files: The Beta Blues

By Kirk Hiner

June 23, 2003

Nisus Soft has it rough right about now. No doubt, they're dealing with the same scrutiny Apple received when they first launched the beta for OS X. Whenever a company drastically changes anything—whether it be a user interface, a music style, or even a cola formula—users of said product will often feel abandoned and betrayed.

I kind of understand that, I guess. Malcolm In the Middle was one of my favorite shows when it was about a child genius dealing with puberty, his somewhat bizarre family and the alienation that stems from having a high I.Q. Now that it's solely about his outright moronic family and their wacky (and completely unbelievable) mishaps, I have absolutely no interest. The Simpsons already does that, and it does it much, much better.

That analogy's imperfect here, but I use it nonetheless to lead in to the second beta of Nisus Writer Express. In my conversations with the company, it's been made clear that some users are quite angry with what from Nisus Writer Classic is not in here yet and what won't be in here at all. The group at Nisus aren't upset with these complaints, mind you; they expected them, they listen to them, and they consider them. They realize, after all, that you have to give the people what they want if they're to sell products.

It's true, there is quite a bit to miss in Nisus Writer Express, but that's to be expected. First of all, this is a beta. More features will come, and I, for one, as a participant in the beta program, am happy to have my small say in what those features may be. Of course, I'm also happy to be able to use Nisus Writer in OS X at all; even in beta form, I still prefer it over most of the other OS X compatible word processors available.

The other thing to consider here is that Nisus Writer Express isn't meant to replace the high-end Nisus Writer we all know from the Classic Mac OS. This is an express version. Lite. This is the Nisus answer to programs such as Mariner Write and Appleworks. It's not meant to fight Microsoft Word. It needs some more training before it can step into that ring.

So, with this free beta, consider yourself the Burgess Meredith to Nisus' Sylvester Stallone...although, personally, when I consider myself Burgess Meredith, it's usually as the Penguin or that guy who broke his glasses in The Twilight Zone, not as a boxing trainer.

Anyway, here's what I'd like to see our metaphorical Rocky work on before the next bout.

• Speed - The second beta release actually feels a little more sluggish on my 500MHz iBook than the first public beta. This manifests itself when I've increased the view size and am working in Page View layout. I could solve the problem by switching to Draft mode, but I always prefer to work in Page View, and the ability to scale the page is one of the best new features of Nisus Writer Express. I'd hate to not be able to use it.
• Fonts - The font display windows should be smarter. Neither the Palette nor the Format menu allow for WYSIWYG typeface display, and I'd like to see it in at least one area. Know what else I'd like? I'd like it if Nisus Writer Express would also group the typefaces by family just as Adobe Type Reunion used to. I've been told this feature is built into the OS X Development Tools and that developers just need to start taking advantage of it, but I've yet to see that happen in any software programs. Perhaps someone out there could clarify this for me.
• Printing Consistency - When scaling the page using certain typefaces, Nisus had trouble printing to my Lexmark E322; it would cut off an inch or two on the right hand side. When I scaled back to 100%, the page would print just fine. Same if I printed to PDF. I wasn't able to test this on other printers, but I do know it doesn't happen when using scaled type in other word processors.

• Menu Bar/Tool Drawer Customization - In the current beta of Nisus Writer Express, you can customize both the Menu Bar and the Tool Drawer (Nisus, you have to make that two words). However, I don't think you can customize them quite enough. Only the main features can be added to the Menu Bar (see image above), but there are quite a few more—items such as Save As, Find, and the Macro Library—I'd like to be able to place in there. The same goes for the Tool Drawer. The ability to create a customized Tool Drawer by dragging and dropping items to it from the Palette Library is wonderfully intuitive (see image at right). Unfortunately, the Palette Library itself is somewhat limited. Again, I'd mainly like to see a macro palette, but even image and clipboard palettes would be great if they could be added in a way that doesn't congest the interface.

Of course, there's plenty to praise here as well. Nisus appears to have eliminated the crashes I would experience after working for an hour or so in the original beta. That, of course, was key. Also important is the addition of macros. A dozen or so are included, and I'm eager to see more. I don't do much macro programming myself, but I certainly did take advantage of those written by others in Nisus Writer Classic. No doubt, once the Nisus Writer community hops on board Nisus Writer Express, that library will grow exponentially.

I also like the ability to assign or change Menu Keys preferences. Just about everything Nisus Writer Express can do is located in here, and changing the keystroke commands is as simple as selecting the command you want and either creating the keystroke or modifying the one that's already there. It's especially helpful that, should you select a keystroke path that's already in use, Nisus Writer Express lets you know this and tells you which command is using it.

It's difficult to say exactly how much improvement has been made since the first Nisus Writer Express beta. Everything in there seemed new, and I no doubt missed some features that I've now started using in second beta release. Regardless, there's plenty here to like, most of which leads me to believe there's plenty more to come as we approach the first full release.

Experienced Nisus Writer users may not be happy with the lack of features and polish, but the beta isn't meant to replace Nisus Writer Classic. Believe me; at this point, it can't. These public betas are here to help get that polish on this new, lighter version...and, of course, to pull in more Nisus Writer users. See, people, you can't lose here. The public beta is free, so everyone is welcome to start using it. Yes, it's a bait and hook as users will have to pay to use the final release, but it's more than that. With the public beta, you also get some say as to what goes into the final release. If there's a certain feature you've always wanted to see a word processor offer, here's your chance to make your voice heard.

That's certainly more than the producers of Malcolm In the Middle are going to give you. I tell you, now that I have the theme song on CD, there's simply no reason to watch that show anymore. Pity.

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