The Nisus Files: Nisus Writer Express reviewed

Reviewed by Kirk Hiner

Review Computer: 867MHz G4, 640MB RAM, ATI RADEON 8500, Mac OS X v10.2.6

Genre: Word processor

Format: CD or download

Developer: Nisus Soft

Minimum Requirements: G3 PowerMac and Mac OS X 10.2

Retail Price: $59.95 ($39.95 upgrade from previous versions)

Availability: Out now

August 18, 2003

This will be the last edition of The Nisus Files for a while. I started this column as more of an experiment than anything else...a chance to learn about and document my experiences with what was then called simply Nisus Writer. I'd heard it was a fantastic word processor, but, through my previous experiences with it, I'd found it terribly confusing and lacking in some features I deemed important. The Nisus Files was both an attempt to keep me on track with Nisus Writer and to open up a forum with other Nisus Writer users to get tips and offer some of my own.

The experiment paid off. Through the help of other Nisus Writer users and through my contacts at Nisus, I grew to love what Nisus Writer could do and to even appreciate the way it did it. Although it wasn't the perfect word processor, it became my favorite.

Now, finally for OS X, we've got Nisus Writer Express. As many of the more rabid Nisus Writer fans have pointed out, this isn't the word processor we've grown to know and love. Yes, it lacks many of the features of its predecessor, but know what else it lacks? The complexity. Remember, it's an express version. It's not meant to replace Nisus Writer (which still runs quite well in Classic mode), but to simply bring a powerful, efficient, low-cost word processor to OS X. Does it do so? Yes.

Before I begin, I want to make sure you understand this isn't a complete review. For that, I'll direct you Charles Moore's thorough review here at Applelinks. This review is meant to be read in conjunction with my previous two editions of The Nisus Files—The Nisus Files: Now Arriving On Track X, The Express and The Nisus Files: The Beta Blues—both of which examine Nisus Writer Express in its beta form.

As I mentioned in those articles, one of the first things veteran users of Nisus Writer will notice when launching Express is that it no longer looks anything like Nisus Writer. This is because it looks like Okito Composer, a small and extremely slick word processor developed by Charles Jolley back in the early days of OS X. Rather than build a Cocoa version of Nisus Writer from scratch, Nisus and Okito agreed to merge the two programs to create what we now see in Nisus Writer Express.

Also mentioned in my previous Nisus Files article were a list of items I'd like to see improved between the beta version and the final release of Nisus Writer Express. First was the issue of speed. I worked through two betas of Express, and the second beta actually felt more sluggish than the first. Now that the final version is out, we're back to a good pace...once the file is open, anyway, but we'll get to that in a bit.

The printing problems I experienced in the public beta have also been addressed. No matter to what percentage I have the document scaled, it printed accurately to each printer on my network.

On the other hand, I'm somewhat disappointed that neither the font menu in the Tool Drawer nor in the menu bar are WYSISYG. Perhaps this will all start appearing along with Panther? Here's hoping. It should be a standard feature in every program that uses a font menu...with the ability to shut it off, of course, if preferred. On the other hand, I do appreciate that selecting italics in the Character window is smart enough to locate the actual italic font within the typeface instead of just italicizing the standard font. In fact, if the typeface has no italic font, you're not even given the option.

Unfortunately, the customization options are still somewhat limited. You can customize both the Menu Bar and the Tool Drawer, but neither to its full extent. Certain items can be added or removed, while many of the frequently used features (such as Save As, Find, etc.) are still absent. Something I neglected to mention in my last column is that you can preview how the tools will look in the Tool Drawer. This is great for learning exactly which tool does what and for making sure you're not adding a tool that's already there.

Nisus Writer Express' default file format is RTF, so there are few worries about being able to open Express files in other word processors; specifically, Microsoft Word, since that, unfortunately, is all most people care about these days. From the start, Nisus Writer Express has been able to open Word files with a certain degree of success that improves with each release (and is already better than the translation capabilities of Appleworks and MarinerWrite). Success varies depending upon the complexity and length of the document, as well as on which version of Word was used to create it. I also encountered some odd copying and pasting behavior. I tried opening Word docs with Nisus Writer Express, then copying the text into another program, such as Macromedia Dreamweaver. Although the text would appear fine in Express, question marks would appear after each close parentheses after pasting it into another program.

Although a speedy program at heart, Nisus Writer Express does tend to slow down on a larger documents...a pity since Nisus Writer Classic excelled in this department. They're fine once they're open, but larger documents take Express quite a long time to open. Opening a 50 page document saved in the default RTF format takes a little less than 20 seconds on my 867MHz G4. Opening Word documents takes even longer. Once the document is open, however, there seem to be no pauses or breaks in the action. This is actually an improvement over Nisus Writer Classic in which my menus, especially, always seemed to trip up before opening for me.

I still haven't decided how I feel about the new Document Management window. I grew to love the power and flexibility of the old Nisus way of managing files, I'm quite fond Express' Document Manager. Or, at least what I think the Document Manager is. When saving files, you're given the option of adding the file to the Document Manager which you can access each time you launch Nisus Writer Express or at any point while working by selected Document Manager from the Window menu item. From within the Document Manager, you can open and rename any document or save your currently open document. Quite handy...if it works. Try as I might, I couldn't get any documents to actually appear in the Document Manager. Hopefully, this bug will be quickly worked out or, if it's not a bug, the method of getting files into the document manager will be made more intuitive.

Oh, and one other very important thing. Nisus Writer is a bit like Apple Computer itself in that its user-base is a very knowledgeable, tight-knit community. Through forums, a newsletter, and mailing lists (both official and unofficial), Nisus Writer (and Express) programmers and users are always happy to share their insights, answers, questions and gripes (in fact, some very useful macros for Nisus Writer Express have already started to surface). You can get questions answered in here faster than some companies can get to them with a staff of professional support personnel. Of course, this all has to be pretty thorough to compensate for the lack of a manual or decent Help Viewer documentation.

I feel a little guilty assigning a rating to Nisus Writer Express, and I hope you don't look at the rating without also reading this full review and the two articles on the beta versions (linked above). Nisus Writer Express is aimed at a different audience than was Nisus Writer, and for that audience it's a fantastic program. Quick, stable, and very simple to use. The interface is wonderful, and nearly everything a word processor needs is in here.

The original Nisus Writer, however, had more than what a word processor needs. It also had what users of word processor want even if we didn't know that we wanted it. Trust me, I, myself got hooked on many of the unique Nisus Writer features. Many of these are gone for now, but I'm mostly okay with that. As I mentioned before, I'm not reviewing Nisus Writer Express as a replacement for Nisus Writer, but as competition against the other Mac OS X compatible word processors available. As such, Nisus Writer Express is poised to become a contender. It's not yet at the top of its game, but there's enough here to indicate it'll quickly get there.

I'll close with a quick analogy. While driving with my wife recently, we happened across "Come Together" by The Beatles while scanning radio stations. I stopped the scan, and, after singing along for a bit, told Tieraney, "You know, this was never one of my favorite Beatles songs."

"So why'd you stop on it?" she asked.

"Because it's still better than the crap we passed on the other stations."

The same can be said for Nisus Writer Express. It's not the best we've seen from Nisus and it's not the best will see from them, but it's better than most of your alternatives. Pick it up now and grow with it. Nisus Writer Express is simple enough that it no longer requires serious study (or an in-depth column such as The Nisus Files), but you'll want to be ready when it gets back to that point.

See previous article.

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