Text Editors?

[rosco rathbone]

I'm typing a manuscript into the computer. Should I be using Word or a text editor? The only Word functions I need are spell check and word count although I can't resist some bolding and stuff like that.

What do you people use?

 

[glynndah]

I use Works, but I'm barely a writer.

 

[cloudy]

Open Office. Much better than Word.

 

[Handley_Page]

You will find Word and Open Office easy to use, even if they are mega programmes with many bells & whistles.
And Open Office is FREE.

 

[Boxlicker101]

I'm typing a manuscript into the computer. Should I be using Word or a text editor? The only Word functions I need are spell check and word count although I can't resist some bolding and stuff like that.

What do you people use?

Spelll Check and Grammar Check are the only programs you would need. The most important thing is a sharp eye, because those programs won't catch all the errors and they will misinform you a lot. On my computer, Grammar Check is constantly telling me about non-existent grammar and punctuation errors. Once in a while it's right, so I keep it around.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Well, the real concern is compatibility. You pretty much must use whatever your publisher uses, and publishers are rigid about regimentation.

I mean, Stephen King can finger-paint his mss with shit and no one has a problem with it. But they wont suffer you or me using anything less than brushes made from Miley Cyrus pubic hairs.

 

[TxRad]

word, works, and open office all have same problem with grammar and spell checking. They were designed for business and not fiction/non-fiction writing.

I've tried a number of the programs designed for writers and to tell the truth, I ain't found one that was much better at grammar or spell checking.

 

[Leto Degeneres]

word, works, and open office all have same problem with grammar and spell checking. They were designed for business and not fiction/non-fiction writing.

I've tried a number of the programs designed for writers and to tell the truth, I ain't found one that was much better at grammar or spell checking.

You're right, and there's the root of the problem. Unless their true use is for witches, it's spelling check. I chuckle about that one every time I use it.

 

[TE999]

I use Micro$haft Worst when I write...with grammar, sentence structure, tenses and spelling phasers set on stun...yeah, there's lots'a popups, green lines, red lines and a finger that tries pokin' me in the eye...but I still like it.

 

[TxRad]

I use Micro$haft Worst when I write...with grammar, sentence structure, tenses and spelling phasers set on stun...yeah, there's lots'a popups, green lines, red lines and a finger that tries pokin' me in the eye...but I still like it.

I do the same and in formal to boot. Every sentence looks like a neon sign.

But then again, as bad as my grammar and such are, I need all the help I can get. My 45th high school reunion is this year.

 

[TE999]

I do the same and in formal to boot. Every sentence looks like a neon sign.

But then again, as bad as my grammar and such are, I need all the help I can get. My 45th high school reunion is this year.

I know of what you speak. My 50th hahskule reunion is this fall, but all my buds are gone...dead or can't be found...and I hated the fuckin' BMOC's, brainiacs, dweebs, flamers, teacher's pets and those stuck-up bitches on the Student Council and the Prom Committee.

I might just go to see how hagged out they all look.

 

[Weird Harold]

I'm typing a manuscript into the computer. Should I be using Word or a text editor? The only Word functions I need are spell check and word count although I can't resist some bolding and stuff like that.

What do you people use?

I use MS Word 98 but I've also tried WordPerfect Suite 8. Wordpad -- windows bundled text editor would work just fine if I didn't use the "reviewing tools" (tracked changes and hidden comments) when editing/revising. Wordpad has a fairly basic spelling check, but no grammar check and I'm not sure about word count. It does use the basic MSWord document format, so it's fairly simple to open your document with Word to check it with Word's more complete editing/formatting tools after doing the initial draft in Wordpad.


Word's spelling and grammar defaults to "Formal/Business" but is fairly easily configured to be more compatible with Fiction/Literature. The first thing I turned off was the "check while typing" function because it slows things down horrendously when you get past about 20K words -- I have an older and slower system anyway, so waiting for Word to recheck an entire document because I corrected one word in the last sentence is frustrating.



I've found that avoiding character names like Frank, May, and/or other names that can be confused with other parts of speech than proper nouns greatly reduces the false grammar hits.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I use MS Word 98 but I've also tried WordPerfect Suite 8. Wordpad -- windows bundled text editor would work just fine if I didn't use the "reviewing tools" (tracked changes and hidden comments) when editing/revising. Wordpad has a fairly basic spelling check, but no grammar check and I'm not sure about word count. It does use the basic MSWord document format, so it's fairly simple to open your document with Word to check it with Word's more complete editing/formatting tools after doing the initial draft in Wordpad.


Word's spelling and grammar defaults to "Formal/Business" but is fairly easily configured to be more compatible with Fiction/Literature. The first thing I turned off was the "check while typing" function because it slows things down horrendously when you get past about 20K words -- I have an older and slower system anyway, so waiting for Word to recheck an entire document because I corrected one word in the last sentence is frustrating.



I've found that avoiding character names like Frank, May, and/or other names that can be confused with other parts of speech than proper nouns greatly reduces the false grammar hits.

Harold is right...MS Word is okay for writing once you set it up correctly. Although I'm to lazy to set it up correctly so my text is lit-up rather colorfully.

I have used just about every piece of software out there for writing...form WordPrefect 5.0 to MS Office Word 2007. They each have their own whistles and bells. But the one that beats them all, price wise is Open Office, it's free.

 

[rosco rathbone]

I was reading this thing that said it's not a good idea for writers to store their documents in Word because it doesn't translate well to other systems and may not age well. He was giving examples from past outdated word-processing softwares from the 80s that can't be opened in modern systems without a huge amount of trouble.

He said everything should be stored in ASCII and Word adds too much proprietary gibberish code.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I was reading this thing that said it's not a good idea for writers to store their documents in Word because it doesn't translate well to other systems and may not age well. He was giving examples from past outdated word-processing softwares from the 80s that can't be opened in modern systems without a huge amount of trouble.

He said everything should be stored in ASCII and Word adds too much proprietary gibberish code.

I don't store it in word...I really only use Word for Short Stories, anything longer goes into yWrite which stores the chapters as RTF files. They are easily translated into another medium. And my short stuff gets copied in to a yWrite project of their own. Plus yWrite exports the novel as text, html(which is basically text) and several other formats.

 

[Weird Harold]

He was giving examples from past outdated word-processing softwares from the 80s that can't be opened in modern systems without a huge amount of trouble.

An awful lot of those unusable document files are spread sheets rather than text documents, but a lot are old MS Word for DOS formats that have been abandoned by MS.

Still, recovering text from almost any old Word processer file is failrly simple, even if you do lose most of the the formatting. Even old WordPerfect for DOS files can be recovered fairly easily even though they contain a lot more "garbage" than MS Word files of any age.

MS Word files are bloated and full of data that doesn't mean anything without the right version of Word or a file converter, but almost all of the garbage is in a block before the actual text.

If you wish to save a text document that has any sort of important formatting, Rich Text Format (RTF) files are the best bet -- provided you save them as a clean copy without all of the editing history embedded in it. An RTF file is an ASCII text file with delimitted plain text formatting commands"

{\f100\kerning28\cgrid0 The Shawnee "bottoms" are well known in Southern Illinois. The wetlands are famous for its great fishing and hunting, but they're most famous for the Panthers that live among the trees and bogs.
\par
\par In the late 60's a small circus was passing through the Shawnee Forest, when they collided with a semi heading west. Many of the animal's cages burst open. The only animals that weren't retrieved were a pair of mated black Panthers.
\par

As long as ASCII text files are readable, RTF files will be readable and if the interpretation of the RTF commands get lost or abandoned, they can be removed with a simple search for the delimiters, '{', '}'and '\'.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0{\fonttbl{\f0\fnil\fcharset0 Verdana;}{\f1\fnil\fcharset0 MS Sans Serif;}}
{\colortbl ;\red0\green0\blue0;}
\viewkind4\uc1\pard\fi180\li15\cf1\lang1033\f0\fs20 <center><b>Walker Brigade</b></center>
\par
\par <center><b><u>Prologue</u></b></center>
\par
\par <b>Federated Union of Planets</b>
\par
\par The Federated Union of Planets was formed out of the turmoil of mans expansion into space. After Mars was explored, terra-formed and settled, the moons of Jupiter were next. Earth, having been filled to capacity and its resources becoming scarce, was looking for new planets to put its ever expanding population.
\par
\par The advent of Hyper-drive finally allowed man a way to reach for the stars as never before. The first jump was to Proxima Centauri, some 4.3 light years away. The trip took one week. The fourth planet was found to be habitable. After two years of exploration the planet proved even more earthlike than Earth in its current state. Transport ships were built and emigration to the new planet commenced. The new planet was named Pacifica.
\par
\par From there man expanded through out the sector. Over the years that followed, Hyper-drive ships spread throughout the galaxy in the vicinity of Earth and Pacifica, finding new habitable planets for man to settle. Pacifica became the center from which man flourished and Earth spread its multitude of cultures throughout the sector. After several interplanetary battles, the government of Pacifica formulated a plan to unite the separate isolated systems into a loose, mutual supporting, federation. The federation would protect each system from outside influences and leave the planets internal struggles for them to work out.
\par
\par The only cost to the Federation members was men or women for the military forces and for the administrative functions needed, if any. Also an annual stipend to amount to one twentieth of that's planets gross planetary product as calculated by the Federation Council. The federation was formed and most planets signed the accords. Those that didn't were left alone unless they attempted to attack a member planet. Once they understood that a member planet would be protected they too signed the Unions accords.
\par
\par For one thousand years the Federated Union of Planets grew and matured as man spread through the galaxy. It is now the ninety-third year of the current administration that took office when the last administration lost a vote of confidence. Through all the turmoil and tribulations of the Federation the one constant and stable force in the Federation is its military. There are three branches, the Navy (space), the Colonial Marines and the Stellar Army.
\par
\par The Navy is the largest of the three branches. It is responsible for the transport of the Marines and the Army. They are also the only branch to have a military intelligence agency. They also provide all the support services to all three branches.
\par
\par The Colonial Marines are the second largest. They are responsible for the protection of exploration teams as they explore new worlds. They are also the first line of defense on newly settled worlds along with being the first units on the ground in most situations involving member planets.
\par
\par The Stellar Army is the primary response to interplanetary aggression. The Stellar Army is the smallest branch of all the services along with being equipped with the best the Federation has to offer, not the newest, but the best.
\par
\par <b>Logic Wars</b>

Yep, my RTF files are just text with the mark ups.

 

[Handley_Page]

I used to love WordStar 6. Brilliant, and damned quick.

Anyone use Word 2003 ?. How do I determine the mode (Formal/business, technical etc) ? Can't find it in the help file.

 

[TxRad]

I used to love WordStar 6. Brilliant, and damned quick.

Anyone use Word 2003 ?. How do I determine the mode (Formal/business, technical etc) ? Can't find it in the help file.

I use 2000 for 2 reasons. One, it's free from work and two, it has all the whistles and bells I need but without some of the later formating that gums things up so bad.

Right click on the check/red x mark at the bottom of the page. It should give you a menu with options. Click options and it should be there in the lower left hand area.

 

[DG Hear]

I use corel 8 or microsoft word. Both are similar and are fine for what I write. What works best are the people who edit my stories. Couldn't write without their help.
DG

 

[Weird Harold]

Yep, my RTF files are just text with the mark ups.

What you have to watch out for is the mark-up that gets added in the middle of your text when you edit. A heavily edited RTF file can be almost more markup than text with mark-up changes in the middle of words.

It can be found removed, but a clean RTF like the one you checked is much preferable for archive purposes.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

What you have to watch out for is the mark-up that gets added in the middle of your text when you edit. A heavily edited RTF file can be almost more markup than text with mark-up changes in the middle of words.

It can be found removed, but a clean RTF like the one you checked is much preferable for archive purposes.

yWrite replaces the whole file there is no audit trail within the RTF file, it handles that differently with individual change files. That way you can go back to an earlier revision and get something you might have deleted.

 

[Leto Degeneres]

I used to love WordStar 6. Brilliant, and damned quick.

Anyone use Word 2003 ?. How do I determine the mode (Formal/business, technical etc) ? Can't find it in the help file.

That option doesn't exist in Word 2003. The way it works now is that the grammar checker makes a run through the document to get a sense of what kind of document it is. This means that it may not do a good "on the fly" job; you'll have to check the entire document upon completion, or at least a good portion of it.

Your proofing options are none, or combinations of spelling, grammar, and style. You can't pick a specific style. Having said that, you can tune the settings for the grammar checker. Presumably, you've found the tab for Spelling and Grammar in the Options dialog box.

It seems to do a pretty good job, or at least as well as it ever has.

You still have wide options for custom dictionaries.

 

[Darkniciad]

I do my actual writing in Wordperfect, spell check in Word ( seems slightly better, plus has my personal dictionary much more filled out than WP, which I haven't had as long. Saves a lot of time when you're writing fantasy to have a well filled personal dictionary ), making the changes in the WP window to avoid cross-program burps. Everything eventually gets exported to a text file with html mark-up for the actual posting to Lit.