Lotus Word Pro 96 for joint editing<\/p>\n
By Zatni Arbi<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP0: Can you think of any novel and useful features
\nthat could -- and maybe should -- be incorporated in the already
\nfeature-laden word processors of the current generation? Well,
\nperhaps it is a bit hard to come up with some truly,
\nextraordinarily useful ideas. As we all know, today's word
\nprocessors have almost all the tools and facilities we might need
\nin accomplishing our tasks: On-the-go spell checking, fit-to-one-
\npage printing, automatic formatting -- you name it, the list goes
\non and on. Perhaps, jokingly, we could say that just about the
\nonly thing still on our wish list is the one thing that could
\nautomatically extract all the ideas bouncing around in our heads,
\norganize them in a perfectly intelligible order, and present them
\nin a highly polished textual form -- all at the tap of one single
\nkey. However, that would be a bit too much to expect, wouldn't
\nit?<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, it turned out that there was still a handful of
\nuseful features the people at Lotus Development Corporation could
\nthink of without actually going beyond the technologically
\npossible into the realm of wishful thinking. And, perhaps knowing
\ntoo well that it would be hard to beat Microsoft's Winword 95,
\nLotus has focused its efforts on meeting the needs of a niche
\nmarket comprising groups of people who work together on the same
\ndocument.<\/p>\n
These people may be working on the draft of a report, or a
\nmanual, or any kind of document. Each of them is supposed to
\nreview it, add a paragraph or two if necessary, change some of
\nthe words to make it more reader-friendly, as well as add
\ncomments and suggestions. At the end of the exercise, all or some
\nof the comments and suggestions may be permanently incorporated
\ninto the document by the chief editor who is responsible for the
\nfinal product.<\/p>\n
Since, by definition, collaborative editing involves more than
\none editor, files need to be shared across the network or even on
\nthe Internet, and versions should be managed in an orderly manner
\nso that people always know which one contains the latest
\nrevisions and they can compare it to the original. Word Pro 96 is
\nthe word processor that Lotus has specifically written for those
\nwith these requirements. It has the right tools for such an
\nenvironment.<\/p>\n
Courtesy of Sistech Kharisma, I was able to have a look at
\nthis reincarnation of Lotus Ami Pro, my most favorite word
\nprocessor. Well, in case you wonder why I am such a big fan of
\nAmi Pro, let me briefly explain again that, despite its limited
\nnumber of features by the current standard, it is still the
\nsnappiest word processor in Windows. It is also the best word
\nprocessor to use in Windows 3.x if you have only 4 MB of RAM. And
\nit has one of the most comprehensive collections of conversion
\nfilters that you can use to convert its file into any other file
\nformat.<\/p>\n
Cool features<\/p>\n
Word Pro 96 for Windows 95 is a member of the latest
\nSmartSuite family from Lotus Corp. Intended for use on a Windows
\n95 machine, this particular version is a 32-bit application. It
\nhas a sibling for those who still work in Windows 3.x. Its close
\nrelationship to Ami Pro is still very obvious in its user
\ninterface, although when I installed the new program on a Toshiba
\nSatellite 100CS which only had 8 MB of RAM, it proclaimed its
\nrequirement for more RAM for full OLE support. This is not an
\nupgrade, actually, as Lotus has rewritten every code from the
\nground up.<\/p>\n
Important new features are TeamMail, TeamReview,
\nTeamConsolidate, TeamSecurity and Version manager. In addition,
\nthere are Internet tools and on-the-fly spell checking like the
\none we have in Winword 95.<\/p>\n
TeamMail enables us to share a Word Pro document by attaching
\na copy to our e-mail. In the e-mail, the chief editor can pass
\naround editing instructions for the others to follow.<\/p>\n
TeamReview makes it possible for us to set up access for each
\nof our co-workers to work on one document, with an access level
\nfor each person possible. For instance, some co-workers may be
\nallowed to make changes, while others may only be allowed to read
\nthe document. We can also prevent the document -- if it happens
\nto be a highly confidential one, for instance -- from being
\nprinted or saved at the other end of the network.<\/p>\n
TeamConsolidate lets the originator view all the suggested
\nchanges made by other editors in one single document. Using
\ndifferent colors, highlighting pens, and electronic sticky notes,
\nthe other editors may offer changes that he can accept or reject.
\nIf he accepts the suggestions, they will be incorporated into the
\ndocument.<\/p>\n
TeamSecurity enables us to password-protect our documents, so
\nthat only those with the right password will have access to it.
\nWe can also set up other kinds of protection. Each of these team
\ntools have their own Assistant and plenty of hints so that we can
\neasily and immediately use them in our job.<\/p>\n
Version control enables us to keep multiple versions of the
\nsame document in the same file. We can move from one version to
\nanother very easily, and each has its own identification. We can
\nname each version, and place remarks where we wish.<\/p>\n
Among the things that I like most about Word Pro is its
\nmodeless bars. These are basically dialog boxes that we can leave
\nopen while working on the document. In the past, we had to close
\nmost of the dialog boxes before going back to the document, but
\nwith the modeless bar activated this is no longer necessary. So,
\nfor instance, we can stop in the middle of spell checking, revise
\nan entire sentence, and resume spell checking without closing the
\nspell-check dialog box. The modeless bar behaves just the same as
\nany of the context sensitive icon bars.<\/p>\n
Downsides<\/p>\n
In Ami Pro, moving from any current view mode to a full page
\ndisplay requires only the pressing of Ctrl and D. It's so easy.
\nEven Winword 95 doesn't have a ready-to-use shortcut for changing
\nthe view mode. Unfortunately, in Word Pro, this Ctrl-D switch is
\nglaringly absent. Changing the view mode takes a couple of steps
\nnow that the menu offers various zoom levels.<\/p>\n
To change the font style to bold, for example, we don't have
\nto select the entire word. We can just place the insertion point
\ninside the word and click on the bold tool icon. But, strangely,
\nthe familiar Ctrl-Shift and arrow keys that we always use to
\nhighlight one or more words doesn't work in Word Pro. The
\ninsertion point simply moves one character at a time to the left
\nor to the right, but after the entire word is highlighted it then
\nhighlights one word at a time.<\/p>\n
Word Pro power users are equipped with LotusScript, which is
\ndifferent from the one that Ami Pro uses. This script language is
\nshared among all SmartSuite 96 applications. Unfortunately, we
\ncannot simply record keystrokes and assign macros to shortcut
\nkeys as we can in Ami Pro.<\/p>\n
Final word<\/p>\n
Quite recently, two colleagues and I worked on the draft of a
\nbook that we had to edit together -- I was involved basically
\nbecause they needed some help in moving text and tables around.
\nWe finished the entire job in three long days of work. Had we
\nbeen working using Word Pro on a network, I believe we could have
\nfinished it in less than one day.<\/p>\n
Apart from the good and bad things about Word Pro that I
\nmentioned above, the rest of the program is perfectly up to
\nsnuff. There are also dozens of other new features that I simply
\ndon't have the space to elaborate on here. The Assistants, for
\ninstance, performs at least equally well compared to Winword's
\nWizards or WordPerfect's Experts. The on-line help facility, with
\nits attempted natural language approach, is more than what you
\nneed as far as getting assistance is concerned. A few words of
\ncaution though: As with all other Win95 applications, you have to
\nhave fast hardware to run this program. If you run it on anything
\nlower than a Pentium 90 MHz, you'll be bogged down by its
\nsluggishness.<\/p>\n
As I mentioned earlier, Lotus designed this word processor for
\na collaborative working environment. It even dubs the software
\n\"The Team Word Processor\". For individual users, therefore, there
\nisn't much in Word Pro that might compel users of other word
\nprocessors to migrate to it. But for organizations that
\nconstantly churn out documents created by teams, Word Pro is
\ndefinitely the best choice.<\/p>",
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