Microsoft Word 6.0.1 - Software Review - Evaluation

Entrepreneur, March, 1996 by Cheryl J. Goldberg

User-Friendly

Perhaps the biggest difference between the two programs is the user interface. Both have a lot of new, advanced features, but WordPerfect has a far more user-friendly way to help you access them. Features are organized on a command bar that stretches along the top of your document. The buttons include your typical file, edit, insert, layout, tools, table, font, size and style com- mands. By clicking on any one of these buttons, you access a full list of tools and features.

The beauty of this design is it allows you to keep your work space clean and free of icons representing features you're not interested in at the time, but you can also access any feature you want at the click of your mouse.

Other buttons you'll likely want to access from within the program are included along the left-hand side of the document and in a second menu bar along the top. For example, you can access drawing, printing, page alignment, and headers and footers from the buttons on the left-hand side. The second menu bar along the top of the page includes ruler, list, merge, bookmark, HTML and speech icons. You can modify all the tool bars to suit your needs.

Microsoft Word, in contrast, has stuffed so many icons onto the screen that there's barely room for your document. In the standard setting from the fac- tory, you can barely fit half a typical document page on the screen. Although it's possible to customize these icons and display a fewer number on the page, it's not nearly as easy to do so in this program as it is with WordPerfect.

Both Microsoft Word and WordPerfect are full-featured packages that permit sophisticated table and document formatting for everything from highly formatted short fliers to long, multipage documents. WordPerfect, however, has a user-friendly interface that makes it much easier to navigate and use these features.

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4:  Excellent
3:  Good
2:  Fair
1:  Poor

WordPerfect 3.5 for Macintosh Novell Inc. List Price: $189

PLUSES: User-friendly interface makes it easy to locate a vast array of fea- tures. Includes HTML editing and sophisticated table editing commands

MINUSES: Text formatting less extensive than that of Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word 6.0.1 Microsoft Corp. List Price: $339

PLUSES: Word Art feature

MINUSES: Cluttered interface makes it difficult to find and use new features