SEARCHING FOR THE WRITE STUFF

Which word processor? Mike Wright finds some programs too unprofessional for words.

WORD PROCESSOR
Memory: 48K
Price: £5.95

TASWORD TWO
Memory: 48K
Price: £13.90

MICRO PEN
Memory: 48K
Price: £5.95

SPECTEXT
Memory: 48K
Price: £13.95

Word processor programs are the most common of the 'business' programs and their use extends beyond the workplace to the home and school. This month four word processing packages are reviewed: Word Processor from Quicksilva; Tasword Two from Tasman Software; Micropen from Contrast Software; and Spectcxt from McGraw-Hill. The prices vary considerably and, as you might expect, so too does the quality and features of the programs.

Word Processor is the first venture by Quicksilva outside the games market. The program takes about a minute to load and is written completely in Basic. The inlay provides one side of loading instructions and two sides of adverts for other Quicksilva products. The instructions, such as they are, for using the program are included as a help option in the program.

Once Word Processor has loaded it displays a menu of seven options. Those are: 0 - Exit; I - Help; 2 - Clear machine for new text: 3 - Edit text; 4 - Print text; 5 - Load text; 6 - Save text. On first loading option 1 must be chosen to discover what features and commands are available. There are three screens of Help information altogether but it is not until the second screen that you find out that a copy of the screens can be produced by pressing CAPS SHIFT and 4. Of course, if you now want a copy of page 1 you must return to the main menu.

There are two types of commands. The first set is for editing from the keyboard. The commands are formed by a combination of CAPS SHIFT and a numeric key. Most of them follow the Spectrum commands, so that 5, 6, 7 and 8 are used to move around the text, 2 and 3 control the CAPS LOCK and 0 deletes the character to the left of the cursor, 1 is used to clear a line of text, marked by the cursor, and 9 is used to create a blank space for inserting a character. CAPS SHIFT 4 is the print command but it will only copy the screen. If you have only two or three lines of text that wastes a lot of paper.

The other commands are used by first going into Extended mode - i.e. by pressing both shift keys together - before selecting the command. The commands allow the user to move the position of the cursor to the top, the bottom or any line of text; to mark and delete a block of text; to open up the text to allow extra text to be inserted and then to close it up again. However, all commands must be given at the start of a line or they are overwritten on the text and are ignored. When characters are deleted they are replaced by spaces.

The usual facilities of a word processor such as a choice of margin settings, type of justification and a search and replace feature are all missing. Although a wordwrap feature is included, so that if a word straddles the end of a line it is automatically transferred to the start of the next line, it is so slow as to be almost pointless.

This is not a program to be recommended even as an introduction to word processing. Better word processor programs have been printed in the listings section of some magazines.

By comparison Tasword Two is probably the most commonly used business program for the Spectrum. It is produced by Tasman Software and is accompanied by a manual. It is, surprisingly, the only package of the four that has such a manual and included in it are two very useful sections, one on adapting Tasword Two to drive almost any printer interface currently on the market, and one on converting it to run from microdrive. Tasword Tutor, an instructional text file designed to help the user learn the commands, is also provided on the cassette.

One of the great drawbacks of word processors for the Spectrum has always been the 32-column screen width. Tasword uses a redefined character set which gives 64 characters per line. An option to display a 32-column window in normal size is available if the characters are too difficult to read on your television.

The program boasts an impressive list of features that are found usually only on much more expensive programs. Those include wordwrap, setting of margins, rejustification of text, block copy and move, replacement of any word by another word, and control of the print type for printers other than daisy wheels.

The first time it is loaded you should establish the control codes for your printer. That is done by pressing SYMBOL SHIFT A to stop the program and display a menu of loading, saving and printing options. Option g is used to redefine the graphics on keys 1-8 as printer control codes. On first loading they are set with codes for the Epson FX-80 typefaces.

That menu is also used to enter Basic while retaining Tasword Two in memory so that it can be modified to run from a microdrive. Full instructions on the necessary changes are given in the manual. Once the changes are made and the program run the same menu is used to save the customised version.

The last two lines on the screen are used to display a status report on the text, including the position of the cursor by line and column, and whether the right justification, insert mode and wordwrap are on and off, as well as a pointer to select EDIT for help. Selecting EDIT produces a list of commands and their functions together with an option for a further list. Those are taken directly from the manual.

At the start the wordwrap is on, the text is justified - in other words it appears as the text does on this page - and is overwritten at the cursor's position. The wordwrap is fast enough for letters not to be lost while it is functioning. Wordwrap can be switched off. The justification can also be turned off allowing text to be justified on the left but ragged on the right. A third option allows lines of text to be centred. Individual lines can also be justified or unjustified. The only automatic justification, however, is on new text. If text is deleted then the spaces remain until the paragraph is reformed.

One very useful feature enables you to mark blocks of text and then to move or copy them to other points in the text.

Another powerful feature is the Replace, or find, command.

At its price Tasword Two is an outstanding program. It has managed to overcome many of the inherent disadvantages of the Spectrum in providing features which one would normally expect on much more expensive programs. One notable feature for commercial use not included is a mail-merge facility. That has now been corrected and a Tasmerge program that will allow data to be taken from a Masterfile file should be available soon.

The third offering is Micropen from Contrast Software. The program is remarkably easy to use. All the text editing commands require only the CAPS SHIFT and a numeric key. The features offered include justification, reformatting of paragraphs after deletions, user-defined graphics and a search facility.

Unlike the other programs there is not even the most basic of status reports. You are left to remember your position within the text. That makes using the option to move to any particular line difficult. Otherwise movement through the text is achieved using the cursor keys.

When new text is added the existing text is automatically reformatted. However, when text is deleted the paragraph needs to be reformatted manually. The justification can be turned on and off. The search option can be used to search for any string in the text. If you search for a non-existent string the program will continue looking forever and to escape you must break into the program. Numerical key 9 asks for the text to be entered and permits the entry of graphics characters - including user-defined.

The options to load, save, create, edit and print a file form a separate menu.

Once again the manual is supplied as a text file already held in memory and to use Micropen the manual has to be cleared from memory and a new file created. Another, more important, drawback is the program speed. The wordwrap is only slightly faster than that of Word Processor and even a two-fingered typist will soon overtake the program. Against that must be balanced its case of use. It would, possibly, make a good introductory program to demonstrate some of the facilities available on 'grown up' word processors. As a business program it compares favourably with the Quicksilva Word Processor.

Spectext from McGraw-Hill promises a great deal including all the features of a full word processor, a filing system and a Mailmerge facility as well as being microdrive compatible. In fact Spectext consists of four programs - Spectext, Specfile, Specmerge and print mod on one side of the cassette.

On opening the case, however, you are likely to be disappointed. There is no printed manual. Instead a leaflet is provided explaining how to load the program followed by the first of two text files that comprise the manual. That can be printed on a full-size printer, although it seems that only the Kempston, Hilderbay and Interface 1 interfaces are supported by the software. I was unable to get it to work with my Tasman interface and had to resort to the ZX printer. That resulted in a manual eight feet long.

On loading the program displays a menu which offers eight options: 1 - Enter text; 2 - Load text; 3 - Print text; 4 - Read/Edit text; 5 - Save text; 6 - Reorganize; 7 - Switch printers; 8 - Catalogue. You select the first option to start typing in text.

A special keyboard-scanning routine is used to speed the Spectrum response. It works so well that even the fastest typist is unlikely to outstrip it. New lines, paragraphs and pages are inserted by pressing ENTER and 1, 2 or 3 respectively or z - to return to the main menu - followed by ENTER again. That slows down the input and somewhat defeats the purpose of the keyboard-scanning routine.

The biggest disadvantage lies in the way it displays text on the screen. It is unformatted and is effectively treated as one continuous line of characters interspersed with graphics characters to show where paragraphs and pages start. The text is formatted as it is printed but cannot be justified.

To edit text option 4 is used. That allows commands to be used at two levels. At the first level text can be added, deleted or printed from the cursor position to the end. Those functions are accessed by a, d or c respectively. Pressing z leads to the next level. An indicator is used to show the current option, ENTER is used to toggle between the search and replace options and a block move facility. Before text can be moved it must be deleted. For some reason the move option moves the last piece of deleted text.

Options 2 and 5 are used to load and save text. Both microdrive and cassette can be used. Using the microdrive facility to store text still leaves the program to be loaded from tape.

The text is printed using option 3 and option 6 allows the user to change some of the parameters such as the number of characters per line, the left margin and number of lines per page as well as offering automatic page numbering and double spacing.

Specific is used to set up a simple database for subsequent use with Specmerge. Like Spectext it is run from a main menu which allows the database to be designed, to add, sort or search and edit the file, as well as the usual save and load facilities. The design option is used to establish the number of fields in the database and their names. Once designed the data is entered via the add option. That prompts for the fields one at a time and also shows the available space; to finish adding data the STOP Function key is used. The records can be searched for any string or any field edited using the search/edit option. That permits unwanted records to be deleted. Sort allows the database to be sorted into alphanumeric order on any one field.

Specmerge allows a specially prepared text file to be merged with fields from Specfile. An up arrow followed by a series of numbers, corresponding to the fields in Specfile, and a second up arrow marks the places in the text where the contents of those fields will be inserted. The feature makes the reproduction of personalised letters very easy.

Of the four programs only Tasword and Spectext can be said to approach the standard necessary for business use. Spectext itself is a useful but limited word processor but the addition of Specmerge improves it. Unfortunately it is not improved sufficiently to challenge Tasword, unless mailing-list facilities are the main requirement.

Quicksilva Ltd, 13 Palmerston Road, Southampton, SO1 1LL.

Tasman Software, 17 Hartley Crescent, Leeds, LS6 2LL.

Contrast Software, Farnham Road, West Liss, Hampshire GU33 6JU.

McGraw-Hill Book Co Ltd, Maidenhead, Berks SL6 2QL.

THE PROGILE OF PEAK PERFORMANCE

Mike Wright examines the advantages of the McGraw-Hill small business suite.

SPECTEXT
Memory: 48K
Price: £13.95

PROFILE 2
Memory: 48K
Price: £13.95

PROJECTOR 1
Memory: 48K
Price: £13.95

This month Sinclair User is offering a special deal on a package of four programs from McGraw-Hill. The package is Spectext, a word processor, Profile 2, a spreadsheet file handling program, Projector 1, a business graphics package, and Electronic Diary.

The most commonly used part of any business type package is the word processor. Consequently it should be powerful while being easy to use. Usually there has to be a trade off between the two otherwise the program would use the whole of memory with no room for the text.

There is no doubt about the power of Spectext. It consists of three parts: Spectext, Specfile, and Specmerge. Specfile is a simple card index database for names and addresses and Specmerge is a program which allows you to insert the names and addresses from Specfile into a standard document produced by Spectext.

It also has all the usual features for entering text, deleting characters, inserting, block delete and block move, and save and load. Text can be printed with page numbers, margins and double spacing from the start or even from a specified line.

The manual is stored as two text files on the other side of the tape and those need to be loaded, read and printed - if you want something handy to refer to ?- before you begin. On a ZX printer the first of those uses about eight feet of paper.

The program is run from the main menu which has eight options: enter text, load text, print text, read edit text, save text, reorganise, switch printers and a microdrive catalogue. Unlike most word processors text is entered at the cursor at the bottom of the page and scrolls upward. When entering text you are given no idea of what it will look like at the end. Text is added in one continuous stream with new lines, paragraphs and pages being denoted by a graphics character. Those are inserted into the text by pressing Enter followed by 1, 2 or 3. Entering 'z' takes you back to the main menu and Enter on its own puts you straight into option four of the main menu - "edit text".

If after you have been editing your text and decide to enter some more, selecting Enter text from the main menu gives you a clear screen as if no text had previously been entered. However new text will be added to the end of the old text.

The Edit text option allows you a wide range of functions which will delete text in a block, add text at the cursor or print from the cursor to the end of the text. You can also search for any string and replace it with any other. Blocks of text can be moved around using the move option, although the method used is awkward since it involves deleting the text first. The move option inserts the last piece of text deleted at the cursor.

Selecting Edit text displays the end of the text with a message line showing the page number and the number of characters left which can be used. Text is deleted by positioning the cursor under the first letter to be deleted and pressing D moving the cursor to the last letter and pressing D again. Text can also be added at, or printed from, the cursor by pressing 'a' or 'c'. To use the other options the 'z' key must be pressed. That gives the prompt 'type?' which allows text to be added at the cursor. Pressing Enter changes the prompt. When the required option is displayed enter 'z' again to select it.

Although the text shown on the screen has words straddling lines, no obvious margins or paragraphs and graphics characters dotted throughout, it is formatted when printed. The number of characters per line, lines per page, left margin setting and the number of blank lines between pages are set in the reorganise option prior to printing.

Spectext prints happily on the ZX printer but if you want to use a full size printer you will need to exercise care. The switch printer option and the documentation both lead you to believe you need to use that option for a full size printer. I tried it with my Tasman interface and it hung completely. I then tried printing without it but simply using reorganise to set an 80-column width. It worked perfectly.

The database Specfile lets you set up records with up to 15 different fields, each field a maximum 23 or 25 characters. The number of fields, fieldnames up to 10 characters, and the length of each one must be set up at the start and then cannot be changed.

Once the structure of the database is set the records can be entered. For each record a list of the fields is shown and you are prompted for the entry. Confirmation must be given at the end of a record that is correct. Once entered the records can be sorted on any field except the last. You can search the file for any string of characters and then once a record is on screen edit it, copy it or simply search for the next record with the string in it by entering 'z' when the option is shown.

Specmerge, the third program, is easy to use. The draft letter is set up in Spectext with the variables being rep- resented by a number between two arrows, such as >3<, and saved. The numbers correspond to the field numbers in Specfile. Once Specmerge is loaded the document is read in first followed by the database and the field variables are merged. The results can be printed to the screen or printer.

At £13.95, Spectext offers the most powerful word processor available as a single program for the Spectrum. However, that must be balanced by the fact that it is impossible to see what you are ultimately going to end up with typing in text. In fact it will probably take several tries at printing to the screen and re-editing before you are happy with the results.

Not being able to use the program from microdrive is a major mistake for any word processor that wants to be taken seriously. However, McGraw-Hill do offer an upgrading service for purchases of the cassette, providing a microdrive version for a minimal handling charge.

The idea of combining some of the best features of spreadsheets and databases into one program is clever. Profile 2 simulates a large sheet of paper divided into rows and columns. The columns are given fixed headings corresponding to fieldnames in a database, where the rows are the records.

Like Specfile the fieldnames (up to four characters), their width (between four and 28 characters), type (character or numeric) and number of decimal places (up to four) must all be set at the start and cannot then be changed. That is done in a short program which is loaded before the main one.

When the main program is loaded a clean sheet of paper stretches before you waiting for your entries. The field names are shown on the top line of the screen and the bottom line is used to show the first 31 characters of the row. Movement around the spreadsheet is done using the cursor keys as normal. Faster movement is achieved by moving a field at a time using the odd combination of Caps Shift with 2 (left), 3 (down), 4 (up) and 9 (right).

Once your records have been entered you can begin processing using a 12 option menu. The menu is reached by pressing Caps Shift and 1 and lets you insert and delete records, which can also be protected by 'locking' them against overwriting. Numeric fields can be checked to see that they contain sensible information and can also be totalled. The totalling can also be done for a conditional selection of records. Another option is used to indicate the number of records already used and the maximum left in the database.

The most powerful features of Profile 2 are held in the three options print, find and replace. The find option searches for records that are specified by a conditional statement. The conditions are similar to those used in Basic - equal, greater than, less than, AND, OR, NOT, and so on. When a record is found it is displayed on screen in the same format as used by the view option.

The print option allows you to print all or some records. A conditional statement of the type 'fld1 = McGraw' is used to select the records. After you have decided which records to print you are given the opportunity to design the layout of the printed report by stringing together a series of fieldnames, text in quotes and N$ for newlines with + signs. String slicing can also be used to print part of a field.

The replace command allows you to replace the data in all or some of the records with new data which is determined by specifying it as a function of the fields. For example, if you keep a price list on it and prices from a supplier increase by ten percent, then prices can be updated by supp="McG" followed by pric=pric*1.1. Strings can also be sliced and concatenated as part of the function.

Profile provides a nice compromise between the spreadsheet and database and is surprisingly easy to use, despite not being very user friendly. No indication is given on screen as to how the commands can be reached and the menu lists a string of letters without a description of their function. Because of the format there has inevitably been a trade off in power but the more I used it the more I liked it.

Profile 2 is compatible with microdrive storage in that the cassette is only required with designing the file. Once you have set the file format, successive generations of file and data can be stored on cartridge.

The most exciting and probably the most powerful program of the three is Projector 1 - the Business Graphics system - but it is not without its problems. It gives you the facility to enter data in six different ways, either as ordinary numbers, as pairs of numbers or in a calendar format (daily, monthly, quarterly, years).

Once entered the data can be displayed as a line graph, pie chart, or histogram. However its features and facilities do not end there. Graphs can be plotted as points or line graphs, with or without a background grid. More power features allow you to fit a line or curve to the data and even to obtain possible projections.

A further feature allows you to build up a presentation of graphs and charts. These can be interspersed with text slides which consist of up to six lines of enlarged text with as many as 21 characters per line.

Before the main program is loaded a short program lets you prepare to use one of five preset interfaces, the ZX printer or to load your own printer software. You might encounter difficulties with Tasman option.

The program is run from a main menu offering the following: new data, modify/view data, histogram, pie chart, key points, project, graphic image, build/modify presentation, play presentation, save data, load data, directory and stop.

The best place to start is the directory option which allows you to view what has been created and to debate some or all of the items. It also shows how much free space is left. If you have opted for one of the printer ports you could have a problem here as you are warned to leave at least 300 characters free otherwise the data will overwrite the printer software. That means regular checks on the directory when working on a presentation.

Selecting view displays the items which have been created giving each a reference number made up of a letter and a number ? for instance, g3 is the third graph created and klO is the tenth key point screen - the type and its name. The references are used to build up the presentations.

Histogram, pie chart and graph are used to draw the corresponding chart. In each case you are allowed to specify various formatting variables such as colours and titles.

Projections of the data values along a straight line or a quadratic curve can also be done using the project option.

Building a presentation consists of creating a series of slices made up of graph, chart and key point references, giving it a name and specifying whether each slide will be automatically displayed after a set time or changed manually. The number of times the demonstration will be run can also be set. After that the presentation can be run by the play presentation option after specifying the name and whether it can be stopped in mid-stream.

Projector 1 has tremendous potential for business use and is relatively straightforward to use. Using STOP - Symbol shift and A - to move from entering data, or setting up the charts, to drawing them is inconvenient and if a large amount of data is used it seems slow when preparing items although there is no delay when a presentation is done. At times it also seemed sluggish in responding to entries at the keyboard when typing in titles. Those do not detract greatly from its usability.

McGraw-Hill will be providing an upgrade service similar to that for Spectext when the company is confident of supplying reliable microdrive versions.

The impressive box in which this tape arrives claims that "SPECTEXT includes all The features you would expect in a professional word processor". This, I am afraid, is far from true.

The word processor program is very disappointing. Although word wrap is included, the text is not justified, so the final appearance is no better than anything you could produce on a typewriter. There are no facilities for embedding printer controls other than 'newline' and 'new paragraph' in the text so no underlining, no changing to italic or bold type is possible - and the only way of tabulating is to enter spaces. In addition, the CAPS LOCK key is disabled, and the only way that I could discover of engaging it is to break out of the program, engage CAPS LOCK, enter "GO TO 1" to get yourself back to the menu, and select the 'enter text' option to carry on. You then repeat the whole laborious process to get back to lower case.

The editing facilities are good enough, easy to use, allowing you to delete, alter, move blocks of text around, and search for particular words or phrases. Text can be saved on tape or Microdrive, and loaded into the program. The page formatting for the printer is good. You can choose margin width, number of characters per line, single or double line spacing, number or un-numbered pages, and the number of lines you wish to leave blank between pages. You can also elect to pause the printer at the end of each page when using single sheets, to allow you to insert paper.

The instructions are clear and detailed, but you have to print them for yourself, using the program. The leaflet which comes with the tape explains how to do this, and there are no problems other than the length of the text. If your printer has a condensed type option I recommend using it for this!

In addition to the word processor, the tape includes a filing program. This offers up to 15 fields per entry, with a field length choice of either 23 or 55 characters. The file can be sorted alphabetically by any field, and sorted again by other fields if required. This allows you to sort a list of names, for instance, first by surname, and then within each surname by Christian name. The file can be searched by any letter, word or phrase, and the whole file can be viewed by searching for a space. The file can be saved on tape or Microdrive. The only problem I found with the file program is that the facility to produce a hard copy of one entry is limited to the ZX printer. It seems unlikely that anyone with only a ZX printer would want a program like, this, and it is a drawback to anyone with a full size printer.

The third program is a merging program, enabling you to produce those personalized letters such as you get from book clubs, telling you how lucky you are. This program seems to me to be the most successful part of the suite.

The software drives a ZX printer, or a Silver-Reed EX 44 typewriter used as a printer with IF44 interface. It can also drive Kempston or Hilderbay interfaces, or Sinclair Interface 1, and there is a program on the tape to generate machine code to customize it to suit whichever of these you have, and to suit your printer. For my Kempston/ Epson setup, I had to make only one alteration, to alter the code for the '£' sign.

To sum up, I would describe this as a filing and merging program with text editing facilities. It is certainly not the program for anyone wanting a serious professional word processor, and it is very overpriced for anyone wanting less.