- Apple Offerings
- The Standard of Comparison
- Free Options
- Alternative Options
- Summary
The Standard of Comparison
Microsoft Word is the standard to which virtually every word processing program is compared. In the Windows market, Microsoft Word has a commanding lead and really has no serious competition. If you use a Windows-based computer at work, there's a pretty good chance that it has some version of Microsoft Word installed on it.
Word for the Mac looks a lot like its Windows cousin but has a number of features that are unique to the Mac. If you start the program without selecting a file, you get a set of options for creating a new document. The Project Gallery for Word (see Figure 1) offers a variety of templates, including Web Page, Word Document, and Word Notebook.
Figure 1 Word's Project Gallery helps you get started with more than a blank sheet.
Selecting Word Notebook opens a blank page in the notebook layout view. This is a new option for the Mac that closely resembles the OneNote application for the PC. Features such as flagging specific information, recording audio notes, and an easy outlining format are great for anyone who needs to take notes.
Word for the Mac includes support for creating/recording macros for added functionality. Recorded macros come in really handy when you have a standard set of editing steps that you repeat often. You can choose between Microsoft's Visual Basic and REALbasic to write your own macros or edit recorded ones.