Is Mellel compatible enough?

I heard so many good things about the Mellel word processor that I d/l a
copy to evaluate it. Now that I have actually read the documentation I
am much less confident that this is the right product for me. My biggest
concern is Mellel's compatibility with both RTF and Word formats. While
Mellel *can* save documents to both these formats the apps own
documentation says that formating and features may be lost during the
conversion. (Also, it seems that Mellel requires 10.3 to convert to Word
format and uses the OS's ability to do so. I am on 10.2.8, but I am
willing to judge the app on what it could do if I upgrade the OS.)

Here is what the Mellel documentation says about RTF export:

"Note: Some options are not fully supported yet in this version of
Mellel, including headers and footers, images, variables, and full
integration of auto-numbers (auto-numbers and numbered lists are
³flattened² when exported from Mellel). Also, several options that
Mellel offers are not supported at all in RTF and must be reduced to
³plain² text."

The documentation on Word export reads:

"Mellel offers an option to export MS Word (.doc) files. This export
support for MS Word .doc files relies on the built-in support for such
files in Mac OS X 10.3 or later (AKA Panther). Only a partial set of
options existing in RTF and .doc is supported in export. The following
table details the options supported when exporting MS Word .doc files."

If I use Mellel it will be for looong documents with many footnotes, a
bibliography, etc. These types of long document options are supposed to
be a Mellel strong point. Will the proper formatting of a long document
such as this be lost/altered if I export to RTF or Word format? This is
my biggest concern.

I can't imagine that Mellel's own format will become common. Its a
shareware word processor for the Mac only. I don't see that becoming a
new standard. Their format also seems to produce large files. A file
containing only the word "test" came out to 23K.

I don't think I can gain first hand experience regarding this apps
ability to make long documents which can be easily shared in RTF and
Word format without biting the bullet and doing so. Has anyone else
bitten this bullet and can tell me what the results were?

TIA

hobo wrote:

> I heard so many good things about the Mellel word processor that I d/l a
> copy to evaluate it. Now that I have actually read the documentation I
> am much less confident that this is the right product for me. My biggest
> concern is Mellel's compatibility with both RTF and Word formats.

Mellel is a fine app on its own. If you need Word compatibility to
exchange files with your Word-friend/enemies sthen possibly no
application (including Word itself) is able to cope with all the
possible .DOCs out there.

Kind of similar applies to .RTF exported from Word.

In article <none->, hobo
<> wrote:

> I heard so many good things about the Mellel word processor that I d/l a
> copy to evaluate it. Now that I have actually read the documentation I
> am much less confident that this is the right product for me. My biggest
> concern is Mellel's compatibility with both RTF and Word formats. While
> Mellel *can* save documents to both these formats the apps own
> documentation says that formating and features may be lost during the
> conversion. (Also, it seems that Mellel requires 10.3 to convert to Word
> format and uses the OS's ability to do so. I am on 10.2.8, but I am
> willing to judge the app on what it could do if I upgrade the OS.)
>
> Here is what the Mellel documentation says about RTF export:
>
> "Note: Some options are not fully supported yet in this version of
> Mellel, including headers and footers, images, variables, and full
> integration of auto-numbers (auto-numbers and numbered lists are
> ³flattened² when exported from Mellel). Also, several options that
> Mellel offers are not supported at all in RTF and must be reduced to
> ³plain² text."
>
> The documentation on Word export reads:
>
> "Mellel offers an option to export MS Word (.doc) files. This export
> support for MS Word .doc files relies on the built-in support for such
> files in Mac OS X 10.3 or later (AKA Panther). Only a partial set of
> options existing in RTF and .doc is supported in export. The following
> table details the options supported when exporting MS Word .doc files."
>
> If I use Mellel it will be for looong documents with many footnotes, a
> bibliography, etc. These types of long document options are supposed to
> be a Mellel strong point. Will the proper formatting of a long document
> such as this be lost/altered if I export to RTF or Word format? This is
> my biggest concern.
>
> I can't imagine that Mellel's own format will become common. Its a
> shareware word processor for the Mac only. I don't see that becoming a
> new standard. Their format also seems to produce large files. A file
> containing only the word "test" came out to 23K.
>
> I don't think I can gain first hand experience regarding this apps
> ability to make long documents which can be easily shared in RTF and
> Word format without biting the bullet and doing so. Has anyone else
> bitten this bullet and can tell me what the results were?
>
> TIA

why don't you write them directly... they should be able to give you
enough support to cop with your specific goals.

In article <060720040721084322% >,
erwin <> wrote:

> why don't you write them directly... they should be able to give you
> enough support to cop with your specific goals.

I haven't purchased it yet and don't feel like bothering people before
payment.

On Tue, 06 Jul 2004 10:38:35 -0700, hobo <> wrote:
> In article <060720040721084322% >,
> erwin <> wrote:
>
>> why don't you write them directly... they should be able to give you
>> enough support to cop with your specific goals.
>
> I haven't purchased it yet and don't feel like bothering people before
> payment.

What better way to find out if they deserve your money? Pre-sales
support is huge.

Sorry to say, but you get what you pay for. I'm waiting for Nisus 2.0 as
well as others. Their present version is not much better than any Text
Editor. At least that's the way it seems to be on my 1 gig/MDD/512/60





In article <none->,
hobo <> wrote:

> I heard so many good things about the Mellel word processor that I d/l a
> copy to evaluate it. Now that I have actually read the documentation I
> am much less confident that this is the right product for me. My biggest
> concern is Mellel's compatibility with both RTF and Word formats. While
> Mellel *can* save documents to both these formats the apps own
> documentation says that formating and features may be lost during the
> conversion. (Also, it seems that Mellel requires 10.3 to convert to Word
> format and uses the OS's ability to do so. I am on 10.2.8, but I am
> willing to judge the app on what it could do if I upgrade the OS.)
>
> Here is what the Mellel documentation says about RTF export:
>
> "Note: Some options are not fully supported yet in this version of
> Mellel, including headers and footers, images, variables, and full
> integration of auto-numbers (auto-numbers and numbered lists are
> ³flattened² when exported from Mellel). Also, several options that
> Mellel offers are not supported at all in RTF and must be reduced to
> ³plain² text."
>
> The documentation on Word export reads:
>
> "Mellel offers an option to export MS Word (.doc) files. This export
> support for MS Word .doc files relies on the built-in support for such
> files in Mac OS X 10.3 or later (AKA Panther). Only a partial set of
> options existing in RTF and .doc is supported in export. The following
> table details the options supported when exporting MS Word .doc files."
>
> If I use Mellel it will be for looong documents with many footnotes, a
> bibliography, etc. These types of long document options are supposed to
> be a Mellel strong point. Will the proper formatting of a long document
> such as this be lost/altered if I export to RTF or Word format? This is
> my biggest concern.



I can't imagine that Mellel's own format will become common. Its a
> shareware word processor for the Mac only. I don't see that becoming a
> new standard. Their format also seems to produce large files. A file
> containing only the word "test" came out to 23K.
>
> I don't think I can gain first hand experience regarding this apps
> ability to make long documents which can be easily shared in RTF and
> Word format without biting the bullet and doing so. Has anyone else
> bitten this bullet and can tell me what the results were?
>
> TIA

In article
<9ORHc.850888$ le.rogers.com>,
Manny Pinsky <> wrote:

> Sorry to say, but you get what you pay for. I'm waiting for Nisus 2.0 as
> well as others. Their present version is not much better than any Text
> Editor. At least that's the way it seems to be on my 1 gig/MDD/512/60
>
>
>

I am also waiting for Nisus Writer Express 2.0. I use 1.1.2 now as my
primary word processor, but unfortunately I still need to have Word on
my computer because Nisus doesn't always translate the formatting of
Word documents perfectly. Legal pleadings get the text, but not the
special formatting. Even with that flaw, Nisus is still a far more
pleasant experience than Word.