MANAGING WORDS

Oxford Computer Publishing's Spectrum Wordprocessor is put through its paces by Ace reviewperson, Dominic Handy.

Price: Tape/Microdrive/Opus Disc Drive Versions £12.95
Kempston & Watford Electronics SPDOS versions £19.95
Publisher: OCP, 77A Packhorse Rd, Gerrards Cross, Bucks SL9 8PQ

Tasword II has been out for nearly two years now. During that long space of time it has pushed aside a number of attacks from other word processing programs with the greatest of ease. But fears are growing for its safety as market leader, as Oxford Computer Publishing (creators of Art Studio) bring out a new offering called Word Manager. As soon as Word Manager arrived, it was out with my printer and disc drive to see if this challenger was really going to topple Tasword II off its (by now warm) perch.

As a dedicated Tasword II user - I've had a copy since it was first released - I was pleased to see that OCP understand that Tasword II has got a firm hold on the Spectrum Word Processing world and there are lots of Tasword files sitting on cassette already. Thoughtfully, OCP have included a facility in Word Manager which allows you to LOAD Tasword files into their word processor with the greatest of ease. Only the slightest amount of editing is needed a few words which may have got joined together in justifying need to be separated.

OCP have also given great thought to the compatibility of its product with the peripherals it controls. When loading for the first time you are presented with an option of setting up Word Manager with the built in machine code routines (17 to be precise) for your printer. If your printer interface is not included in the menu then don't despair if you can't implement your own machine code routine, get in touch with OCP for assistance.

Fast access backing store peripherals are also taken into consideration with a host of different versions of the software available to complement your hardware - and if you've got a Microdrive or OPUS disc drive then you don't have to pay any extra (but the OPUS drive does provide BASIC microdrive compatibility).

When compared with Tasword II knock for knock, Word Manager has a large number of extra features and extensions which, to my mind, give it the edge over the current market leader. It is a more flexible and more powerful wordprocessor in the final analysis:

THE FEATURES

Insert Mode: Insertion of characters without overwriting. Insert mode can be switched on or off.

Fast Edit: The cursor can be moved around word by word and page by page.

Deletion: Allows a letter, word, line, block or paragraph to be deleted all commencing at the cursor position. You are also allowed to change from deleting to the left of the cursor to deleting letters to the right of the cursor.

Moving Blocks: Text blocks of any size can be marked and moved or copied to the present cursor position very rapidly.

Moving Cursor: The cursor can be moved to the start/end of text, and last cursor position when re-entering the text file from menu. It can also jump to the start of the present jump and the start/end of the present paragraph.

Hatch Codes: Can produce new paragraph marker or tell the program not to justify this line. A hatch code can also be placed to tell the printer to start a new page, ie add one to page number displayed and produce a blank line to separate it.

Address Codes: These are placed when using OCP's Address Manager with Word Manager, and mark names, addresses and telephone numbers.

Script Search: Searches the script for a specific word/letter. You can also delete all occurrences of a word/letter in the script from the beginning or from the cursor position. The word/letter selected can also be changed for another if you wish.

Tabulation: The TAB function allows the user to vary the column that the cursor returns to when entering a line, this is useful when preparing tables. A Do Not Justify hatch code has to be positioned at the beginning of each line otherwise 'your table will be completely screwed up' as the manual puts it.

Justifying: Justification (spreading the line out along the screen to produce an even edge to the text file) only occurs when a paragraph is completed. You can opt to justify a complete document, and can to put hyphens in the words split over two lines. Left or right hand margin justification can be selected.

Miscellaneous: Text can be centred on a line; words can be swapped round eg I am becomes am I; blank lines can be inserted.

GETTING HARD COPY

The printer applications are very impressive and allow the user to change the width of the printed line from 1 to 128 characters. Line width should be adjusted before you start, as it tends to muck up the justification if done halfway through writing a script. The screen line simulates the printer, stretching the 80 columns of the printer over two screen lines, which I found very hard to get used to but it seems to work alright.

The Printer menu allows you to have single or double spacing between printed lines. It also allows you to use continuous paper or single A4 sheets to print on. The script can be printed in its entirety or from the cursor position, and output stops when a block marker is encountered. Page numbers can be printed in the centre at the top or bottom, or at the top right hand corner or they can be left out altogether. Page numbering can commence at any number.

PRINTER CODES

Unlike Tasword II Word Manager uses ASCII symbols for printer codes and not the easy to use preset 'graphic' symbols. This can get awkward if you want a lot of different styles in your text file, but should present no problems when writing letters.

One problem I found in my version was that I couldn't print the infamous pound sign on the printer while using Word Manager, but I'm sure it's in there somewhere!

MULTI-TASKING

Word Manager also features a very clever fast/slow print option which simulates multitasking (doing more than one thing at once) when printing. This means that you can choose to have the text printed and if you see any mistakes in it during printing you can change them by editing the text at the same time, then print it out again.

FILE REPORTS

I was very impressed with Word Manager's comprehensive file report facility, which gives information on the current cursor position, memory (in characters) used, memory remaining, and the all important word count which is very, very useful for us reviewers. None of these features exist in Tasword II but an extra piece of software can be bought which will add them.

SUMMING UP

The main thing that strikes you about Word Manager is that it doesn't justify or word-wrap at the end of every line which is confusing if, like me, you've been using Tasword II for ages. Also, I was a bit unhappy not to be given a small 'window' at the bottom of the displayed text telling me the line/column my cursor was at. The cursor doesn't flash, and I found life a little confusing at times...

Overall, Word Manager is a much more professional word processor than Tasword II. It contains more features and is a very flexible piece of software. I feel it falls down a little, because in nearly every case you have to access some sort of menu to use the extra or expanded features. Despite this, I feel that Tasword II has finally met its match with this very professional word processor from OCP. The package includes a detailed manual nearly fifty pages of explanation and a freebie copy of Address Manager for 32 column printers such as the Alphacom and ZX Printer. All in all, a tasty package. Tasword II watch out! The Word Manager has come to take the words out of your mouth.

WORD WRAP

Tasword II is the undisputed king of Speccy word-processing. Now it's got serious rivals courtesy of Softechnics The Writer and OCP's Word Manager. Max Phillips tries the challengers...

Bit of a turn up for the books this - two new Speccy wordpros both claiming to be so good, users will junk their faithful Taswords and pay out for the upgrade. Tasword has been the top Speccy word processor since it came out and, since its given away in the Sinclair microdrive kits, most microdrive owners already have a cop. But Tasword is far from perfect - it operates at near comatose speeds and simple things like inserting text are quite awkward! So the opportunity to do something better has always been there and Softechnics and OCP's challengers have been a long time coming.

THE WRITE APPROACH

Let's look at The Writer first, simply because I like talking about well written, professional programs - and this is, quite simply, one of the most professionally produced business programs ever to load into a Spectrum. The Writer's writer has taken a serious look at wordpros on business micros and brought a lot of their features and style to the Spectrum. In particular, it owes a lot to the number one wordprocessor in the world - WordStar, a long-running package, for CP/M and MS DOS micros, that'll set you back more than the price of a Spectrum with Interface 1 and two microdrives!

The Writer uses a quite pleasant 64 column display with a status line at the top which tells you your document name, the page, line and column you're on and whether you're in insert or overtype mode. Underneath this is a 'ruler line'showing the current margins and tab stops. As you enter text, it's formatted according to your current settings - justified, centred or whatever. If you edit a paragraph, it'll remain untidy until you use the reform key (Symbol-Shift/Y) to replay it out according to the current settings. If that ain't straight out of WordStar, what is?

While most common editing commands are on Symbol-Shift and Extend mode keys, all the complex editing functions are called up by pressing EDIT. A menu appears at the top line and you can move a little arrow using the cursor keys to select the item you want. A 'dialog box' will pop up over your text where you can choose the commands you want or enter new settings using the little arrow and the Enter key. This system is a doddle - you hardly need the complete help screens that can be called up off microdirve while you're editing! However, once you know the package, there's no quick way to execute the commands. The little arrow always reappears where it was last time you finished with a menu, so you spend a lot of your time driving it around the screen!

All these programs have around 20K free for text - about 3000 words. The Writer manages to keep its speed up admirably with all but the longest documents. One nice touch is a proper keyboard buffer - the Speccy remembers your keys-strokes even while the program is busy so it doesn't matter if things slow down a bit.

PRINTS AND THE ROYAL MAIL

But The Writer really gets good when you come to print your document. If offers a superb mail-merge facility - you can generate personalised mailshots by combining a form document with names, addresses or whatever hedl in a data file. For example, you could mail all the members of your club with a standard letter that begins Dear what-ever-your-name-is, and so on. The Writer lets you SET variables in the document so that, for example, you only have to enter today's date and all the letters will have the current date on them. You can do calculations so that, say, each letter you send has the correct charges at the bottom depending on which items each person in the data file has ordered. Finally, you can do 'conditional printing'so that certain sections of text only appear if certain conditions are true - you could use this, for example, to add to a warning paragraph onto letters for club members who haven't paid their subs.

This kind of powerful word processing is an everyday thing in business computing but since there aren't many office-bound Speccys, its appeal will be limited to people with such pastimes as running a business from home, running a club and so on. More useful for most of us is true background printing - you can continue to work (at full speed) while printing out a finished document.

The Writer also has a communication program to allow files to be moved between tape, microdrive and other computers connected to Interface 1 RS232. The files can be in The Writer format, plain ACII text or in WordStar format. This'll let you move documents between other word processors and micros. Unfortunately, the program is more awkward to use than The Writer and the so-called 'WordStar compatible' option is a bit of a con.

Although it handles the basic conversion, it doesn't translate formatting information into the relevant The Writer codes. And if you follow Softechnic's manual and use CP/M's PIP program to send the Wordstar file to the Speccy, you can get the conversion done anyway by adding [Z to the PIP command (read your manuals guys!). Going the other way, The Writer send the wrong sort of carriage return to the WordStar machine. So, either way, you've got to re-edit the file once it's been transmitted. You might as well do the job yourself using ordinary microdrive commands - The Writer is about as WordStar compatible as Tasword and Word Manager!

The other utility you get is a program to convert Tasword II files to The Writer formatt - it's about as awkward as the communication program although it does do its job.

The Writer is damn impressive - our pre-release version shows only one serious bug - if you hold the down arrow down all the way to the end of the document and keep it down, the keyboard buffer packs up and you'll have to switch off. There are others - try replacing 'a' with 'aaaaa' - but nothing you can't work around. However, for all its features, it has one major flaw - you can't alter the line spacing of your text! Softechnics swears blind that you'll be able to before it's releaesed - so it might be a while before it hits the streets!

THE LAST WORD?

Meanwhile, OCP must be kicking itself over Word Manager. True, it has some welcome features - it's the only one of the three that doesn't seem to slow down at all with very long documents and there's a word count and a 'swap words over' command. But, even ignoring the bugs in the review version, it just doesn't compare with Softechnic's offering. It gets off to a bad start with a poorly designed 64 column character set and a flaky keyboard reading routine. There's no on-screen info apart from symbols in the left margin which indicate the formatting of the text on that line - although the border changes when you set Caps Lock or whatever. Unlike The Writer, which gracefully scrolls sideways to show you line up to 127 characters in length, Word Manager wraps lines round onto the screen, making the first 64 characters brighter than the rest of the line. Yuk!

All the commands are either the top key row (there's a Figs Lock so you don't have to hold Caps Shift down to use the cursor keys and so on), Symbol-Shift keys or Extend Mode keys. Their layout is confusing and you have to leave your text and return to the main menu to see the help screens! Word Manager's menus are fussy about capital and lower case letters even though you can't tell if Caps Lock is on or off and so on.

Text formatting is peculiar to say the least - paragraphs aren't formatted until you press Return at the end. To reformat after editing, you have to reformat the whole document from the main menu. If you don't want particular bits reformatted, you have to enter 'T' at the start of the paragraph you want left alone before you 'justify' the text. And while we're talking about silly things, the word count is only reliable if your first 'de-justify' the text from the menu, look at the word count and the 'justify' it again!

When it comes to printing, Word Manager can manage page numbers but not headers and footers like WordStar. There's a limited mail-merger option that works with OCP's Mailing List Manager and Address Manager. You can also 'slow print' text while you're editing another document. This will only work if you're printing a short document (it's kept in memory along with whatever else you're working on) although it failed to work at all on our version.

FINAL WORD

The best thing about these two new packages is seeing properly presented business programs on the Speccy. Both of them have all the basic facilities of real word processors and, like Tasword, can be installed for virtually any interface/printer combination. Both have proper length manuals although the copies we saw needed a fair bit of work before they were easy to read an use. If anything, the only thing that let them down is that they've not been completely designed from the point of view of being easy and quick to use in anger. The Writer is very good but it isn't quite there yet!

When it comes to choosing, I've no doubt that The Writer will take over from Tasword as the best Speccy wordpro. Indeed, some of you old Tasworders should wander down to your dealer and take it for a test drive. However, since it needs a bit of sorting out, it may be a while before you have the opportunity. Word Manager has little appeal in comparison unless you already use OCP's database products. So, sorry about the claim guys, but for the meantime at least, Tasword II is King!

Publisher: OCP
Price: £12.95 (cassette), £19.95 disc
Memory: 48K

Since the release of Tasword 2 it has been the acknowledged leading word processing program for the Spectrum. The release of two new programs, and rumours of a third, could well change that.

The new programs are from Oxford Computer Publishing - OCP - and Softechnics. OCP has given us an exclusive look at Word Manager, available on cassette at £12.95 - microdrive compatible - or at £19.95 for a Kempston disc interface version.

A good word processor is many things to many people but each should display text as it is typed in, enable the insertion and deletion of text at any point, and do so a character, word or block at a time. It should have margins which can be moved and a tab function similar to that on a typewriter. To give a professional look to the printed documents it should also be possible to line the text up on the left side only - left justified - or left and right sides - right justified. Other functions - such as replace, centre justification, footers and headers, and page numbers - are useful but not vital. Word Manager includes all of those.

Some other features include a mode for writing over existing text, a string search which lets you find any 16-character string in the text, the ability to print lines of up to 128 characters, and mailmerge - that is, printing a number of copies of the same text, usually a letter, each with different names and addresses. The mailmerge feature uses a file of names and addresses from the OCP Address Manager.

Although written for the Spectrum, Word Manager is easier to use on the Spectrum Plus with the extra keys. Unlike Tasword 2, which presents a blank screen for entering text from the start, Word Manager gives a menu of choices to start - see figure one. That menu is used to give information on the number of words entered, the memory used and remaining, and the cursor position. Moving to text already in memory gives the opportunity to move to any word in the text.

The first thing you will notice about the text screen is the column of lines down the left hand side. Those are new paragraph markers. Symbols are used to denote the types of justification, and special markers for the start of a new paragraph or page when printing. The screen will display up to 24 lines of 64 column text compared with the 22 columns of Tasword, but that is paid for by having no information on the current state of the text on the screen.

With no function keys on the Spectrum, programmers have had to resort to some unusual methods to include all the features. In this case it is the use of the unshifted numeric keys for functions rather than numbers. Pressing 1 changes between overwrite and insert modes, 2 locks on the capitals, 3 returns to the main menu, 4 to 9 move the cursor and 0 deletes characters.

With the Spectrum Plus the only one of those functions which does not have a separate key is 1. If you have a Plus, press Caps Lock first after loading the program; that allows you to use the numeric keys for numbers straight away.

The righthand margin can be set in two ways, one for printing and one for display. If you set the display margin to more than 64, each line will be shown over two lines on the screen, with the unused part highlighted in a different colour. An indent margin for new paragraphs can be set using the tab function. There appears to be no way of moving the left margin.

The tab function allows tables to be typed in columns although it is somewhat longwinded. One column must be typed in, the tab position reset and the next column typed in and so on. There is no tab function or indent margin on Tasword, although left and right margins can be set to any position between 0 and 64.

Tasword includes a feature called word-wrap, which automatically takes any word which straddles two lines into the second line. On Word Manager that is done only when the new paragraph key is pressed. If you are accustomed to word-wrap on your word processor you might be surprised to find that this does not make the slightest bit of difference when you are entering text.

The range of options for deleting text is as good as many more expensive word processors, although perhaps not as convenient. The options include deleting characters either for- wards or backwards - where Tasword will only delete forwards; deleting a line which consists of the character under the cursor and the next 63 characters; deleting a word; and deleting the rest of the paragraph. Using the block commands parts of a paragraph or several paragraphs can be deleted. In comparison, Tasword will delete characters and lines only.

Other block functions allow you to move or copy blocks of text from one place to another. A substitution function allows you to replace any string. That is very useful, especially when technical documents are being prepared. The disadvantage is that it changes all strings which match after the cursor. In comparison, the search feature finds the first occurrence in the text, asks if it is the right one and if not moves to the next and so on.

Thanks to the inclusion of printer/ driver software for a range of interfaces, getting Word Manager to produce hard copy of your text is easy. However, the use of the graphics as printer control codes certainly gives Tasword the edge when it comes to controlling the printer to give different styles of print. Tasword can also be used with a ZX printer.

Other additional features of Word Manager are the ability to print lines of up to 128 characters, where Tasword can print only 64 character lines.

A slow print simulates multi-tasking by allowing you to either create a new piece of text or edit the old while it is printing. Printing multiple copies of the text in either single or double spacing, and with or without page numbers, is available.

A mailmerge facility can only work when the word processor has access to a database. In this case the database is created by OCP's Address Manager and is limited to names, addresses and postcodes, whereas two separate programs - Tasmerge and Masterfile - are necessary to do the same with Tasword. Tasword does have, however, the advantage of a more flexible mailmerge system.

On the Spectrum Plus Word Manager is relatively easy to use, and presently it is certainly the most powerful word processor for the Spectrum. Owners of Tasword who decide to buy Word Manager might like to know that it will read Tasword files for editing.

A WORD IN YOUR SPECTRUM

The Spectrum is under-estimated as a word processing machine, says John Wase. Here he reviews eight programs in support of his argument.

Word processing does not require much computer power. PipeDream on the new Z-88 uses exactly the same Z-80 chip as all versions of the venerable Spectrum. Thus the Spectrum, too, should, in theory, provide good word processing facilities, although in practice there are limitations like memory. A 48K Spectrum has around 41K for both program and text file, around 110K for the 128K version, and the screen display at only 32 columns.

Nevertheless, I found eight readily-available packages, plus variants for various models, of assorted prices, features, sophistication and complexity. Each has been written with some particular purpose in mind and all have virtues and vices associated with what is, after all, a compromise, for no word processing program suits everyone or all applications.

The constraints of the 32-column screen are overcome in a variety of ways. In some programs text lines continue along a second or third display line and end with some recognisable symbol, while in others the screen is re-defined to up to 80 characters per line, further augmented by multiple lines or sideways scrolling, giving as many as 148 characters per printer line.

While it is possible to provide a good deal of the information about the packages in tabular form, it really gives little feeling for the strong and weak points, the aims and the overall success of each package. Therefore I have chosen a combination of tables and comment to provide sufficient information to guide you in choosing packages suitable for your needs. The packages are Mini-Office, a suite of programs for younger children; Ramprint, an add-on printer interface with integral word processor; Spectral Writer, bundled with Wafadrive; WordMaster; Word Manager; The Last Word; The Writer and finally, the Tasword family. They are listed in table one, along with the outstanding features of each package, the cost and supplier.

The easiest thing to do is to take them in groups. First, Mini-Office, which has a very simple set of instructions on a cassette-sized book; interpretation by an adult will be necessary. There is a simple test piece to be typed-in; it appeared in big letters an inch or more high in yellow on a black background on my old TV; it is very easy for a child to write a simple letter but with very little more scope.

The normal mode is insert and there is also a crude copy, so letters or lines can be added or deleted; crude tabs complete the features. The main menu offers the usual save, verify, load or options with a further choice of double height, double width, margin setting and characters per line.

It could have been an excellent program to introduce a child to an integrated suite had it been revamped but there are no facilities to use a printer other than the obsolete Sinclair gadget or compatibles, and the other options integrate badly into the word processor. You would need a suitable printer for your child to make the most of it.

The next pair are proper programs, both intended for the serious user, and both released relatively early. Tasword 2, a development of Tasword on the ZX-81, provides a 64-character line, a fixed text length of 320 lines - 10-and-a-bit pages of double-spaced A4. Spectral Writer is similar but with squarer letters some say much more legible. In both programs insertion is by opening a word or a line and then re-justifying; there is no auto insert mode.

LINE AND COLUMN

Line and column are given on-screen but there is no word count. The cursor will move by line, character, or to the start or finish of the text; in Tasword 2 it is very slow. Word wrap is automatic, characters and lines can be deleted, blocks can be moved and copied and there is a crude search and replace.

Text can be justified with smooth or ragged right margin and centred and margins can be set for tables but there are no tabs in Tasword 2 and no headers, footers or auto-page numbering, no mail-merge, conditional printing or macros; just start and finish lines, one copy only. You can put eight printer codes in the program at once and change them whenever you like.

Both programs are good, straightforward, very simple word processors. You can achieve professional results very quickly Spectral Writer scores by having tabs, a line-end bell and is a little slicker but it normally is only bundled with Wafadrive, Tasword 2 is ubiquitous and bundled with Microdrives.

The chief advantage of both programs is that they are very simple; much is in Basic and is easily user-adapted. The major disadvantage is that printer control codes in the text destroys WYSIWYG concept unless you adopt low cunning or a patch. For simple letters of only a few pages they are easy and adequate.

The other processors are, in general, more sophisticated and it is probably easier to deal with their main features in a large table and just comment briefly on their strengths and weaknesses. The simplest is probably Ramprint, a printer interface and joystick port with a built-in word processor on ROM. I found the documentation brief but the gadget easy to use.

Although it contains most features one needs, there are disadvantages. It will work only with tape or Microdrives, for instance, and it will display only 32 columns when you are entering text, making complex work almost impossible, although it will display a 64-column screen to show you what the work will be like at the end.

That apart, having the works in an EPROM means that there is no software to load; plug it in, type one command and go. For straightforward documents, also those needing underlining, italics and other such fancy bits, even page numbering, it works and works well.

Word-Master again is for the Spectrum owner who has no discs. It works well with tape or Microdrive and an EPROM-driven interface. Within limitations I found a program which was specifically aimed at crude desk-top publishing. The documentation could be improved and I did not particularly like its 64-column character set. A further problem is that right justification could not be implemented on-screen, although was satisfactory when printed; that does not help DTP layout.

Against that, several files can be held in memory at once, page numbers, headers and footers are catered for and printer control codes are handled beautifully, either in a command line which does not print but affects the text below or as special characters for the more common sorts, so that H2O can be printed readily without upsetting justification.

PICTURES

Pictures can be incorporated with the graphic commands and text can be printed either to the right or to the left of it; again, instructions are a little sparse. Graphmate, a separate, stand-alone program, produces bar charts or pie charts easily but with provision for labelling axes left to Word-Master. The programs are independent and the products of Graphmate have to be saved before incorporation.

Cardex also supplied Headliner on a separate tape. It will produce headlines in a variety of styles for subsequent incorporation. This is a useful suite as it stands; further development and the production of disc/128K versions using more interfaces would make it still better.

Word Manager 4 is aimed at a different end-user, evident from its being bundled with Mail and Address Manager II. The review version 4.2 has a number of improvements over earlier issues, including a completely re-written Address Manager II. All saves and loads are in Basic and I liked particularly the single keypress to modify and transfer everything to disc. The 64-column character set looked almost like script, unlike any of the others; I liked it. The normal screen is bright. Lines longer than 64 characters are wrapped round and shown on the line below - not bright.

The instruction book was adequate. Some features were easy to use but I did not like the constant switching between modes to use cursors and delete, the lack of on-screen prompts - particularly caps - or the way in which paragraphs were completed before on-screen justification took place.

Page numbering is there but not headers or footers. Address Manager II is a database specific for Word Manager; Mail Manager takes the text from Word Manager and the names and addresses from Mail Manager and integrates them. There are conditional indices for Mr. Mrs. M/s or Miss but no real conditional printing is available.

For circulation of simple club letters or even, at a pinch, a short club magazine, this would do the trick satisfactorily if you get used to the vagaries involved in editing and, at the price which includes all three programs, it is unbeatable.

In contrast, The Last Word has a very well-produced and extensive manual. I found it very easy to use. Again, all the loads and saves are in Basic but you will have to type-in some new lines - supplied - to get it working from Microdrive or disc; a novice might not like this.

The screen display is changeable from 40, 48, 60 or 80 characters per line - not too good on a monitor, better on a large television set where the slight fuzz causes the eye to assume a good deal. It has most of the features one might expect, like headers, footers, page numbers, selected printing from Basic and mail-merge, with its own data files.

Because lines are terminated by a carriage return symbol there is no insert mode; you have to split a line to insert letters or words. Screen refresh is a trifle slow and the program is 48K, although the author says that there is the possibility of a 128K program in the future.

That said, everything else is good. Control codes do not disturb justification; by screen wrap-around you can get up to 148 characters per line; formatting is very flexible, exiting into Basic to insert your own routines is encouraged and examples given.

Tutor files loaded from tape help you to learn to manipulate text and load and save mail-merge information. Although I had never used it previously and am very familiar with another processor, I found the keys logical and liked the program.

NO COLOURS

The Writer is in two versions, 48K and 128K. Although Softek was very helpful on the telephone and promised to send both programs, plus The Artist, plus a pre-release version of The Filer, they did not arrive in time for this review. Fortunately I was able to borrow a 48K version of The Writer. It is well-presented with a good instruction book. No colours are used; the screen is uniformly white letters on a black background and looks very smart.

The 64 characters a line lettering is clear, square rather like Spectral Writer - and easy to read. The normal text manipulations are on symbol or extended mode and the program starts in insert mode. Press "Edit" and move the arrow over the top-line menu; up comes an overlay menu with obvious choices for all the things like file handling, saving and so on.

Printing includes mail-merge, conditional printing and can include calculations. All in all, a very impressive package. I found it easy to use, too, and liked it. The 128K version contains a pagemaker facility which imports pictures from The Artist. I had hoped to be able to look at this, too, and compare it to the Word-Master DTP facilities.

Finally, the Tasword series. Tasword 3 uses the same black on white character set as Tasword 2 - adequate and readable but scarcely exciting - but there the similarity ends. Because, unlike several of the other programs, all loads and saves are in machine code, there are a number of versions to fit various machines and devices, including Microdrive. Opus and Disciple discs, but there is no tape version, because to fit in all the features and still keep a respectable length file, the main menu is fed in as an overlay; it is frustrating to have to wait seven seconds for it to load from Microdrive or Opus.

All the standard features are present; mail-merge from Masterfile or from its own address lists produced from within the program, headers, footers, pagination, plenty of control codes to send, print several text files sequentially, print multiple copies, customise program, overtype - standard - or insert mode, word count, space remaining - do not fill it too tightly, though.

The main menu is, like all the Spectrum Taswords, accessed by symbol shift and A; the rest is easy. The manual is well-printed and laid-out and a tutor file is included. The 128K versions are almost exactly the same, except for the control key for insertion and some tidying as the Amstrad Spectrums no longer have symbols on the keys.

The main menu appears instantly and the text file is large, between 40 and 50 pages of double-spaced A4, which is a tremendous advantage if you write complicated documents and need to keep referring to what has gone before. The new +3 version appears similar to the user but contains code enabling a spellchecker to work and the extended mode bug which locks the main menu has been fixed.

The biggest disadvantage is the lack of justification when control codes are inserted - redeemed by a patch from Seven Stars Software; against this is the ease of use and the fact that Tasword and Masterfile are both available on a range of machines, even PC compatibles. Again, I liked Tasword; it works well and is good value.

Compared to most other machines, the choice of word processors on the Spectrum is wide and some are technically very good. There is no need to buy that new Amstrad or PC-compatible if all you want is a word processor, particularly if you have a +2 or a +3 with their good keyboards. After all, Tasword is very similar on the PC. Moreover, the PC will not play budget games as well when you are not using it.