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Word & WP: Font

1

1

If you use the Font Dialog Box, both give you a preview of a highlighted word. However, with WP's amazing RealTime Preview, you never have to open the Dialog Box or hit UNDO.

Word: Character Spacing

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1

Under Typesetting in WP

Word: Font Animation

1

Only Word has this facility

WordPerfect: Line Height

1

Line Height only exists in WP, although you could probably simulate this with Word's 'Spacing Before/Spacing After' feature.

Word & WP: Line: Spacing

10

Word, in trying to be everything, has made Line Spacing far too complex for a wordprocessor. It has the following options:

• Single
• 1.5 Lines
• Double
• At Least
• Exactly
• Multiple

If you use Word for Desktop Publishing, these are great options, but let's face it, if your company is a publishing house, or has a publishing department, surely it is going to want to use a proper Desktop Publisher like Ventura or MS Publisher—why use a wordprocessor? It is far too confusing and unnecessary having these options in Word, and as I said in my Preamble, it's confusing for a new user. E.g., did you know that Word's single line spacing is actually not single line spacing? It's single + some, e.g., 12pt is actually 14.4. Only 'Exactly' gives you 12pts for a 12pt Font (???)

WP's Line Spacing is as easy as follows:

• To increase, select 1,  1.1,  1.2, etc
• To decrease, select .9,  .8, .7, etc

WordXP has—for the 1st time—added Line Spacing to its Standard Toolbar (as has been the case in WP since I first used it); in my mind, this is a concession, i.e., MS realized that Line Spacing is too complicated in Word, so it's trying to get users familiar with the Toolbar icon instead of having to understand the Line Spacing feature in the Paragraph Dialog.

Word & WP: Line—Numbering

5

More advanced in WP
Word does not have Numbering Style (e.g., 1,2,3; a, b,c; i, ii, iii), and you can't choose Font formatting (e.g., Bold, Size, Color, etc)

WP: Line: Center

1

Because Word doesn't have Line Formatting, you need to add a Center Tab Stop, then insert a Line Break.  If you center a line and then add a Line Break, the following Line is also Centered.  In WP, you can have one line centered, but it doesn't affect the Justification of the other lines in the Paragraph.

WP: Line—Flush Right

1

This used to be a nightmare in Word, but XP has taken advantage of its (borrowed-from-WP) Click-and-Type feature; you can now type text on the left, then position your I-Beam to the right of the line and double-click to right-align on the same line (Word sets a right-aligned Tab Stop).

WP: Line—
Flush Right w/ Dot Leaders

1

As above, this used to be time-consuming in Word; XP has again made this easier, as you can do the above (i.e., Click-and-Type) then double-click your Tab Stop and add Leader characters; still more difficult than WP, but a lot easier than it used to be in Word.

Word & WP:
Paragraph—Format

1

Much simpler in WP. Word's is too complex, probably because 'Line' doesn't exist in Word. Everything is treated as a paragraph.

Word & WP:
Paragraph—Drop Cap

5

The options available in WP make Word's Drop Cap look like Word version 2.0 instead of WordXP. WP10 has also added Drop-Caps to the RealTime Preview, giving it an even bigger advantage than it already had over Word.

Word & WP:
Paragraph—Border Fill

5

Far superior in WP as it has the following options that Word doesn't:

• Shadow (Height, Width, Depth, and color)
• Spacing
• Gradient (with vertical and horizontal offset + rotation angle)
• Fill (Styles, Gradient, Foreground, Background, and Pattern)

Word & WP:
Paragraph—Indent

10

* SO EASY * in WP. Simply hit F7 to have all text flow according to the indent. Hit Return to break the Indent. 10 Points for this feature may seem over-the-top, but it is something I use all day, every day—especially in Tables.

Achieving the same result in Word is Convoluted. You have to hit Ctrl+T, (or you can mess around with the Ruler—a real time-waster). To clear this, you have to hit Shift+Ctrl+T. Of course, you can use your Ruler, but, again, it takes (literally) 10 times longer than using keystrokes.

If you use the Indent Icon, your whole line indents (Word's Ctrl+M equivalent), instead of the text you want to wrap.

WP: Paragraph—
Hanging Indent

5

Again, SO EASY in WP. Simply hit Ctrl+F7 to create a hanging Indent. Hit Return to break it.

WP: Paragraph—
Double Indent

1

Used for Quotes. You can achieve the same effect in Word by using Format/Paragraph 'Left' and 'Right' Indentation options. WP just makes it easier.

WP: Paragraph—
Back Tab

1

WP only. Achieved in Word using your Ruler Bar. It's also not broken by hitting Return. Back to the Ruler for Word users.

Word & WP: Columns

10

Word & WP: Page—Center

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1

Same

WP: Page—Suppress

1

Available only in WP to suppress Headers, Footers, Watermarks, etc.

WP: Page—Delay Codes

1

Available (only in WP) to Delay features such as Line Numbering, Images, Page Setup, Headers/Footers, Fonts, Watermarks, etc.

WP: Page—Force Page
Word: Break—Even/Odd

1

1

Same.

WP: Page Numbering
Word: Page Numbering
(Insert Menu)

5

WP has many more options, including Page, Chapter, Volume, & Secondary. Word has Page and Chapter. This is also a feature that is known to be unstable and hard to work with in Word—especially in complicated documents.

Word & WP: Page—Border Fill

5

Refer Paragraph Border/Fill

Word & WP: Justification

1

WordXP has now followed WP's Full justification (it used to be that 'Full' was 'All'). To create 'All' justification in Word, you (now) have to hold Shift when you hit Return.

A nice feature in WP is that your Toolbar is less cluttered, as WP has only one drop-down icon. Additionally, using WP's RealTime preview, you always get a chance to see how the document (or highlighted text) will look with different justification before changing it (then having to Undo it).

Word & WP: Margins

5

As stated (in the Margins section of the FILE Menu), WP allows you to adjust Margins directly on your page (for any part of your document, not just the whole page—as you would using Word's ruler.) You also see the changes instantly with WP's RealTime Preview—no guessing.

WP: Make It Fit

10

WP can shrink (or expand) ANY size document to the specific number of pages, givingYOUthe option of what to reduce, e.g., Font, Spacing, Margins, etc. Additionally, only WP gives you the option of 'Block Make It Fit', which lets you adjust a specific number of pages within your document. Word, on the other hand, can reduce your document by just one page, and you have no say in what it will change to make it fit.

Word: Keep Text Together
WP: Block Protect

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1

No difference

WP: Typesetting—Advance

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Can only be done in Word using Field Codes or Spacing Before/After.

WP: Typesetting—Overstrike

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Used to create custom symbols by superimposing two or more characters or symbols to create one character or symbol.
E.g., combine the number 7 with a hyphen to create a european 7 character;
Combine characters to create mathematical symbols, language symbols, and other character combinations. You can also edit a custom symbol.

Not available in Word

WP: Typesetting—
Printer Command

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WP allows you to control your printer using printer commands. Printer commands let you use the special printer functions, e.g., insert a code that pauses the printer at the cursor.

After you send a printer command to the printer, you can reset the printer (using another printer command) to the printer's default values to restore normal printer functions.

Not available in Word

WP: Typesetting—
Word/Letter Spacing

Word: (Font Dialog)—
Character Spacing

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1

Quite similar—slightly more options in WP

WP:Typesetting— 
Kerning

1

More powerful and much easier to accomplish in WP. Also, Word does not support: word spacing, word spacing justification limits, or manual kerning

Word & WP: Envelopes

10

Much easier & far better in WP. Word has an archaic, one-at-a-time interface, which is *SO* convoluted, it's ridiculous.  In WP, it's just type away until you're ready to go.

Word & WP: Labels

10

WordPerfect has a HUGE advantage because of the RealTime Preview (meaning that you can adjust any single label on-screen by, for example, dragging a label margin) AND because you can insert Headers (and Footers), which allows you to add a logo to a Header and then have that logo on every single label. If Word, you would have to manually add a logo to each and every label, one by one. BTW, this is a feature that our organization uses all the time, as we have (different) logos on our Labels and Name Tags (depending on who's sponsoring an event or which campaign is running an event).

WP: QuickFormat
Word: Format Painter

5

WordPerfect allows you to select WHAT  you want to copy, i.e., Characters, Headings, Table Cells, Table Structure, etc.

WP: Graphics Style

1

Not available in Word. WP allows you to create your own Graphics Styles for Boxes, Borders, Lines, Fill, etc.

WP: Styles

Word: Styles and Formatting
(Updated from 2000, i.e., 'Style')

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1

Major overhaul time for Word. One of MS's main 'features' in OfficeXP was making the program easier to work with. In doing so, a new interface has been introduced when working with Styles in Word. It's well done, and MS gets kudos for adding 'Clear Formatting', as this was a MAJOR bug-bear in Word (i.e., its complicated and unasked-for formatting). Now, you can clear all formatting from an area and start from scratch. Definitely a welcome addition to Word—pity it took 10 versions for MS to realize that many people HATE a program thinking for them and making changes that aren't asked for!

Word: Tabs
WP: Line—Tab Set

5

1

WP is more comprehensive, and the interface is far more intuitive, as you are asked whether you want your Tabs set from the left of the paper or from the left of the margin.

Also, Because of WP's 'Stream Formatting', Tabs are a breeze. There's no highlighting of text/paragraphs required. Want to change a Tab Stop? Simply amend it at the point you're at, and WP alters all the following Paragraphs according to the new Tab Stop. Simplicity itself.

Word gets a point because I like its Interface for setting Leader characters, although you are bound to a certain Leader character; in WP , you can choose your own!

Word: Text Direction
(WP: via Table Property Bar)

1

Only WordPerfect can rotate your Text 180 degrees

Word: AutoFormat

1

Only available in Word. A good feature for beginners, who aren't familiar with ways of formatting documents. Also good for cleaning up E-mails when using Word as your E-mail Editor in Outlook.

Word: Background

1

Word has this on its Format Menu all the time, even though it's meant for Web Pages. It's also confusing because Word lets you choose options that can neither Print nor be created as a Web Background????? I would hate to be a new   Word user!

Word: Themes

5

Added to  Word2000 for HTML documents—it would be even better if you could customize the Themes!—nevertheless, they are great for providing uniformity to your Intranet documents.

WP: Reveal Codes
Word: Reveal Formatting

10

1

What can one say? Victory is sweet. After a decade of Microsoft insisting that Reveal Codes was antiquated and unnecessary, MS *FINALLY* concedes and attempts to implement a similar feature into WordXP. The interface is nice yet overly complicated. In WP, you don't HAVE to compare sections, as the Codes are right there in front of your eyes; to attempt to do the same in Word, you have view up to 4 different sections of unnecessary information, broken down into Font, Paragraph, Section, Headers and Footers, etc, etc. The term 'Information Overload' springs to mind. Nice try MS . . . and congratulations on eating humble pie by finally conceding that the feature you laughed at (Reveal Codes) is actually a necessary part of everyday wordprocessing.

Word: Frames

5

Again, excellent interface for creating Intranet Pages.

Word: Text Box

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1

No difference. Simply click on an object in WP to have the Property Bar update with Graphics options.

FORMAT MENU POINTS

WP: 140

Word: 22