Jun 06
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Mellel: The Advanced Word Processor for Mac OS X –
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Mellel is an advanced word processor for Mac OS X designed especially for scholars, creative and technical writers, and anyone seeking a feature-rich and reliable word processor.
General FeaturesMellel offers you a rich and advanced yet easy to use set of features for word processing. The following list highlights some of the features in Mellel. Writing an article? A scholarly book? a novel? A play? A technical guide? Mellel offers special tools to help you write and organise long documents easily Multilingual SupportIf you need multilingual support or are writing bi-directional text, Mellel is just the thing for you. Arabic, Persian, Hebrew and Syriac never looked better on a Mac If “none of the above” is what you need, Mellel is still the right choice: clean, stable, and easy to use. For more information, visit www.mellel.com and read about the Top 10 Reasons to Switch. |
June 7th, 2008 at 12:10 am
Definitely one of the best word processors available on the Mac. It doesn’t mention it here but it also integrates with Bookends or Sente for bibliographies. If only this poor student/father had some money to scrounge up for it…
June 7th, 2008 at 2:46 am
I’m in between wordprocessing apps: Mellel and Nisus Pro. I bought Mellel almost two years ago and it’s very solid, especially to academic works; however it has one of the biggest learning curves you can imagine. Every little thing must be checked on its guide (page numbering, headings, styles…). After awhile I was dead tired of it and decided to try Nisus Pro.
Nisus Pro doesn’t seem to have all the “buttons” of Mellel and, comparing, is much easier and intuitive. I still don’t know if it is as strong on academic as Mellel, but I got tired of looking at Mellel guides and I’m happier with Nisus doing my PhD thesis. (I’m using Sente as a bibliographic app, which works in both.)
I suggest you try it before buying and then decide. The price on MacZot is great if you aren’t a student or in academia (there’s a good regular discount price for these on Mellel’s site).
Last note: Apparently the 2.5 version of Mellel it’s on the curve and brings nice new features.
June 7th, 2008 at 6:16 am
I’ve heard that this is a good product. Does anyone have a comparison based on real-world use of Nisus, Papyrus, and Mariner Write?
@MJ Valente- are you saying that this is an effort to get people to buy and then have a paid upgrade, or will the 2.5 upgrade be free?
June 7th, 2008 at 7:02 am
@MJ Valenti, Unless I’m missing something, it appears that the MacZot pricing is even better than academic pricing, at least for single license purchases.
June 7th, 2008 at 8:29 am
So are these products intended entirely for stand-alone writers, who never need to interoperate with victims of the Evil Empire of Redmond?
June 7th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
How does this compare to Pages 08? What does this app do that Pages doesn’t?
June 7th, 2008 at 4:20 pm
@Walker — I’m supposing the 2.5 will be a free update, especially since a regular Mellel license is valid for 2 years. (I’m not totally sure, though.)
@GaryD — Yes, the student discount is 35US$. Not as good as the MacZot deal.
@Mark — Comparing with Pages, I’d say Mellel doesn’t have such a good integration with Apple apps and it’s not so good for flyers or posters, but it’s much better for long writing projects and bibliographic integration. It really depends on what’s your project (e.g. flyers v. thesis).
June 7th, 2008 at 7:47 pm
I have been using Mellel for the last 4 years, maybe longer and I have to say that is one of the most reliable word processors I’ve used. One thing though, the learning curve is a bit steeper than with other word processors. NisusWriter, which I own too, is also very very good, but it’s more of a classical word processor, probably easier to learn, but at least in my experience not as stable. Now is you need MS Word format, probably Nisus is better. It you don’t care about sending files to your MSWord friends, Mellel is a great alternative. And if you need to use right-to-left languages Mellel is even better. Also, if you use Bookends or Sente, Mellel does a better job an integration than Nisus.
June 8th, 2008 at 3:42 am
Not wanting to be a pest, I need a follow-up question. Other than intragration with Apple apps, what specifically are the differences? I have looked at this app for about two years without buying. This is the time to jump. My main writing tools are CopyWrite, Pages 08, and NeoOffice. I’ve considered looking at Scrivener because CopyWrite hasn’t had an overhaul in years. It still works great, but it lacks some of the niceties and need a GUI overhaul. Scrivener may not be any better since they’ve had an open beta since January. There has been no further work and the author doesn’t respond.
I’m moving to a career that depends on my ability to communicate using the written word. I need to know why Mellel is so much better than what I have.
June 8th, 2008 at 3:55 am
@ Mark –
For writing tools, I’d definitely go with Scrivener.
Scrivener is an amazing for writing. If Keith didn’t respond to you, try again, since he’s a great developer and very responsive. Also try their forum, one of the best app forums ever.
However, Scrivener is not a word editing app, it’s made to write with no fusses and no real final editing… For editing I’d use Nisus Pro / Mellel / Word. Which one? It really depends on your feeling when using these apps. As I said before, I’m well impressed with Mellel capabilities and stability, but I hate it’s learning curve. Nowadays, I prefer Nisus… and Word is mostly kept unopened. (Yes, I have all three.)
Final note, if you go to Scrivener forums, you’ll find long discussions about the differences of Mellel / Nisus / Word. Make a search and spend sometime there. I would also advise you to see Mellel and Nisus forums.
In case of doubt, just jump in and buy Mellel. This is a good price. Just prepare for a big learning curve… In the end you may learn to love Mellel, like so many people.
June 8th, 2008 at 5:39 am
@Mark
FWIW after you test all of those products, if they don’t fit your needs, try Bean (freeware). I had been hearing a lot of good stuff about it from many sources so I finally tried it. It has many great features for a writer who needs both a down and dirty typewriter to just pound out stuff and a word processor that permits alot of control over appearace, layout, format, etc. If you want something that will help you to organize your writing, your thoughts, keep you focused on your topic and task, check out StoryMill. It is in the same class as Scrivener. I don’t know enough to help you compare them, sorry.