14 DAY TRIAL // A lot of the programs I see every day are either too big, filled with tons of options and features that range from common and useful to unique and obscure, or they are too simple to the point of being absurdly simplistic. When it comes to text, Microsoft's office, Open office and the likes are a good example of the former, while programs such as TextEdit fall into the latter. Of course, there are also programs that fall somewhere in the middle, but they are usually designed for a specific kind of interaction with text, such as Mellel or Scrivener. Report Writer is one such midline program, which is ideal for a certain kind of interaction with text, namely the first stages of text editing and word processing.
What it does Report Writer offers an ideal environment for those just starting to work with word processors, who need just the very basic of the features without any bloat and a simple to use workflow. It is no more complex than TextEdit in terms of ease of use, but offers basic layout options, and is centered around a page view.
Working with it Working with Report Writer is very simple and straightforward. When it comes to text, it is no more complex than TextEdit or the old SimpleText. You type, you see, you can use most of the common formatting options from menus and keyboard shortcuts; everything is as standard as can be.
Besides text, Report Writer also works well with images. While even TextEdit lets you use images in documents, the major difference here is that Report Writer knows about wrapping text around images. This lets the user incorporate images within the text seamlessly and take that small but decisive step towards laying out the page in a visually appealing manner.
The program also has a number of additional tools, including word counts, spell checking, find and replace functions. The most notable of these tools is the Template, which lets you define what the text should look like with just one click. Beside being good for personal use, the program is also smart enough to recognize unknown templates and save them for later use.
All about the page While at a fast glance, Report Writer is a very basic text editor, the important thing about it is that it works with pages. Unlike TextEdit, that works fine with text but has no concept of a page and makes laying out a document for printing a chore, this app works exclusively with pages. You can see what your work will look like at all times through the page previews on the left side, and as you work on the text, you automatically start working on formatting it to look good.
Obviously, this program is a joke if you have been using Word and the likes for the past 15 years. However, if you have kids that are still not at home is the bigger programs, Report Writer is exactly what is needed for them to grasp the basics as they go. This program is simple enough that anyone can just jump into it, formatting and layout coming as natural as they do when writing with pen on paper. Once working in Report Writer becomes natural, transitions to other, more complex programs, will be easier since it is simply a matter of finding out how to do something that you already know, but in a slightly different way.
Java and errors When first opening up Report Writer, I did think that it looked a bit strange, especially the way the controls wobbled when resizing the window. After a bit of poking around in it, I discovered the source of the strangeness. The application is written in Java, as the log window was nice enough to inform me when I got my first error. Now while I'm no stranger to errors, these ones were a bit unnerving. Firstly, I got quite a number of errors as I was playing around, just over ten. This was a bit disconcerting, as I was not really doing anything spectacular or error-worthy, mostly I was reading through the documentation and dragging images around to see how the word wrapping performed around images. Secondly, I'm used to a different kind of error. When I first saw all those red lines in that log window that popped up, I figured that as soon as I clicked OK, the application would crash. The application did not however crash, in fact, it simply kept going as if nothing had happened, simply ignoring my last input that had triggered the error.
All in all, while the errors were basically harmless, they were rather disruptive, and I can only imagine what it would be like to actually be working and have such errors pop up. What was more disruptive however was the fact that simple basic things that I have been used to for ages, in any and all applications, were simply not working. Where is the mouse scrolling? Where is the spell checking as you type? Where is the Command-Control-D dictionary popup?
The Good
A good intermediate step, when moving from simple text editing to layout and formatting. Great for kids and those with limited computing experience.
The Bad
Lacks basic functionality that has been standard for years now, and sees occasional harmless errors that are nevertheless a bit unnerving.
The Truth
If TextEdit is not enough and Word or Open Office is just too much, Report Writer might be just right. As the name implies, it was designed to be used by kids, and it does that job well.
Here are some screenshots, click to enlarge:
