Like a good carpenter or plumber, in order to do his or her job effectively, a successful writer must possess the proper set of tools. Some of a writer's tools come in the form of writing software. Today's writer lives in a computer-driven world. It is essential for the writer to have an understanding and competency in the different types of available software for writers.
Word Processing. Most written documents will be adequately handled with a knowledge of basic word processing software. Microsoft Word and Corel WordPerfect are the two word processing programs the serious writer should know and love. From a word processing standpoint, no other software for writing is needed.
Other Software. There are many other types of software that a writer could find very useful, depending on what type of writing they do (in particular, technical writers). Desktop publishing software can come in very handy--this is software that composes text and graphics into page layouts for print publishing. While it is not necessary to be an expert with this software, a healthy competency would certainly help the great writer stand out from amongst the literary herd.
Adobe's software:
- Adobe FrameMaker--a cross-platform document authoring tool.
- Adobe Acrobat--pdf files are critical to writers
- Adobe PageMaker
Corel's software:
- Corel Ventura
Quark offers:
- Quark XPress--software for package design and publishing.
Microsoft software:
- Microsoft Office Publisher
Serif's software:
- Serif PagePlus
Here are some great online directories of available writer software and suppliers of writer software: