If what you're looking for in a word processor is something plain and simple with no frills, the shareware Escriba (gif 13.4k) may just fit the bill. Although it takes advantage of the Workplace Shell, this program is not intended to compete on a feature-for-feature basis with any of the more well known entries available on the market. It's small, relatively fast, and provides enough function to meet the everyday needs of someone who creates and maintains basic documents. Ironically, this fits a larger segment of people than some might think.

When was the last time you wrote something with a word processor that needed complex formatting, lots of images, multiple columns, etc.? If you're like me, you pick a favorite font (I like Helvetica or Arial), perhaps play with the point size a bit, and start typing. I can't remember the last time I had text going in circles or up and down the sides of the page, or pasted a multitude of images around which I wanted captions and specially formatted text. Heck, most of the time I don't even bother to indent my paragraphs (that's called Full Block style according to one of my college business writing classes--who said a college education was worthless?).

Escriba's installation is about as straightforward as it gets. Put the .ZIP file in a temporary directory, unzip it, and run the installation program (english.cmd for the English version). The install program asks where you want the program files to be placed, and then proceeds to copy the appropriate files, create an Escriba folder on your desktop, a program object, and a shadow object for the readme file. Double-clicking the Escriba program icon then starts the word processor in the traditional way. Other alternatives, include double-clicking a document created by Escriba, or dragging a document icon onto the Escriba icon. Classic WPS integration.

When navigating through the file menus, you'll notice right away that Escriba documents require no specific extension. Escriba knows the documents it has created by setting extended attributes (EAs) in the files themselves. On the surface, this is very convenient. Unfortunately, if you copy these files to a file system that can't support EAs, or they get discarded somehow, Escriba won't recognize them anymore.

Escriba's pull-down menus will catch you by surprise the first time you try them. Fonts and point sizes are displayed in the menu as you will see them in the document. The plus side of this is you know exactly what you're getting when you make your selections. The downside is that the 24 point font size takes up a lot of screen space, and it can make the menu look visually unbalanced. This is, of course, more a function of taste than anything else. As a WYSIWYG word processor, it's pretty intuitive to use, and it is definitely among the faster of these systems I've gotten my hands on.

I had one serious problem with Escriba. I was unable to shut it down normally. I don't know if this is an old OS/2 bug cropping up or Escriba itself. After testing it on a couple of different PCs, I was able to eliminate the possibility of this being an anomaly caused by Object Desktop (v1.02); I reproduced the problem on every system I tried.

One neat feature Escriba offers is the ability to create unique symbols and barcodes. It supports both the standard UPC and Code 39 formats. It's very simple to do--just pick Edit-Insert Function-Barcodes, and key in the numeric value of the barcode you want. Then use the mouse to stretch the graphical box Escriba provides to the desired size you want for your symbol. Voila! I'm still not sure what I personally would use barcodes for, but it is fun to play with.

A feature everyday people might find a little more useful is the ability to paste graphical images into Escriba documents from either the clipboard, a graphical file (Bitmap, GIF, Metafile, PCC, and PCX are supported), or a desktop screen capture.

Printing is accomplished through any printer installed on the system. All printer options are managed through the OS/2 printer dialogues we know and love.

Support for multiple languages is one of the most intriguing aspects of Escriba. It has been successfully translated into a number of them, and is even capable of Double Byte Character Support (DBCS) for languages that have more than 255 characters (like Chinese).

Documentation however, is where Escriba tends to come up short, as is typical of many shareware programs. This means bumping and grinding your way through most of the available options and hitting the help key in hopes of finding out what the program is or is not capable of doing. A full set of documentation including a good user's guide would be an immense help in learning to use the finer points of Escriba.

Overall, Escriba presents a package that is best described as adequate for most people's needs. It's small and fast, and has a nice amount of function for the system resources you must invest in to make good use of it. As with many shareware packages, this one has its flaws, but for the monetary investment required, it does present an interesting and credible alternative to the big guys' offerings.

editor's note: Rick Papo writes, "Since the revision (0.94) that you reviewed, there has been a lot of work done. The shutdown bug that you (and others) reported has been fixed. The foreign document format import/export facility is nearly done, with the first module supporting the Plain Text format.

"Documentation: What I didn't send you was the INF file. The HLP and INF files are generated from the same IPF source, but the INF is much easier to browse. There is an introduction at the start, though it does not have the scope of a '... for Dummies' book. It gives an overview of how to do things before you plunge into the menu and dialog details further on. This introduction can be accessed via the General Help option on what you already have."

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