Only a few years ago, word processor software was widely used for many different types of writing. People used Microsoft Word to write business reports, novels, letters and so on. These days, word software is losing ground with more and more writing software tuned to specific types of writing are showing up. This is especially the case with Mac OS as developers are making various kind of great software for writing for it.
For example, for writing novels, using word software on Mac is simply outdated move. You can use great software like Scrivener, Storymill or Ulysses to do that.
What if your purpose of finding the best word software for Mac is for writing business documents? Again, you’re looking in the wrong direction. A de facto tool for business writing is still Microsoft Word. You will simply find it by asking yourself a question like this. “How many times have I seen a case where Pages, standard word software for Mac, is used to create and exchange business documents?” I guess the answer would be “not many”. You should also remember documents made with Pages are not compatible with Microsoft Word 100 percent.
With this restriction in mind, we still can look for good word software for Mac if you still insist on using Mac for word processing.
The first choice would be of course Pages. Though it has the above mentioned file compatibility problems with Microsoft Word, it is the best available word program on Mac. What Pages does much better than Word is creating tables and writing in them. Pages detect top blocks of each table and automatically inserts the same text for new tables on new pages. I think this is a very convenient function.
The second best choice is Bean. The best thing about this small word software is that it is absolutely free. It also has other good points like providing instant word count, split-windows, full screen mode and automatic backups.
If you want more poweful word software with desktop publishing functions, Mellel is recommendable. This $39 word program comes with WYSWYG interface, detailed heading design function, and ability to handel citation and bibliographies. Mellel looks like a useful tool for writing a non-fiction book that needs meticulous documentation.