StyleWriter — plain English writing software

StyleWriter Reviews

The Daily Telegraph
by Richard Jones - Editor of the Good Software Guide

StyleWriter teaches the art of editing; how to run the editor's pen through inadequate writing; how to cut the waffle, how to turn a draft into clear and concise plain English.

It persuades users to change their ingrained style. It persuades writers to produce prose that helps readers - effectively and briefly. And it is really very good.

The program works by analyzing writing for 35,000 known style and usage faults. To take two simple examples, it suggests altering "It was decided by the committee..." to "The committee decided..."; and "This pamphlet is intended to show..." to "This pamphlet shows...."

Blindingly obvious when you think about it. And it is what plain English is all about - clear, concise and effective writing. It also highlights complex words and suggests simpler alternatives, draws attention to abstract words, over-complex phrases, confused and misused words (a far more common problem than poor grammar) and the bare minimum of self-evident grammatical errors.

The results of using plain English are stunning. The UK Employment Department saved £250,000 a year in paper alone, merely by reducing the number of words used. StyleWriter may well be a surprise when you start to use it, mainly because its advice is so devastatingly sensible.

Poor writing is often the result of slipshod thinking or the muddled memory of unnecessary rules.

StyleWriter has the chance to break habits most writers are not aware they had. Anyone smug enough to think they have no writing problems should remember the old saying "Most writers only have two writing problems: first they don't know how to write; second they think they do."

It is time to break these habits, either by joining the Plain English Campaign, or, on computers, using StyleWriter. It had a significant effect on me, and I know I knew it all. These people are talking my language, or indeed our language - English - clearly.

The Manual
Anne Bradbeer reviews a software package that should bring a touch of style to your work.

I first encountered StyleWriter tucked away unpretentiously at the back of a computer exhibition. It was competing for attention with a virtual reality game, free teddy bears, and a reconstruction of a Parisian cafe. At least you could tell what the StyleWriter stand was promoting. I liked it already.

The package comes from the UK-based company Editor Software. "StyleWriter is designed for people who do a lot of writing, but wouldn't necessarily consider themselves writers", according to the program designers. I'm sure it could benefit many people who do consider themselves writers.

As a manual writer myself, I believe that good software needs a good manual. When a product claims to help with writing style, its manual is doubly important. The StyleWriter (CD) manual is excellent. It is clear, to the point, and gives you every confidence in the claims of the software.

The package is easy to use; you certainly don't have to be a computer genius. It accepts text directly from the most popular word processing packages or through the clipboard. If you have a little computer experience its use is pretty intuitive, but the computerized manual and tutorial provide thorough backup.

StyleWriter has two kinds of online help. Predictably, one is about using the program. The other is like having the Chicago Manual of Style at your fingertips. For example, if you forget how to use the exclamation mark correctly, advice is available at the press of a key.

As it checks your text, StyleWriter looks for stylistic horrors such as long sentences and passive constructions. It also watches for sexist language, jargon and foreign terms amongst a host of other problems. It checks for up to 26 different categories of stylistic and proofreading pitfalls. The house style category lets you include your own organization's style rules for checking.

StyleWriter is undoubtedly useful for anyone who writes, not just technical authors. It takes the hard slog out of editing, and draws your attention to stylistic faults you probably didn't know you had. In an ideal world, every technical author would have a copy of it.

About.com
Melissa Alvarez - editor of About.com's Romance Fiction - would give StyleWriter ten stars if possible.

StyleWriter — the Plain English Editor is a software program that runs from within Microsoft Word, Word Perfect and other word processors. I've got to tell you that I LOVE this program. I've never seen anything else like it on the market and I believe that the developers have hit on a very good product.

StyleWriter goes through your document and highlights problem areas. This includes, repetitive words, grammar problems, clichés, passive voice and many other items. When you use StyleWriter you will find that your own writing improves because the more you use it the more you notice things you're doing wrong.

Another thing that I liked about StyleWriter is that it gives you an analysis of your work. This analysis includes the documents word count, average sentence length, the number of passive voice usages and best of all a number for style.

Beside each of these numbers you also get a word to describe your work. For example, a style of 181 would be Dreadful and a style of 15 would be Excellent.

StyleWriter also highlights words and phrases that might be unclear. The program points out the problem and it's up to the author to correct it. Within the program you can choose the types of problems that you want StyleWriter to look for. You can even set your own "House" style with this software. I really liked this option.

While StyleWriter doesn't rigidly hold you to any set style of writing by pointing out standard errors that an editor would catch, it allows you to improve on your own.

The cost of StyleWriter is $160.00 USD (US Dollars) but if you consider that an editor would charge about $50.00 USD or more per hour to work on your writing, then StyleWriter pays for itself after just a few uses.

If you'd like to try StyleWriter, you can order a 30-day trial on the Editor Software's new Software for Writers CD. Although this costs $30 (to cover production, shipping and administration). However, they'll refund the $30 if you decide to buy StyleWriter. The CD also contains free software for writers, including a dictionary and thesaurus, a writer's outliner and a typing tutor.

I highly recommend StyleWriter as an effective learning tool and as an excellent editing program for anyone who writes, regardless of what they write. If I could give this program ten stars I would.

Customer Testimonials

"StyleWriter is an excellent program that will improve your writing style and perhaps change the lives of others, as it has done for me. You will find just one draw back to using StyleWriter. After using the product for a time, the three-level grading statistics are going to improve substantially. And to such a degree, the user will make fewer changes. Get to know StyleWriter, and use it often because the product is remarkable.

As a computer forensics and electronic data discovery professional, I understand that facts are facts. During the past twelve months I had more than twenty technical articles published on this subject for attorneys and bankruptcy trustees. The year before that, only one article, and in the twenty-five years before that, none.

StyleWriter played an important role while crafting the appropriate text in every article. If you’re willing, the program is relentless in recommending improvements as you rank yourself. I have gained enormous respect for the software developers.

May I suggest you tell your readers to give themselves a gift, and use
StyleWriter often? When they do that, I can only speculate they will have the same successes as I have enjoyed, as the results will be unbeatable. In the game of writing, as in life, you have choices, turning points, and if you want to focus your writing abilities, you need to use the gifts available right with the gifts given you at birth.

I am sure my story is not unusual, and had I failed to reflect on the reasons for my writing success during the past year this story would be lost for those that have the need to write. This acknowledgment of StyleWriter is unsolicited, but perhaps I can ask those who now use StyleWriter to tell us about your successes because of this product. After all, we should give credit where credit is deserved."

- Jack Seward, New York, New York

"Thank you very much for the StyleWriter program. The software put an edge to the final cut of my Masters in Business Administration thesis submitted to Maastricht School of Management, The Netherlands where I was awarded a passed with distinction on my paper. In a highly technical subject like my research, StyleWriter was there to simplify the communication flow between the author and the reader. Once again thank you very much."

- MBA Graduate

"I ABSOLUTELY LOVE this program. I have used StyleWriter in all my writing since the first trial I bought. I just keep getting better. It is awesome. The more you use it the easier it is and the better your own writing becomes. I really like that it doesn't change your own style, but makes the text more succinct. This is enormously helpful when writing publications, courses and instructional material - which is my job. The last document I sent for editing had virtually NO changes.

Now, I would say I am a very good writer, but this program has helped me enormously."
- Professional Writer

"I ran StyleWriter on an old report which had been
thoroughly edited and revised to what we thought was a pretty good
standard, and using every check available in MS Word. StyleWriter showed us so many genuine stylistic improvements - I am amazed. The advert is right - it is like having an expert editor sitting at one's side. What an incredible program."
- Marketing Manager

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