I was fortunate enough to be privy to the beta builds over the last two or three weeks, so don't let the ".1" designation fool you--Mellel 2.1 is a major release. If you've got a Mac and you're engaged in academic writing, especially writing that incorporates foreign languages such as Greek and Hebrew, this is the word processor you need. Even the upcoming version of Word for the Mac will still be unable to allow you to enter right to left text for a language such as Hebrew.

From the Redler's press release a few hours ago:

For Immediate Release
Mellel 2.1 introduces XML format, superb find and replace, full screen mode, and more
Tel Aviv, Israel — August 28, 2006 —RedleX today released Mellel 2.1, a major update to the leading word processor for Mac OS X. Mellel 2.1 introduces several key important changes and features, including switching the file format to XML, top notch Find and Replace capabilities (full Regular Expressions support), Full screen mode, paragraph and character style palettes, and much more.

The update is free to all registered users of Mellel. The update is a for-pay upgrade for user who purchased Mellel more than 3 years ago. A free trial version is also available.

The most important change in Mellel 2.1 is the move to XML based file format. With this move, which took several months to implement, Mellel is moving to an open, standard, text based file format, that is much more economic in terms of file size, and opening the door to a slew of innovative options for formatting, import and export.

"The move to XML is important for many of our users because it frees them from any future worries," says Eyal Redler, CTO at RedleX. "XML-based file format are becoming the standard in word processing. Just about every serious word processor is moving in that direction or is already there. In addition, text in XML-based files will always be retrievable and easy to script and manipulate by Mellel, AppleScript or any other application," he adds. The new XML-based format will also make it easy to convert Mellel files to and from other XML-based formats such as those used by MS Word, Pages, FrameMaker, and more.

Another important in Mellel 2.1 is the completely rewritten Find and Replace feature, including full support for Regular Expressions (RegEx), find and replace by character formatting and styles, flexible search options, and more. "Regular Expressions is an insanely great, extremely powerful tool, but for most of the users it is completely useless, because it is simply too complex," says Guy Hivroni, cofounder and chief GUI designer for Mellel. "With Mellel's new Find and Replace we tried to make RegEx useful to mere mortals. No more cryptic codes, carets, slashes, asterisks, and so on. Everything is icon driven and clear, so even non-programmers-types can make use of it."

Mellel 2.1 is available for download now, from the servers listed below. The price for a single user license is US$49, Educational license is US$34.99, 5 Pack license (5 separate licenses) are US$99. A Boxed Edition of Mellel is also available for US$59 (including shipping costs).

For a complete of new features, improvements and bug fixes, please see the release notes at: http://www.mellel.com/releasenotes.html

Main New Features

• XML: Mellel 2.1 uses an XML-based file format, shrinking file size by up to 400 percent. The format is clear and cleanly separates content from formatting, making it easy to write convertors and otherwise manipulate files.
• New Find and Replace: Mellel's new Find and Replace option fully supports Regular Expressions, but with a much friendlier interface.
• Find by formatting and style: Mellel now supports find and replace by formatting and style.
• Full Screen mode: allowing you to move into full screen mode (no menus, palettes, window frames, etc.) which is WYSIWYG and zoomable.
• Find Expressions and Find Actions: You can now save expressions you've created and complete find action, and "play" them later on.
• FindSets: Allowing you to create sets of Find Action you can run all at once, completely formatting or reformatting a document in a matter of seconds.
• Paragraph Style palette: Offering you control over applying, creating, editing, saving, and deleting paragraph style.
• Character Style palette: Offering you control over applying, creating, editing, saving, and deleting character style.
• Equation editing round-trip: Mellel now support round-trip editing of equations created in MathMagic. The equation is kept "alive" and editable in MathMagic.
• Auto-title in-place editing: You can now edit auto-titles in-place.

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For my previous blog entries about Mellel and why I use it, follow these links:
• Mellel 2.0 Released
• Mellel Roadmap
• It's Official: No Right-to-Left Text in Word 12 and Why I'm Switching to Mellel

Tags: Mellel, Macintosh