Add-on Design Philosophy

We believe that there is not now, and possibly never will be a software package that offers better or more complete word processing functionality than Microsoft Word. So, an add-on to Word must do one or more of the following things: 1) it must greatly reduce the learning curve, 2) it must reduce the time it takes to perform routine tasks, or 3) it must automate tasks and procedures not available in the basic Word package. Add-ons that meet those requirements usually address business requirements of one kind or another. Avery developed an add-on that formats and print all of its labels. Adobe/Macromedia's RoboHelp add-on makes it possible to develop full featured Windows Help files using Microsoft Word, and there is an add-on that creates PDF files from word documents. Script Wizard Software develops add-ons that automate and expedite all the professional and student writing tasks that would otherwise require advanced knowledge of Word's formatting and editing features.

Our add-ons are designed to be a writer's assistant.They are not fill-in-the-blanks templates and they are not intended to teach writers how to write, although they can be a valuable aid to educators. Neither are they "vanity press" or self-publishing tools, although an experienced Word user can use them for those purposes.

We strive to make writing add-ons a seamless extension of Word and to make sure that nothing we develop interferes in any way with Word or with other add-ons that a writer might be using. We provide custom toolbars with each application and only add-on to existing Word menus when common sense dictates (our file creation commands are added on to the File menu in Word because that's where Word users go to create and open files). All of our add-ons have unique File Open and File Close splash screens to identify the presence of the add-on with the document.

We are committed to providing support for writers and we do not expect them to be computer power users to get that support. Writers can be writers, and we consider it our job to help them get on with it. We try not to talk too much jargon and we don't expect writers to talk jargon back to us. This is perhaps our biggest challenge because there is so much terminology and process description description involved in the use of computer software. We've gotten better over the years, but we are not perfect, which is why online help is high on our list of things we strive to improve with every upgrade.

If you are a writer, we welcome your input and suggestions as to how we can better meet your needs. Emails us at feedback@scriptwizardsoftware.com.