Mellel 2.5 is here!

[Ori Redler]

Hi to all,

Following is a version of our press release, notifying people about Mellel 2.5. Some interesting details, if you don't mind the PR bravado and chest thumping too much.

Mellel 2.5 is free to all registered users of Mellel who've purchased Mellel after May 2006. Users who've purchased Mellel earlier can purchase an upgrade (US$19).

An html version of this press release is available at: http://www.mellel.com/pressrelease/20080609.html

Localisations
Mellel 2.5 is released with 12 localisations: Danish, Dutch, Esperanto, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Romanian, Russian, and Spanish. Additional localisations are expected in the near future.

June 09, 2008 — RedleX today released Mellel 2.5, a major update to the leading word processor for Mac OS X.

Mellel 2.5 takes cross referencing on Mac OS X to the next level, offering an elegant solution to several perennial problems in this area. Cross referencing allows users to refer from one point in the text to another (e.g., "see page 15") and is considered by many an essential component in writing long article, books and scholastic work.

"We took a long, hard look at the problems users encounter with cross referencing and did not like at all what we saw," says Eyal Redler, RedleX's CTO. "To enter a simple reference, such as 'see footnote 2 on page 45 below' with other word processors, you were forced to jump through hoops, mixing typing text and using 3 separate references, so our first mission was to make entering such a reference a one step thing."

Mellel's reference entry dialogue allows, accordingly, to create complex reference formats, composed of different elements such as reference to the page number, position in the text (above, next page, below, etc.), page range, and so on. Best of all, users can save and re-use such formats again and again, making the necessary modifications as they go along.

"Yet another problem was the lack of relevant information," Says Redler. "Want to reference an image or a bookmark? You have to go through a list of names, without being able to see the image or the context in which the bookmark is. Most users end up browsing the document, finding the thing they want to reference, memorising its name, going back to where they were to enter the reference. Now do that 500 times in a 500 pages manuscript. That's insanely not great."

Mellel allows users to view bookmarks, images, headings, footnotes, figures, etc. in context and as they appear in the text. An image preview, for example, helps users identify images in the document with ease; Bookmarks appear with their surrounding text.

"Another annoying tendency of most word processors, is their habit of not telling you what's going on," says Redler. "It's like flying blindfolded in a storm. Want to see if there's a problem with a reference? You'll need to print it, sift through the entire document, and re-create all the faulty references... and try again."

This rarely happen with Mellel. References are updated "live," so users can see changes reflected immediately, and do not have to manually update or print the document. Mellel offers a tool to track down references to non-existing targets. Best of all, Mellel tracks problems so nicely, it also offers the option to create such problems in the form of references to virtual targets -- chapters that were not written yet, images that will be added later, and so on.

Mellel 2.5 is available for download now, from the servers listed below. The price for a single user license is US$49, Educational license is US$35, 5 Pack license (5 separate licenses) is US$99. A Boxed Edition of Mellel is also available for US$64 (including shipping costs).

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

And what's more...
Mellel 2.5 includes more than 30 new features, enhancements and, a host of bug fixes. To view a complete listing of all the changes go to http://www.mellel.com/releasenotes.html

ABOUT MELLEL
Mellel is the leading word processors for Mac OS X, with a special focus on scholars, writers, technical writing and multilingual word processing.

To purchase Mellel go to:
http://store.kagi.com/cgi-bin/store.cgi ... D=MQK_LIVE

DOWNLOAD INFO
Main Download server:
http://www.connectnw.com/redlers/mellel25.dmg.zip
http://www.connectnw.com/redlers/mellel.dmg.zip

Second download server:
http://www.mellel.com/download/mellel/mellel25.dmg.zip
http://www.mellel.com/download/mellel/mellel.dmg.zip

Third download server:
http://forum.redlers.com/mellel25.dmg.zip

ABOUT REDLEX
RedleX was founded in 2002 by Eyal and Ori Redler. The company is privately held and headquartered in Tel Aviv, Israel.
Our site: RedleX site: http://www.mellel.com/

[Reiner]

I think the fact that the releasenotes don't mention the much improved included German hyphenation dictionary "Deutsch (reformiert)" can be seen as Ori's understatement.

Just move the folder ~/Library/Application Support/Mellel/Hyphenation Dictionaries to your Desktop, restart Mellel and drag your User Dictionary.plist from the old Hyphenation Dictionaries-folder on the Desktop to the new one in ~/Library/Application Support/Mellel/ (same for all other Dictionaries you want to keep possibly) before you delete the old folder on the Desktop. Then restart Mellel again and take use of all most actual hyphenation dics.

[bluesdance]

Kamatz Qatan (U+05C7) is now properly skipped when performing "ignore diacritics" search

Yay!

[signinstranger]

Great job! The pull down menu for cross reference formats isn't fully localized yet, but that's just a minor inconvenience that will probably be ironed out in one of the next minor updates.

[Ori Redler]

I think the fact that the releasenotes don't mention the much improved included German hyphenation dictionary "Deutsch (reformiert)" can be seen as Ori's understatement.

Just move the folder ~/Library/Application Support/Mellel/Hyphenation Dictionaries to your Desktop, restart Mellel and drag your User Dictionary.plist from the old Hyphenation Dictionaries-folder on the Desktop to the new one in ~/Library/Application Support/Mellel/ (same for all other Dictionaries you want to keep possibly) before you delete the old folder on the Desktop. Then restart Mellel again and take use of all most actual hyphenation dics.

Reiner, we did not mention this in the release notes because it can only include what we've done, not what others have done or, in this case, what you've contributed. We'll try to mention this in the future with proper credit.

[Reiner]

Ori, I think the important one is only to let users know that there are improved things. I have no problem if you just put a line with a hint on that in the release notes without "proper credits" or anything.

[marv08]

I am truly smashed. Being a long-time FrameMaker addict resisting to start up Windows and feed Adobe for doing nothing for ages, I have to say that this must be the finest implementation of CRs ever (add two keyboard shortcuts and it is heaven). The only major hindrance for using Mellel more often during the last 3 years is finally gone - thanks a bunch. Very timely as well, as the new MS Word is the wackiest ever and not usable for anything exceeding a shopping list.

While I still miss (compared to FM that is) index and custom list (list of tables, figures, etc.) creation, bookmark and link generation for PDFs, text-flow around graphics, better tables and most-importantly keyboard shortcuts for auto-titles - these are all things that can be worked around with reasonable effort, CRs are a must and the implementation is absolutely beautiful (beats FM hands down). Very happy

[nicka]

While I still miss (compared to FM that is) ... bookmark and link generation for PDFs ...

Cross-references are automatically output as links on export to pdf. Try it. It works beautifully, with no effort required beyond setting up the cross-references as (now) normal.
Note that so far only cross-references produce pdf links, not footnotes and not the table of contents.
It would be nice to have things that show up in the pdf table of contents too. Best would be automatic production of a pdf ToC from the one in the document. Perhaps these things will come in 2.5.5.

[fastmiso]

Thanks very much, Redlers. More exciting than the WWDC keynote.

[riccardo]

Thank you! I'm sure you'll be getting plenty of complements over the next few day. Just wanted to say that I still find Mellel to be the best WP ever. Good work.

[stephenandamanda]

Your work on cross ref's must be commended.

Congrats.

I'm not sure if the autotitle-surrounding-style thing is new but that's also very nice. Finally, I can have one auto-title set that works with all my style sets.

[shevach]

Hi there,
I just upgraded and something very funny is happening (it's not really funny but agravating). When I copied I couldn't paste to another application!
Can someone tell me what setting I have to change.
Thanks a lot,
Shevach

[verma]

Hi there,
I just upgraded and something very funny is happening (it's not really funny but agravating). When I copied I couldn't paste to another application!
Can someone tell me what setting I have to change.
Thanks a lot,
Shevach

what did you copy and into what application? I have no trouble copying text from Mellel into NeoOffice's current version.

[shevach]

some text I wrote into TextEdit.
Thanks
Shevach

[shevach]

Hi this is Shevach again.
Could it be that I have OS 10.4.9 and a ppc (or whatever it's called. It's not an Intel processor)