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Early word-processing software changed very little of that. I maintain that this kind of software was like typewriters on steroids, with a screen. WYSIWYG sof

• adamc 2y ago
  Even Word Perfect was much, much better at this than a typewriter. What made it hard to use was that you had to memorize a bunch of special function keybindings, as I recall. Yes, GUI word processors were much better than this, but even Word Perfect looked compelling compared to using a typewriter. I wrote a bunch of papers using a typewriter. Standard operating procedure was to plan out the complete paper, basically as a tree of bullet points (I used index cards), and then turn those into sentences at the typewriter. All the writing/reorganization had to happen before you sat down to type.
  • tiahura 2y ago
    you had to memorize a bunch of special function keybindings Keyboard templates were pretty ubiquitous.
• taylodl 2y ago
  Early word-processing software changed very little of that - the problem was cultural, not technological. Big offices had a typing pool where professional typists would type up memos and documents. It took a while for that culture to change where people realized they could, and should, do their own typing. Small business led the way because they couldn't afford a dedicated typing pool.