My first impressions of ActiveWords were almost all somewhere between "good" to "giggling like a schoolgirl" but then a terrible thing happened. I went to Philly/NJ for a long weekend. I left the morning after installing ActiveWords and didn't return to the computer until almost a week later. For someone who lives at this thing, that is a long time. It took a couple days to remember what the internet was, let alone how to use it. So it took me about a week to get back to where I was after only an hour of using ActiveWords that first day. Luckily, the ActiveWords trial has an extended guided tour where they introduce a new feature via email so about the time I'm ready, an email comes with another cool feature.
This won't be the marathon post the previous was, that will come in a few weeks. Instead, I'll just list a few things I've found that I dig.
- The periodic emails are great. Not too frequent, not overloaded with info. Just right.
- Auto-correct everywhere! I can finally spell "receive" correctly! Actual, I still don't spell it correctly, but now ActiveWords corrects it for me, like it just did. This is the feature MS has to wish Windows had. Well, now it does ;)
- The 'substitute text' feature is the greatest developer tool ever. I have code snippets set up that I can use in Notepad2, in VS.NET, in SharpDevelop and/or in Dreamweaver. Three words: Dream. Come. True.
- There are 3 ways to enter/trigger a word: automatically, semi-automatically, and in a box that appears when you hit ctrl+space. When I'm typing (like now), I use the semi-auto: type a keyword, then doublespace. I was hesitant to use this, it's like magic. Almost spooky. It's almost like you think it and it happens. Wow. Mostly, and when I am not typing in something, I ctrl+space and this little "run"-like box appears and I type the active word and hit enter. It is almost un-needed, but the box adds a little feeling of stability or something.
- The program is almost completely unintrusive. It is there when I need it, hidden when I don't. The memory footprint has not increased much at all, even after I've added a tond of add-ons and words.
- It seems un-natural when you hear or talk about this, but because the words are defined by me, it is one of the most natural programs I've ever used. It's not like I've learned with the program; I've taught to program how to work for me.
More to come on this, definitely, but I just wanted to jot some notes down now. At least once or twice a day, I get the urge to act like a cult member and run uptown to preach the greatness of ActiveWords. Dianetics ain't got nuthin on this software, I'm telling you.