Note: This page has fallen into abeyance; the Nisus to which it refers precedes, and is different from, the current Mac OS X Nisus Writer (Pro). However, I’ve left this information here, as it might be useful to those with a historical interest in the earlier days of Nisus. Just be aware that facts and links may be out of date and that I have no intention of updating them.

Things Having To Do With Nisus

The Hacker’s Guide to Nisus

An unfinished book about the word processor, Nisus (later called Nisus Writer). Complete chapter downloads are here: (unavailable)

Nisus Macro Lessons

Tutorial Nisus document, teaching the basics of Nisus macro programming. If you want to get started with Nisus macros, this is the way. (unavailable)

My Word Processor Doesn’t Understand Me

A comparison of Word 6.0 and Nisus Writer, otherwise unpublished; written November 1994, but still perfectly relevant. Also highly controversial, since I actually dare to say some very nice things about Word. (For a feature-by-feature comparison of Word 5.0 with Nisus, see just below.)

Nisus Writer Help

A small online help app (made with DocMaker); useful for keeping shortcuts, grep metacharacters, and macro language at your fingertips. Often more accurate and complete (and convenient!) than the manuals, for the areas that it covers. (unavailable)

Review of Nisus 3.06

Originally published in TidBITS in 1992, a comprehensive description of Nisus. (This is the full version; TidBITS, even spreading the review over three issues, still had to cut some of it out.) Even though it deals with an earlier version, it remains an excellent introduction to Nisus’ “look and feel” for those wanting a sense of the program, and also contains a good tutorial on Rulers and Styles. A Nisus file: (unavailable) Or, the published version.

Nisus / Word Comparison

A very short article, originally published in TidBITS, comparing Nisus 3.4 with Word 5; even though both programs have gone on to newer versions, it might prove helpful to those trying to choose between Nisus and Word. For a comparison of more recent versions, see My Word Processor Doesn’t Understand Me, above.

This page prepared March 30, 2026 by Matt Neuburg, phd = matt at tidbits dot com, using RubyFrontier. RubyFrontier is a port, written in the Ruby language, of the Web-site-creation features of UserLand Frontier. Works just like Frontier, but written in Ruby!
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