Why Nisus Writer Pro is my new favourite OS X word processor: It’s fast, lightweight, and easy to learn and use, but is still rich in features; it has a lovely interface that allows easy access and customization of the toolbar and sidebar; keyboard shortcuts can easily be assigned for almost any action; imports other document formats extremely accurately (at least of version 1.2, though I hear there were some issues prior to this); it’s extremely stable; uses .rtf as its default file format instead of a unique and nontransferable file format (like Mariner Write or Mellel); it’s backed up by excellent support—I received very quick and friendly responses to a bug report regarding an issue that turned out to be my (or rather Unsanity’s) bad.

There’s no substitute for stability in a word processor. The fact is that Nisus runs extremely smoothly and handles all aspects of document formatting and management perfectly in a nearly universally compatible format. There are plenty of good options for word processing on OS X, but Nisus Writer Pro, in my opinion, is leading the pack. Also, Nisus Software offers excellent educational pricing, making this app accessible for students without a lot of disposable income.