WordPerfect Stream-Formatted Codes

• If you select "View," followed by "Reveal Codes" in WordPerfect, you'll see a window showing codes open at the bottom of your document. Like HTML, codes in the text turn on and off different formatting values, like italics or right-aligned text. Stream-formatted codes stay on until you turn them off.
  
  

Word's Container Concept

• Word applies its formatting codes to specific objects: a character, a word, a paragraph or a page. You can't reveal codes the way you do in WordPerfect, but the codes are still there. Object-oriented coding like this applies codes to specific objects; once you leave the formatted object, you need to reapply any wanted formatting.
  
  

Compatibility Problems

• When you convert Word to WordPerfect, or vice versa, these codes need to be translated. This can lead to problems like a bolded paragraph code from Word being changed to a series of "bold" commands in WordPerfect; over the course of repeated conversions, the buildup of codes like this can corrupt documents.
  
  

Benefits To Each Approach

• Word's container approach makes it very simple to apply styles to a document, which means it's easy to make global changes and work in a document creation team. WordPerfect's in-line approach makes it simple to delete unwanted codes, which helps keep document sizes small and saves editing time, and formats stay on until you turn them off.
  
  

Choosing Between Word and WordPerfect

• Word tends to be a better word processor in business settings, where you are likely to work on documents in teams. WordPerfect is generally better for individuals interested in creating documents that will eventually be published. Otherwise, both programs have very similar functionality.