Mellel for Mac review
Mellel for Mac lets professionals and academics write papers that contain a lot of citations, references, and footnotes. It comes with a free trial and features an elegant interface that is somewhat unconventional and might take a minute to get used to. In addition to the excellent bibliography features, the app also comes with a self-updating table of contents, advanced style options, the ability to track changes, and support for a right-to-left writing direction.
Pros
Advanced referencing and style options: The biggest claim to fame for Mellel for Mac is the degree to which you're allowed to use and keep track of references, citations, bookmarks, footnotes, author comments, etc. There is also support for character, paragraph, section, and page styles, including academic and professional ones that come preloaded with the app.
International options: If you happen to be writing a document in another language, the app has got you covered. You can choose a custom language in the app's preferences. There is also a very accessible option to switch the writing direction from right to left.
Collaboration-ready: If you're collaborating on your paper with someone else, you'll be happy to know that there is built-in support for tracking changes. And if your colleagues are working with Word, you can still open and use the documents they send. However, be prepared for some possible style inconsistencies.
Cons
Not suited for everyday use: While you can use the app for less demanding work, we feel that its layout and lack of multimedia features don't make it the best choice out there. When we tested the app's photo manipulation abilities, we found it to be lacking and not as fluid as Apple Pages.
Bottom Line
Mellel for Mac is best suited for students, academics, researchers, and other professionals that find themselves writing long papers containing a dozen text styles and hundreds of citations and references. Although the app comes with a price tag, we feel that it is justified, especially if you fall in the aforementioned category.
Editors' note: This is a review of the trial version of Mellel for Mac 3.3.8.
