You could modify the SGML codes to create documents that were compatible with all other versions of WordPerfect and MS Word, but he features that were supported in the document format, but not in the software.
For instance, I could change use more than the 16 colours that the Word for Windows UI allowed you to use, even though the displayed correctly in the WYSIWYG editor and printed correctly.
I think this was the version right before WYSIWIG support was added. So you could still use fonts, and change font sizes but on screen it would show a strange notation but not the actual font. Complex layouts were tough 😅
I miss old-school WordPerfect. Our school was largely using Office 97, but one teacher preferred WP, and we had to use it in that particular class.
My biggest takeaway from it was that, contrary to what MS would have you believe, it is absolutely possible to put formatting options in logical places in menus. Everything about WP was just so intuitive.
Back in my day, and to this day, Microsoft offers such huge discounts in academia on licensing, and recruit so many students from university, I never saw anything but MS.
I'm glad we are at least in an age that there's alternative to Microsoft in the free and open source space for individuals even when school goes down their path.
@anonybirdy All official sources (schools, etc) around here were running Microsoft products -- aka Microsoft Word, but several of my family members were almost obsessive about WordPerfect back in the day. My aunt used WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS up until something like 2010. She even had old keyboards with extra function keys for it (went up to something like F20.)
@anonybirdy My mother also used it, but was willing to adapt to the Windows version around 7 or so I think. She used it for years and years until one day my father turned Apple fanatic and eventually convinced her Apple was the only one true deity. It was a hot mess trying to get the Mac port to work if I recall (or was that some weird Word port? I forget what she even had.) Eventually she gave up typing.