Re: Word Processors

[Rebecca Ore <rebecca ore op net>]

Reklaw writes:
 > Maybe we (I) should look it to useing Maxwell's rtf import/export
 > code to write import/export plugins for PW.

 Yes, it's definitely bringing in more than PW.  Haven't noticed the
last character bug in PW at this point.

Maxwell is desktop independant in the binary I have. I don't think
they've gotten it working with Qt yet -- and the word from the kde
developer I exchanged emails with was that kde had klyx (and welcome
to it, I say).  I still don't know what Maxwell means by Word6.  It
won't import Word 6 for DOS.  Obviously with PW, one could create
plugin format filters.  You could, not me.  I don't code.

PW is definitely under active development.  What I downloaded this
morning is the current release.  See freshmeat.net for more details.
It comes bundled with Siag and some animation program.

Kidnap the both of them, I say.  Siag looks pretty good, too.  They're 
well behaved on the desktop and open straight to the program rather
than to an interface as per Maxwell.


 > And fix the little bugs in PW, like it ignoring the last charactor
 > of the selection. I really like it's UI (when compiled with the
 > neXtaw toolkit) better than Maxwell's, it's cleaner and there is much
 > less of it to port <grin>. I haven't looked at the code yet.
 > 
 > A Quick Comparison of a couple-a-three of Word Processors
 >
 <Snipped> 

 > (BTW active means actively developed)

(I've been a beta test groupie long enough to know that)

 > 
 > I haven't received an answer yeah or nah on GWP status (I think
 > the author maybe buzy on Gnome-Mozilla?)

 If they aren't actively developing a word processor now, I dunno.

What I need is a word processor which will give me non-proportional
type faces and a format that my Hearst masters with their all MS shop
can read.  If I can write web pages with it, too (PW has that
feature), I'm really going to be happy
 
(snipped)
 > 
 > Maybe a good course would be to have multiple WPs and one 'standard 
 > GNOME WP document format'. After all, GNOME supports multiple human
and machine-readable langauges. I don't know, fodder for debate.

    The 500 pound gorilla is Word.  Talking to Word is really critical
(as per my own situation).  And the more the wp works with C^ zxcv
keybindings, the happier the standard office workers will be (if you
want to make them happy -- nobody in alt.sysadmin.recovery wants them
converted to Unix at all, it sounds like).

    My guess is that the thing should enclose graphics, do tables,
handle forms, labels, and envelopes, read Word Files, write some kinda
html, plus the rest of it that fits the Gnome agenda.  Highlight drop
and drag helps too, but I don't miss it that much as too often I 
ended up over shooting or under shooting.

      The truly right thing to do would be make a wp that could be
conformed to the user needs with plug-ins and extensions.  GUI
interface which would give a different look if the operator was using
Unix style editing or C^ zxcv commands.  (And I don't even know Perl
yet, so I know I'm just pieing your sky).  That latter, actually would
be probably worth looking into as a couple of people said that their
reflexes get trained to the visual frame of the program they're using.
A one key, on the fly, shift of keybindings and visual look -- is that
do-able?

-- 
Rebecca Ore