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From: mcclaren@euripides.cs.uiuc.edu (Tim McClarren)
Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions
Subject: Re: Is there any wordprocessor in unix
Message-ID: <1493@garcon.cso.uiuc.edu>
Date: 18 Jul 89 16:19:37 GMT
References: <4856@macom1.UUCP> <248@arnor.UUCP> <1044@kuling.UUCP> <1989Jul17.211715.6273@eci386.uucp> <18606@mimsy.UUCP>
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Reply-To: mcclaren@euripides.cs.uiuc.edu.UUCP (Tim McClarren)
Organization: University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
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In article <18606@mimsy.UUCP> chris@mimsy.UUCP (Chris Torek) writes:
>In article <1989Jul17.211715.6273@eci386.uucp> woods@eci386.uucp
>(Greg A. Woods) writes: [lots of stuff about wp's]

>Maybe; maybe not.  One of the big advantages of WYSIWYG `word
>processors' here is that the typist gets immediate feedback, not only
>of the text being entered, but also of the control operations.  By
>definition, that feedback will always be missing from `batch
>formatters'.  On the other hand, WYSIWYG systems tend to lack
>structural feedback.  For some purposes this is fine, and word
>processors do have their places.  For others---including letter-
>writing, which is one of those `business applications'---reusability
>and skipping irrelevant details are important; structure-oriented batch
>formatters win here.  (`.LH' or `\letterheader' can generate the
>company logo and the return address all at once; a phone number need
>only be changed in one place; etc.  WYSIWYG systems tend to allow these
>things as special cases, if at all.  If your case is more special
>than most, you may be out of luck.)

I wasn't going to get into this conversation, because I hear it too
often.  I don't understand why people say things such as the above.
I do have two theories: 1) They don't use WYSIWIG wp's, like MS Word
on the Mac, or 2) They don't read the manual figuring there isn't
anything in the manual that isn't in the menus.
IMO, it's simpler to have a file named 'template' that has a letterhead
already in it, one that you can actually see, load it into word, and 
type in the letter!  Save using 'save as...' to a any arbitrary file.
Actually, if you really want to save time, define a macro with the
letterhead in it.  IMO, there's just no comparing good ole' cut and
paste with "label letterhead: define letterhead; preview; print; if {doesn't
look right} goto letterhead", etc.

Tim McClarren
herodotus.cs.uiuc.edu