Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!sun-barr!texsun!texbell!vector!attctc!wnp
From: wnp@attctc.Dallas.TX.US (Wolf Paul)
Newsgroups: comp.text
Subject: Re: WYSIWYG flamage (was Re: what i
Message-ID: <8891@attctc.Dallas.TX.US>
Date: 5 Aug 89 19:49:19 GMT
References: <210927@<1989Jul28> <77900017@p.cs.uiuc.edu>
Reply-To: wnp@attctc.Dallas.TX.US (Wolf Paul)
Organization: The Unix(R) Connection BBS, Dallas, Tx
Lines: 48

In article <77900017@p.cs.uiuc.edu> gillies@p.cs.uiuc.edu writes:
  >The macintosh (and postscript) have all these abilities.  Troff has
  >none.  All you need is a program to create these quickdraw/postscript
  >images, and then you may paste them into your favorite WYSWYG word
  >processor (mine is MS-Word, but Writenow, Fullwrite, Wordperfect, or
  >Macwrite work equally well), and print them out at full postscript
  >(300+ dpi) resolution.  Face it, troff is an elephant, which deserves
  >respect, a gold watch, and retirement very soon.

Ah, but if you create these things with a separate program and then paste
them into your favorite word processor, then you should not exclude TROFF
from that club: I can paste graphics into my troff input, and output them
on a laser printer.

  >Troff is also missing some formatting niceties, such as the ability to
  >wrap text around a picture, or lay out pages like PageMaker or other
  >page layout programs.

How so? with clever use of macros troff can wrap text around a picture
and produce fully laid-out pages. Not on the screen, by moving objects around
with a rodent, but no-one claimed that troff was WYSIaWYG -- it's wySiEwyg
(what you SPECIFY is EXACTLY what you get :-) ).

  >About the only thing troff does better than these word processors is
  >typeset mathematics.  MS-Word typesets mathematics in an ugly fashion.

You can say that again, and the same is true of tables when using proportional
fonts.

  >If you want to have "a text stream I can ftp to my friends", then you
  >should think about postscript.  Postscript makes a great archival
  >medium, as long as you treat the postscript file like a piece of
  >immutable preprinted paper.  Why not mail that friend a postscript
  >master, and he can print it out on most of the laser printers in the
  >country.

Two comments on that: (1) he may be able to print it out JUST AS IS, but 
if he wanted to modify it, he would be hard pressed; and (2) I am not
convinced that "most of the laser printers in the country" support Postscript.
Would you care to support that statement with sales figures for the various
Postscript brands versus the figures for HP LJ and clones?

Wolf 
-- 
Wolf N. Paul * 3387 Sam Rayburn Run * Carrollton TX 75007 * (214) 306-9101
UUCP:   {texbell, attctc, dalsqnt}!dcs!wnp
DOMAIN: wnp@attctc.dallas.tx.us or wnp%dcs@texbell.swbt.com
        NOTICE: As of July 3, 1989, "killer" has become "attctc".