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From: palmer@nntp-server.caltech.edu (David Palmer)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf-lovers,rec.arts.fine,comp.editors,comp.text,rec.arts.books,rec.arts.poems,bit.listserv.literary,alt.prose
Subject: Re: What do writers want from a word processor?
Message-ID: <1991Apr18.003213.11557@nntp-server.caltech.edu>
Date: 18 Apr 91 00:32:13 GMT
References: <FRANCIS.91Apr16204241@daisy.zaphod.uchicago.edu> <1991Apr17.175001.8402@sjuphil.uucp>
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Lines: 24

For writers, a word processor should include

1) Infinite undo, even across sessions
2) a scrap stack, consisting of the the last, say, 100k that
	you have cut or modified
3) Automatic checkpointing
4) backup file creation on a second medium
5) The ability to recover as much as possible from corrupted files

Do you sense a sort of trend to these features?  It should be impossible
to lose text unless you throw all of your disks down a garbage
disposal.

6) Annotation mode.  Go into this when you want to write (or speak,
digitizers are cheap, at least for the Mac) a note to yourself.
(usually I just change to an outline font to make my notes stand out)
Then have the ability to jump from note to note (maybe as part of the
search command)

-- 
		David Palmer
		palmer@gap.cco.caltech.edu
		...rutgers!cit-vax!gap.cco.caltech.edu!palmer
	"Operator, get me the number for 911"  --Homer Simpson