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Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!rutgers!uwvax!uwmacc!dubois
From: dubois@uwmacc.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: MakeWrite Announcement
Message-ID: <1086@uwmacc.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 18-Feb-87 09:25:51 EST
Article-I.D.: uwmacc.1086
Posted: Wed Feb 18 09:25:51 1987
Date-Received: Thu, 19-Feb-87 19:26:22 EST
Organization: Flat Egg Software, Ltd.
Lines: 51


I'm posting MakeWrite, an application that allows MacWrite documents
to be created from text files containing embedded formatting information.
For example, you can define the strings "\bold\", "\italic\"  and
"\plain\" to mean switch to boldface, italics and plain style, respectively.
Then the input text

	This is some \bold\boldface\plain\ and \italic\italicised\plain\
	text.

will come out with the fourth word boldface and the sixth word in
italics.

You can define any string to be any combination of font, point size
and type style.  You can specify when input lines should be joined in
output paragraphs and whether MakeWrite should try to figure out when
to put two spaces between lines that are joined (e.g., if the end of a
line is also the end of a sentence, the next line should be joined with
two spaces, not one).

You can use it, for example, to do some of the more tedious work of
converting nroff/troff documents to MacWrite.  Some of the more obvious
format strings to use are "\fB", "\fI" and "\fR", which you define to
mean boldface, italic, plain.  MakeWrite doesn't have any memory,
unfortunately, so "\fP" won't be understood as "previous font" - you'd
probably define it to mean plain text and hope for the best.

Those on mainframes with good column filters can easily generate MakeWrite
input for directories, address lists, etc., simply by bracketing the
appropriate columns with embedded format strings.

The document boldly asserts that since most page layout programs understand
MacWrite format, then MakeWrite serves to generate input for those programs
as well.  As I do not have any layout programs, I'd be interested to
hear whether this actually works.

MakeWrite is public domain and may be redistributed without restriction,
as usual.  Usual comments about source code.

I'm sending this to info-mac, and also the mod.mac.binaries.  The posting
contains three files:  the application itself, a MacWrite document formatted
for the LaserWriter, and a FaceLift map for converting the document to
ImageWriter format.

---
Paul DuBois     UUCP: {allegra,ihnp4,seismo}!uwvax!uwmacc!dubois    |
                ARPA: dubois@rhesus.primate.wisc.edu              --+--
                      dubois@unix.macc.wisc.edu                     |
                                                                    |
"My help does not come from the hills"
                      Psalm 121:1