Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!USU.BITNET!SLMYQ
From: SLMYQ@USU.BITNET
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.tech
Subject: Re: Suggestions
Message-ID: <8804190608.AA26302@jade.berkeley.edu>
Date: 19 Apr 88 02:21:00 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Lines: 35

>> Second, this one may be a not-so-easy one, but here it is.  Supply an extra
>> window type, called SUPERTEXT...
>
>Perhaps the "correct" thing to do is to provide a text management package
>similar to what is available in the Macintosh.
>
>I fail to see why fonts should not be allowed to change style or size.
>Basically all you're asking for is a souped-up Console window.  Even though
>Console windows are nice in that they allow lots of plain, vanilla programs to
>be ported to the Amiga, they are a bane in that programmers are tempted to use
>them in lieu of the powerful features supported by Intuition (hence why many
>Amiga word processors cannot support multiple font sizes and styles).
>Providing simple, easy-to-use support for these features would invite more
>programmers to use them and to "do the job right" with their applications.

I think you're missing the point.  This window would be the same kind of thing
as a SuperBitmap window, except the superbitmap would be a text buffer which
is MUCH shorter than a bitmap the whole screen size.  I find many programs,
including the CLI, DME, and most text-oriented programs always use smart
refresh windows, which takes up mucho mem.  If they're going to just use the
same font anyway, why not do it efficiently?  AmigaBASIC does it that way,
although it's rather slow.  This would have another advantage over normal
smart refresh windows.  Since it's somewhat the same as SuperBitmap, when the
user sizes the window smaller, and then makes it bigger again, all the text
is still there, unlike smart refresh windows.  Three good uses for this I see
are the CLI, text editors ("plain" text files - no fonts anyway), and terminal
emulators, especially those which operate on the Workbench screen.  None of
them ever change fonts, although they might change styles.  Oh, I forgot to
explain why you can't change fonts.  It's the same reason you can't change
pixel sizes in the same screen (without the copper).  All the "cells" have
to be the same size.

I agree, a good set of text manipulation routines would be very nice, but
that is something completely different.

                                Bryan Ford (SLMYQ@USU.BITNET)