Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!plaid!chuq
From: chuq@plaid.Sun.COM (Chuq Von Rospach)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Fullwrite Pro -- Six Months Later
Message-ID: <76574@sun.uucp>
Date: 8 Nov 88 20:21:57 GMT
References: <75917@sun.uucp> <768@esquire.UUCP> <6565@ihlpf.ATT.COM>
Sender: news@sun.uucp
Reply-To: chuq@sun.UUCP (Chuq Von Rospach)
Organization: Fictional Reality
Lines: 51

>A few days ago, a colleauge stopped by to upload some text to his UNIX(R)
>box.  His documentation file was in WriteNow, and I happened to have a
>conversion program in my Jasmine PD stuff on the HD.  So, I said, let's try
>to convert this to text to upload.

Aha! I knew I forgot something. A few more serious gripes with FullWrite
as it handles text:

Problem #1: It's so tied into WYSIWYG that it imports the text and folds it
 into the WYSIWYG paradigm. This means that if I want to modify a text file
 I have to convert it, change it and unconvert it again -- which is all
 quite slow. Word is smart enough to leave it text until I do something to
 the formatting, which is really nice. I finally had to track down a copy of
 Edit for text files that were too large for miniWriter because I couldn't
 work with them rationally with FWP.

Problem #2: A killer. I'm surprised I forgot it in my first posting. FWP
 will NOT import all files. FWP can't dynamically create chapters, which 
 means that very large text, word or macwrite files won't load. It runs
 out of memory and says "sorry, you lose." One of the things I have to 
 do with OtherRealms at times is do global edits of things like typeset
 quotes and em-dashes. On a 200K file. You cannot load a 200k TEXT only
 file into a 2.5Megabyte mac running FWP under unifinder. No way. No how.
 Sorry, you shouldn't import files that large

 Now, if you assume for a moment that the only editor I have is FWP, and I
 upload 150K of text from my Un*x box to import into my WP for formatting,
 I'm going to be rather peeved when I'm told that there's no way to get that
 text into my WP. I have two choices. Split it into tiny pieces on the Unix
 box and upload it again, or find another editor on my Mac to split it into
 little pieces and import them one at a time.

 Or do what I did. load it into Word, which didn't blink an eye, and do the
 editing there. 

 I consider FWP's virual memory system broken because it won't allow
 importation of an arbitrary amount of text. If IT wants to split it up into
 chapters, that's fine. But trying to force me to 'fix' the text before
 it'll accept it is stupid. As long as I have to use another editor to 
 massage the text to make it acceptable to FWP, I might as well use that
 other editor full time.

 Which is what I did...





Chuq Von Rospach	Editor/Publisher, OtherRealms		chuq@sun.COM

It's not justice you want, Roderick! It's blood!