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From: burleigh@silver.bacs.indiana.edu (Frank Burleigh)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: World's best word processor
Message-ID: <21870@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu>
Date: 9 Jun 89 18:47:21 GMT
References: <25325@agate.BERKELEY.EDU> <14362@watdragon.waterloo.edu> <21847@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu>
Sender: root@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu
Reply-To: burleigh@silver.bacs.indiana.edu (Frank Burleigh)
Organization: Sociology, Indiana University, Bloomington
Lines: 36

i really cannot abide all this wordperfect interface bashing. :-)

in general, if you are typing at 70wpm, nothing need slow you down.
having to do format work is a small part of your totel time at the
keyboard.  you need the tab (or indent) key, the return key, and the
key to save the file (f7).  wp asking 'exit doc x?' gives me a chance
to (f1 = keep editing), (don't exit = give me a blank screen), (yes =
exit doc/wp).

as for 'standard' usage of f-keys, the only standard that seems to
exist is f1 = help.  there is no 'standard' f-key for save, or quit, or
for blocking, etc.  and with as many features as wp or ms word have,
you can hardly expect the f-keys to do anything but be the apex of a
pyramid for hopefully integrated functions, e.g. alt-f9 = graphics,
s-f8 = format.  there are certainly instances in which they might have
made a more logical choice.  for ex., they might have put thesaurus and
spell on the same key instead of on adjacent keys.  in general, my
feeling is that wpc's arrangement makes as much sense as any other
arrangement would.

as for the function templete, i would throw it away.  the two better
means to get help are (IMHO): 2 x f3 for the template, or f3 + the
first letter of the thing i want to do.

perhaps people want pull-down menus.  they are apparently coming.  but
really, i don't see the difference.  each shows you your choices and
you can use a letter (or number) to select one.  pull down menus may
have an advantage in that they allow the programmer to explicitly show
you that there are levels beneath this one.  that would be most helpful
for the novice user.  perhaps with planperfect 5.0 we will see the
future of the wp interface, as pp uses lotus /, wp=style, or pull-down
menus.

Frank Burleigh  burleigh@silver.bacs.indiana.edu
USENET: ...rutgers!iuvax!silver!burleigh BITNET: BURLEIGH@IUBACS.BITNET
Department of Sociology, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana 47405