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From: minow@mountn.dec.com (Martin Minow)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: Text file madness on the Mac.
Message-ID: <1221@mountn.dec.com>
Date: 9 Jan 90 18:30:24 GMT
References: <1998@eric.mpr.ca> <115@lad.scs.com>
Reply-To: minow@mountn.dec.com (Martin Minow)
Distribution: na
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Lines: 27

Many comments on Craig Werner's complaint about the way the Mac handles
text seem to suggest that Craig is in some ways "at fault" -- for not
understanding "The Macintosh Way" of doing things if for no other reason.

May I suggest, on the other hand, that if you look at the Mac philosophy,
Craig is completely correct: he has a problem, and the Mac doesn't offer
him a solution that works THE WAY HE EXPECTS IT TO.  Seen in this light,
there is a application missing from the Mac: a text file display utility
such as a Mac-specific implementation of, say, Unix more.

It *might* be possible to work around the problem by using ResEdit to
determine the Creator of the text files Craig's terminal emulator creates.
Then, one could duplicate one's "favorite editor" and use ResEdit to set
that editor's creator to the appropriate value.  (There are Mac implementions
of both MicroEmacs and Jove that might be suitable.)  I haven't tried this,
but it's hackish enough to work.

(Background: all Mac files have a "creator" and "file type" -- double-clicking
on a document starts the creator application, and an application typically
tells the operating system which file types it accepts.)

The real question remains: why hasn't anyone written a "Pager" utility?
(display text in 9pt monoco, scroll, let the mouse copy selections to the
clipboard, possibly write text in MacWrite format or print it out.)

Martin Minow
minow@thundr.enet.dec.com