Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!sun-barr!decwrl!shlump.nac.dec.com!chovax!alpert
From: alpert@chovax.dec.com (Enemy of the State)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.cbm
Subject: Disgruntled Word Writer 4 purchaser
Message-ID: <8786@shlump.nac.dec.com>
Date: 28 Feb 90 13:44:13 GMT
Sender: newsdaemon@shlump.nac.dec.com
Distribution: na
Organization: Digital Equipment Corporation
Lines: 56


I recently purchased Timeworks "Word Writer 4" to replace my aging
Easy Script and buggy, unsupported Kwik-Write for my C64.

Overall this seems to be an amazing program considering the
limitations of the hardware, but I am already running into 
frustrations with it that are a real pain. 

First off, the on-screen formatting is, in my own opinion, unusable
for most text.  WW4 scrolls horizontally if your margins are set
wider than 40 columns, and I can't work that way! This supposedly can
be overcome with the ^V ("Virtual Margins") command but this does not
wrap long words that cross the 40-col. boundary. (Kwik-Write always
does word wrap at 40 columns.) I feel trying to do "WYSIWYG" editing
on a 40-column screen is pretty ridiculous, I would rather just use a
preview mode to see how the document will look before printing it. 

There doesn't seem to be a way to control line spacing from within a
"text mode" document, the only option looks like setting the entire
document double or single spaced. 

I cannot find a way to recover text that has been deleted. (In
Kwik-Write, deleting a block of text puts it in a buffer which can be
recalled.) 

I'm already considering taking Timeworks up on their 90-day "Money
Back Guarantee," where they say they will buy whatever word processor
you prefer if you send WW4 back. 

I've looked into Pocket Writer 3, but it looks like it also does not
handle text on the screen the way I want. (Actually, if Kwik-Write
had a driver for my printer and had a bug or two fixed I would just
stick with that! It has an easy to use editing style that I like a
lot.) 

Can anyone suggest alternatives?  My requirements are pretty simple,
but to summarize, what I'm looking for is: 

	1) 40 column word wrap, regardless of how margins are set
	2) Control over line spacing on at least a paragraph
	   by paragraph basis.
	3) Text justification
	4) Recovery of accidently deleted text (within reason,
	   obviously there are memory constraints!)
	5) Printer driver for Epson-compatible printer (or
	   Panasonic 1124) that supports underlining and bold.
	   Even better would be user-customizable printer driver.

This should be possible, Kwik-Write meets all thes requirements
except for the last and still has a larger than 30K buffer for text!

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  Bob Alpert       { alpert@chovax.dec.com            }  Government agents
  DEC              { ...!decwrl!chovax.dec.com!alpert }  are swine.
  Cherry Hill, NJ  { alpert%chovax.dec@decwrl.dec.com }  
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