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Re: ShadowWrite 1.2 ideas



 discovered this post on another news reader since it got out of range when I
came back from holidays.)
 
taob@r-node.hub.org writes (6.04.93 23:57):
 
>This version of ShadowWrite has great potential, Andre!  :)  One
>problem that must be immediately remedied though... a couple SW menus
>do not show up properly when Kangaroo/Hierarchic are present!  The
>"File" menu rectangle shrinks down to about three lines deep by only a
>couple dozen pixels wide. [...]
>It's rather difficult to describe, but just try it with
>Kangaroo and Hierarchic installed.
 
I don't own Kangeroo but another beta tester reported the same problem. I don't
know yet whether this is caused by Kangeroo or ShadowWrite (the Hierachic init
alone works fine with SW.)
 
>The ruler is a great idea, I'm glad you put it in!
>
>Some ideas:
>o I would like to see variable-spacing tabs
>o Don't forget to insert the default tab stops (I don't see any in
>this version, but I guess that was your intent)
 
Yes, you guessed right. But in this point I want to add that I'm very satisfied
with the feedback I got from the Apple II community. I will continue to improve
SW!
 
>o Buttons for single/1.5/double spacing
 
Hmm, what means 'double spacing'? I could only use fix values. An extra line
spacing of (e.g.) 8 is only double spacing for 8 point fonts in the whole
document. (Remember: only one ruler is possible!)
 
>o Up/down arrows for changing the line spacing one pixel at a time
>o Draggable left/right margin and indent markers
>o Pop-up colour menu (one menu, but hold down Option to select bg
>colour)
 
Good ideas... for v1.3! :)
 
>
>In other words, all options in the "Set Ruler..." dialog should be
>accessible through icons on the ruler.  The dialog should stay if you
>want precise numerical values.  BTW, the values in the dialog should
>reflect the units of measure selected.
 
This is already done in the final v1.2. BTW, the dialog also stays for the 320
graphics mode.
 
>More suggestions:
 
Ready for GS-Word! ;)
 
Thanx a lot for all these suggestions, but I want to keep the _NDA_ SW in a
reasonable size. However some of your suggestions are worth to think about.
 
>o "Default file type" pop-up menu in Preferences.  I tend to save a
>lot of stuff as plain text rather than Teach.
 
The default file type pref is hidden in the preference file.
 
>o A real Apple menu (with a real Apple icon and a list of NDA's)
 
I think this only confuses the user. Anyway the Apple would never be
multicolored.
 
>o "Beautify Text" option in "Modify Text..."; changes regular quotes
>and apostrophes into their smart/curly counterparts, a double hyphen
>into an em dash (option-shift-hyphen), (c) (r) (tm) into their
>respective trademark symbols, etc., etc.
 
May be in v1.3...
 
>o "Paragraph Format" option like in the Proterm editor to turn lines
>into whole paragraphs.  Also "Line Format" to go the other way.
 
This can be done with the Strip Controls action.
 
>o Automatic smart quotes (related to "Beautify Text", but does it
>on-the-fly as you type)
 
I know this feature from BET, but sometimes I want ugly quotes. :)
 
>o Make the Open/Load dialog wider, Kangaroo doesn't have enough room!
 
It's already as wide as possible. (Try in 320 graphics mode!)
 
>o "Append..." menu item to append the buffer to an existing file
 
You have the multi document feature and cut & paste.
 
>o Add "pixels" as a unit of measure
 
This is done in final v1.2. (Pixels and points is the same.)
 
>o Calculate/show page breaks
>o Set top/bottom margins in inches/cm/points/pixels/whatever
 
Ask the TextEdit tools! :)  I see what I can do.
 
>That's about all I can think of for now, Andre.  Looking forward to
>seeing the final version!
 
Thanx again. The final version should be ready in about 2 weeks.
 
Andre

  |o|   BRIGHT SOFTWARE        |  "There's some kind of glittering  |o|
  |o|   Andre Horstmann        |   in my eyes every time I turn on  |o|
  |o|   Hoehenweg 3d           |   this damn machine..."            |o|
  |o|   6300 Zug, Switzerland  |                                    |o|
  |o|   GEnie A.HORSTMANN      |   shadow@ezinfo.vmsmail.ethz.ch    |o|