Focuswriter mac4/1/2023 Any text “going beyond” the bottom of the page due to an insertion of additional text had to be “moved” onto the next page. The most annoying feature of this word processor was that it replicated the concept of a letter/legal sized page too closely. I spent the first five years of my graduate studies using exclusively a Philips program called TDT (Traitement de Texte). There were also some dumb mapping of the typewriter interface to the emerging keyboard-screen-storage. The (keyboard driven) user interface of Wordstar appears to have been designed from the viewpoint of a touch typist with a finger automatism arising months/years of writing using a typewriter. Having myself used Wordperfect, Wordstar, and XYWrite, I appreciate the argumentation presented. It seems a common itch to scratch for programmers. I don’t think there is truly one-size-fits-all. It’s a bit mind-boggling trying to understand all the various different features. Vim is extremely popular, but there are still dozens of other editors. In fact, I think the TSR just mimics the Win 3.x API.įunny thing about reading this is that it reminded me about the age old unix debate between vim and emacs. There’s a third-party TSR for that, but also you could (obviously) instead just use a supported DOS-compatible OS that allows that as well. (I have to disclaim that by saying “partial” since I know someone will still complain that it doesn’t do xyz. There are at least three popular programs that have (partial) direct Unicode support. Fonts are a different matter, but that can be alleviated with various graphics modes. IIRC, you can get up to 130×60 with VESA. (Although as a FreeDOS aficionado, I still also want a DOS port, but that rarely happens.) Portable code is harder but lives longer. I wouldn’t (normally) suggest writing DOS-only apps these days, but that applies to any other OS, too. Historically interesting, but the DOS software is not exactly relevant anymore. (I know this isn’t earth-shattering info, and I’ll admit I’m old-fashioned with simplistic tastes.) To understand how WordStar does that better than other programs, let me start with a little history.Īn old article from 1990 and updated in 1996, reprinted, but still a good read. That’s the key point: aiding creative composition. I’ve used WordStar, WordPerfect, Word, MultiMate, Sprint, XyWrite, and just about every other MS-DOS and Windows word-processing package, and WordStar is by far my favorite choice for creative composition at the keyboard. Still, most of us have endured years of mindless criticism of our decision, usually from WordPerfect users, and especially from WordPerfect users who have never tried anything but that program. Martin, Vonda McIntyre, Kit Reed, Jennifer Roberson, and Edo van Belkom – continue to use WordStar for DOS as our writing tool of choice. Green, James Gunn, Matthew Hughes, Donald Kingsbury, Eric Kotani, Paul Levinson, George R.R. Many science fiction writers – including myself, Roger MacBride Allen, Gerald Brandt, Jeffrey A.
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