***************************************************************** * Permission is granted to re-publish the following notes. * * Please do not edit any portion. I do not work for COMPO or * * PDC. Thanks for taking time to read my notes. Dave Heine * ***************************************************************** October 5, 1991 Notes on testing of That's Write (ver 1.52) PDC sent me a copy of That's Write to do some informal "be- ta" testing on. Here are some random notes that I have so far gathered. After writing the bulk of these comments I had the priveldge of meeting and talking with Neal O'nions of COMPO at the Glendale Atrai show. I had mailed him earlier copy of these comments be- fore the show, and we discussed some of the issues raised here. He says there should be an update released in the first quarter of 1992 that will address some of the issues and add some neat improvements such as print preview. I haven't taken the time to sort through these notes and separate the "problems" I have noticed from some "suggestions" for future releases to the program I have made. Also mixed in here and there are comments reflecting fully function features and remarks about improvements that would be useful in the manual provided. Please DO NOT consider this as a formal "review" of That's Write! I find this program to be excellent overall, and it contains some very powerful features once you learn how to use them pro- perly. I have already used That's Write to do much of the word processing tasks I formally did with other programs. If you are considering purchasing either That's Write or its little brother, Write ON, do it! This is really one neat program. Don't take any of the "negative" comments below as a put down of this pro- gram. You will have to take the time to learn the many unique features of this program, many by simple trial and error. All testing was done on a Stacy4 or MEGA ST4 using an SM124 monitor and an hp DeskJet 500 printer. I was provided version 1.52 (latest date of any file on distribution disk was June 20, 1991) marked "US Release" with a small sticker on the outside of the box. While discussing the hardware used for testing, I should also mention that at the Glendale show I picked up the AutoSwitch OverScan kit and installed it my MEGA ST4. This enlarges the screen on my SM124 from 600x400 to 672x480 resolution. I works great with That's Write (in fact one of the authors of That's Write is quoted, "Everybody should have OverScan", on the back cover of the OverScan manual!). Backup & Install: No problems. The program THELP.PRG that is used to make copies of the distribution disks and install That's Write con- tains some "obsolete" options that apparently were used with earlier versions of That's Write. (See note on page 164.) The program needs to be updated to remove the unneeded stuff. Since you won't be using THELP.PRG often this has negligible impact. US Release: STANDARD.KEY reflects US keyboard correctly, so you won't have to figure out how to remap it using That's Font (It can be done! I did it with my copy of Write ON.). The dictionary includes the American spelling of words. Spell checking for "colour" and "centred" were detected, and al- ternatives "color" and "centered" were offered indicating the US Release version has the "Americanized" dictionary changes incor- porated. This was not indicated in the READ.ME file, but I had assumed this to be the case as the package is marked "US Relea- se". Spell Check: Seems to do a great job of suggesting alternates. Works fairly fast. Although try "reponse" and you will have try Al- ternatives twice to finally get "response" to appear, only after some delay. The misspelled word "spokeperson" took a long time, but finally came up with "spokesperson". The misspelled word "occurances" took forever, but it finally found it. It would appear the alternative word search code is not as efficient as it could be. I tend to make a lot of spelling errors when I type in text. So far in all the documents I have worked on the spell checker has done a great job fixing my work. The "Immediate Checking" option can be used to check as you type, however it only beeps at you when it thinks you have made an error. You have to highlight the word and call for a spell check in order to request alternative spelling words. (Makes a neat sound when it finds a spelling error!) It, however, does not remember that it has already checked a word that was not in the dictionary but accepted as correct. For example, the word "Macintosh" appears in this text several times. Each instance was presented as a spelling error. (You can place the new word in a supplementary dictionary, however, to avoid repeated checks.) The dictionary file is copyrighted by Houghton Mifflin Co. It is suppose to contain around 110,000 words. No information is supplied on the availability of alternate dictionary disks men- tioned on page 132 other than to call the "Helpline". You pro- bably won't need them anyway. You can add words to the main di- citionary or to a supplemental dicitionary. No details are given in the manual about the .EXC, .HYP, .LAN, or .RAM files that appear to be associated with the main dictionary file (.DSK) and supplementary file (.SUP), especially if you found a need to modify them at some time. We Atari users like to be given all the technical nitty-gritty! The spell checker works on either a marked block of text or starts from the current cursor to the end of the document. No option is provided to continue the checking from the beginning of the document (e.g., MicroSoft Word). To check the whole document you must do a CNTL UP ARROW to position the cursor at the start of the document BEFORE selecting the Check Spelling. I also no- ted that if you highlighted a SINGLE word to spell check that the checker will keep on checking from that point in the document to the end unless you select the STOP option. However, you will find you cursor now positioned at next spelling error rather than next to the word you had highlighted. It works correctly for a block of highlighted text. Also, perhaps the "OK" and "Cancel" buttons could be better labeled as "Change" and "Ignore" to reflect their function a little more clearly. You have to remember to highlight the cor- rect "alternate" word BEFORE clicking on the "OK". I know this seems obvious, but when only one alternate was suggested I found myself instinctively clicking the "OK" and being left with the incorrectly spelt word. Page Layout: Default supplied is set for US 8 1/2 x 11 paper OK. You will probably want to change this to reflect exactly what your printer can physically print. There are no "minimum margin" settings. The manual does not describe how That's Write handles the positioning of the page size defined on the actual physical paper size (i.e., margins spread equally left and right, top and bot- tom). Some sort of guidance as to what the minimal margins are for each of the printers supported would be nice. One cannot assign a paper length of 11" and width of 8.5" when using 11 x 8.5 physical sized paper. This is hinted at on page 47. More specific advice would be helpful here. Perhaps this will be ad- dressed in the next version that is suppose to have a page pre- view option. If one uses more that one printer, each having different minimal margins, problems can occur. I see this happen when so- meone designs a page on Calamus for an hp LaserJet and I try to print it on my DeskJet 500. The "page" doesn't fit and I often have a page eject before finishing a page and print a small piece on the top of another page. On my DeskJet there are unprintable areas at the very top and bottom and also along each edge. You will have discover your own settings by making a few test printouts (set all the margins in the Page Format dialog to zero). For example, I found that I can print up to 80 PICA 10 cpi characters on a line. (This means Paper Width = 80 picas max. or 8 inches) I could print only 63 lines using a 10 cpi font. (This means Paper Length = 63 lines max. or 10.5 inches) Note that a line is defined as 1/6 inch and pica as 1/10 inch. This is complicated by the fact that you can specify additional spacing between paragraphs (in mm.). You are unable to use decimal values (e.g., 8.5 inches) for measurements. This means 8.5 inches must be specified as 85 pi- cas. Since the display is based on 1/10 of an inch (one pica) why not allow the use of decimal values for inches? Use of cen- timeter scale is of limited value in US. A simple change to in- ches for US users would be helpful. More precision page sizing would be nice. The ruler line has marks every 1/10 inch with a centimeter scale (approximates 2.5 cm to one inch). Time playing with the Page Format options before you start serious work will be well spent. You must have a good under- standing how all the options work with your printer. Likewise, the Paragraph Format options need to be explored too. Most of what you learn is perfectly logical after you understand it! Paragraph Layout: To ADD new paragraph format specifications one must click on the paragraph layout identifier on the Info Line, and use the "New paragraph layout" option. It would be nice to have this option available on the Paragraph Layout dialog box (pg.101). There is a "Delete" button, but no "Add" button where one would logically expect one. After using That's Write for awhile I got use to adding new paragraph formats thish way with little diffi- culty. Default Paths: There currently is no way to set a default path for the Open Text and Save options (different from the default path to the program TWRITE.PRG) if one chooses to keep all the document files in a separate folder (e.g., DOCUMENT folder within TWRITE fol- der). An additional default path would be a nice addition to the Preferences dialog for the location of document files. Loading Files: If a document is loaded that contains a font that is not currently available it is defaulted automatically rather than giving the user an option to replace the font from one of those available. You are not warned this is happening, other than the screen display will reflect the change. This should only happen if you somehow get a document that uses a font you don't have in your font "collection". Under normal use this should not be a problem. I only encountered it when I moved a document over that had been prepared using Write ON to That's Write. Seems the symbol font had a different file name. Cut/Paste: The "Cut"/"Copy" functions do not operate like a Macintosh (and many ST programs also) cut/copy. The marked block simply gets copied (not "cut") to one of 4 buffers. The Mac has Cut/Copy/Paste functions instead of the Cut/Paste/Copy/Move functions of That's Write. This presents a small problem to those familiar with the Mac way doing this. Several Atari ST WP's and DTP's follow the Mac convention here, along with several MS-DOS programs. This change from the "standard" does not appear necessary, but you will get use to it. Being able to use four different cut/paste buffers is a nice feature, and worth the change perhaps. Just remember that "cut" means "copy to buffer", and "copy" means copy marked text to cursor position. Clipboard: This is an Atari device for transferring data in a standard format between applications. It does not support the moving of control code type information. This is not emphasized in the manual. Although the manual fails to mention it, you need to mark the desired text BEFORE using this option to copy. You must position the cursor at the location where you want to insert text from the clipboard. Also, there is no explanation of how it is used to copy pictures (what format? IMG, PIC, etc?) using the clipboard. I tried to use this on a IMG, and it did not work. There is probably little use for this method, although there is no "saved marked text as ASCII" option other than this one. (There is a "save ASCII" option that saves the whole file.) Manual Goof: On page 50 it states that the manual demonstrates the use of different chapter headings for each chapter. Somehow this got missed and is not reflected in the manual. Too bad, it would have made finding your way around easier! (I am sure Neal will fix this when the document is updated!) Right Margin: With the Paper Width = 85 picas, Left Margin = 10 picas, and Right Margin = 10, the printable width becomes 65 picas. The R (right margin) on the A1 paragraph format was set at 66 picas on the distribution disk. This resulted in the right most character being clipped off. NO WARNING is given the user that this in- compatibility exists!!! This is EXTREMELY dangerous to say the least. The user is warned in a note on page 105 of this problem, but no software checks seem to be performed to alert the user. The Format Document option would be a good place to have warnings appear. Be careful to check on this before you print. You can see the problem by looking closely at the ruler line. Both the page margin and paragraph margins are shown. Ruler Line: The tab and margin markings on the Ruler Line are too small in my opinion. It is hard to tell the difference between the different tabs settings without getting up close to the screen. See some of the Macintosh programs for a better idea of what I mean. The program includes left tabs, right tabs, centered tabs, and decimal tabs. There is also margin markings for a normal left margin, first line left margin, and right margin. That's 7 different symbols that have to be shown on the ruler line. They can be added, deleted, and moved using the mouse. Updating: Little information is given on COMPO's policy on upgrading That's Write to later versions (except for a remark on page 1 saying they have no obligation to notify anyone of revisions or changes). The README file indicates that there is continuing work being done to improve the program. They did request that users return their registration cards so that COMPO can get in touch. A great product can only get better as it is improved and extended. (Boy, wouldn't table handling capabilities similar to MicroSoft's Word be neat!) (And, oh yes, "smart" quotes!) I would imagine that a lot of what I have pointed out here has al- ready been addressed! Neal says there will be a major update early next year (1991). Turbo ST: Yes, you cannot use Turbo ST or Quick ST with That's Write. It messes up the printing as That's Write uses the ST Line A routines for printing. This apparently allows the program to mix GEM fonts with the printers internal fonts. The README file no- tes this fact. It would be neat if this could be worked around. My biggest problem is having to either reboot my ST without Turbo ST or Quick ST before I can use That's Write or remembering to disable them before running That's Write. (I will have to set up HOTWIRE to try to automate this disable/enable function.) Both Turbo ST and Quick ST provide ways to disable the programs with- out having to reboot. Monster (the virtual screen program) supplied with Quick ST seems to work just fine with That's Write if you happen to be working with oversized paper! Since there are no zoom capabilities in That's Write I find I don't need Monster. While at the Glendale show I asked Darek of Branch Al- ways Software (author of Quick ST) to talk to Neal of COMPO about this compatiblity. I saw then talking later, so maybe something can be done. Heading Levels: I really like the ability to assign heading levels to para- graphs, and then use "Hide" and "Show" options to allow viewing in "outline" form your document. A table of contents can be ge- nerated from these heading levels similar to MicroSoft WORD. Also, you can use repeated "Hide" and "Show" options to find your place in a large document. First use the hide to remove from the display the bulk of the text leaving only a few section headings. Position the cursor at the heading nearest the text your looking for, and then do a few show options to restore the text display. Page/Para Format: The use of paragraph and page formatting is one of the strongest features of That's Write. You have to put some effort in to learn how to use them effectively. The effort is worth while! As mentioned earlier, it would be nice to have some tests made to insure that the right margin set in the Paragraph Format was compatible with the printable width set in the Page Format dialog. I realize that different page and paragraph formats can be used with different page formats, which simply complicates the problem. Flexibility at the expense of error detection must so- mehow be resolved here. No one likes to find the right margin has chopped off your text when you print. You can check the ru- ler line to see if the right margin mark is to the right of the vertical right page margin mark. On page 111 the user is told to use the Format Document op- tion BEFORE printing to ensure screen matches the expected prin- ted results. This is definitely necessary if you have Automatic Formatting disabled. One thing I found annoying was that you have to exit the Paragraph Layout dialog to set an option for a particular para- graph format. You can't change values in more than one paragraph format, and then hit OK. Only the last "active" paragraph format you had displayed gets changed. Header and Footers: You set these in the Page Format menu. You can change Page Formats in a document everytime you insert a hard page break. The biggest problem here is that you are not warned that the particular font size you are using causes problems fitting in the allocated space for the header or footers. Remember that in the Paragraph Format dialog you can set the spacing between para- graphs. This "extra" space is also added to any headers or foo- ters you have set up. To be on the safe side, I recommended that you set up your headers and/or footers BEFORE you start adding body text. Print a sample page to insure you are going to get way you want. You may find you are getting unwanted page ejects if things don't quite fit. Manual: The manual is very well done! (A lot of work went into it to get approx. 200 pages printed on a DeskJet 500. Since I have a DeskJet I can appreciate the work!) It is must reading in or- der to understand some of the subtle features of That's Write. A more detailed tutorial would be a very helpful added feature. Scrolling: The usual GEM scroll bar on the right edge of the screen is not found in That's Write. Instead, scrolling "arrows" are lo- cated in the Info Line at the top of the screen allow scrolling the screen left of right and up and down (one page at a time). The up and down arrow keys on the keyboard can also be used to scroll when used with the Shift key to scroll up or down one screen. Use of the Control key causes scrolling to the top or bottom of the document. The Clr Home key does not appear to do anything. Two additional keyboard sequences are provided; CNTL-G-F (move to beginning of next page) and CNTL-G-B (move to beginning of previous page). These last two take a little prac- tice to understand how they work! They appear to display a screen with the page break on the line at the middle of the display. Somehow, I miss not having the familiar scroll bar on the right side. This allowed better control at scrolling to different locations in a large document. There is a "goto page" feature by clicking on the Page number displayed on the ruler line. A dialog box appears allowing you to jump to another page. Hyphenation and Auto-Capitalization: This feature appears to work "as advertised". A dialog of- fers an assortment of options to control hyphenation. It also includes an unusual feature called "Automatic Correction" which is said to correct simple noun capitalization errors such as "London". As you will note, it did work (yes, I typed a lower case "l")! But it seems you have to do a spell check on the text to make it happen. No explanation is given as to how this fea- ture is supported (e.g., what words are checked). It appears to be tied to the dictionary. What do you do in the case where you do not want to have a particular word automatically capitalized, but you still like to have the feature turned-on? Maybe a "Se- mi-automatic" option could be provided that asked the user each time it located a possible candidate for auto-cap'ing. I believe I found a work-around to the auto-capitalization problem. For example the word "write" changes to "Write" if you do a spell check on it. You are not told this is happening. What I did is typed "wriite", spell checked it, and used the In- sert option to add a word to the Supplement dictionary correctly spelled "write" (lower case w). Now when you do a spell check you will only stop on the misspelled word, and the auto-cap'ing is bypassed. Sure, you will have to discover the words which invoke this problem, but you can at least prevent further occur- rences. The use of Automatic Formatting (CNTL-O-F) affects some of the hyphenation options. The user must clearly understand when and when not the document being worked on has been or not been hyphenation checked. The manual instructs the user to perform a Format Document option to force this to occur. Auto Save: This is a GREAT option. My only problem is that appears to be too "transparent". For short documents it happens so quickly you might never notice it! I haven't experienced its effect with long documents. No dialog comes up telling you that it is doing its thing (e.g., Word Perfect does). You only notice it when your keying response stops while the file Write is in progress (Ah! Here is an example of auto-cap'ing at work! I typed a lower case "w"). If I turn off auto-cap'ing and do a spell check it still flags the word as an error. Very interesting! . Indenting: This is a neat feature to cause each subsequent line in a paragraph to be indented. The use of the INSERT key may not be the most logical choice. Many WP's and DTP's use the INSERT key to toggle the insert or overwrite edit mode. That's Write requires a CNTL-INSERT to toggle the edit modes. My personal opinion is that these two functions should be reversed. Fonts: That's Write and Write ON use bit mapped fonts. A separate set is needed for the screen and printer. For those fonts which use the internal fonts of the printer a "pseudo" printer font file is used (These can be identified as X*.FNT/IT/SML/SIT in the folder containing the printer fonts.). I noticed that only the PICA 10 CPI and BOX & LINE fonts appear to use the DeskJet's built-in fonts. The supplied TIM11 font does not use the built-in DeskJet 500 font. The additional DeskJet font disk resolves this. At the Glendale show I picked up additional fonts disks that added the following fonts: DeskJet 500 fonts - CG Times (12 pts) DeskJet 500 fonts - CG Times Bold (12 pts) DeskJet 500 fonts - Letter Gothic (12 cpi) DeskJet 500 fonts - Courier (5, 10, 17, & 20 cpi). These use the printer's internal fonts. Laser fonts - Times (10, 12, 14, & 18 pts) Laser fonts - Avant Garde (8,11,14,24, & 30 pts) These are bit-mapped fonts. To give you an idea of the disk space consumed by using se- parate screen and printer fonts, here are the figures on my system using the hp DeskJet and all the standard supplied fonts (this does not include the additional fonts disks): Screen: 174,080 bytes (including .KEY files) Printer: 777,216 bytes I was somewhat disappointed to discover that the CG Times fonts for the DeskJet 500 would not printout fully justified text correctly. The right margin was still a little "ragged". If I used the Laser font Times12, the text would be justified, only printing a little bit slower. Page Numbering: READ ALL SECTIONS IN THE MANUAL dealing with page numbering to get a good understanding of this powerful feature. It com- plicated by the fact that the necessary information is scattered in different locations of the manual. The program only allows for numbers (e.g., 1,2,3...), and not Roman Numerals as are com- monly used for the Table of Contents. Hard Page Breaks: A little practice is needed to add and delete hard page breaks. The tip of the cursor must be just touching the line or slightly BELOW it to effect a delete. An alternate keyboard command (CNTL-D-P) can be used, but only after positioning the cursor correctly. If your like me, you'll put them in the wrong place if your not careful. TOC & Index: Great features, but poorly explained in manual. The user is told to "experiment" to find out more specific details. A more precise definition of the exact format generated would be useful. The manual itself appears to have a TOC and Index generated au- tomatically. The format shown is close to what is produced by That's Write. You will need to edit the table of contents and index text that is automatically generated. Neal showed me how to do this using a macro that made easy work out of it. Pictures: That's Write can only handle the .IMG format. The user must have access to a conversion routine to switch picture formats. (May I suggest W. Parks great MVG - MultiViewer Graphica pro- gram.) You cannot wrap text around the graphics. Resizing can be done via a dialog by changing the resolution values, or by clicking on the picture's lower right hand corner, holding left mouse down and dragging to desired size. This is difficult to use as it conflicts with the ability to move a picture horizon- tally as you have to locate the bottom corner without seeing it first. I assume this last method keeps the image in proportion. Date & Time: Three control sequences are provided to insert the current time (e.g., 12:02) or current date (e.g., 1/9/1991). You can also insert the date with the month spelled out (e.g., September 1, 1991). The only problem is that the date is in "European" convention (DD/MM/YYYY) format instead of the "Ameri- can" convention (MM/DD/YYYY). An option should be added to change the date displays to either of the above, or even (MM/DD/YY). Perhaps another option could allow for a date and/or time field(s) to be set dynamically at file save or print time using the then current value. Macros: I haven't tried these yet. A few examples would be helpful here. Neal O'nions of COMPO showed me a few examples at the Glendale show. He even "remapped" the CUT and PASTE functions to a style similiar to how it is done on other computer systems. One I liked was one to cleanup and format the output generated by the table of contents and index functions. Screen Snapshot: Again, I haven't tried That's Snap as I have several other programs that do a similar thing (and can print directly to my DeskJet). Keyshow: Neat accessory. You will really need this for the Symbols and Box & Line fonts. A card with printout of various characters associated with the keyboard keys would be a nice addition. "This is left to the student as an exercise". Maybe someone could prepare such a card and post his output file on GEnie and elsewhere. That's Font: I have only played with this to the extent of remapping the keyboard by modifying the STANDARD.KEY file. A tutorial with an actual example would be very helpful. I understand that Neocept's FONTZ! program can be used to rescale fonts and convert Mac fonts. Perhaps someone who has worked there way through this could provide details. A solid tutorial is needed in this area if you intend to add new fonts, modifiy existing fonts, etc. COMPO plans to withdraw TFONT.PRG at some stage in the future. They recommend you obtain a copy of Fontkit Plus 3 from the ST Club in England. It would be nice if the two American distribu- tors could obtain copies for resale to US customers. Print Preview: Sorry...but That's Write doesn't have this capabiltiy cur- rently. (COMPO hinted that it will be in the updated version early next year.) You have to proof to your printer to checkout what headers, footers, footnotes, and multi-column output look like. Again, with a little practice this becomes no major pro- blem. Mixing fonts: This is a wonderful capability! You can mix within the same body of text different fonts, both bit mapped and those internal to the printer, and still maintain full justification of the text. The only place I see this getting tricky is if you want use the box and line font in combination with a proportional font. With careful use of tabs you probably can make this work too. Mail Merge: Yes, both That's Write and Write ON have a mail merge fea- ture. The data for the merge needs to be in an ASCII file in the "SDF" standard format OR comma delimited. The manual indicates that the SDF format is commom to most Atari ST database programs. They describe the format in detail. It appears to be an extended comma delimited type file. Each record must contain the same number of fields; each field terminated with a comma; final field not terminated with a comma; fields containing commas must be enclosed in double quotes; each record ends with a carriage re- turn; maximum field is 128 with a maximum record length of 80 characters. Although this is one feature I haven't tried yet, it is very well documented WITH examples in the manual that was prepared using That's Write. The document setup to receive the mail merge fields marks the fields with #n# (e.g., Field 2 would appear in the text as #2#.). If a "+" is placed after a field number (e.g., #2+#), then if the field contains data a space will be inserted after the data. If the field is empty, no space will be inserted. Foot Notes: That's Write has a simple method of inserting footnotes OR endnotes into your document. It takes care of automatically re- numbering them should you delete one of them. I haven't tried to see what happens if you have long footnote that doesn't fit on the same page where referenced. CONCLUSIONS: Great program! I have enjoyed using it, and will continue to do so. Am looking forward to seeing future updates. Most of the comments I have made above probably reflect only my personal bias as to the human interface changes I would like, and they may not be yours. I find That's Write simpler to use than Word Perfect. It doesn't have all the options of WP, but what it does have is more than adequate for most uses. The screen display is an accurate view of the printed document, even with proportional fonts. It prints proportional fonts much, much faster than WP. Installing additional fonts is very simple -- just add the screen and prin- ter font files and select them from the menu. Scaleable fonts would be nice, but even the Atari version of WP doesn't offer them. For normal word processing needs the available fonts for That's Write should be adequate. If you need more, use one of the fine DTP programs instead, or become a font generation ex- pert! Dave Heine 830 Glenhill Drive Fremont, CA 94539 GEnie: D.HEINE1