Robert Holmgren wrote:
given the peculiar way in which I use XyWrite, I need "draft
mode" to display text in a color of my choice, for each
possible value of XX.
Are those numeric MoDes like , or the dedicated BO/IT/RV/UL/etc character
MoDes?
Both.
The short answer to your question is No. Colors are not associated
with MoDes. You can get a limited number of graphical effects with the
character MoDes, such as reverse video, italics, strikethrough, underlining.
But colors work differently in NBWin. They are determined by ForeGround (FG --
the text) and BackGround (BG) commands, e.g. , which is pure
white. The three values are Red,Green,Blue, and each has a range of 0-255. So
it's a classic 256^6 (256^3 FG and 256^3 BG) color scheme, from which you can
wreak any color result. It works well, and the commands take immediate effect
-- you can change the scheme for just one character, or any amount of text. So
you'd have to change somewhat the way you work, depending on whether you want
these colors for your own visual benefit only,
They are for my visual benefit only. For example, I use colors for
math and for markup elements (like \section{...} and
\subsection{...}). Colors that I want to print are handled by markup
elements like \color{blue} (which probably should themselves be
rendered in color too).
But it would trivial, for example, to issue particular MoDe commands combined
with particular FG/BG commands, to achieve the same effect. Or, if you're
using MoDes just to highlight areas for your own benefit, you could skip the
MoDes and just issue FG/BG commands (from the KBD file, or whatever).
Yes, I see that I could switch to the FG/BG scheme. I'd have to
modify my program that converts from XyTeX to real TeX, but that
wouldn't be too hard. The real problem lies with the hundreds of
existing files that use my current scheme. As you say, I could write a
simple XPL script to convert the files, either one at a time or all at
once ... but I'd have to be convinced that NB was going to work for me
before going ahead! Which comes back to a point with which I heartily
agree:
> NB-NYC really really needs to offer a time-limited, full-function demo product!
A simple XPL routine could put them, and/or remove them. More info needed -- over to
you... but don't box yourself in with old thinking, because there are new
approaches here, easily exploited. For example, you say you "need" Draft
mode,; but you shouldn't count Graphic mode/No Markers out. It's beautiful!
I willing to give it a go!
Many thanks for your detailed pellucid response.
Martin
--
Martin J. Osborne
Department of Economics
150 St. George Street
University of Toronto
Toronto
M5S 3G7
Canada
http://www.economics.utoronto.ca
mailto:martin.osborne@xxxxxxxx
http://www.economics.utoronto.ca/osborne
+1 416-978-5094
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