Re: NBWIN

[Michael Norman michael.norman@xxxxxxxx]

At 1/18/2004 09:01 AM +0200, Morris Krok wrote:
>    
> I am interested to know how Michael Norman is getting along with version
> 7.00 ov NBW 7. 


Thanks for the nudge, Morris.


Screen Issues:


1. Flicker: Gone but not gone. All views save framework work fine. No
flicker at all. And the leading and kerning are much improved. No more
playing with the vertical and horizontal settings in preferences to get a
decent display. Program automates it. I'm a bit of a fanatic when it
comes to screen appearance -- many on this list spend most of the day and
evening twisting sentences -- and I dumped NB when it was clear they were
selling a product with a major screen handling bug. But that's _mostly_
fixed now. Tried it with proportional and monospaced fonts (I've taken to
writing in monospaced fonts in WIN programs after being spoiled by
Siebert's fantastic screen fonts for the DosBox in W98) and the flicker
is gone in both draft and graphics views. All's stable save when you
convert the cursor to a solid, non-blinking block. Then (all tests were
made on three machines -- two XP and one W98) the solid cursor blinks
when you type. When you create an unblinking line cursor, it seems fine.
I can work with either one.


2. Major bug in their frameworks view. Lines overlap. Others on their
list have reported this as well. This is version 7.0a so I'm guessing
they'll get on this soon. It's a big one. But I don't use that feature
so, at this point, I can live with it, for a while.


3. No way to change the background color in the writing window, save an
overall change in windows display settings. This is very strange for a
so-called _writers_ program. I've been writing on a dark blue background
with gray letters for years, and I'd like to find a way to do that in NB.
I asked their tech support -- refreshingly responsive these days -- about
either registry or .ini settings I might alter. None. I just got a front
end for WIN quickres, called QRES, that lets you set resolution and color
depth for individual apps through the .pif, but I'm not sure whether it
will give me full access to display properties. Bottom line: at this
point no fix here.


KEYBOARD:


I'm just starting to rewrite the keyboard and ran into a major glitch on
a basic function -- cursor movement. In XY I use LR and LL (linear right
and left). This makes the XY page almost as good as a piece of paper; one
can set one's pen (cursor) down anywhere. In windows WP's the cursor
snaps back to the left margin at the end of the line and this drives many
folks nuts. At all events, LL and LR cause the cursor to freeze in NB.
But...I just noticed that the function calls in NB.kbd and their xy.kbd
are slightly different for keys 100-103. I need to discover the meaning
of a few codes in the nb.kbd version. Maybe the answer is there. So this
is a _working_ problem. Once I get the basic cursor movements set, then
I'm just going to load my whole XY keyboard and test each function one at
a time. So stay tuned....


U2:


This is the major test, as far as I'm concerned. For example, NB has a
log and resume function and a quick call function, but they are not
as...what...intuitive as savesess. Frankly I'd hate to work without
savesess or something EXACTLY like it. I will say that file handling
(management, they call it) is much easier in NB7 than in previous
versions. From within their open file dialog there's a tool button to
call up WinExplorer (I'm trying to figure out a way to get that same link
to bring up PowerDesk). Also nothing beats NB's conversion function. It
does an excellent job of importing XY4 formatting (not all of it exactly,
of course), and since I'm forced to use MSWord at work, the conversion
features in NB make things a lot easier. I use about five or six routines
in U2 every day, so I have to test this some more. If the program can not
accommodate the XPL routines I need, that will be a major stumbling
block. 


Other modules:


I have not tested Orbis or Ibidem yet. Until I decide whether I like and
can adapt the WP there's no point, but I'd really like to have an
integrated suit of programs. As it stands, I write in XyDos with
Reference Manager and dTSearch and (soon) the OED (thanks to Robert)
running in the background. SWS could simplify all that. But, again,
unless I can get NB's WP to run as smoothly as XYDos...


MISC:


Some small conflicts with printer drivers, especially the FinePrint (a
great utility) driver. Sometimes you have to revert to the old NB
practice of downloading TT fonts as Bitmaps. This is on their fix
list.


No _bottom line_ yet. A lot more to test. I'll file another report in a
while.


Michael Norman