Dear Lynn,
I write in Xywrite and then strip out all format material. I
separate paragraphs with two line feeds. This is a pure ASCII
file then which any word processor (even Word) can read. Let the
editors do the converting, is my motto. They're editors, let
them edit.
regards,
ralph
ralph gray
mailto:rgrayauto@xxxxxxxx
List members may be interested in this piece, which spells
out every reason to hate MS Word.
I've long despised Word, but this article spells out
reasons for hating it that had never occurred to me.
I still write everything in Xywrite, but for years I've
converted my copy to Word before filing it because my various
print and online editors don't use Xywrite -- indeed, most of
them have never even heard of it -- but all know Word.
After reading this article, I wonder whether Xywrite
wouldn't make text easier for them to move from one publishing
platform to another. Does anyone on the list file copy to be
published online in Xywrite?
Lynn Brenner
I write in XyWrite or more often now in Nota Bene, and then convert
to Word. I keep an ancient copy of Word 95 on my computer because
it's much easier to use than later versions which as the above
article points out are so loaded with extra stuff that they are
unwieldy and difficult.
Conversion remains a problem, however; .rtf seems to work as long as
the document is fairly simple and unproblematic, but the minute you
get into footnotes, you're in trouble. The .rtf conversion will
work, but it can't be trusted to keep your footnotes or endnotes in
the same order and with the same numbers.
Unfortunately, however, clunky old Word is what editors and
publishers seem to want. I sent in a book ms. a few years ago to a
university press, asked them if Nota Bene was OK, they said yes, but
later it was clear they had no idea what to do about it, and I had
to do the laborious translation into Word myself.
Years ago Adobe made a neat little program called Word for Word,
which did conversions among a number of different wp formats, most
of them now forgotten. XyIII and XyIV were among them. But I'm
unaware of any similar translators available today.
Another reason to hate Word is that their Help files will work only
if you ask your question in precisely, and I mean precisely, the
form MS thinks you should use.
And another: there is no cross-file searching capability that I know
of, unlike Xy which has had it for years.
Nicholas Clifford