Re: A radical idea: a new XyWrite

[Flash flash@xxxxxxxx]

I too am not nostalgic about Xy. I use it because I simply cannot find the functions I need in MS-Word’s jungle of, to me, superfluous features (insert clip art, for example) and ridiculously distracting / disorienting GUI.

I don’t need Xy to provide WYSIWYG functionality. If it could be added without sacrificing
the speed and simplicity of the Xy3 UI, fine. Otherwise, I will continue importing Xy3 files into
PageMaker and doing my layout functions there. This has worked well for me. I suppose someday my
last 32-bit hardware will fail and my PMv6.52 will no longer install on 64-bit hardware. I
’ll burn that bridge when I get to it.




Sent from Flash's iPad

On 21 Apr 2018, at 11:26, Kari Eveli  wrote:

Phil,

For nostalgia, the best remedy is using one of the virtualized solutions to run old programs. In
many cases, old programs run better and faster and more reliably now than ever before. And, best of
all, they can be used in novel ways in workflows that keep basic editing very simple (as in Xy3) and
converted (either using XY print files or external conversion programs) to produce for instance
Unicode XML. For this kind of use, I think the Xy3 file format is far better than newer more
complicated variants. Therefore, a modified Xy3 engine is what I would like to see. Xy4 has many
amenities that serve their users well, but it is much more complicated to use as a rough and ready
formatting platform for custom purposes.

P.S. I have used NB3 to convert from Xy to Ventura and ultimately to PDF. And nowadays, I use it to
convert from Xy via external conversion programs to Unicode XML-type format for publishing online
databases. For this work, native Unicode support and an augmented formatting code vocabulary (custom
'print modes' in Xy parlance) would be beneficial.

Best regards,

Kari Eveli
LEXITEC Book Publishing (Finland)