Re: Questions About XyWin

[Robert Holmgren]

Leslie: In Xy4, color "Modes" (so-called by XyQuest) work only in (what IBM
calls) text modes. Two of Xy4's three "views" are IBM text modes: Draft
(which displays color) and Expanded (which reveals the instructions that
generate color, but not the color itself). However, Xy4's Graphic view
operated on a different (VGA) principle; you could make adjustments grosso modo
only, to the background and foreground colors. To do this, you didn't use
color modes, but rather a number 0-255 embedded as the thirteenth (!) element
of default BX (a ridiculously tortured procedure). In Xy4 Graphic view, you
could not (to my knowledge) adjust the colors of strings (words) or attributes
(italics, redlines, etc), as you now desire.

 The abovementioned limitation on color in Xy4 Graphic view portends the bad
news in XyWin, because *all* of XyWin's views are graphical views -- even XyWin
Draft and Expanded, which simulate IBM text mode but are really graphic. (It's
this simulation that makes XyWin's Draft & Expanded views so excruciatingly
slow -- all the speed optimization has gone into Graphics view, which is
roughly ten times faster that Draft|Expanded, according to my tests -- the
opposite of the situation that prevails in Xy4, where Draft|Expanded are
fastest). So, in XyWin, you can have any colors you wish so long as they're
solid colors and not more than two, one in the foreground and another in the
background. You can fiddle with the buttons and other stuff too, if you want.
Unfortunately, you adjust the colors *universally* from the Windows' Control
Panel, not from XyWin (BX doesn't work anymore). Therefore, color changes
affect *all* of your Windows apps. Luckily, the only reason you use Windows at
all is to run XyWin, so it's not catastrophic...

 In Windows [or WIN-OS/2], go to:
 Control Panel
 Color
  now select from, either:
  Color Schemes, for canned fore/back setups; or
  Color Palette, for custom setups

 Carl Distefano rightly cautions to "be careful. If you go for dark
screen|light text, the color you choose for text can't be *too* light!
Otherwise, it won't stand out against the white XyWin CMline, which color, as
far as I can tell, simply cannot be changed." Also, don't try a black
background unless you first change the text to a light color, else you're stuck
with black-on-black and it's mighty hard to Undo (I know!). Carl opted for,
and I also prefer, the default black text on a dark gray ground.

 Ah, the beloved Libraries. Do you remember that desperate day in the early
60s when the crew, training on the Hudson, was swept into a cruel current,
careened sideways somehow, and was sliced in two by a Circle Line sightseeing
boat? My carrel in Butler Library was my steady refuge.