Re: Conversion Dilemmas - Report

["Michael P. Kube-McDowell" K-Mac@xxxxxxxx]

Date sent:   	Fri, 9 Apr 1999 09:23:27 +0900 (JST)
Send reply to: 	xywrite@xxxxxxxx
From:      	rrr@xxxxxxxx (Yo Intl.)
To:       	xywrite@xxxxxxxx
Subject:    	Re: Conversion Dilemmas - Report

> I have these .flt files in my d:\xyw\filters directory:
> DATABASE FLT     250   2-05-96  1:23am
> SPREAD  FLT     364   2-05-96  1:23am
> TEXTIN  FLT    1743   2-05-96  1:23am
> TEXTOUT  FLT    1851   2-05-96  1:23am

File sizes here apparently relate directly to how many filters you
opted for during the install (plus any additions made by hand later);
file date is the install (or last edit date). My TEXTOUT.FLT is 21345
bytes, for instance, and is dated 11-03-95.

> and I have none of the conversion problems you describe. Yes,
> newer Word versions sometimes refuse to read XY-generated RTF
> properly, but in that case I crank up my "Word 6", save as RTF
> there, and voila.

I don't have a "Word 6" available. (I only have Word 97 because I
was able to pick up a new copy of MS Office Professional for $40; I
don't use it for anything regularly.)

> The situation where "Word" puts 1 letter on 1 page and creates
> million-page files is familiar. Apparently, Word sometimes
> reads page size commands in a strange way. In that case you just
> open "Word", click on "Page setup" and adjust the settings (which
> often look like: gutter 5 inch, bottom margin 9 inch, and similar
> nonsense). A voila.

Well, familiar to those who know about it, I suppose. And not
familiar to those who don't. (I have a three-year archive of this
mailing list which I consulted first; there was another report of that
problem, but no solutions in sight.) While I enjoy a good mystery
as well as the next fellow, I have a one-man office, three kids
including two toddlers, and a wife whose health is not the best--so
right now, time is an extremely precious commodity around here,
with energy a close second. With everything else there is that
needs doing, I don't relish spending most of a day--as I had to
yesterday--beating on files trying to export their contents.

> To ditch XYwrite because its format is not "up to date" or some
> such sounds bizarre. I mean, how clean can a format be? XYwrite
> is pure text with some minimilistic and easily-removed code
> instructions in it.

I'm pretty familiar with XyWrite's file format. I've been using it since--
oh, about 1986, I think. I've written my last 9 novels in III+, IV, or
XyWin.

There are some other things about XyWrite that have started to
annoy me, too, and while some of them might be addressed by
further fiddling with it--well, reference above discussion of personal
circumstances.

(There's no fix, I'm afraid, for the twitchy mouse/cursor/selecting
behavior of XyWin. Or the learning curve problem, which has on
more than one occasion kept me from availing myself of volunteer
help because the volunteers would need too much hand-holding. If
I'd been using Word or WordPerfect, I'd have been all right.)

> I very much suggest there is also a wetware problem at your British
> typesetting shop involved. Can't you find another contact person there to
> talk to?

Well, it's an indirect contact--my British editor tells my American
agent that their production people can't deal with manuscript files in
Xy format, and my agent tells me. But I don't find that report the
least unbelievable, because my American publisher had some
trouble getting the _previous_ novel converted.

All of the other problems I reported are ones I witnessed (in the
course of exporting from XyW to every format importable by any of
the battery of word processors I have here--AmiPro3.1, WordPro96,
MS Word 97, and WordPerfectWin 6.0) or reported to me by my
agent (to whom I sent some test files).

I've been a booster and defender of XyWrite for years. But at the
moment, I'm a disaffected user who might become a former user.

Best,

   K-Mac


  ---] Michael Paul McDowell, writing as Michael P. Kube-McDowell
  ---] Author of THE QUIET POOLS and STAR WARS: THE BLACK FLEET CRISIS
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