Re: cross-references explained

[Peregrine@xxxxxxxx]

Bill Troop writes:

≪ But . . . if XyWrite were customized to work partly
 as a front end, partly as a companion, and partly as a low-level
 replacement for Quark -- couldn't that work? ≫

I still have Quark Xpress v 3.12 on an older computer, and in the Xpress
directory is a file called Xyfilter.xxt ... Quark inexplicably looks for
XyWrite files with the extension XY3, which I think is a bother to add to the
filename, but it imports Xy files correctly regardless of their name. I
tried it yesterday with a file that used fairly simple formatting created in
Xy4, and it worked great!

So the functionality is far from lost on people like you and me, Bill. It
comes down to a sales job to bring more thinking people on board, and the
fact is that there are no resources to support that marketing because the
owner of the XyWrite technology is flatly uninterested. So do we really want
to dissipate our energies trying to convert the unwilling? I think the
solution for XyWrite users at Yale and elsewhere is to keep using the program
and customizing it to our own purposes, proving again and again how darned
efficient it is. (XPL programming isn't all that easy nor all that hard, and
it is functionally transparent after the requisite customization tweaks. I
haven't altered my basic configuration significantly for years, other than U2
upgrades.)

XyWrite always was an acquired skill, not being the kind of program people
call "intuitive" because it doesn't use those ridiculous Microsoft
conventions. It isn't for everyone and doesn't pretend to be. XyWrite is
for power users and geeks like me who recognize its functionality and
simplicity. If everybody else wants to get bogged down in a 200-megabyte
goliath word processor for simple text creation, let 'em!

I believe the marriage between XyWrite and Quark Xpress always was a good
one, Bill, and it still is. And I wonder ... If that old Xyfilter.xxt were
transferred to a newer version of Quark Xpress, would it work?

Jeff Seager