> Another thing: I started a web site this year, so writing web pages has >become a fairly important part of my writing recently. I just wonder whether >XyWrite is suitable for writing web pages in. I've been using WordPad to do >this (inserting all the H.T.M.L. code by hand) - so would there be any advantage >in using XyWrite to do this, rather than continuing to use WordPad? > Thanks. > > Regards, > Michael Edwards. A thread from about 15 months ago speaks well to this issue (sorry I don't know the original author anymore):Word processor file structures seem to fall into two general classes, typified on the one hand by XyWrite, and on the other by MS Word. XyWrite could be said to use a "streaming" structure, that is, the text runs from start to finish, and any enhancements are switched on in-stream where they apply and are switched off immediately when they no longer apply. Moreover, the on/off control structures are plainly visible to the practiced eye. By contrast, Word's file format is a "header/trailer" type of format, wherein the actual text is an almost perfectly plain block in the middle of the file, preceded and followed by blocks of formatting information coded in a more or less proprietary way. The document file begins to become more of a program and less a string of text. In other words, using XyWrite for HTML works great because they both use the same philosophy of embedded formatting! And HTML files are, after all, ASCII files, which is exactly what XyWrite produces. If you're talking basic text, going from XyWrite-coded to HTML couldn't be much easier: --Hard returns are easily changed to. --Converting italics, bold, etc., to HTML is a snap in Xy4 because of the additive nature of the formatting command (MD+BO becomes and MD-BO ). Converting these in Xy3 is a little more involved, but still very easy if you know $.02 about programming. --Other elements can be rerendered in html just as easily because (and here's one of THE keys about XyWrite): XyWrite gives you DIRECT control over ALL aspects of formatting. Regarding printers, both Xy3 and Xy4 have PCL and PostScript drivers (and of course, with XyWin you have the option of using the regular Windows printer drivers, although I can't speak to any strengths/weaknesses there). All of the later models of HP printers I've come in contact with can understand both languages (The old HPII's understood only PCL and had memory-resident fonts we had to download every time the printer got turned off). We used to have an old NEC that worked fine with Xy3--even did some Greek on it. If your printer understands only PCL, make sure that it has memory-resident fonts, otherwise everything will come out in courier. (This happened with a friend's brand-new printer just a few months ago. I don't remember the brand, so the warning is all I can offer.) --TLO Timothy_Olson@xxxxxxxx (630) 784-5327