Re: What Is XyWin?

[Robert Holmgren]

Oh. Kerning via X!P!L! That's been possible, sort of, for a long time. I
gave it a stubborn try in long-ago Xy3+ days. There were fatal problems,
though. First, 3+ would only process a grand total of 4  (or were they
? -- I forget) codes per line of text. It ignored all subsequent codes,
which turned the routine into a foolish exercise. Second, until about v3.54,
the WiDth tables accepted negative numbers, which made kerning very easy *AND*
JUstified; then, unannounced, unwonted, the bloody WD tables stopped accepting
negative numbers, and I remember being apoplectically TICKED OFF. Third, you
understate the problem with "the only drawback to this technique is that
justification is not possible." Even those who don't JU will find that direct
hardware manipulation of the printer head (without filtering the instructions
through the Width table) frequently creates very short lines, as well as lines
that literally print off the right edge of the page with 10|12|larger point
type. I mention these things as potential problems that must be addressed if
you pursue a kludge (i.e. XPL) solution -- it really ought to be native to
EDITOR. Whatever you do, there should be a very malleable data structure into
which we dump idiosyncratic kerning pairs, triplets, etc -- because remember,
every font is visually different, and that's why kerning is necessary &
desirable (whereas if all typefaces had the same contours, there'd be no need).
Kerning is a serious lacunae in XyWrite. But don't auto-implement it! Kerning
is *visual*, esthetical! You can't say that every "ffi" needs a wee squeeze;
it's an UF- and SY-contingent thing.

Maybe, instead of XPL, you could kern via Auto-Replace, the auto-expansion AZ
facility? For that, you'd need additive specs for personal spelling files,
e.g. BX load personal.spl+dutch.krnQ2 or something on that line...

I intend to purchase XyWin. I am thinking, though, that maybe this time I'll
let others wring out the bugs before I migrate. I never felt that way before;
but Sig and Xy4 were awfully draining. And, I find increasingly that you're
going your way, and I'm going mine. I still don't use your menus, hence am not
exactly sure whether "dialog box coordinates" are germane (whatever they are).
Do you use those menus? To perform which tasks? I mean, importing documents
in other formats -- maybe! The once-in-six-months complicated procedure. But
for the rest: it's all so slooooow & clumsy! Ciao for Niao