Re: Column Tables

[RUUA11A@xxxxxxxx (MR RICHARD J WILLIAMS)]

Kenneth Frank:


--[ ORIGINAL MESSAGE ]-----------------

On the subject of column tables I think Dick Williams
misunderstood what I said. I use column tables quite a bit, and
for the purposes for which I use them, I don't have any serious
difficulties. There is an annoying display problem in graphic
view where extraneous text from another page sometimes appears
above the table, but it prints fine.

        I guess it all depends on your point of view;
        I have the same annoying display problem, but
        I consider it a serious difficulty--the fact
        that it prints fine notwithstanding.


I did not see the message from Dick Williams describing a
particular bug, but if you could repost it to me I will have tech
support pick it up and forward it to development. By the way, I
wouldn't be surprised if development has not put a lot of time
into fixing bugs in this area because they realize that a more
major re-write is in order, and are reluctant to invest much in
something they are going to re-do anyway. Nevertheless, if there
is a serious bug we should address it.

        In addition to the display problem, there
        are two other more significant things
        which occur when I use column tables:

        a. The more recent of the two is a page
        break which I didn't create, for which
        no "PG" command appears anywhere in expanded
        view, and which doesn't print fine, i. e.,
        the printed copy includes that page break.
        This causes a five-page file to print out as
        7 or 8 pages, some of which contain only header
        information.

        b. The other problem, which recurs in formatted
        view, seemingly with no rhyme or reason,
        causes the keyboard to lock up completely. The
        only way out of this is a complete re-boot
        via the Ctlr-Atl-Del method.

        As I explained to the tech support person on
        the phone, I can work around most of the
        difficulties by not doing anything in
        formatted view. However, there are times
        when I'd like to work with the file and see
        it on the screen as it's going to print. I
        think you'll agree that that is a reasonable
        expectation.

        Also, as I mentioned in an earlier message,
        tech support told me that they were aware of
        these problems, were working on them, but
        had no timetable for their correction. Maybe
        some interest on your part might galvanize
        the developers into action a little sooner.

        Finally (thank God, you say!), I do appreciate
        your interest in the problems of us XyWriters.
        To be sure, I feel like a 3rd-grader sitting in
        on a college seminar trying to decipher some of
        the messages I've seen on this list, but my
        problems are important to me even if they aren't
        as complex as some of the others that have been
        described. It's nice to know that you intend
        to try and help us "little guys" as well as the
        power users.

                ........DW