Nota Bene review

["Anne Putnam" aputnam@xxxxxxxx]

A new review of Nota Bene has been published in the November 2000 issue of
the Journal of the Association for History and Computing. It was written
by Mark Szuchman, Professor of Latin American History at Florida
International University and Associate Dean of Faculty and Graduate
Studies in the College of Arts and Sciences.

XyWriters may be interested in Szuchman’s description of NB's design
philosophy:

"Computer programs have personalities, or better said, they reflect the
personal and philosophical traits of their creators. While an
application's mechanisms consist of clinical bits and bytes, its users’
interaction reflect the designers' and programmers' very human
perspectives on what users need. For example, MS Word stands at one end
along the spectrum of control management, determining choice for the user
and hiding formatting code from the user's view. Nota Bene stands at the
other end of the spectrum, offering on-the-fly access to code parameters
down to the smallest formatting details, allowing -- sometimes inviting --
the user to customize the document as seen fit. Freedom of choice can
sometimes be daunting, but in the main, Nota Bene users will feel an
exceptional amount of power, as they are assumed to have intelligence and
agency."

The full text of the review is available at
http://mcel.pacificu.edu/JAHC/JAHCIII3/APPS/apps2.html

Best wishes to all,

AnneAnne Putnam
President, Nota Bene Associates, Inc.
aputnam@xxxxxxxx
www.notabene.com
1-800-4NB-ORDER (1-800-462-6733)
212-334-0445
212-334-0845 (fax)