mcdonald@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu (02/10/89)
We are going to be moving our secretaries to a Mac-based word
processing system sometime soon. Presumably the platforms will
be some sort of Mac II's with large monochrome displays. We
are looking for suggestions as to which word processors to
standardize on. Our business is physical chemistry, so there
are several requirements:
1: Ability to put equations into documents and, preferably,
edit them there (as opposed to make and edit them in another
program and paste them in). Complicated and fancy math is
our business.
2: Automatic renumbering and referencing equations and figures
as documents are modified. That is, equations and figures need to
be given names or tags by which they are referenced, so that
when a document is edited the references remain correct
(Example: if the writer decides to swap the second and fourth
equations in the text, all the references to "equation 2"
would automatically change to "equation 4", and the
equations would still be numbered in order at the side of them).
A similar system should apply to figures.
3. We need to be able to collect a bibliography at the end,
intersplaced with endnotes, with one set of sequence numbers.
A given endnote or reference is numbered in the sequence it
appears in the text. But reference can be made to earlier
notes or bibliography entries by its number. For example,
reference numbers in the text (which must appear as superscripts)
might be in order 1 2 3 4 3 5 1 6 7 8 4 and so forth. IF
the writers adds or deletes a reference they should be numbered
automatically.
4. Our secretaries loathe mice. The user interface should allow
(almost) anything to be done from the keyboard. Actually, they
will soon start using the mouse for some things, like cutting
and pasteing big pieces of text, and will like doing it that
way. But we want to humor them as much as possible.
5. The word processor should be able to import AND EXPORT straight
ascii text. It would be very nice if it could take a complete
document with pasted-in pictures and formatting information,
and dump the text alone to a plain ascii file.
6. As long as one has a graphical user interface, it should get
as close to true WYSIWYG as possible. That is, it would be
nice if the fonts one sees on the screen actually ARE a
low resolution copy of the printed font. In any event,
the screen formatting should have letters and symbols in
exactly the same relative place on the page as in the printed
result.
Are there any products that can do all that? Your suggestions,
comments, and flames are welcome. By e-mail or otherwise, as
you feel appropriate.
Doug McDonald (mcdonald@uxe.cso.uiuc.edu) preferred
or, in a pinch
(mcdonald@b.scs.uiuc.edu)aberg@math.rutgers.edu (Hans Aberg) (02/12/89)
There is no WYSWYG program that can do everything you ask for in technical word processing. The best hope for the future is some vaporware from Mansfield Systems (but don't hold your breath). An interesting possibility for your secretaries is to generate the formulas with the Expressionist or the MathType. These applications can generate TeX code, which can then be pasted into any TeX program. Hans Aberg, Professor in Mathematics aberg@math.rutgers.edu