news@sun.UUCP (09/17/87)
It's a very happy marriage. Ventura Publisher was designed to read a
plethora of MS-DOS word processor formats as well as files stored in
readable ASCII format. It was also designed to allow one to imbed, prior to
WYSIWYG manipulation, formatting controls; much like one enters in-line
codes for troff, Tex, Script, etc.
Recently our firm was requested to prepare a demo of a newsletter for a
Washington based scientific special interest group. I chose to compose the
text using vi on our UNIX system. Why? I like vi and I like looking at my
Wyse-30's screen a whole lot more than at our Wyse-700 1280x800 screen on
the AT. What I was able to do, within an readable-ASCII-only environment
was:
+ enter tag names
+ select fonts and point sizes
+ enter in special characters like em dashes and
copyright symbols.
I was then able to download the filee to the AT, bring up Ventura, read in
the file and see a sample of something ALMOST ready to be used. WYSIWYG is
great for lots and lots of things - but do you want to WYSIWYG a 100 page
book? I don't. Ventura let's you take the best of both world. And although
it works well with any editor (and allows the same in-line command
insertion techniqes) I prefer my UNIX system for composition. AT's are
expensive. Wyse-30 terminals are $280. If your shops does a lot of document
preparation you might consider this route.
IN-LINE COMMANDS
Having said a few things about this I'll present a few examples. They
should be self-explanatory. If not, drop me a note and I'll provide more
info.
The <f29>United States Constitution<f255> is our <IB>nation's<D>
living document and guide to our laws and system of government<196>from
the works of...
<f29> tells Ventura to switch to Zaph Chancery, <f255> returns to the font
in use prior to last selection, <IB> says go to bold AND italics, <D> sets
style to normal, <196> is an em dash. In-line commands are always within
the angle brackets and are NOT case sensitive. <F29> = <f29>. You can also
combine them like <f29bi>.
As for tags - if you have something you know, even before entering into the
neat world of WYSIWYG, is a headline then
@headline = SMITHSONIAN ADVISOR
will save you time once in Ventura. Tag names ARE case sensitive.
Conclusion - UNIX is but one environment in which the benefits of VENTURA
PUBLISHER can be made more apparent. We'll have a troff/nroff to Ventura
converter shortly...
David Geller
Electric Logic
Washington, D.C.
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