ehanson@umbc1.umbc.edu (Mr. Erik Hanson; ARTS-SCI (UG)) (04/06/91)
If you sumbit an archive to comp.binaries.mac, *PLEASE* don't include readme files in Microsoft Word format!! Some of us realize that Microsoft sucks (I mean we can't afford to buy _another_ word processor)! Most readme files that I have seen don't need special formatting and would be fine as text files. If it is absolutely necessary that you use different fonts and have special formatting, try to save your document in MacWrite format (not MacWrite II format). I believe every word processor can read that! Or, save it in MacWrite AND Microsoft Word formats. And while I'm complaining, it would be nice if the beginning of the post gave a little hint as to what the program being posted actually does. This isn't in response to one particular post, this is a problem that occasionally occurs in comp.binaries.mac (and at sumex), and I'm starting to get a little annoyed. seeya! Erik Hanson University of Maryland, Baltimore County ehanson@umbc2.umbc.edu
dburr@monsoon.Berkeley.EDU (Donald Burr) (04/06/91)
In article <1991Apr5.174838.13130@umbc3.umbc.edu> ehanson@umbc1.umbc.edu writes: >If you sumbit an archive to comp.binaries.mac, *PLEASE* don't include >readme files in Microsoft Word format!! > >Some of us realize that Microsoft sucks (I mean we can't afford to buy >_another_ word processor)! > >Most readme files that I have seen don't need special formatting and would >be fine as text files. If it is absolutely necessary that you use different >fonts and have special formatting, try to save your document in MacWrite >format (not MacWrite II format). I believe every word processor can read that! > >Or, save it in MacWrite AND Microsoft Word formats. > >And while I'm complaining, it would be nice if the beginning of the post >gave a little hint as to what the program being posted actually does. > >This isn't in response to one particular post, this is a problem that >occasionally occurs in comp.binaries.mac (and at sumex), and I'm starting >to get a little annoyed. > > >seeya! > >Erik Hanson University of Maryland, Baltimore County ehanson@umbc2.umbc.edu I would like to amend to this. It would also be nice if READ ME's were in TeachText (or other type TEXT format), and the docs to the program can be in MacWrite or Word or DocMaker or whatever you rlittle heart desires. Also name the Read me files with "READ ME" in them. That way, us souls with Stuffit Deluxe and/or Classic can get them to automatically open up on opening the archive. Whee! I know that I myself like to see the README when I open the archive, and I'm sure others out there do too. 2 Just my $ --- 's worth... 100 ______________________________________________________________________________ Donald Burr; Univ of California, Berkeley | America Online: DonaldBurr INTERNET: dburr@ocf.Berkeley.EDU |_Compu$erve:_72540,3071____________ or: 72540.3071@compuserve.COM | "Send flames to /dev/null."
jcav@quads.uchicago.edu (john cavallino) (04/08/91)
In article <1991Apr5.174838.13130@umbc3.umbc.edu> ehanson@umbc1.umbc.edu writes: >If you sumbit an archive to comp.binaries.mac, *PLEASE* don't include >readme files in Microsoft Word format!! > >Some of us realize that Microsoft sucks (I mean we can't afford to buy >_another_ word processor)! > >Most readme files that I have seen don't need special formatting and would >be fine as text files. If it is absolutely necessary that you use different >fonts and have special formatting, try to save your document in MacWrite >format (not MacWrite II format). I believe every word processor can read that! I maintain that simple README files should always be TeachText documents. That is precisely the reason TeachText exists. If you've written a manual with more complicated formatting, then I must >reluctantly< agree that providing it in MacWrite format is more polite than using MS Word. It would really be great, however, if somehow the lowest common denominator of Mac word-processing formats could be raised to at least the level of WriteNow or MacWrite II. I mean, the old MacWrite format can't even represent footnotes! [gripegripegripe] JohnC -- John Cavallino | EMail: jcav@midway.uchicago.edu University of Chicago Hospitals | USMail: 5841 S. Maryland Ave, Box 145 Office of Facilities Management | Chicago, IL 60637 "Opinions, my boy. Just opinions" | Telephone: 312-702-6900
roy@phri.nyu.edu (Roy Smith) (04/11/91)
jcav@quads.uchicago.edu (john cavallino) writes: > I maintain that simple README files should always be TeachText documents. No argument on that one from me. > If you've written a manual with more complicated formatting, then I must > >reluctantly< agree that providing it in MacWrite format is more polite > than using MS Word. What would be really nice is if each word processor came with a "read-only" version that was freely distributable. That way, you could write your manuals using whatever program you liked best and distribute them with the "document reader" version so people could read them. Said version should allow people to view and print documents, but not change or save them. Not that it really matters much in practice anyway. I can't remember the last time I saw a Macintosh that didn't have a hot copy of MS Word on it. :-( -- Roy Smith, Public Health Research Institute 455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016 roy@alanine.phri.nyu.edu -OR- {att,cmcl2,rutgers,hombre}!phri!roy "Arcane? Did you say arcane? It wouldn't be Unix if it wasn't arcane!"
hoepfner@heawk1.gsfc.nasa.gov (Patrick Hoepfner) (04/14/91)
roy@phri.nyu.edu (Roy Smith) writes: [ ... deleted stuff ... ] >> If you've written a manual with more complicated formatting, then I must >> >reluctantly< agree that providing it in MacWrite format is more polite >> than using MS Word. > What would be really nice is if each word processor came with a >"read-only" version that was freely distributable. That way, you could >write your manuals using whatever program you liked best and distribute >them with the "document reader" version so people could read them. Said >version should allow people to view and print documents, but not change or >save them. This is what Claris' XTND is all about. This would allow every word processor to read and write every other! Each word processor would be responsible for creating that little file that is placed in the appropriate place so that you can then read another file format. The other option is to use Microsoft's RTF format. This is something that can even be e-mailed with out the need to BinHex it. The only WPs which don't read RTF are MacWrite (before MacWrite II) and Nisus. If these allowed RTF reading/writing then RTF would be the format of choice. Just my two cents... +--------------------------+---------------------------------------+ / Patrick Hoepfner | NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center \ / America Online: PatrickH9 | Internet: hoepfner@heasfs.gsfc.nasa.gov \ +-----------------------------+------------------------------------------+