[Am-info] Word Processing Features

[Geoffrey]

Dan Strychalski wrote:
> Echoing many Microsoft supporters I have known (so my bitterness will
> show, and I apologize beforehand), Geoffrey (esoteric@3times25.net)
> wrote --
> 

No apologies necessary.  I look at macros to be similar to command line 
tools.  I need them, I use them, I want them.  Unfortunately, the 
average Joe has no inclination to learn them or use them.  One reason 
the majority of Windows users fear the command line.


> 
>>I maintain that macros are not worth the effort of the software company.
>>Why?  Because, unfortunately, macro users are a huge minority.  I'd bet
>>
> 
> This is the excuse given -- no, not given directly by those who did it,
> but offered by their apologists -- for the elimination, beginning in
> 1982 and lasting until 1992, of certain keystrokes from mass-market user
> interfaces. Not to mention a million other failings of commercial
> software of the past twenty years.

Sure, because the assumption (incorrect as it might be) was that you 
didn't need special keystrokes, you've got a mouse now!

> 
> Simple text editors have macro functions. A word processor should have
> one too. The ability to record, replay, save, and bind sequences of
> keystrokes doesn't seem like a terribly hard feature to implement.

No, it's probably not.

> 
> 
>>less than 5% of word processor users even know what a macro is.
>>
> 
> Yes, of course. People who've been using a word processor to earn their
> livelihood for years and years don't know it. This needs explaining.
> 
> Long ago, one company, cognizant that "macro" is a jargon word, called
> the feature "shorthand" and made it one of the six top-level menus in
> the help panel that appeared by default above the space you were typing
> in.
> 
> (Sorry, I keep forgetting that command keystrokes are always hidden.)
> 
> I used that company's product, and I had a shedload of shorthand
> commands. The feature had its flaws, but at least I could press one key
> (shown in the main menu), get a list of my shorthand commands *with my
> own explanations of what each one did*, and press another key (shown in
> the Shorthand menu) to invoke the one I wanted.
> 
> I encountered the term "macro" only later, hidden deep inside a more
> "advanced" word processor. The term was scary, but not half as scary as
> the process of creating a macro -- and forget about getting a list of
> your macros, much less one with explanations. That sort of thing had to
> be hidden, it had to be hard, and it had to be terrifying. Macros could
> be part of your "keyboard definition" or separate from it. Just LOOKING
> at the keyboard definition screen and backing out generated a "Save
> changes?" query. And this was the most "popular" word processor in the
> world before Microsoft Word for Windows took that slot.

A classic case of programming for yourself, rather then the user.

> 
> And, as I've said, in both WordPerfect and Microsoft Word for MS/PC DOS,
> the macro feature was the only place you could find a documented command
> keystroke involving Ctrl and a letter key. Coincidence? Too many other
> phenomena suggest not.
> 
> Ah, but keystrokes don't matter. It's only word processors we're talking
> about, and only a minority of people even know that you can change which
> key or combination of keys does what. So screw 'em.

I'm not aware that you can currently do this in Windows, but then again, 
I don't use windows.  It only makes sense that a user should be able to 
customize their interface.  How about a car that doesn't have adjustable 
mirrors, seat and steering wheel???


> 
> Dan Strychalski
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> 
> 


-- 
Until later: Geoffrey		esoteric@3times25.net

"...the system (Microsoft passport) carries significant risks to users that
are not made adequately clear in the technical documentation available."
- David P. Kormann and Aviel D. Rubin, AT&T Labs - Research
- http://www.avirubin.com/passport.html