Shareware Grab Bag/Shareware Grab Bag.iso/002/pconote1.arc/PCONOTES.PRN

Text File | 1986-03-07 | 7.4 KB | 134 lines

   I. Preliminary notes on PC-Outline:
      A. These notes by: David J. Lewis
      B. Date: 3/7/86
      C. Circumstances: I've used PCO for about 6-8 hours of
         production work on V.1.02, shareware copy, without full
         documentation (registered copy ordered), mainly creating and
         editing outlines, with little printing and wp functions.
      D. Contact me at:
         1) c/o MECA, 285 Riverside Avenue, Westport CT 06880,
            203-222-1000 x7705 (temporary)
         2) SystemCrafts Inc, Box 6443, Ithaca, New York  14850
            (permanent)
         3) PC Rockland BBS, 914-353-2176
         4) CIS, 70105,1242 (E-mail)

  II. Bugs, dangerous "features" and "obvious" oversights:
      A. Delete word right: doesn't delete last character of last
         word at the end of an outline element
      B. Under some circumstances, part of a word does not wrap
         properly to the  next line.  Sorry, I can't reproduce it,
         but it happened when the nesting level was fairly deep and
         the automatic horizontal scroll was in effect.
      C. Escape from PCO is too easy -- especially after escaping
         from some other comand, it's surprising (and dangerous) to
         find another <escape> asking you to leave PCO.  I often just
         lean on <escape> to get back to the top of whatever I was
         doing.  I know that one can back out of the final escape,
         but there ought to be two full levels of protection here,
         and you've reduced it to one-and-a-half.  On a PC KB, the
         sequence: "1y" would cause a catastrophic exit if one hit
         <escape> instead of "1".  On an AT KB, it's even worse,
         since the sequence: <backspace> "y" could become <escape>
         "y", though the spacing on the KB is a bit more generous
         there.  PLEASE CHANGE THIS!  Escaping from PCO MUST be a
         double-keystroke function -- it doesn't happen often enough
         to justify making it so easy.  Suggestion: just disable
         <escape> as escape from PCO; "<insert> Q" is good enough.
      D. After the menu-select key, <escape> takes you out of PCO --
         it should just undo the menu-select key.
      E. Are there really no lower-case Roman numerals?

 III. Suggestions and opinions:
      A. Accept a typed name on the file selection list so that PCO
         can be started with KeyFake for a particular file.  Better
         yet, accept a filename as a parameter
      B. Backspace shouldn't erase beyond the beginning of an outline
         element -- that often causes unwanted erasure at the end of
         the preceding element (especially with QuickKeys)
      C. PCO needs a better way of arranging/selecting a window --
         how about choosing a window to activate from the window list
         (from control-z).
      D. "/" is a poor default for the menu character; how about "\"
         (I know you can change it, but the default ought to be a
         better choice)
      E. It would be nice to have a single key to start a new element
         indented, rather than the sequence: ^return, f6.
      F. Selection boxes (no/yes, etc) would look a tad better if the
         reverse video were only as wide as the widest selection
         rather than the entire box/header.
      G. Editing causes text to be unhidden -- couldn't that be
         postponed until the hidden text is actually changed?  This
         would allow minor editing of the first line of text without
         opening it all up.
      H. I can't find an option for vertical spacing before
         paragraphs -- perhaps this belongs with global outline
         style, with a different spacing at each level;  it's
         presently spacing of 0 at all levels (single spacing).
         Manually inserting a preceding blank line (as I've done
         here) is no substitute for this feature.
      I. I dislike the half-page jump when inserting words on the
         bottom line of the screen.  What's wrong with one-line
         scrolling, just as when adding a new paragraph at the
         bottom?
      J. Is there any way to get an outline title or text at the top
         that is totally outside the outline (or can that be fudged
         with unnumbered paragraphs)?
      K. "DELETE word left/right (control-arrow)" is too similar to
         "MOVE word left/right (shift-arrow)."  Confusing them can be
         unpleasant, so this might be a good spot for some command
         "decoupling."
      L. I don't fully understand the algorithm for placing the
         cursor horizontally after up/down movement between
         paragraphs.  Would it be better not to move it horizontally
         at all, even if it means putting the cursor beyond the end
         of a line?
      M. The use of <insert> for menu bar activation is going to
         attract some (justifiable) brickbats.  How about a function
         key -- two are unassigned (or have you other plans?), or
         gray + or -, shoving "zoom" onto the FKeys.
      N. The method for block operation seems a little less intuitive
         than the one I'm used to.
         1) PCO's method requires:
            a) specify operation and mark start of block (in one stroke)
            b) move cursor to end of block
            c) mark end of block
            d) move cursor to insert point
            e) invoke operation
         2) The method I'm used to (from the Mac, etc) is
            a) mark start of block
            b) move cursor to end of block
            c) mark end of block
            d) move cursor to insert point
            e) specify and invoke operation (in one stroke)
         Thus, the methods involve the same number of strokes.
         However, PCO's method introduces a "mode" (limited universe)
         from the beginning to the end, while method 2's steps (a) to
         (d) are completely generic and not tied to any particular
         operation.  For example, one could do other things after
         marking the block and before invoking the operation, but
         once an operation is started in PCO's method, it must be run
         to completion immediately, and that's not as intuitive or
         flexible, in my opinion.  The only advantage to PCO's method
         is that it requires one less dedicated key, since the "mark
         start of block" operation is always combined with the
         selection of the editing operation, but I don't think that's
         necessarily an advantage since it doesn't save any strokes
         in actual operation.

  IV. Kudos:  In general, this is a very good program.  It looks
      and feels quite smooth, complete and well thunk out;  I
      gather that the author(s) is (are) capable of a fully
      professional product and intend to market it as such.  I'm
      not familiar with other PC outliners, but PCO is much better
      than Think Tank 512/Mac.  I'm glad to see a program like
      this in Shareware, despite the slightly steep asking price
      for that realm.  Support it (with service, bug fixes and
      upgrades) and you've got at least one permanent customer.
      However, present users do seem to be "beta testers," so you
      should give them (us) a break!

   V. Questions: Who and how many of there are you?  Will you
      publish a phone number, start some customer service, appear
      on Compuserve, put up a bbs, etc?