Search found 21 matches

by WattsM
2005-07-25 20:01:08
Forum: Nisus Writer Express
Topic: Macros in 2.5
Replies: 21
Views: 26108

Macros in 2.5

Just out of curiosity, have there been any changes to the macro capability in 2.5? I know in an earlier message, it was suggested that you want to make it work with all shell languages (Ruby, Python, etc.) as well as expanding the AppleScript dictionary. As I recall, the Perl macros didn't work comp...
by WattsM
2005-03-03 11:19:24
Forum: Nisus Writer Express
Topic: The best word processor on the market:
Replies: 16
Views: 20860

I'll be faintly contarian here and suggest not changing that behavior. :) The Home and End keys have historically always moved to the top and bottom of the document without moving the cursor position on the Mac, and while I know that's weird to people moving over from the PC, I've realized it's rath...
by WattsM
2005-02-12 18:40:49
Forum: Nisus Writer Express
Topic: The best word processor on the market:
Replies: 16
Views: 20860

Well, there's a program I use sometimes in conjunction with Express, called Hog Bay Notebook. It's sold as an outliner, but it's actually much more than that. Notebook's text editing features are essentially the same as Apple's TextEdit -- nothing extraordinary, but you get some nice basics for styl...
by WattsM
2005-02-10 16:45:21
Forum: Nisus Writer Express
Topic: The best word processor on the market:
Replies: 16
Views: 20860

Hm. Isn't it normal for Mac applications to use Home/End to just scroll to the top and bottom of the document without moving the cursor, and Option-Up/Option-Down to move the cursor there, too? I think those keys are used for by-paragraph movement, though, aren't they. I mildly miss having the abili...
by WattsM
2004-11-22 00:59:21
Forum: Nisus Writer Express
Topic: Style Issue
Replies: 16
Views: 22435

You might need to use the path names that MacUnix mentioned above, yes. If "gnumeric" doesn't work at the shell prompt as I described it, type "/sw/bin/gnumeric" and see if that works instead. If that's what you need, use "sw/bin/gnumeric" for the command name in the Ap...
by WattsM
2004-11-22 00:24:16
Forum: Nisus Writer Express
Topic: Style Issue
Replies: 16
Views: 22435

Start Apple's X11 program. It should open an xterm window, with a little shell prompt. At the prompt type "gnumeric". If that works and you'd like a (slightly) easier way to launch, you can add the file to X11's "Applications" menu: In X11, go to the "Applications" menu...
by WattsM
2004-11-21 19:36:35
Forum: Nisus Writer Express
Topic: Style Issue
Replies: 16
Views: 22435

While I'm normally reticent to recommend X11-based software, if you're the sort who can deal with it, do take a look at Gnumeric as a free alternative to Excel. It's really surprisingly good. Mesa is pretty powerful, but it has a lot of usability quirks which are increasingly driving me nuts--things...
by WattsM
2004-11-14 22:49:51
Forum: Nisus Writer Express
Topic: TextExtras
Replies: 1
Views: 3850

TextExtras

TextExtras is a little freeware widget I found that adds some interesting features to any Cocoa text application, and it appears to work with Nisus Writer 2.1 just fine. (Add the requisite "this may crash your computer, destroy your hard drive and empty your cat's litter box over your dining ro...
by WattsM
2004-11-08 22:31:25
Forum: Nisus Writer Express
Topic: Suggestions: What would get me to leave Word...
Replies: 6
Views: 8961

While I don't know what NWX may have in its future, for better or worse, there aren't many outliners or word processors that do what you're looking for, no. In my experience many word processors use "outline" as a synonym for "numbered list." Word's outline mode is something dist...
by WattsM
2004-11-07 21:50:23
Forum: Nisus Writer Express
Topic: Check spelling as you type bug?
Replies: 6
Views: 9045

I'll have to second Heather's confusion here -- and I think this is either an actual bug, or something that's highly counter-intuitive: the option in New Document Preferences doesn't just affect new documents, but rather, for documents when created or opened . If you create a file and turn "che...
by WattsM
2004-10-30 00:19:47
Forum: Nisus Writer Express
Topic: New User Needing More Speed
Replies: 7
Views: 9017

I just did a little test with one of the longest documents I have (actually, that document repeated four times to make it longer!). According to the stats panel, it's 61,648 words, and in 12-point double-spaced Courier, is 360 pages. Scrolling this document from beginning to end took 3 minutes and 5...
by WattsM
2004-10-29 12:38:56
Forum: Nisus Writer Express
Topic: New User Needing More Speed
Replies: 7
Views: 9017

From the Nisus Blogs, it sounds like NWX 2.1 is going to be released real soon, and performance is going to be one of the main issues addressed. So keep checking back. :)
by WattsM
2004-10-28 22:49:28
Forum: Nisus Writer Express
Topic: Setting automatic indent after paragraph.
Replies: 2
Views: 4509

You just do this by using the ruler. Drag the top half of the left margin pointer to where you want the first-line indent to be, or double-click the pointer to set it by numeric measurement. I don't know what you mean by the preference, exactly, but if you want that to be the default for paragraphs,...
by WattsM
2004-10-26 23:37:56
Forum: Nisus Writer Express
Topic: Suggestions: What would get me to leave Word...
Replies: 6
Views: 8961

While I'm sure you're probably working on some kind of internal outliner, have you considered adding OPML support along with that? Once NWX has the concept of outline levels, it'd be very easy to support that kind of import, which would work with most outliner programs -- and unless you got into som...
by WattsM
2004-10-05 22:16:13
Forum: Nisus Writer Express
Topic: No (easy) way to straighten quotes?
Replies: 3
Views: 5529

No, I didn't, and I'm slightly sheepish that that works -- although I'd really like to have a menu command to do that (or do its reverse), or be able to write a macro. Otherwise, straightening quotes is a four-step process, or perhaps two-step if you use regular expressions. The question about wheth...