Nice words for Nisus

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robertb
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Nice words for Nisus

Post by robertb »

Keith Blount, the developer of the excellent Scrivener app, had a fascinating blog post in The Atlantic about the differences among word processors. The whole piece is worth reading, but at the end he notes that Nisus is his word processor of choice. I totally agree.

Since I'm not sure how to create hypertext links in this forum, here's the URL: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/a ... ware/72323
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Elbrecht
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Re: Nice words for Nisus

Post by Elbrecht »

Hi -

here comes the PDF of the article:
http://www.elbrecht.com/PDFs/writing_software.pdf

HE
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rmark
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Re: Nice words for Nisus

Post by rmark »

Thank you both for sharing.
Write On!
Mark Hurvitz
Nisus Software Inc.
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greenmorpher
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Re: Nice words for Nisus

Post by greenmorpher »

Nice of him to say Nisus is nice, but he could have said everything else in about a third of the words! :D

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xiamenese
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Re: Nice words for Nisus

Post by xiamenese »

greenmorpher wrote:Nice of him to say Nisus is nice, but he could have said everything else in about a third of the words! :D
As Keith himself acknowledges, taut writing is not his forte. Anyway, I enjoyed reading the pieces and didn't feel any long-windedness ... but then maybe I have a tendency to be long-winded myself. :D

Mark
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Re: Nice words for Nisus

Post by greenmorpher »

And I, of course, have never been accused of exaggerated loquacity. :D

That's why I always get someone else to edit my stuff for serious publication.

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xiamenese
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Re: Nice words for Nisus

Post by xiamenese »

I am minded of the exchange between Elizabeth, Darcy and Bingley in Pride and Prejudice on Bingley's assertion on the quality of his writing, and haste in acting. I feel the modern world is full of "Bingleys", who think that any time spent in reflection or contemplation is lost, that, if their software takes 5 seconds to load rather than 4, then their time has been wasted.

To me, at my somewhat advanced age, moments when I'm forced by circumstances to be inactive are precious ... there's no such thing as wasted time — well, time spent "couch-potato-ing", flicking aimlessly through the TV Channels apart — any more than there is such a thing as useless information. And terseness of expression is not always the most desirable.

:D

Mark
robertb
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Re: Nice words for Nisus

Post by robertb »

Software is one thing: I'm among those who want instant response. When I launch Nisus or any other application, I don't want to wait around and have coffee while it loads. (I'm reminded of a crappy version of WordPerfect back in the day that took half an hour or so to get to the point where you could actually use it.)

But writing—discourse—is different. Much depends on the audience, and the Atlantic audience is generally a patient bunch; they enjoy reading relatively long and thoughtful pieces. Blount fit right in. He made a good point about writing software with lots of examples and a few enjoyable digressions. I was in no rush for him to finish.
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xiamenese
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Re: Nice words for Nisus

Post by xiamenese »

robertb wrote:Software is one thing: I'm among those who want instant response. When I launch Nisus or any other application, I don't want to wait around and have coffee while it loads. (I'm reminded of a crappy version of WordPerfect back in the day that took half an hour or so to get to the point where you could actually use it.)
Of course, if it takes so long to load, most people would feel frustrated, though I admit that I now most frequently find periods of enforced inactivity as something to be savoured ... there are always thoughts ...

But I was thinking of the many people who complain for instance that a web page takes 5 seconds longer to load in one browser compared with another ... and both Google and Apple are claiming "fastest browser" for Chrome and Safari on fractions of a second. I cannot believe, that even for the most hyperactive person, sitting back for 5 seconds longer while a page is loading is a disastrous waste of time.

I like software that loads fast too, but very often, even with my mail client which on a latest model MBA loads instantly, I often set it to load and then go and get myself cup of coffee. Same with Nisus, if I'm at home ... that too loads creditably fast, but I'll still set it to open and then sit back and think about whatever for those few moments it takes to do so.

But each to their own ...
:)
Mark
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Re: Nice words for Nisus

Post by Jester »

Nisus is quite fast, one of the first thing's I noticed. Obviously one's computer influences (mine are 2 and 4GB), but even in my sis' old (512MB, my old one) it opens really quickly.

It does get slow with larger documents, though.
robertb
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Re: Nice words for Nisus

Post by robertb »

Jester wrote:Nisus is quite fast, one of the first thing's I noticed.....It does get slow with larger documents, though.
Not so much. I just finished a 139,000-word manuscript (the draft was in Scrivener and the final was in Nisus) that Nisus handled with aplomb—maybe a few seconds slower than normal in loading, but nothing worrisome. Of course, this was plain-vanilla text with footnotes and no other formatting. It may be different if the manuscript has graphics and other extras.

Robert
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Re: Nice words for Nisus

Post by Groucho »

This is an old story. Generally, the time NWP takes to typeset a document depends on its length, i.e. how many pages. Yet recently I have found this time is greatly influenced by the font also.
I have a document—111,000 words, novels and short stories, simple formatting—that I decided to print using Galliard (by Bitstream, also known as ITC Galliard or Aldine 701). It came out a little over 300 pages, printed flawlessly.
Commonly, such a document will be typeset in ten seconds or so. Well, this document is typeset almost immediately. I thought there was to be something peculiar with the formatting, but it’s such a simple structure—heading, body, heading, body. So I changed the font—Hoefler Text, same size. NWP now takes much longer to typeset it. Clearly, changing the font affected the length. Yet, the Hoefler version, in spite of being some 30 pages shorter, is the slower to load.

Greetings, Henry.
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greenmorpher
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Re: Nice words for Nisus

Post by greenmorpher »

Groucho wrote:I have a document—111,000 words, novels and short stories, simple formatting—that I decided to print using Galliard (by Bitstream, also known as ITC Galliard or Aldine 701). ... Well, this document is typeset almost immediately. ... I changed the font—Hoefler Text, same size. NWP now takes much longer to typeset it. Clearly, changing the font affected the length. Yet, the Hoefler version, in spite of being some 30 pages shorter, is the slower to load.
Hiya Henry

I wonder whether this is due to the fact that you are using a Galliard which is simple PS Type 1 with each font specified individually compared with a Hoefler TTF Windows formt all packed into a big, fat suitcase? n whch case it might depend on how Nisus handles the two different formats. Just asking! :)

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Geoffrey Heard
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Groucho
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Re: Nice words for Nisus

Post by Groucho »

Hello, Geoff.

To answer your question, I don’t know. Anyway, I’m using the true type version of Galliard. It was bundled with CorelDraw time ago. It shows fine in a print, especially in a small size, like 10 pts. The PS1 version is flawed, or at least shows flaws with my printer, though not on screen.

Greetings, Henry.
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