When will we see gloss.

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dajnj
Posts: 4
Joined: 2004-09-13 21:56:12
Location: Fukuoka, Japan

When will we see gloss.

Post by dajnj »

This is a question I have asked repeatedly and never received a definitive answer. When will we see GLOSS returning? This is the text format that allows you to write in small character over the main characters and is ESSENTIAL for furigana in Japanese word processing (especially for us non-native speakers, who need these hints). I do not intend to purchase any future version of Nisus WE without it. If you too are searching for this function for Japanese word processing, you might try LightWay Text. It is not as good a WP as Nisus WE, but since it has this feature, and a very responsive support staff, it is now the only Japanese WP I use.
cchapin
Posts: 424
Joined: 2004-02-25 18:28:40
Location: Nagoya, Japan

Post by cchapin »

I didn't realize that Nisus Writer Classic had ruby text for furigana. I don't know how difficult that would be to implement in Express, but it would certainly be welcome.

--Craig
dajnj
Posts: 4
Joined: 2004-09-13 21:56:12
Location: Fukuoka, Japan

Yep

Post by dajnj »

Yeah, they did but they called it Gloss. It was under a style submenu titled "Other" I think. LightWay Text calls it Ruby. The reply I received well over a year ago from Nisus is that it is on their list of "TO DOs", but it must be pretty far down. Hope we can convince them that it would be a valuable feature.
rmark
Official Nisus Person
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Gloss or Ruby text for Furigana

Post by rmark »

Indeed Nisus Writer Classic had this feature. In the non-Japanese localized versions it was called Gloss and it appeared (in the last versions of Classic) in the Format submenu of the Style menu.

dajnj wants us to give a "definitive" answer as to when this feature will reappear in Nisus Writer Express.

I'm sorry, we simply cannot do this. There are no definitive answers as to when a feature will appear in any software. Apple has been promising full BiDirectional support for years now! (Do you think I'm not going to buy another Macintosh until Apple releases a System with full BiDirectional support?)

We know how valuable Gloss/Ruby is, especially for users of Japanese. It is also quite useful for academics, and others have found uses we had not imagined. When people used Gloss in Classic, some wondered why they couldn't put the Gloss underneath the text (rather than above). Others wanted to increase or decrease the distance between the gloss and the text. In a sense, Gloss was easier in Classic because we stored the information in the Resource fork of the Classic document. Nisus Writer Express has no such place to store the information. What then happens when you take a Nisus Writer Express ".rtf" document with a Gloss and open it in Word which does not support such a feature? You can imagine that the issues involved become complex.

This is on the list. We appreciate your concern and your patience.
Write On!
Mark Hurvitz
Nisus Software Inc.
dajnj
Posts: 4
Joined: 2004-09-13 21:56:12
Location: Fukuoka, Japan

Re: Gloss or Ruby text for Furigana

Post by dajnj »

rmark wrote:(Do you think I'm not going to buy another Macintosh until Apple releases a System with full BiDirectional support?)
Thanks for the reply and hope it does show up asap. I appreciate the problems, and my statement of not buying another update was not meant as anything but a simple statement of fact. Nisus WE is still not my everday English WP, and without GLOSS, it will not be my Japanese WP. I simply find myself never using it since it lacks this feature so will wait for it to appear before upgrading again.
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