From Nisus Writer Classic to Nisus Writer Pro
In January of 1989, Nisus Software Inc. (then under the name Paragon Concepts Inc.) released the first version of Nisus (The Amazing Word Processor). It truly was amazing with features that all current word processors and the macOS have finally begun to implement, from unlimited undos to multipart selections and multiple (editable) Clipboards. Here are some of the images used for the splash screens of those early versions.
Figure 558 Early versions of “The Nisus Man” image
Figure 559 macOS versions of “The Nisus Man” image
Early versions of the icon show interpretations of Hermes a Greek god who served as the herald and messenger of other gods, identified by the Romans with Mercury and generally pictured with winged hat, carrying a caduceus (a winged staff with two serpents); he was also the god of science, eloquence, and cunning. In the original Nisus Writer Startup screen he held a pen instead of the caduceus and had a floppy disk at his right elbow with pin feed paper flowing out behind him.
The current icon continues to minimize the elements from the original. It uses the wings of Hermes’ cap as if they are flames emerging from a pen, or giving wing to your thoughts as they appear on the computer screen.
Concurrent with the release of Nisus Writer Pro, all new Macintosh computers sold by Apple no longer support the Classic environment. Those people who have used Nisus Writer Classic will need to bring their files into Nisus Writer Pro.
Amazingly enough, even as this version of Nisus Writer Pro was reaching its final “ßeta” tests, people continue to ask how they can get and use Nisus Writer Classic.
Open Multilingual Nisus Writer Classic Files in Nisus Writer Pro
Every individual bit of text in a Nisus Writer Classic file has a font (with a particular character encoding) associated with it. If that font is known to Nisus Writer Pro, it will always use the encoding associated with that font. However, if the font is unknown, then Nisus Writer Pro needs to make a choice. You can override whatever choice Nisus Writer Pro might make by choosing the encoding from the Pop-up menu in the Open dialog.
► Choose the appropriate encoding from the Encoding pop-up menu in the Open dialog.
For example, if you know that your document is primarily Japanese text, choose Japanese encoding.
☞ It is extremely unlikely (perhaps impossible) that a non-Mac encoding was used; after all, you created the old document using Nisus Writer Classic which is a Mac-encoded file.
Open a Nisus Writer Classic Document with the “esreveR” style
Long before the days of the Apple Language Kits that supported Hebrew and Arabic with their right to left text, Nisus Writer Classic offered a style that would display text in esreveR. This was always imagined as a temporary work-around. Nonetheless, people have legacy files with text using very old fonts that use this style to display “correctly”.
Beginning with Nisus Writer Pro 1.3, when you open (“import”) a Nisus Writer Classic file that has text in this style, that text is detected and the character sequence is reversed so that the sequence appears correct on screen.
The macro Reverse Text may help correct the old files
Other aspects of the Classic environment (both on a System level and in Nisus Writer Pro) are discussed on pages 469 (in Find/Replace), 709 (how Nisus Writer Pro determines how to display your Classic document’s text), 585 (Classic Glossary files) and 705, (ASCII vs. Unicode).
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