RS> Well, it can be done. But clearly that demands more skill on
 RS> the part of the author. Just like SciFi, it manages without any
 RS> pictures at all.

Hi Rod,
        SF is basically telling a story, but the popularity of cover
art shows the need for a picture or so.  A story is not the same as a
technical description. One lets the reader use his own imagination to
generate the little green men, but a technical text has to describe
something real, without ambiguity.

  The other huge limitation of ASCII is equations. I was delighted
when MS Equation Editor came with Winword, even if it does take up a
lot of space in the file.

 RS> OTOH the reverse is a problem, say using a proper Win compound
 RS> document, assumes they have say atleast standard Win, lots of
 RS> people havent. Thats the big advantage of a pure ascii file,
 RS> every system can read it.

  The other alternative is to use standard ASCII text, but a DOS
reader. But where do you draw the line? Paul obviously draws it at
ground zero with PD. I can see the point of taking information across
various platforms, but doesn't PCX do that? I find it rather fruitless
writing stuff no one will ever read.

 RS> You can make a case that you really need a proper modern
 RS> hypertext format even. And thats a whole new can of worms
 RS> again.

  Yes... but it is more important to have graphics within the items
themselves. Hypertext more of a super-index.

 RS> Then, if it is a PD encyclopedia, you really need the whole
 RS> user interface layer like the CD encyclopedias have and drop
 RS> the blocks of info into it as they are produced.

  Yes... or it only becomes thousands of pages of garbled garbage. The
advantage of a PD encyclopaedia is that bits of it could be printed
out as required. What printer system do you use? ASCII is hopeless. I
would feel much more comfortable with something nearly universal like
Write, for which all Wordprocessors have converters.

Regards,
Bob
___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12

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