[CLUE-Tech] Reliable writing editors?

[Jed S. Baer]

On Sun, 2 Feb 2003 18:03:23 -0700
Jeffery Cann <fabian at jefferycann.com> wrote:

> On Sunday 02 February 2003 02:58 pm, Joe 'Zonker' Brockmeier wrote:
> > On Sun, 2 Feb 2003, Jeffery Cann wrote:
> > > I generally use VIM for most of my work.  However, when I need to
> > > write prose (often in in text format), I find VIM hard to work with.
> > >  I love it
> > > for coding, but not for writing.
> >
> > Why? What is it about writing "prose" that makes it unpleasant while
> > it's a good editor for coding?
> 
> Because of my propensity to hit the <ESC> key when I finish typing a
> word.  Usually, whilst coding, I will need to move around after typing
> and so I am in the habit of leaving insert mode and moving to the
> movement mode in vi.

You know, that's my biggest complaint about using vi. After a long coding
session, I find myself stabbing the escape key *in other text editing
contexts* -- usually to no effect, but sometimes, like when in a dialog
box, where the [Cancel] button is tied to escape as a hotkey, it's very
annoying. I tend to develop "muscle memory" pretty quickly for
oft-repeated keystrokes. Switching between vi and anything else can be a
pain.

I tried [X]Emacs for a while. Didn't like it. As I always say to one of my
friends, who's an Emacs fanatic: "If I wanted to chord, I'd get a piano".

IMHO, the WYSIWYG editing world in Linux is pretty crappy. I can't quite
put my finger on it, but neither Star, nor Open Office seems good to me.
Work doesn't "flow" in either one. Tried AbiWord. After 3 core dumps, I
gave up.

The last decent word processor I've used is AmiPro, by Lotus. That goes
back to the Windows3.1 days. I still have it installed. Every once in a
while, I still fire it up to do 1 or 2 things I have yet to convert to
something else. It amazes me how amazingly fast it loads on my old P266,
compared to say, OpenOffice on an Athlon750. Hmmm, now I think on it, it
ought to do OK under Wine.

Much as I hate to say it, I've never lost a bit of work using Word97. And,
regrettably, we still have to deal with the occasional recruiter who just
can't handle a resume in anything but Word.

I'd really like to use my old p266 for an experimental box, but word
processing is one hump which seems to be a tough one to get over.

jed
-- 
I wouldn't even think about bribing a rottweiler with a steak that
didn't weigh more than I do. -- Jason Earl