🚀 go-pugleaf

We've asked the same question - is there available (free or not) an
easy to use X-based editor? We come to the only obvious conclusion 
which is no! And it has taken four months to find that out.

En route we came across many non-X based editors which we didn't
look at twice but of the X based editors there of few, and none
are ideal (general opinion in this office). Summary:

Xedit	  - of course. Our objection is that it doesn't take
	advantage of the window system. The word-wrap doesn't
	seem to be sensibly consistent. Why bother making a
	window based editor that relies entirely on key presses
	without a single pull-down menu? Couldn't they have at
	least supplied a pull-down menu for cut and paste. I know
	we're all supposed to use this entity call xcutsel but
	its function isn't entirely obvious. Besides, cutting
	and pasteing doesn't even work properly for large files.
	In short: No-one here has found a use for xedit yet.

Point	  - Freely available somewhere. We have it on the system
	in a quasi-working form. It crashes too often to trust it
	with a file. It has a lot of features and is customizable
	but as with most big/clever editors it can be slow. In an
	attempt to make point a general alround editor it has missed
	some simple features. eg. There are too many ways of search
	and replacing. I can't speak fairly of point because I only
	tried using it for two days before I got fed up with it
	bombing out on me. It's the best attempt at a friendly
	editor it just needs to be re-thought and re-programmed.

EZ	  - If we could install it I think this would be the
	favourite. It is simple, easy to use, and fast. The real
	draw-back is that it runs under Atehna's OS - Andrew.
	We can't afford the system space to fit Andrew on, nor
	do we want to run Andrew. We tried installing Andrew to
	get EZ to work and then cut out all the bits of Andrew
	that we didn't need, but didn't get very far! Don't ask
	what happened but if you manage it please tell!

WP	  - We've paid up for this. It's a good word-processor. A
	bit messed up in it's conversoin for X but I'm assured 
	that the next release is going to better. It's very slow!
	It's not a good programming editor nor too hot for any
	LaTeX users out there, but it can manage it with a little
	hastle. Around $500 for an eight user licence.

Textedit  - As in Sunview/OpenWindows. Yes - it works very well
	under X with out running XView or anything else. Just 
	setenv LD_LIBRARY_PATH /usr/lang/SC1.0:/usr/openwin/lib
	and away you go. This is simple, bug-free and has a
	customizable 'extras' menu. I like it, but it doesn't
	have key-board accelerators that work well with Xterminals.
	In essence it's a step up from xedit and a step down from
	EZ. If someone could customize it to work with a spell-
	checker and add a file-browser this would come out tops as
	an all-round general text editor.

Before I spark of a volley of insults regarding these opinions, I'd
like to state that these are the general consensus of opinions for
this office (sized 30 users) ranging in computer literacy from "How
do I log-on?" to "Which background shall I send to Jim's term today?".
We have all been brought up on different editors; vi, edt, emacs, and
have had so many different lists of key-presses to learn that most
simply refuse to learn another editor. The real problem lies in the
fact that we wish to edit so many different types of file; fortran, C,
LaTeX, Matlab, etc... . What is needed is an editor that can manage
all types without having to go through a lengthy process of saving
with so and so formatting switched off (as one does for WP for Fortran
or LaTeX files). 

One question is: why isn't there such an editor? Perhaps it isn't
possible to write? 

The truth is that those among us capable of writing such a useful
utility don't feel a new editor is necessary since they are all so
adept at vi/emacs/xedit. 

If anyone out there is going to take sympathy on us vi/emacs
incompetants then one thing that is absolutely crucial to its success
as a popular editor is: make sure it has what WE want in it, and all
the fancy stuff that you think we want and don't is well hidden behind
that menu in the corner of the window. Different versions for different
file types would be acceptable, as long as the commands/keys don't
change. Customizability is great, as long as we don't HAVE to actually
customize it just to get the basics.

Maybe we ask too much? Any offers?