🚀 go-pugleaf

In <22093@shlump.nac.dec.com> wallis@sieras.enet.dec.com (Barry L. Wallis) writes:

>Well, I just recieved the Help Compiler for Windows from Borland. It sure seems
>unusable for me. Why? Because it seems to want to deal with files in Rich Text
>Format (RTF) for all the formatting commands. The documentation says that you
>can use one of three different word processors for it:

>1) Word for DOS
>2) Word for Windows
>3) Word for MAC

>(I didn't say they were very different ;-}). Now, I am using the system to
>learn Windows programming and *not* to produce income. I have no desire to
>purchase Word in order to do this. What other choices do I have?

You can write the RTF file with a text editor.  It's not any harder
than preparing a document using TROFF or TeX.  (If you're never heard
of TROFF or TeX, don't worry about it.)  It helps that the Help
Compiler doesn't need about 75% of the formatting information that
Word puts in an RTF file.

I'm working on a short guide to RTF for the Help File writer.  (I was
gonna just post it, but all this interest makes me wonder if there's
any money in it...)  You *can* learn RTF just from reading the MS doc,
but I wouldn't care to try it.  *I* had a rough time, and I have Word
to test my knowledge with, not to mention a lot of previous experience
with text formatting software.  Not a brilliant bit of technical
writing.

>BTW, maybe they call it Rich Text Format becuase it will make Microsoft rich?
>:-(

If that were the way they did it, MS-DOS would be called YB-DOS
(Youngest Billionaire) and IBM compatibility would be called .....


>I know about Ami Pro (thanks to Brian Ricker), but, I am looking for something
>that is less expensive (under $20.00 would be nice ;-} ). Where did RTF come
>from and where can I read about it so I can think about writing a converter.

>---
>Barry L. Wallis			USENET: wallis@labc.dec.com
>Database Consultant		Prodigy (don't laugh): DNMX41A
>U.S. DECtp Resource Center	DECUServe: EISNER::WALLIS (not on the net yet)
>Los Angeles, CA			"No one voted for me, I represent myself"
>---
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