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2006-10-19
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.IF DSK1.C3
TEXTWARE, SOFTWARE && ELSEWHERE
by Jack Sughrue
TIW III
Coming back to the T.I.Writer
Word Processor in an investigative
frame of mind is good for the soul.
I always manage to uncover some
little goodie or two; something I had
forgotten or had never used or had
missed along the way.
For example, I have had TIW since
1982, and have done all my writing
on it almost exclusively: all my
school work (as a teacher and as a
student), all my freelance writing,
all my very extensive correspondence
(I am one of those people who love
to write and receive letters.), all
my household writing, all my poetry.
A day seldom goes by when I am not on
the TIW for at least an hour. I
don't think 2000 total logged hours
would be an exageration.
And, in all that time, I never
used the S command.
[AUTHOR NOTE: In the four years
since I wrote this column, I confess
to using S at least 5,000 times.
Whenever I use the FS or RS commands
I first do S then 1 to get to the
very beginning. An S followed by an
E here will take you to the very end.
Very handy.]
First I press FCTN/9 to get in
the COMMAND/ESCAPE mode.
Next I type S.
Then I type the line I want to
view (27) and ENTER.
Voila!
Line 27 (in my single-window
formatting structure there is only
one screen width) - "I will now." -
appears at the top of the screen
where something else had been. The
cursor is there with it. Very fast.
I'll have to think of a use for that,
I'll have to think of a use for that,
as I will for CTRL/5 (which just
repeated the line "I'll have to think
of a use for that" when I typed it
in. I suppose it would be great for
lyricists. (Though to be perfectly
honest I use it all the time when I
use Templates to make boxes and lines
and TL graphics with the PLUS! disk.
There it is a VERY handy tool.)
Have you ever used your Word Tab?
That's CTRL/7 or CTRL/W (which makes
sense). [Be patient a bit.] I'm
going to run my cursor back to the
beginning of this paragraph (CTRL/6
or CTRL/H) and try out the Word Tab.
Oops! The CTRL/6 took me back to
the previous paragraph. No problem.
I just typed CTRL/4 (or CTRL/J) to
leap me back to the next paragraph,
which is where I wanted to be
(starting with "Have you ever").
Now I'll try the Word Tab.
That was fun! It leaped from
Have to you to ever and on to
the end of the screen line (the word
"Tab?") and stopped dead against an
invisible wall.
I was forced to take control of
the cursor, move it to the next line,
and begin again with the CTRL/W.
I hardly ever use the regular
Tab (FCTN/7 or CTRL/1) in the kind of
writing I usually do. As a matter of
fact, I don't use it at all (though I
vaguely remember trying it out once).
For me, it's just so much easier
using the cursor in the repeat mode.
So any of the Tabs (after I have
set the 1/L, 5/I, 38/R when I first
enter the EDITOR) are really wasted
on me.
There's even a Back Tab (CTRL/T)
which I know I've never used until
right this second. It leaps back the
defaulted tabs. If you hold the keys
down the cursor whizzes around so
fast there appear to be four or five
cursors on the screen at the same
time. Wow! I wish I'd used this
before.
I DO remember using the Home
Cursor before (CTRL/L) but, again,
not often. This leaps the cursor
back to the first space in the upper
left of the screen.
I'm more apt to use Beginning of
Line (CTRL/V). I use it often, as I
do CTRL/K which wipes out everything
to the right of the cursor on the
same line. That and Delete Line
(FCTN/3 or CTRL/N) are two most often
used by me. All the proofreading as
I go along, I guess. Which is why I
know FCTN/2 (or CTRL/G) so well.
That is how I insert characters and
eventually lines and paragraphs.
CTRL/R brings it all together as
Reformatter. CTRL/2 does also, if
you think of FCTN/2 as separating the
words for insertion and CTRL/2 as
pulling them all back together in
reformatting. It may seem easier
that way, though I ALWAYS use CTRL/R
for no intelligent reason.
Changing the screen colors is fun
(CTRL/3), but I don't find it as
soothing as Screen Color 7 from the
FUNLWRITER menus: black lettering
on dark green. Unfortunately, this
is not available from the EDIT mode
and will be lost forever if you Show
Directory, so be careful.
I find New Page (CTRL/9 or
CTRL/P) extremely useful for a lot of
the stuff I do for school or for
poetry. It's so convenient to pop
in a New Page mark whenever you want.
The only time I use Next Window
is when I'm screen-reading someone
else's stuff. It's one of the few
FCTN keys (5) that doesn't have a
corresponding CTRL key somewhere.
I do find essential, however, the
Insert Blank Line key (FCTN/8 or
CTRL/O), as I'm always needing to run
up to the beginning of something to
add a heading or code or an
explanatory line or two. Very handy.
The Roll-Up/Roll-Down keys and
Arrow keys and Toggle Line Number
key and Left-Margin Release key are
probably used so much by most TIWers
that a mention isn't necessary.
But the most important key (for
me, at least) is CTRL/U. That is the
key that opens up your printer to
some extraordinary adventures.
Through the EDITOR for some things,
but through the FORMATTER for the
real goodies.
As I never PRINT from the EDITOR,
anyway, I'm probably a terrible
person to tell you how wonderful the
PRINT options of the EDITOR is. It
is wonderful.
However, the FORMATTER is the
thing! It lets YOU do the driving
and the CTRL/U key is the scenic
route.
The next time you hop aboard your
TIW take a few side trips along your
keyboard. You'll be astounded at the
power of the environment. And we've
only touched on the screen control of
the CTRL and FCTN keys, not on
anything about the TL or about
LOADing, PRINTing, SAVEing, FINDing,
WHATEVERing.
If you have PLUS! download the docs,
keep those reference and mnemonic TL
and Boxref charts out in front of you
and discover the fun of learning
again. This time the learning will
have immediate rewards: mastery of
one of the most powerful tools ever
created for the thinking person - a
magical word processor.
Using the version 4 series of
FUNNELWEB (from your user-group
library) will be as close as a TI
word-processing user will get to
paradise.
After seven years I still love
wordprocessing. My wife's getting
terribly jealous. I hope I don't
have to decide between the two.
(Just kidding, Elaine.)
[Jack Sughrue, Box 459,
E.Douglas, MA 01526]
**************
If any newsletter editor prints
these articles, please put me on your
mailing list. Thanks - JS
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