HyperShell, from Nick Taylor and Text Technology, is a shell script language
and Hypertext authoring system of genuine power and flexibility.
PC-Shakespeare, however, exists near several ill-charted boundaries of
HyperShell. Mr. Taylor has included in HyperShell v4.0 some capabilities for
which I did beseech him, and which proved critical to sustain the
user-interface I required. Even so, I could write a book on the tricks I had
to uncover to make PC-Shakespeare hang together. Although I perhaps
originally overestimated HyperShell's suitability for this Shakespeare
project, nothing has brought me knowledge of a better engine for implementing
what I had in mind, and my admiration of Hypershell, particularly after
perusing PC-Magazine's 5-28-91 article on $300 - $500 Hypertext authoring programs, continues to grow. The fact that my tricks are collectively agreeable with almost all of HyperShell's functioning persuades me that it
is indeed robust, as well as fast, compact and, within the purview of its
original design objectives, very extensive (if not yet quite general enough
for my convenience).
One thing I have learned here is the desirability of having a human-
language-linking shell-script programming-language with lots of user-
interface services as a front-end for Unix-like utilities. An orientation
with so many hypenated words cannot but prove a matrix for more or less
populist hypertext explorations to fecundate at once both instruments and
products. Therefore, if you REALLY like PC-Shakespeare, besides bringing
specific imaginations and appreciations to my attention, and distributing
evaluation copies of the program (or whatever else makes for publicity),
you might let NICK TAYLOR know that Unix-utility user-interface shell-
scripts are where-it's-at.
You can exchange properly hyphenated correspondence with Mr. Taylor, and, if
you send him money for 2 or 3 disks, postage and copying, get current
