The fastest way to input trad. Chinese is canjie. The fastest way to input simp. Chinese is wubi. For reference, please look at <URL:ftp.ifcss.org//pub/software/data/>.
Their names are: learning-wubi.gb, wubi-input-intro, and cangjie.gb which is
in the wb-cj-input folder
Q: Can I open Unicorn Editor document by other wordprocessing program?
A:
yes or no.
If you do not use the custom HanZi bitmap font, probably you can use any wordprocessing program to open teh Unicorn Editor document because it is just a plain 'TEXT' file.
If you ever use the HanZi bitmap font, the font information will be invalide when opened using other word processing program. You can still open it, but you can see the HanZi display. They become unreadable characters.
Q: I follow what you said in the README, but I can only write in trad. Chinese. When I try simp. Chinese, it was unreadable codes. what is wrong?
A:
You need to use simp. Chinese input method for simp. Chinese. If you use the Simp. Chinese input module, the code is always gb no matter what font you set. To view gb, of course you have to select them and set them to simp. Chinese font. When the code is not readable, the font is not set right. (select those unreadable code and look at the font menu to see if there is a check mark in the right hanzi font.) The same is true for trad. Chinese.
In your case, the font you set and input method is not matched.
Q: I wrote some words using HanZi font and saved the document, but latter on when I use unicorn editor to open the file,it became unreadable.
A:
You must have disabled the HanZi bitmap font in the preference in your case.
If the Use HanZi bitmap font check box is on, you should be able to re-select the code and set back to the right font. Another mistake user may make is to check the "Tabs Display" checkbox in the Layout options popup menu in the pref dialog. That will disable bitmap font display. The
"Tabs Display" and "Use HanZi bitmap font" check box are mutual exclusive. If you ever play with "Tabs Display" checkbox, you have to reset the "Use HanZi bitmap font" check box afterwards.
Q: I have both simp. Chinese and trad. Chinese input method installed, can you give me instruction about how to get right way to use the HanZi Input.
A:
Unicorn Editor and MacBlue Telnet use the same font format and input method. They can share them, in fact. But trouble is Font and Input method all take memory from Application heap. If you have 4 HanZi fonts, I do not know if you can load the input method into Unicorn Editor in this case. My opinion is that you should remove either my set of font or MacBlue's set of font as a first try. This should release a lot of memory back to application heap. Or, you can give more memory to Unicorn Editor. The effect is the same.
Next, examine which input methods you use or not use, put away those you will never use. (Keep MBPunct module. You may not need QJ and Fullwidth. Choose the useful one from others.) the "%1" become opt-1 keyboard shortcut, the "%5" become opt-5 shortcut, etc. Since you have both simp. and trad. these numbers are conficting. Rename them so that it is not conflicting. Rename the file !#MBPunct to !*MBPunct so that both punctuation modules can both be put in the HanZi Input folder. Above should resolve the possible memory problem in the program.
Q: Yes, I got "Use HanZi bitmap font". Should I also check the box of "Hz code"?
A:
No.
HZ code is for different purpose. when it is checked, you can change the text field to other number. Otherwise, it locks the HZ conversion break point. See Balloon help or User Manual for its function.
Q: I tried using unicorn to read some files I previously wrote through an IBM PC and some files like HXWZ, they are unreadable. MacViewHZ can do good jobs. What is wrong?
A:
Unicorn Editor will not set font for you for such files. When opened, you have to select all and choose simp. Chinese font yourself. This is so because I do not allow editor to guess the code set theme. Specially for HXWZ, if when you open it, it formats like starting with ~{ and ending with ~} each line, it is HZ code, you need to import this HZ to simp. or trad. Chinese and then set font. Choose one of import module from File menu to do the conversion. (MacViewHZ has this built-in because it is only a gb/HZ viewer. a styled text editor like Unicorn Editor can not assume too much.) If you did not see the HZ escape sequence, instead you see non-ascii characters, that is probably gb or big5. (Note, if you download using Netscape (68K version), that code will be incorrect because of Netscape bug. Netscape engineer did not have time to fix it).
I believe you did not set font for these files. Remember MacViewHZ always set font for you, but Unicorn Editor ask you to set font for it because it is styled text editor.
Q: When I open a MS-DOS file or some files downloaded from internet, I see a square in the beginning of each line. What is it?
A:
It is line feed character.
The only problem one could encounter in reading HXWZ or file edited in IBM PC is the \n\r problem. For such a file, one should select "strip line feed" from special menu to convert \n\r to \r.
Q: I opened the HXWZ, but why can't I see Chinese?
A:
If the file has never been opened by Unicorn Editor before, the font informationn is not set yet. In this case, if you open or import the file, the Editor will use default font (set via pref) and therefore may not show in Chinese.
The right step is as follows: open (for GB file) or import (for HZ file) the file, if you did not see Chinese, select all and choose the right font. (Unicorn must handle other languages and therefore can not assume only chinese code & font as MacViewHZ does.)
Note: if you want the HanZi custom font (e.g. Chinese without Chinese system), make sure the checkbox "Use Custom HanZi Font" in the preference dialog (use popup menu to go to "Special" Options) is checked and checkbox "Tabs Display" in the preference dialog (use popup menu to go to "Layout" options) is un-checked.
Q: I only use ╞┤╥⌠, it is too slow. Is there a faster way?
A:
About the input module, the input module for simplified Chinese in ifcss.org has a ┴¬╧δ module (filename : simple), by icon view, you can see ╞¼╙∩. If this module is in the HanZi Input folder used by Unicorn, it should be available already under the ┴¬╧δ╞¼╙∩ popup menu. To access this menu, first select any input method other than English, click the left bottom litler square icon under the input method menu, you will see the ┴¬╧δ╞¼╙∩ popup menu. The default is ñú¿╧Ñ╬. The trad. Chinese input method has two more such input modules for big5 input. One of them is "Pharse" and the other "Association", the later is ┴¬╧δ input and the first is ┤╩╗π input. If you find big5 input is better than gb input, you can export the big5 code to gb code after inputing.
Q: The HanZi menu does not display readable character.
A:
It seems you do not have big5 font. You do need big5 font for proper input method menu display even if you do not use trad. Chinese at all, because most of menu items are in big5.
Q: How do I use Unicorn Editor as an external viewer for HZ code Chinese site or IRC #hanzi channel?
A:
If you do not have Chinese OS or the internet client program does not support HZ decoding, you can set up Unicorn Editor as external viewer.
To set up Unicorn Editor this way, launch Unicorn Editor and open the preference dialog, use popup menu to switch to special option. Make the Transparent HZ filter checkbox is checked. Click OK to close the preference dialog. If you see HZ codes in your internet client program, such as ircle v2.2, the IRC client, select the desired codes and copy them, switch to the launched Unicorn Editor, paste in an open document window. The first when you paste you have to select all text and set to simp. Chinese font. The HZ code will be automatically decoded and display.
If you also want to write HZ into the client program, simply type in simp. Chinese (GB), select the portion you want and copy. Then switch to the client program, such as ircle, paste it. The GB->HZ conversion is automatically carried out during pasting.
Have fun in IRC #hanzi channel. For other internet client, such as gopher, web, newswatcher, etc. you can use the same method. It is still not quite convenient, but that is currently the best method.
