Subject: Re: Export Word -> save as RTF .doc?
From: Hubert Figuiere (hfiguiere@teaser.fr)
Date: Tue May 01 2001 - 03:35:19 CDT
On lundi, avril 30, 2001, at 11:07 , Ron Ross wrote:
> I agree. Besides, working as a translator, having to constantly deal
> with file format issues, and generally producing RTF files from an
> SGML-DSSSL process, I once experimented with simply renaming files as
> Jesper suggested -- to circumvent tedious explanations about what RTF
> was (!) and even of the tremendously advanced technique of opening files
> through the File=>Open dialog and specifying file types to look for
> rather than by double-clicking the file icon --, and it sometimes didn't
> work. I can't recall exactly what the problem was, but I think the
> recipient was working on the MAC platform - probably a missing resource
> fork issue.
No. This is NOT a resource fork issue. Because resource fork have
nothing to do with the file typing business. On Macintosh, extension to
filename are just decorative and has no effect but potentially confusing
the user. File typing is done thru a "File Type" metadata attribute that
is a 4 byte attribute.
RTF files are of type 'TEXT' or 'RTF ' (the later seems to be a
Microsoft invention just to confuse every other program). .doc files are
'WDBN', 'W6BN' or 'W8BN' depending whether they are Word 4/5 for Mac,
Word 6 or Word 98 (aka 8.0). So the extension trick will NOT work but
the file type change will do.
This will require some API changes for the import/export filters to
handle this file type.
BTW when files are carried by MS-DOS diskettes or via e-mail, the MacOS
use their extension to guess the file type to apply to them.
> Better do it honestly and either produce a valid Word document or
> deliver RTF and explain this format and its merits to the many "church
> secretaries" out there. In my experience, the MAC platform has been
> especially successful at maintaining user-ignorance at an all-time high.
> As the epitome of the "It Just Works" platform, the MAC OS may require
> more extensive usability testing in the forthcoming Mac port of AW.
Don't worry, I'll take care of this. I use the Mac since 1988... so I'm
quite used on how it works.
Hub
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b25 : Sat May 26 2001 - 03:50:59 CDT