From: Martin Sevior (msevior@seviorpc.ph.unimelb.edu.au)
Date: Thu Nov 06 2003 - 22:19:06 EST
On Fri, 2003-11-07 at 12:41, Dom Lachowicz wrote:
> I don't want to be a downer, but I think that this is
> horribly counter-productive in general and
> destabilizing for the Abi tree. In short, I don't
> think that anything will come of it. But I'd love to
> be proven wrong.
>
> If I had time to work on such a presentation program,
> I don't think that I'd base it on the Abi framework.
> At least not as things currently stand. There's 5+
> years of accumulated cruft, hacks and misdesign in
> there that need to be addressed before Abi moves on to
> 2.2 - let alone the perils I see arising when we
> create a sister project.
>
> Getting a presentation presentation program off the
> ground needs a handful of sharp and fresh minds. Minds
> whose willingness and dedication are virtually
> unparalleled. And while I think we have some
> preliminary interest (even from sharp minds like
> Martin), I don't think that we have the community of
> sharp minds that I think will be necessary for *Show
> to be a success, let alone get off the ground.
>
> Regretfully,
> Dom
Hi Dom,
Of course you're right about "needing dedicated individuals to do
all the work". I have more than enough to do to get AbiWord to where I
want it to be for 2.2. However I can't stop thinking about how to do all
this using the codebase I know so well. I use PowerPoint a lot in my job
and it irks me that I think I know how to do it with what I already
know.
I also know that AbiWord will never be finished. There will always be
new ways to do things even after we feature-matching with our
competition.
I don't know if there are dedicated individuals out there who want to
run with these ideas. I hope there are. If there are I want them to know
what I've been thinking.
Cheers
Martin
>
> --- Martin Sevior <msevior@seviorpc.ph.unimelb.edu.au>
> wrote:
> > Hi Folks,
> > I've thought some more on Marc's AbiShow
> > proposal and I now
> > mostly agree with him.
> >
> > I think it unlikely that the Abi code base will be
> > used for anything
> > other text-based applications.
> >
> > Things like Word processors (!), Presentation
> > Programs, (AbiShow), Print
> > Master clones "AbiPrint ?" or maybe DTP software
> > "AbiPage ?"
> >
> > The original developers of Abi has a much grander
> > vision and though in
> > terms of Spreadshets, database tools, graphics
> > programs etc..
> >
> > Consequently the xap* part of our code base is
> > rather sparse.
> >
> > If we instead go with the idea that we stick with
> > the more limited set
> > of programs, we might as well do as Marc suggested
> > and do a move of a
> > large fraction of wp into xap.
> >
> > Specifically these are:
> >
> > ap_Dialog_Background.cpp
> > ap_Dialog_Break.cpp
> > ap_Dialog_Columns.cpp
> > ap_Dialog_Field.cpp
> > ap_Dialog_FormatFootnotes.cpp
> > ap_Dialog_FormatTable.cpp
> > ap_Dialog_Goto.cpp
> > ap_Dialog_HdrFtr.cpp
> > ap_Dialog_InsertBookmark.cpp
> > ap_Dialog_Insert_DateTime.cpp
> > ap_Dialog_InsertHyperlink.cpp
> > ap_Dialog_InsertTable.cpp
> > ap_Dialog_ListRevisions.cpp
> > ap_Dialog_Lists.cpp
> > ap_Dialog_MailMerge.cpp
> > ap_Dialog_MarkRevisions.cpp
> > ap_Dialog_MergeCells.cpp
> > ap_Dialog_New.cpp
> > ap_Dialog_PageNumbers.cpp
> > ap_Dialog_PageSetup.cpp
> > ap_Dialog_Paragraph.cpp
> > ap_Dialog_Replace.cpp
> > ap_Dialog_Spell.cpp
> > ap_Dialog_Styles.cpp
> > ap_Dialog_Stylist.cpp
> > ap_Dialog_Tab.cpp
> > ap_Dialog_ToggleCase.cpp
> > ap_Dialog_WordCount.cpp
> > ap_Preview_Abi.cpp
> > ap_Preview_Paragraph.cpp
> > ap_Ruler.cpp
> >
> > In the interests of getting AbiShow up and running
> > quickly, I also
> > suggest we fork ap_Frame*, ap_App*, ap_EditMethods,
> > ap_Menu*,
> > ap_Toolbar* into
> > show/ap
> >
> > We also need two extra modes for fv_View.
> >
> > 1. Editting show pages.
> > 2. running abishow
> >
> > We need to make new fv_View::_draw methods for
> > drawing when in these
> > contexts.
> >
> > We also need extra mouse contexts for running
> > abishow.
> >
> > However we could get a program that display's static
> > Abiword pages on a
> > full screen and which advances with clicks rather
> > quickly.
> >
> > At that point we could put out a call for volenteers
> > to work on AbiShow
> > and we'd also have a sensible framework for the
> > other types of text
> > based programs I mentioned.
> >
> > OK those are my thoughts. Do others have views?
> >
> > Cheers
> >
> > Martin
> >
> >
>
>
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