Robert Covington wrote:

<snip>

> I think that is a fine idea, and with stuff like Jay's word beasts thrown
> in, would be mighty cool.
>
> The start would be to begin with a spec for the needed features.
>
> The problem is that from the sidelines will come "luxury" requests"
> potentially.
>
> So a starting feature set needs to be decided upon. And to accomodate the
> latter, an ability to extend the program such as with BBEdit's extensions
> would be a Grand thing. That would keep the basic feature set of the
> program light enough, and still allow for the goodies that others will
> want, or that others can create for it later.
>
> I vote that this project begin with the working title of WeeBeEdit. :)
>
> But titles are irrelevant , a program that runs doesn't need a title to be
> running, a title thread without code is just diversion.
>
> Stay focused. ( I like FB but would prefer Future and FB be left out of any
> name. Future denotes Not Arrived Yet. FB would be like having C-Write if
> environments were monikers. (wish FB 3 was called "Futura". :))
>
> "Futura Writer" sounds fine to me. FuturaSoft can be the software "company"
> run by this list.
>  :)
>
> To take a whack at RealBasic, and because it sounds cool anyway, we can
> call it
>
> "Real Writer". :)
>
> Or "Writeous". :)
>
> Anyway , names are cheap, but starting specs provide a roadmap to making it
> reality.
>
> Robert Covington
>
> Feature Areas:
>
> WASTE, etc. and if not included in that area (not familiar with it other
> than the 32k file size limitation removed)
> Fonts/Styles
> Templates/Layouts/HTML
> Printing/Exporting
> File Formats, types imported, types exported
>
> Search/ Replace
>
> Mandatory (for me)
>
> Recent Items
> Compare Documents
> Open Images as well for either viewing or pasting.
>
> Optional For Extensions:
>
> Works as supplemental FB 3/II editor (Extension can handle this)
> Export as EBook tags/resource  (Jay's stuff makes this easy)
>
> There you go.
>
> I can provide code/graphics for:
>
> Basic HTML templates(Head/Body/etc), any graphic goodies needed.
> Recent Items
> Splash
> Any import or viewing routines.
>
> Will help with Compare Documents
>
> But you high HP dudes are probably in a better position to do that perhaps.
>
> We will need an FTP dropbox for most recent dev versions, etc for downloads
> and additions.
> I can supply that, but my account being open over the next couple months is
> iffy. :)
>
> Separate list or new Filter [Txt-FB] type for this list may be needed for
> less disturbance to others.

Robert, enthusiastic as usual and I love it.  Of course, I suspect, there may
actually be someone doing this at this very moment - OR NOT; nevertheless, can
it be done by the list?  If it can, should it be done as a Cocoa application,
or can a Carbonized FB^3 application be done by the time Apple starts
pre-installing OSX?  Contrary to some of the negative perspectives that
preceded the start of "The Book", it IS possible to put out a collaborative
effort, particularly since much of the really hard work has been done already
by several of the list members during the past 6 months or so. Perhaps there
might even be more enthusiasm for this endeavor, and it really could be a big
hit. Robert's been touting "Futura" as a new name for FB^3 for some time, and
FuturaWrite might just work. It's a bit like my favorite WP, FullWrite, which
also got pretty heavy with features. I think the idea of producing one that
could actually have several different modules that allowed a person to achieve
different types of things, or to turn features on and off from a really neat
Preferences Sheet that allowed the creation of different Versions.

Of course, basic or not, it would have to have a really good dictionary and
thesaurus.

I think one of the really good things about this, is that we've all had a
chance to see the bad things that have been done in the past, allowing us to
avoid them in the future.

One real hurdle, is how to allow the documents of other WPs to be opened in
"?"  What about "XWrite"? Seems that's a direction "everyone" appears to be
taking.  Or even, "Xing™".  Like that's the Mark everyone used before they
knew how to sign their names? I can think of any number of PR take-offs on
that topic.

Sounds as if it's about time we form an eListCompany, and, though I hate to
copy a copier (M$), FuturaSoft is not a bad name.

At least my posting was a "bit" shorter than Robert's!

Joe Wilkins