WordSmith 2.0 Available

Posted By: Ryan Tuesday, July 17, 2001 10:22:08 AM

Blue Nomad has released WordSmith 2.0, the latest version of its award-winning word processor, enhanced memo pad, and rich document viewer for the Palm OS HandHelds.

WordSmith 2.0 features a host of new enhancements, most notably Blue Nomad's FineType high resolution font technology. FineType is an innovative display option for Palm-based documents that makes text crystal clear and sharper than ever.

"With the release of WordSmith 2.0 now Palm users can effectively declare their independence from any need to rely on either desktop or laptop computers," said Alexander Hinds, President & CEO of Blue Nomad. "Our new FineType technology in particular brings such clarity to text displays that users can now use their Palm to support virtually all of their word processing and electronic book reading needs."

WordSmith 2.0 also offers full bookmark support, the ability to create new bookmarks, and the ability to go to, count, hide or show bookmarks. In addition, with Version 2.0 users can preserve, edit, and create new footnotes, endnotes and comments, and can preserve page setup (i.e., paper sizes, page orientation, margins) and default language as well. The feature-packed WordSmith 2.0 also provides a greatly enhanced find & replace feature that is significantly faster, and which offers a new search progress meter, a "replace all" option, and the ability to cancel search and replace all operations. Other refinements include improved support for the onscreen keyboard, and more display options, including the ability to "archive" documents, hide or show archived documents and the tags (icons) for bookmarks, comments, footnotes, images, tables, and more.

WordSmith is fully compatible with Microsoft Word, includes a bi-directional synchronization conduit for Windows and the Mac OS, and offers a command-line document converter for Linux/Intel users. It is likewise compatible with any word processor capable of reading and writing "RTF" files, and is the only word processor available for Palm OS that allows users to synchronize docu-ments between more than one desktop computer.

WordSmith 2.0 is available for $30, and interested users can also download a free trial version of the software by visiting www.bluenomad.com. The trial version allows for 200 editing sessions and unlimited use of the enhanced memo pad and rich document viewer.

About Blue Nomad
Blue Nomad, LLC formerly known as BackupBuddy Software, LLC, was founded in 1997 by Alexander S. Hinds, M.D. Blue Nomad has developed a comprehensive suite of backup, installation and productivity software for the Palm OS. In March 1999, Blue Nomad's popular backup utility, BackupBuddy for Windows, received Platinum Certification from Palm, Inc. BackupBuddy is the only backup application to receive this designation. BackupBuddy was also named Best Palm OS Program of the Year by ZDNet in 2000 and Best Utility of the Year in 2000 and 2001 by Handheld Computing Magazine. WordSmith, the latest product from Blue Nomad, was released in January of 2001and was named Best Doc Editor/Viewer of the Year by Handheld Computing in the same year.

Thanks to George Kreamer and Christian Elkjer for the alerts.

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This thing is really sweet

I.M. Anonymous @ 7/17/2001 11:54:27 AM #
I have a Clie 710C and I've been betaing this program for the past week or so, and it's amazing... I am using the Trebuchet MS font, and its like reading a book, the text is great, formating options are very extencive, and if you use MSMount, you can mount the fonts without any adverse effects. Would be nice if it was a bit faster, but this font technology is revolutionary, and this program a must have for anyone with a color device. I tried it on my friends m505 and the difference is amazing, it nearly boosts it to the readability level of my Clie at it's built in HiRes.

RE: This thing is really sweet
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/17/2001 12:08:55 PM #
How can I get new display fonts?

RE: This thing is really sweet
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/17/2001 12:13:00 PM #
The program comes with a free converter for windows TTF fonts. Just convert and sync. You have to do this to be able to use any new fonts. The fonts I have converted for mine are: Arial, Courier New, Garamond, Times New Roman and Trebuchet MS. I find Trebuchet one of the best for viewing text on the Clie

RE: This thing is really sweet
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/17/2001 4:35:27 PM #
They show up in the Palm using a file browser such as McFile or Filez, but only:

Arial
Century Gothic
Courier
Courier New (which is worth keeping?)
Plain
Snap ITC
Symbol
Times New Roman

I'd prefer to use Garamond for reading, for instance, or others, especially Mac fonts, but alas.

Thanks

RTF

I.M. Anonymous @ 7/17/2001 12:03:50 PM #
Do you still have to convert to RTF to sync?

thanks!

RE: RTF
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/17/2001 12:15:31 PM #
No you don't. You just use MS Word's new "WordSmith" menu, do "Add" and the document will be on the handheld after the next sync.

RE: RTF
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/17/2001 12:57:24 PM #
Why is text so damn small on my Clie?? IS there a way to make it normal sized? I've tried everything (larger fonts, turning off forced hi-res) and nothing seems to work. At the size it's at now, I can fit 40-50 lines on the screen at a time. I literally have to squint to read. Help!

RE: RTF
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/17/2001 1:23:24 PM #
I guess I meant on the Mac. Quicksheet also has an add-in in Excel that provides menuing (word?) capability for synchronization--so it would _seem_ doable on the Mac side.

1.12 of WordSmith required you to save as RTF on the Mac. :(

thanks.

RE: RTF
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/17/2001 1:39:52 PM #
-----------
Why is text so damn small on my Clie?? IS there a way to make it normal sized? I've tried everything (larger fonts, turning off forced hi-res) and nothing seems to work. At the size it's at now, I can fit 40-50 lines on the screen at a time. I literally have to squint to read. Help!
-----------

is this in memos or docs? and which font are you using?
most fonts have a Larger version, but to change size in a doc you have to select all text to change size, but it sounds to me like you are using a small font as default. Since you are using a Clie, create large fonts and not small ones and try using one of them

RE: RTF
JayMoeD @ 7/17/2001 1:55:27 PM #
I had the same problem with tiny type on my Clie until I started loading windows fonts using the WordSmith Desktop converter. Click the FineType button, pick your typeface (I agree...Trebuchet is sharp) and then click on High Resolution and Large fonts towards the bottom of the window.

Very Nice!

RE: RTF
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/17/2001 1:56:13 PM #
actualy, just go to the Options menu, then to Display Options and change Display Size to 2 or 3

Kick A$$ - BUT 1 Problem

I.M. Anonymous @ 7/17/2001 1:14:50 PM #
I can't say how cool this product is, but I have found one error. I can get the Comic Sans Font to transfer to the pilot. I can only get it to show up in the "Show As" Menu...not the Font Menu. I have tried on two different Pilots and they both do the same thing. All other fonts have transfered without a hitch. Any ideas?

RE: Kick A$$ - BUT 1 Problem
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/17/2001 1:22:11 PM #
That is stupid, because Comic Sans is the coolest font available. But, it worked fine on my m505, so I don't know what to say.

RE: Kick A$$ - BUT 1 Problem
Altema @ 7/18/2001 2:31:44 PM #
Comic Sans works fine on my device too. You might want to delete the font and re-install

FineType is nice-but is it "innovative"?

I.M. Anonymous @ 7/17/2001 1:24:05 PM #
FineType is nice; but is this font technology "innovative"
or "revolutionary"? Surely, SuperDoc has similar
feature and has been out for some time, but how
come hardly anyone noticed?

System wide

I.M. Anonymous @ 7/17/2001 2:23:31 PM #
Why can't the technology that allows Blue Nonmad to be so readable be applied system wide on all Palms?

RE: System wide
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/17/2001 2:44:44 PM #
Maybe Palm Inc. should license this technology from Blue Nomad.

RE: System wide
macfixer @ 7/17/2001 3:00:39 PM #
because the colors are used to fool the eye into thinking it's a smooth grey line.

K

RE: System wide
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/17/2001 3:47:55 PM #
They could still use it on most future Palms. The m500 isn't selling too good, which I'm taking as a sign that the high-end, monochrome Palm is dead. The low-end people would be out of luck but that's just another reason for people to upgrade.

RE: System wide
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/17/2001 8:21:22 PM #
Well it wouldn't work on the plain m500. The 505 yes

RE: System wide
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/18/2001 12:41:54 AM #
Yes this should be part of the PalmOS so that apps wouldn't have to implement their own version of this technology. In fact there are quite a few 'hacks' that really should be part of PalmOS such as magictext
AriB

Doesn't work on mono screens

I.M. Anonymous @ 7/17/2001 4:39:06 PM #
FYI the improved font technology does not work on mono screens, only color.

FineType Fonts

konrad @ 7/17/2001 4:53:12 PM #
I found out that all texts written in word97 (saved as .rtf-files) that included the truetype-fonts
with the same names as my finetype-fonts (cooper black, futura md, futura xblk ...)
brought a fatal exeption in ws2.0 - except times new roman, garamond, tahoma, courier new and arial.
After some fatal exeptions and deleting all dangerous texts, I found in the "fonts" menue
some fonts with names like "°U°U°U°U°U°U.....". After deleting the file WrdS_FontDB and
restarting ws2.0, everything was OK.
I don't like it having a program that should show all the fonts I choose in a .rtf-file
with such a behavior.

RE: FineType Fonts
konrad @ 7/19/2001 3:27:56 AM #
Bluenomad worked out a bugfix ws2.0c (01-07-19), that solves my problems.
Nice support!
Konrad

RE: System wide

altema @ 7/17/2001 5:06:38 PM #
The technology would not work on the monochrome units, as a pixel is one solid block which can be varied in darkness. On the color units, each pixel consists of three sub-pixels. One each of red, green, and blue. The brightness of each of these sub-pixels can be controlled, which is how we get the various colors. FineType will selectively use individual sub-pixels to make it appear that a portion of a pixel is part of the font, which effectively increases the resolution. This is not new technology, but the innovation is in using it on the Palm platform. Microsoft uses similar technology for ClearType, but the real innovator was Apple, who used sub-pixel rendering beginning with the Apple II. I still have some programming books for the Apple /// which discuss the subject and they were published in the early eighties.
RE: RE: System wide
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/17/2001 8:22:19 PM #
Umm... I don't think the Apple II had LCDs to play around with the subpixel rendering.

Was it on CRT anti-aliasing?

RE: RE: System wide
Altema @ 7/18/2001 12:08:31 AM #
Apple used the technique on color CRT's, which which was not as effective, but did help slightly. It also caused some weird problems when plotting simple color lines in Basic if the programmer was unaware. There is a page or two dedicated to it in both the Apple II and Apple /// Microsoft Basic programming manuals. It would have been nice if they DID have LCD's back then, as the Apple IIc could have been used as a quasi-laptop.

RE: System wide

altema @ 7/17/2001 7:53:24 PM #
Just to clarify my previous post, the hi-res feature will not work on monochrome devices, but the FineType fonts will work.

Mac user needs help from windows brothers (and sisters)!

I.M. Anonymous @ 7/17/2001 9:47:58 PM #
Could someone e-mail me some fonts? I'll take whatever you have! e-mail: needhiresfonts@hotmail.com
Thank you fellow palm users.
btw:I have a Prism, not a Clie

RE: Mac user needs help from windows brothers (and sisters)!
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/17/2001 10:37:21 PM #
Are you aware of the fact that hi-res FineType does not work well with Prism and IIIc? The black grid spoils the effect; and what you end up with is blurry fonts with color fringes.


RE: Mac user needs help from windows brothers (and sisters)!
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/17/2001 10:56:57 PM #
I experienced this on the font that was installed with 2.0, yet I was unsure of the cause. Perhaps I am no longer in search of hi-res fonts.

RE: Mac user needs help from windows brothers (and sisters)!
Altema @ 7/18/2001 12:24:53 AM #
I sent you a few fonts in the Palm PDB format via email. Let me know if you need any more specific fonts.

RE: Mac user needs help from windows brothers (and sisters)!
Altema @ 7/18/2001 12:30:48 AM #
"The black grid spoils the effect; and what you end up with is blurry fonts with color fringes."

It's not healthy to hold your Palm less than 6 inches from your eyes, especially when you can read some devices from 4 feet away.

Actually, the slight blurr and color fringe effect can be seen on all LCD screens, even on 1024 x 768 laptop screens, but I think it's a reasonable trade-off. It will naturally be more apparent on handhelds with the larger/brighter screens.



RE: Mac user needs help from windows brothers (and sisters)!
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/18/2001 9:16:04 PM #
I was wrong, I am still in earch of hi res fonts!!! This is big happy cool! I use a cpen to transfer books I am studying and other stuff into my Prism. This really adds a nice touch to the experience.
Also, isn't it nice to see cross platform cooperation?

Quo Vadis, Palm Reader?

I.M. Anonymous @ 7/17/2001 10:26:02 PM #
The following readers can now use fine/clear type:
- WordSmith
- MobiPocket
- SuperDoc
- and, Palm Reader for the Pocket PC!

When are we Palm users going to get fine/clear type on our Palm Readers?

Makes me wish that Palm had not bought out Peanut Press to begin with...

RE: Quo Vadis, Palm Reader?
Altema @ 7/18/2001 12:51:52 AM #
I installed the Peanut Press reader about a month ago, but the screen flicker when using auto-scroll at night was too distracting. I pull my ebooks into WordSmith now and am quite pleased. It should be even better now with the combination of smooth autoscroll and the smoother fonts, as the sharpness of the old fonts would irritate my eyes after a couple hours.

RE: Quo Vadis, Palm Reader?
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/18/2001 3:10:30 AM #
How do you get Mobi Pocket to use the fine/cleartype fonts ?

Thank you.

There are other doc readers
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/18/2001 3:57:54 AM #
You are probably unaware there are also several other doc readers with better fonts:

Crs-MeDoc

PenDoc

PooK

- You should get a CLIE. Life is so much better with superior technology...

RE: Quo Vadis, Palm Reader?
I.M. Anonymous @ 7/18/2001 6:19:50 AM #
MobiPocket has an option under the "Settings" menu called "Enable Mobitype".

Unfortunately, it's only color devices that can take advantage of the subpixel font rendering...

Check out the CLIE users group for WordSmith feedback

I.M. Anonymous @ 7/18/2001 4:04:27 AM #
The developer has posted some excellent, responsive messages in the group at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CLIE_Users_Group

This live feedback from the programmer was a great example of how effective user groups can be for both developers and end users.

It appears that BlueNomad's support rivals that of DateBk3/4 and Ultrasoft Money.

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