TEXT EDITOR REVIEW 
~BLEUBALK.FIL~ 
                       
                             'The most certain way to be decided, is to    
                              act smarter than others '

                              Confucius
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EVEREST V.3.3E REVIEWED 
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     by Slimer                

There are only a few text editors that work properly on the Falcon. Most
of us have to grab back to 'Tempus' or use 'First Word+' for the Atari TT
to edit text with. The wordprocessors and text-editors that are released
on the Falcon don't seem to meet the demands of the users ! A good example
is 'First Word 4' and 'That's Write 3' who both are regarded as bad
successors to the previous versions. There is still much left to be
desired on the Falcon or is there some hope shining on the horizon ?? 

 
There is hope and it comes in the shape of a shareware program called
'Everest'. This text-editor, which name makes you want to climb mountains,
seems to offer that what all the others lack, simplicity and 640 x 400
resolution !! The author of this program is a German chap who goes by the 
name of Oliver Schmidt. An interview with him can be found in this issue
of D.B.A. magazine. The interview contains also some background informati-
on about 'Everest'. 
 
Well, lets put the program under the microscope and see what all the
cheering is about, 
 
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The thing that somehow makes this review a bit easier must be the fact
that I wrote it with 'Everest'. Every now and then I can take a peek at
the help function and at the pulldown menu's. But enough beating around
the bush (or something along that line) and on with the actual reviewing. 

 
BOOTING, 
 
The first impression of 'Everest' was, that it is small and compact, that
means no RSC file or folders full of separate files. All this makes it
easy to install it under a function key without getting 'RSC file not
found' messages when you boot it up, without opening a window in GEM
first. After booting you get welcomed by a dialogbox that reminds you that
this a Shareware program. After you register you get a 'key' that makes
the box disappear after booting. Thank god, for the fact that the author
didn't put a wait cycle on it or makes the box pop up every now and then. 
 
 
LOOKS, 
 
'Everest' has that familiar look about it that every Atari-freak knows so
well. The program looks like an empty desktop with only the titles of the
pulldown menu's visible. When you open a new document, a window will
appear and you can type away. Like a said a well-known surrounding that
won't give you any surprises. The idea of a custom menu would have been
nicer but an old and familiar look sure helps you learn to master the
program much faster.   
 
 
INTERFACE, 
 
Most of the options and features can be found under the pulldown menu's at
place's where you somehow expect them to be. You can use both the mouse
and keyboard to choose options. It will take only a short time before you
know most keyboard controls. 

 
There are 7 pulldown menu's present in the program, the first 2 are the
'ACC' menu and the 'File' menu. I don't think its really necessary to go
through all the options in the 'File' menu as it contains the usual stuff.
However there are a couple of things I would like to mention here,  

 
The menu contains a 'Cycle windows' for if you have more windows active
and it also contains the print option. I couldn't find an autosave option
anywhere which would have been nice....  

 
The 3th and 4th menu contain the 'Block' and the Search functions. The
'Block' menu contains; Delete, Cut, Copy and a Paste function. In other
words you can do whatever you like with a piece of text. In the 'Search'
menu you find the search and replace options as well as some other 
functions like 'Go to line'. 

 
The next ones in line are 'Window' and 'Parameters'. About windows I can
stay brief, you can place the windows both horizontally or vertically or
back to its old position. A toggle window option is also present.  

 
All those settings in the 'Parameter' menu is a whole different ballgame.
You can change the behavior of the text-editor by changing the settings of
your screen, fontsize, paragraph endings and the rest of the lot. You will
also find here the insert or overwrite modes. All of the settings can also
be saved. 

 
The last pulldown menu is called 'Info' and contains some help options and
a file info. Especially the last options shows the attention for details
by the coder.  

 
'Everest' can hold a maximum of 10 documents at once which is more than
enough for even the most demanding user. The scrolling of text in 640 x
400 mode goes kind of jerky which is not that surprising with design that
the coder choose for. Another disadvantage is that textlines which you
change after you type them, don't get stopped by the margin. Maybe an
option is present against this unwanted behavior but I couldn't find it.  

 
CONCLUSION, 
 
'Everest' is a simple text-editor with the allure of a professional one.
Oliver Schmidt has succeeded in his quest for a simple but genial text-e-
ditor (as he puts it). There are only a few things left to be desired and
that is an autosave feature and margin stop. The scrolling could be
further improved and fat and underline options could make this the simple
and ideal Word Processor ! A position indication of the cursor would also
be handy to have around. The last thing I would like to mention is the
fact that the search and replace option is slow and still contains some
bugs !!  

 
I must make a small warning though to the author: don't build anymore
(big) options in 'Everest'. You will have a chance to get the Word Perfect
effect (a WP-Spreadsheet-DTP-Mail-Merge-and-whole-lot-more)! 'Everest' is
nearly perfect as it is now !  

 
Everybody who uses 'Everest' with pleasure must be urged to register ! We
need to encourage the development of more good software for the Falcon.
This also includes for other good shareware programs. 
 

