News and Reviews > Best E-mail Client

Seriously, what is MicroEd good for?

(1/5) > >>

superboyac:
I've been using the Bat for a couple of years now, and I still don't know what's so great about MicroEd.  I'm not trying to be an asshole or anything, I just don't see any (really, none at all) advantages that MicroEd has over a normal text editor.  All I can think of is hassles.  For example, in a regular text editor, if I didn't type any characters in a space, like the space below or at the end of a line, if I click in the blank area, it won't go past the last character that's been typed.  In MicroEd, the whole space is fair game for clicking, so if I click somewhere empty that's where the cursor goes.  But never once have I had the need to type somewhere, and then type something else in a completely separate location like that.  Why would anyone need that?  That's the only difference between MicroEd and normal editors that I can see:  the fact that you can click and type anywhere.  But it's a hassle, that's all it is.  I'm always checking to see if I'm REALLY at the end or beginning of a line because you never know with MicroEd, the only way to be sure is to use the Home and End buttons.
I just don't get it.  Please tell me the advantages of this, or else I'm just going to turn it off.

CodeTRUCKER:
I realize that this has been dormant, but I saw no reponses so I'll take a crack at it...

From TheBAT! help files...

MicroEd creates simple plain text messages, which can be opened and read by every e-mail program. Only fixed-pitch fonts (like Courier) are allowed.

It uses the free caret approach allowing you to place the cursor wherever you want and start typing. This is especially useful to create tables, hanging paragraphs and formatted text.

(emphasis mine).

For me creating the tables is the most useful as I find it necessary to send something like an itemized quote, etc. 

Maybe not "... so great," but useful at times.

<edits>

superboyac:
Thanks for the response!
Yeah, I understand the inherent usefulness of the free caret.  But in the 2 years that I've been using the Bat, I have never needed to type outside of the normal paragraph parameters.  The rest of the time, the free caret is an annoyance, because I have to make sure I click the mouse in just the right place where I want to type.  In normal typing applications, I can click the mouse anywhere past the last character in the paragraph, and the caret will just stay at the end.  There's less thinking, it's just easier.

What I'm saying is that although MicroEd has definite advantages, those features are used so little and rarely (for me) that the rest of the time, those additional features are just a nuisance and results in more work and thinking for me.  Anyway, I haven't been using MicroEd lately.

CodeTRUCKER:
Sounds like a keystroke toggle or button would be a nice addition.  Default off/on per user requirement, but a toggle-the-function-when-needed button would solve the issue.  Given the advantage of a free caret in writing tables, this would make the whole usefulness of MicroEd rise to the top if one didn't have to dredge through the preferences/options to turn it off/on, at least for me.   Would this make it more attractive to you?

Edit - Corrections

superboyac:
Sounds like a keystroke toggle or button would be a nice addition.  Default off/on per user requirement, but a toggle-the-function-when-needed button would solve the issue.  Given the advantage of a free caret in writing tables, this would make the whole usefulness of MicroEd rise to the top if one didn't have to dredge through the preferences/options to turn it off/on, at least for me.   Would this make it more attractive to you?

Serghei, are you listening?
-CodeTRUCKER (June 18, 2008, 01:31 AM)
--- End quote ---
Sounds good to me.  But there's already a quick toggle on the bottom of the message window where you can select between microed and regular windows (and html I think).  I just use the regular plain windows setting.  Without the free caret, what's so great about microed?  Wouldn't it be the same as the plain windows setting?

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page