Punctuation Checking.

[Steve E]

The "Dark Processor" has its faults, and I find that its Grammar Checker is actually more trouble than it's worth, but I do miss it's punctuation checking. Is there a chance Storyist could catch things like multiple blanks between words (where only one is required), odd terminal combinations (like double periods or an exclamation mark and a period) as well as unbalanced quotes and parentheses?

 

I tried to write a macro for that last case but not flagging innocent sentences turned out to be tricker than I thought it would be. Consider: He said, "I know she said 'watch where they're going' but Stevie[sic] lost them". Note the two single quotes and the apostrophe within a set of double quotes. Note the square brackets with no leading space. All arguably correct.

[Steve]

The "Dark Processor" has its faults, and I find that its Grammar Checker is actually more trouble than it's worth, but I do miss it's punctuation checking. Is there a chance Storyist could catch things like multiple blanks between words (where only one is required), odd terminal combinations (like double periods or an exclamation mark and a period) as well as unbalanced quotes and parentheses?

 

I tried to write a macro for that last case but not flagging innocent sentences turned out to be tricker than I thought it would be. Consider: He said, "I know she said 'watch where they're going' but Stevie[sic] lost them". Note the two single quotes and the apostrophe within a set of double quotes. Note the square brackets with no leading space. All arguably correct.

 

This sounds like one of many useful scripts that would best be implemented as an optional add-on. I'd eventually like to provide an API for people to add scripts themselves and then host a repository for people who want to share them.

 

-Steve

[Steve E]

This sounds like one of many useful scripts that would best be implemented as an optional add-on. I'd eventually like to provide an API for people to add scripts themselves and then host a repository for people who want to share them.

 

So that's a no?

[Steve]

So that's a no?

 

That is a "I hope to provide you with a customization mechanism to add these sort of enhancements to your heart's content".

 

This feature strikes me as one of a class of text utilities that are narrow in scope (and may not appeal to the entire user base) but are still useful to a subset, and would be entirely appropriate to add as an add in.

 

-Steve

[Steve E]

This feature strikes me as one of a class of text utilities that are narrow in scope (and may not appeal to the entire user base) but are still useful to a subset, and would be entirely appropriate to add as an add in.

 

Ah, yes. We small subset of writers who prefer correct punctuation in our manuscripts. Oh well.

Perhaps writing the macro won't be too difficult.

[Steve]

Ah, yes. We small subset of writers who prefer correct punctuation in our manuscripts. Oh well.

 

Maybe I inferred to much in the request, but it sounded like you were asking for more than punctuation (e.g. whitespace correction) and wanted a more general mechanism for non-grammar text problems. The example you suggested (balancing quotes) would require language-dependent heuristics that would likely end up being wrong in enough cases (like the grammar checker in Word) that it would frustrate a lot of writers.

 

I've been thinking a lot lately about how to enable power-user functionality for those that want it without bloating the program and confusing those that are drawn to it for the simplicity.

 

-Steve

[Steve E]

The example you suggested (balancing quotes) would require language-dependent heuristics that would likely end up being wrong in enough cases (like the grammar checker in W***) that it would frustrate a lot of writers.

 

I've been thinking a lot lately about how to enable power-user functionality for those that want it without bloating the program and confusing those that are drawn to it for the simplicity.

And a lot programmers, apparently. But you are correct. I constructed that example because it would likely (and incorrectly) trigger an error in a punctuation checker. Whitespace correction is simple. Flagging a missing space after a semicolon is simple. Both should be easy add-ons. But a general grammar/punctuation checker/corrector is a major program in itself and, I agree, should probably not be glued onto/into Storyist. But I wonder of Storyist could be made compatible with 3rd party software of such a type. Nothing comes to mind immediately. Exporting to Darth Processor and using its tools is almost too frustrating to contemplate.

 

But I wonder if a small enhancement to Change might solve a lot of the problem. For example, "Change [space]* to [space] All" could get rid of the spaces problem. "Change ;[a] to ;[space][found1] All" could solve the missing space problem (at least after a semicolon). Well, you know the drill. And now that I think about it, that's not a "small enhancement" either. But it would be a very useful one in general.

 

Well, I guess you have your work cut out for you.

 

Thanks for taking a break from your frenzied NaNaNoNo writing to look in on us.

-Thoth.