Editing LocoScript (section)

===LocoScript===
LocoScript was the principal software included with Amstrad's PCW 8256 and PCW 8512, both of which launched in 1985.<ref name="OldComputersPCW8xxx">{{cite web |url=http://www.old-computers.com/MUSEUM/computer.asp?c=189&st=1|title=Old computers: Amstrad PCW 8256 and 8512 |last=Ball |first=A. |author2=Stirling, A. |access-date=2009-05-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090528190001/http://www.old-computers.com/MUSEUM/computer.asp?c=189&st=1|archive-date=2009-05-28 |url-status=dead}}</ref> LocoScript did not run under the control of an [[operating system]]; instead, the computer was [[Self-booting disk|booted from the LocoScript floppy disk]], and LocoScript ran exclusively on the system.<ref name="Micromart2007LocoScript" /><ref name="PCW8xUserGuideFirst20Min">{{cite book |last=Gilmour |first=J. |title=PCW8256/8512: User Guide - CP/M Logo & Word Processor Manual |publisher=Amstrad Consumer Electronics plc|year=1985|pages=11–26 |chapter=Your first twenty minutes |url=http://amstrad.cpc.free.fr/amstrad/manuals/pcw8256/pcw8256.pdf|accessdate=2009-05-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720221017/http://amstrad.cpc.free.fr/amstrad/manuals/pcw8256/pcw8256.pdf |archive-date=2011-07-20}}</ref> The user had to [[booting|reboot]] in order to run any other program (a variety of [[CP/M]] applications were supplied on a separate disk). In later years a third-party utility called "Flipper" eventually became available, restricted to those PCWs with the greatest [[RAM]] memory, which could divide the bigger memory between LocoScript and CP/M, allowing both to run without the need to reboot.<ref name="Austin1989MoreThanWP" />

On start-up LocoScript displayed a [[file management]] menu,<ref name="PCW8xUserGuideFirst20Min" /> like [[WordStar]] but unlike [[WordPerfect]], [[Microsoft Word]] and other modern word processors, which start with an empty document.<ref name="Micromart2007LocoScript" /> LocoScript enabled users to divide documents into groups, display all the groups on a disk and then the documents in the selected group, and set up a [[Template (word processing)|template]] for each group.<ref name="PopularScienceNov1986">{{cite journal|last=Hawkins|first=W.J.|date=November 1986|title=Double-duty word machine|journal=Popular Science|pages=86–88|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YGOSX-zIZ00C&dq=amstrad+pcw&pg=PA88|accessdate=2009-05-01}}</ref><ref name="PCW8xUserGuideFirst20Min"/>  File names were restricted to the "[[8.3 filename|8.3]]" format,<ref name="PCW8xUserGuideSettingUp" /> but the edit facilities enabled users to add summaries up to 90 characters long, which they could display from the file menu.<ref name="PCW8xUserGuideSummariesOfDocs">{{cite book|last=Gilmour|first=J.|title=PCW8256/8512: User Guide - CP/M Logo & Word Processor Manual|publisher=Amstrad Consumer Electronics plc|year=1985|page=LocoScript 52|chapter=Summaries of your documents|url=http://amstrad.cpc.free.fr/amstrad/manuals/pcw8256/pcw8256.pdf|accessdate=2009-05-07|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720221017/http://amstrad.cpc.free.fr/amstrad/manuals/pcw8256/pcw8256.pdf|archivedate=2011-07-20}}</ref> The "[[limbo]] file" facility enabled users to recover accidentally deleted documents until the disk ran out of space (there was no hard disk, all files were stored on floppy disks), when the software would permanently delete files from "limbo" to make room for new ones.<ref name="PCW8xUserGuideKeepingDataOnDisc">{{cite book|last=Gilmour|first=J.|title=PCW8256/8512: User Guide - CP/M Logo & Word Processor Manual|publisher=Amstrad Consumer Electronics plc|year=1985|pages=27–50|chapter=Keeping your work on disc|url=http://amstrad.cpc.free.fr/amstrad/manuals/pcw8256/pcw8256.pdf|accessdate=2009-05-07|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720221017/http://amstrad.cpc.free.fr/amstrad/manuals/pcw8256/pcw8256.pdf|archivedate=2011-07-20}}</ref> Journalist [[Dave Langford]] published a collection of his articles about the PCW, and titled it "The Limbo Files".<ref name="Langford2009LimboFiles">{{cite book|last=Langford|first=D.|title=The Limbo Files|publisher=Cosmos Books|year=2009|isbn=978-0-8095-7324-0|url=http://ansible.co.uk/books/limbo.html|accessdate=2009-05-02}}</ref> LocoScript was designed to accommodate add-on programs, which could be selected via the file manager.<ref name="PCW8xUserGuideKeepingDataOnDisc" />

LocoScript supported 150 characters.<ref name="Austin1989MoreThanWP" /> For each language supported by the PCW, the keyboard and LocoScript were configured so that users could easily type all of the normal [[character set]]. Various other languages' characters could be typed by holding down the ALT or EXTRA key, along with the SHIFT key if capitals were required.<ref name="PCW8xUserGuideSettingUp">{{cite book|last=Gilmour|first=J.|title=PCW8256/8512: User Guide - CP/M Logo & Word Processor Manual|publisher=Amstrad Consumer Electronics plc|year=1985|pages=LocoScript 1–11|chapter=Setting up|url=http://amstrad.cpc.free.fr/amstrad/manuals/pcw8256/pcw8256.pdf|accessdate=2009-05-07|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720221017/http://amstrad.cpc.free.fr/amstrad/manuals/pcw8256/pcw8256.pdf|archivedate=2011-07-20}}</ref><ref name="PCW8xUserGuideSpecialChars">{{cite book|last=Gilmour|first=J.|title=PCW8256/8512: User Guide - CP/M Logo & Word Processor Manual|publisher=Amstrad Consumer Electronics plc|year=1985|pages=LocoScript 52|chapter=Typing special characters|url=http://amstrad.cpc.free.fr/amstrad/manuals/pcw8256/pcw8256.pdf|accessdate=2009-05-07|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720221017/http://amstrad.cpc.free.fr/amstrad/manuals/pcw8256/pcw8256.pdf|archivedate=2011-07-20}}</ref> LocoScript could also display mathematical and technical symbols. All these characters and symbols could be printed, unless the printer was a [[daisy wheel printer|daisy wheel]] unit.<ref name="Austin1989MoreThanWP" />

LocoScript's menu system enabled users to add, singly or in combination, a range of sophisticated typographical effects: [[Monospaced font|monospaced]] or [[Proportional fonts|proportional]] character spacing; normal or double width characters and spacing; various font sizes;<ref name="PCW8xUserGuideRefiningAppearance" /> bold, underline, italics, subscript or superscript, and reverse video.<ref name="PopularScienceNov1986" /><ref name="PCW8xUserGuideEnhancingText">{{cite book|last=Gilmour|first=J.|title=PCW8256/8512: User Guide - CP/M Logo & Word Processor Manual|publisher=Amstrad Consumer Electronics plc|year=1985|pages=53–61|chapter=Enhancing the text|url=http://amstrad.cpc.free.fr/amstrad/manuals/pcw8256/pcw8256.pdf|accessdate=2009-05-07|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720221017/http://amstrad.cpc.free.fr/amstrad/manuals/pcw8256/pcw8256.pdf|archivedate=2011-07-20}}</ref> All of these except those that affected font size and spacing were displayed on the screen.<ref name="PCW8xUserGuideRefiningAppearance" /><ref name="PCW8xUserGuideEnhancingText" /> Reverse video was an on-screen reminder to the user and was never printed,<ref name="PCW8xUserGuideEnhancingText" /> while the other effects were printed, except on daisy wheel printers.<ref name="Austin1989MoreThanWP" />

Users could optionally set up to two page headers and footers, and could tell LocoScript whether to use one header or footer on odd pages and the other on even pages, one header or footer for the first or last page and another for all the rest, or to omit a header or footer on the first or last page. The program provided codes for the current page number and total number of pages, and aligning them to the left, centre, or right, and for decorations such as leading and trailing hyphens (e.g. "-9-").<ref name="PCW8xUserGuideHeadingsAndFooters">{{cite book |last=Gilmour |first=J. |title=PCW8256/8512: User Guide - CP/M Logo & Word Processor Manual |publisher=Amstrad Consumer Electronics plc |year=1985 |pages=105–110 |chapter=Headings and page numbers |url=http://amstrad.cpc.free.fr/amstrad/manuals/pcw8256/pcw8256.pdf |access-date=2009-05-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720221017/http://amstrad.cpc.free.fr/amstrad/manuals/pcw8256/pcw8256.pdf |archive-date=2011-07-20}}</ref> LocoScript automatically avoided [[widows and orphans]], ensuring that, if a paragraph of four or more lines split across pages, at least two lines appeared on each page. Users could also tell LocoScript to keep a group of lines or paragraphs together on the same page, or to avoid splitting paragraphs throughout a document, and could force page breaks.<ref name="PCW8xUserGuideNewPages">{{cite book|last=Gilmour|first=J.|title=PCW8256/8512: User Guide - CP/M Logo & Word Processor Manual|publisher=Amstrad Consumer Electronics plc|year=1985|pages=99–104|chapter=Where to start a new page|url=http://amstrad.cpc.free.fr/amstrad/manuals/pcw8256/pcw8256.pdf|accessdate=2009-05-07|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720221017/http://amstrad.cpc.free.fr/amstrad/manuals/pcw8256/pcw8256.pdf|archivedate=2011-07-20}}</ref>

Users could control placement of text by means of: margins; [[Indentation (typesetting)|indentation]]; normal [[tab stop]]s; decimal tab stops, which set the position of the decimal point rather than the start of a number; and left, right or full [[Justification (typesetting)|justification]]. Different combinations of these settings, called "layouts", were automatically numbered, which made it possible to re-use layouts and to make changes that applied to all parts of a document where a specified layout was used.<ref name="PCW8xUserGuideRefiningAppearance">{{cite book|last=Gilmour|first=J.|title=PCW8256/8512: User Guide - CP/M Logo & Word Processor Manual|publisher=Amstrad Consumer Electronics plc|year=1985|pages=87–96|chapter=Refining the appearance of the text|url=http://amstrad.cpc.free.fr/amstrad/manuals/pcw8256/pcw8256.pdf|accessdate=2009-05-07|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720221017/http://amstrad.cpc.free.fr/amstrad/manuals/pcw8256/pcw8256.pdf|archivedate=2011-07-20}}</ref><ref name="PCW8xUserGuideSettingOutText">{{cite book|last=Gilmour|first=J.|title=PCW8256/8512: User Guide - CP/M Logo & Word Processor Manual|publisher=Amstrad Consumer Electronics plc|year=1985|pages=73–85|chapter=Setting out text|url=http://amstrad.cpc.free.fr/amstrad/manuals/pcw8256/pcw8256.pdf|accessdate=2009-05-07|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720221017/http://amstrad.cpc.free.fr/amstrad/manuals/pcw8256/pcw8256.pdf|archivedate=2011-07-20}}</ref> These facilities could be used for presenting tables.<ref name="PCW8xUserGuideSettingOutText" />

LocoScript's [[cut, copy and paste]] facility provided 10 paste buffers ("blocks"), each of which was designated by a number and could be saved for re-use in a different document. Users could also save up to 26 short phrases, identified by letters, although the size of individual phrases and of the whole collection of phrases was limited. Both phrases and paste blocks could be inspected via a menu option. In addition, users could insert whole files, which could be either LocoScript documents or [[ASCII]] text files.<ref name="PCW8xUserGuideCutAndPaste">{{cite book|last=Gilmour|first=J.|title=PCW8256/8512: User Guide - CP/M Logo & Word Processor Manual|publisher=Amstrad Consumer Electronics plc|year=1985|pages=LocoScript 111–114|chapter=Cutting and pasting|url=http://amstrad.cpc.free.fr/amstrad/manuals/pcw8256/pcw8256.pdf|accessdate=2009-05-07|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720221017/http://amstrad.cpc.free.fr/amstrad/manuals/pcw8256/pcw8256.pdf|archivedate=2011-07-20}}</ref> The "find" and "find and replace" facilities could operate on a whole document, or small sections of one, and "find and replace" ("exchange" in the manual's terminology) had an option to confirm each change or just go ahead.<ref name="PCW8xUserGuideSimplerEditingKeys" />

The program did not immediately reflow text after major insertions or deletions, but did this when the user pressed the RELAY key,<ref name="PCW8xUserGuideFirst20Min" /> or automatically if the user moved the cursor through the changed passage.<ref name="PCW8xUserGuideSimplerEditingKeys">{{cite book|last=Gilmour|first=J.|title=PCW8256/8512: User Guide - CP/M Logo & Word Processor Manual|publisher=Amstrad Consumer Electronics plc|year=1985|pages=LocoScript 62–72|chapter=Using the simpler editing keys|url=http://amstrad.cpc.free.fr/amstrad/manuals/pcw8256/pcw8256.pdf|accessdate=2009-05-07|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720221017/http://amstrad.cpc.free.fr/amstrad/manuals/pcw8256/pcw8256.pdf|archivedate=2011-07-20}}</ref>

LocoScript allowed the user to edit one document while printing another, so that the relative slowness of the bundled [[dot matrix printer]] seldom caused difficulties.<ref name="PopularScienceNov1986" /><ref name="PCW8xUserGuidePrinting">{{cite book |last=Gilmour |first=J. |title=PCW8256/8512: User Guide - CP/M Logo & Word Processor Manual |publisher=Amstrad Consumer Electronics plc |year=1985 |pages=115–120 |chapter=Printing |url=http://amstrad.cpc.free.fr/amstrad/manuals/pcw8256/pcw8256.pdf |access-date=2009-05-07 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720221017/http://amstrad.cpc.free.fr/amstrad/manuals/pcw8256/pcw8256.pdf |archive-date=2011-07-20 }}</ref> Users could ask for all of a document to be printed or a range of pages, set the print quality to "high quality" or "draft", and set the paper used to single-sheet or [[continuous stationery]]. LocoScript automatically adjusted the size of margins so that the same number of lines per page appeared on both single-sheet and continuous stationery.<ref name="PCW8xUserGuidePrinting" /> Since the printer only accepted one sheet of single-sheet paper at a time, LocoScript displayed a prompt at the end of each page when in single-sheet mode.<ref name="PCW8xUserGuidePrinting" /> The program also had the ability to resume at a specified page after a paper jam. In addition to printing LocoScript documents, the program had a "direct printing" mode which operated like a typewriter, printing each piece of text after the user pressed RETURN. This could be used for completing forms.<ref name="PCW8xUserGuidePrinting" />

The original LocoScript version 1 had no [[spell checker]] or [[mail merge]] facilities.<ref name="Austin1989MoreThanWP" /><ref name="OldComputersPCW8xxx" /> Both were  available by December 1986.<ref>{{cite magazine |date=December 1986 |title=New Faces |magazine=8000 Plus |publisher=Future Publishing |url=https://archive.org/details/8000-plus-magazine-03/page/n21/mode/2up |access-date=2021-01-18 }}</ref>
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Despite the sophistication of the software, the great drawback of the PCWs was the exclusive reliance of the early models (the PCW 8256 and 8512) on a poor quality dot matrix printer, coupled with the eventual introduction (with the 9512) of a high quality daisy wheel printer that could ''not'' print any of the wide range of non-alphanumeric symbols which the LocoScript software was capable of producing. The software was seriously hamstrung by the poor quality of the hardware: but this was due in large part to a commercial decision not to provide any support for third-party printers so long as the software remained exclusive to the PCW format.