boust(1)

boust1

Short for boustrophedon

Usage

boust [-tkArg ...] [--programArg ...] filename

filename defaults to README, dash (-) specifies stdin

Overview

Boustrophedon is a reading- / writing- style that alternates direction every line. Once one gets good at reading the 'backwards' text, reading -- and writing -- can go much faster since the eye, or hand, does not have to whip back to the margin when the end of a line is reached. One simply goes down a line and continues in the opposite direction.

In the case of a paragraph ending, the next paragraph should also retain the horizontal position, and then (depending on which the text is closest to: the center of the screen or the margin) continues in the same direction, or continues in the opposite direction.

This program formats the text-files to be read in this manner.

Options

tk options

-colormap

Colormap for main window

-display

Display to use

-geometry

Initial geometry for window

-name

Name to use for application

-sync

Use synchronous mode for display server

-visual

Visual for main window

-use

Id of window in which to embed application

--

Pass all remaining arguments through to script

program options

--h

this help screen

--r

enables "Rongorongo" (reverse lines use a rotated font)

--o filename

ps output file, or dash (-) for stdout

--cpl i

characters per line (default 60)

--pw i

page width* (default 8.5)

--ph i

page height* (default 11)

--lr i

left-right margin* (defualt 1)

--tb i

top-bottom margin* (default 1)

--f i

font size (precalculated based on cpl)

--pn none|top|bottom|double|alt

Specifies what type of page numbering on .ps output

none

no page numbering on .ps output

top

@ top of page

bottom

@ bottom of page

double

@ top & bottom

alt

alternate top/bottom each page

* - in inches

Commands

PgUp, PgDn, Up, Down, Home and End will scroll the textbox. Esc will exit the program. Enter within the File entry-field will load the file.

Mark-up tags

To aid in specialized formatting of output

<boust-pgbk>

Page break; useful for chapters

<boust-lnbk> and <boust-revlnbk>

Line break and linebreak with a direction change. Last character before the tag lines up horizontally with the first character after the tag. NOTE: Obviously if there is no room for the next word on the line in the specified direction, it won't work properly.

<boust-sp>

Space; useful for adding "justification" when needed.

Quirks

(See "BUGS")

Example

Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures In Wonderland has a tail-shaped tale (as told by a mouse) which was a bit challenging to reformat boustrophedonically. Following is the mark-up I used to approximate the original formatting.

the tale was something like this:-- <boust-sp><boust-sp>
<boust-lnbk><boust-revlnbk>
`Fury <boust-sp> said <boust-sp> to <boust-sp> a <boust-revlnbk>
mouse, That he <boust-revlnbk>
met in the house <boust-revlnbk>
"Let us both go to <boust-revlnbk>
law: <boust-sp> I will prosecute <boust-revlnbk>
YOU. --Come, I'll <boust-revlnbk>
take <boust-sp> no <boust-sp> denial; <boust-sp> We <boust-revlnbk>
must <boust-sp> have <boust-sp> a <boust-revlnbk>
trial: For really <boust-revlnbk>
this morning I've <boust-revlnbk>
nothing to do." <boust-revlnbk>
Said the mouse to <boust-revlnbk>
the cur, "Such <boust-revlnbk>
a trial, dear Sir, <boust-revlnbk>
With no jury or <boust-revlnbk>
judge, <boust-sp> would <boust-sp> be <boust-revlnbk>
wasting <boust-sp> our <boust-revlnbk>
breath." "I'll be <boust-revlnbk>
judge, I'll be <boust-revlnbk>
jury." Said <boust-revlnbk>
cunning <boust-revlnbk>
old Fury: <boust-revlnbk>
"I'll <boust-sp> try <boust-revlnbk>
the whole <boust-revlnbk>
cause, and <boust-revlnbk>
condemn <boust-revlnbk>
you <boust-lnbk>
to <boust-lnbk>
death."'

Colors

The user may choose to color the forward lines one color, and the backward lines another. Some think this makes learning to read boustrophedon easier. If colors are wanted, click the On/Off checkbox. To select different colors, edit the values in the Color: entries next to the checkbox. This program will accept various syntaxes for color. #RGB, #RRGGBB, #RRRGGGBBB, #RRRRGGGGBBBB, colorname.

R, G, and B are hex values; colorname is the name of a color, such as ´blue', 'lightgreen', 'turquoise', 'magenta', etc...

Note: This feature hasn't been implemented in the PostScript output.

Postscript

This is fairly new to me. If it doesn't work right, please report the bug so I can research a fix for it.

Releases

2 releases since Debian 3.0 (Woody); the text changed 1 time.

  1. 3.0
  2. 3.1

--r since Debian 3.1 (Sarge).

Author

Simmon Keith Barney <[email protected]>

This manual page was originally converted from the ascii data included in boust to the nroff source by Jorgen Schaefer <[email protected]>, for the Debian GNU/Linux system (but may be used by others).

History

Boustrophedon was originally created by the ancient Greeks. It was created to promote ambidexterity. I was unaware of this when I started writing in it, but I, too, started writing in this style to increase my ambidexterity. I wanted to learn to write with my left hand, and found it more natural (and symetrical) to write right-to-left with my left hand, as opposed to the left-to-right my right hand uses. It was only natural that I would alternate hands each line. The dot matrix printer was a big inspiration in my discovery of this writing- style.

However, altho I have been writing this way (mainly in my journal) and can write fairly well now, the only text I had to read in boustrophedon was the text I had written... in bad handwriting. And even on the more-legible lines, I have found that I read slower ´backwards' than I do forwards as I am used to. So I wanted something to allow me to read just about anything in this manner, seeing as I need practice.

Bugs

*

Paragraph detection may (still) be imperfect

*

If the window is resized too small, the buttons will no longer be visible.

*

This program no longer *displays* in the VT.

*

Currently only fixed-width fonts can be used.

*

No fonts currently exist for any platform other than Unix.

*

Outputting to PostScript:

*

Pages may be offset a slight amount horizontally from eachother.

*

When using the <boust-pgbk> mark-up, if the tag happens to coincide with a real page break (if it is the first thing on a page), it will do nothing. If this happens, work around it by preceding it with a linebreak.

*

If you are trying to fit something on a page, make sure to put your line-breaks and page-breaks at the end of a paragraph. If you put them at the beginning of one, you may get an extra blank line at the beginning of the page that follows.

*

EVERY OTHER LINE IS BACKWARDS! :)

Availability

boust can be downloaded from http://traevoli.com/boust/ ⟨⟩

boust can also (or could, at the time of this release) be installed, under Debian GNU/Linux, with the apt-get(8) utility.

From boust 0.161-5 in Debian 3.1 (Sarge). Parsed by carta from the page's man source.