ۥ-/@ -eeeeeees.  YM4K.e.. EI, EI, Oh! 5 Muharram 1422 I. PRAEPARATIO CONTRABRILLIENSIS The _Encyclopaedia of Islam_ application of Microsoft Windows evidently can not save its own state, an inexcusable oversight. Consequently you must set it up properly every time you open it. The defaults are all wrong, being designed for the salesmen rather than the customers, as is usual in such cases. I recommend that you (0) Immediately "Maximize" the one and only EI child window. This step is crucial if you want to force the [exp. del.] software to display text so it always fits on the screen. You _can_ have multiple child windows, but ordinarily that is not a sensible thing to want. We'll talk about it below. It is never sensible to want windows chopped off on one side or gratuitous emptinesses on the screen, both of which this software tends to specialize in unless firmly taken in hand. (1) Now "Restore" the EI main window. The program always begins by grabbing the whole screen. You cannot reform its innate swinishness by adjusting the "Properties" of a Windows short cut. (2) Next, use "iew/Shw Hide Toolbars" to abolish all four of the principal on-screen nuisances and allow the main text a proper place in the sun. Immediately get rid of (2-1) The MAIN toolbar (You read English and don't need little pictures, right? and besides, icons are IDOLATRY. Cf. IX, 5b.) (2-2) The FIND toolbar (Only earch from the menu works half decently anyway.) (2-3) The STATUS bar (You never noticed it, you'll never miss it.) (2-4) The CHARACTER PICKER (You only need this toy for "earch," which has it separately. If, indeed, you ever need it at all.) _M 'ajmalah_! At each stage you will see the prospect before you become more attractive. Assuming you first maximized the child window as per instructions, that is. (3) Drag the vertical divider between the "CONTENTS" pane and the text pane far to the left. Probably as far as it will go. There's nothing over there on the left but an incomplete copy of the Latin alphabet. Maybe it means something in Dutch. That civilizes the beast, more or less. The vertical trade-off between text pane above and bibliography pane below is entirely up to you. You can now get down to work either by doing a new "earch" or by using either "nnotation/Noe Manager..." or "nnotation/Bookark..." to get back to where you marked where you were. II. Bitching And Moaning Proper (1) Begin with what should now be obvious: it is a scandal that the program won't remember all that manipulation we just did from session to session, restoring not only the formal arrangement of its internal display from the last time it was closed down, but also putting up the last article read in the text pane and restoring the size/position of the parent window itself. Subtract many, many points for such utter contempt of the customer's convenience. (2) Next there is the little zinger I stuck in above to check if you were paying attention. If you could manage to find IX, 5b just from that reference, please let me know at once how you did so. It is a trick I would dearly like to learn. (3) Also pertinent to the above remarks: it is not at all clear that "notes" and "bookmarks" were worth distinguishing. A note with no text in it makes a very satisfactory bookmark, no? Think of a blank 3x5 card.... In any case, access to it/them should have been made available direct from the main menu. And now on to new business: (4) The little "Annotation" box has lots of deficiencies, as for instance (a) It is too small and not resizable. (b) It forces use of an English keyboard. As opposed in this case to El Chipo's beloved "Programmer's Polish" one. We're not talking about anything really ambitious like writing Arabic in Arabic script. _M genoito_! (c) Worst of all, the "Annotation" box is a "modal" dialogue box, as they say in Redmondspeak. While it is up, the rest of the program is in a zombie state. Having brought one up, I discover that the main text wasn't all in the window (a major annoyance in its own right, that, but of course I hadn't maximized the child window) and found that I couldn't resize the main window. Either you play in the little sandbox provided or you close it down before you can do anything else. On the whole it looks like notes will have to be kept separately and generated by a real editor. (d) In particular about the last point, the existing set-up means you cannot scroll through an article as you make your note on it. Lovely. (5) I think the "Index of Subjects" (rightmost tab) can be pronounced quite worthless after discovering that it includes neither "Grammar" nor "Nahw." We won't be visiting THERE again any time soon, Toto. (5) I find that it is possible to minimize the "full window" child window. This feature is outstandingly pointless, seeing that there aren't any other child windows. No, I _do_ beg your pardon, that's not quite right. Actually, you can use "ile/ew" to open another copy of the same thing, i.e., of the whole megillah. (Brill seems not to have mastered Redmondspeak at all. The idea of "New" in that exotic lingo is that the object of the command doesn't yet exist. And how am I going to start work on my _Encyclopaedia of Scientology_, I ask you?) Once you've got two copies up, for whatever reason, "indows/Tile ertical" and "indows/Tile orizontal" seem to work correctly, although, viewed at a mere 1152x864 resolution, both child windows are deplorably small. strtJL    @ B   =?A^`bfhj!!!!!!L @  !"  YTimes New Roman Symbol&Arial5Courier New GaramondDushizat New Roman"hT&T&KReview(?) of EI CD-ROMJohn H. McCloskeyJohn H. McCloskey