
a proposal for a user configurable help system: (a proposed TWUCHS.ZIP)

purpose: (a) to save space in twft

         (b) to create a TW help system that can be modified by end users
             and added to TW macro pkgs.

aside: clearly this kind of system is redundant if you have *lots* of
memory and space and can shell to DOS and use qedit to read a personally
prepared text file.  Not everyone, however, has a hard drive handy and
can shell to DOS. twft is often used on 360k systems and so space 
considerations come into play.  The proposed implementation of this protocol 
will be a once-through reader that should be conservative in terms of 
memory and space use.  And if we make it simple enough, other macro writers
may adopt it.

the program elements will consist of a help reader and display routine,
1 or more user configurable help files (*.uch files) written in ascii text,
using a simple command language.

proposed command set:

.menu
{ a menu item, not to exceed 35 chars in length }
.endmenu
{ max of 20 menu items in first proposed version }
.title
{ title of item }
.endtitle
.header
{ header of item, if any }
.endheader
.page
{ used to specify beginning of item originally.  later .page lines will
  force a new page. }
.endpage
{end of help item }
; { comment line }
.comment { comment line }
.rem { comment line }
*we should allow for later color extensions*

example .uch file:
; this is an example .uch file
;
; item 1 on menu
;
.menu
menu item 1
.endmenu
.title
intro
.endtitle
.header
intro (cont)
.endheader
.page
intro page 1
.page
intro page 2
.page
intro page 3
.page
last page intro
.endpage
;
; item 2 on menu
;
.menu
menu item 2
.endmenu
.title
beginnings
.endtitle
.page
text about beginning a tw game
.endpage
;
; end of example .uch file
;


