format a document

The "editor" was anyone attempting to effectively format a document for multimedia.

Each program had its own special way to format a document, and it was a difficult and time consuming process to change from one word processor to another.

The Scribe compiler used a database of Styles (containing document format definitions), which defined the rules for formatting a document in a particular style.

For example, it is possible to format a document for a laser printer or a line (dot matrix) printer or for a screen simply by specifying a profile for the device without changing the document itself.