[I7] Default messages redux

[Adam Thornton]

On Feb 20, 2008, at 10:04 PM, Jesse McGrew wrote:

> On Sun, Feb 17, 2008 at 9:05 AM, Graham Nelson
> <graham at gnelson.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> [...]
>> The Standard Rules have been revised throughout: they are now more
>> logically
>>        constructed, easier to read and better presented (for  
>> instance, in the
>>        Phrasebook index, which has a slightly new look). They  
>> advance formally
>>        to version 2.
>>        While much altered internally, they are almost exactly the  
>> same from
>> the
>>        user's point of view, except that:
>>        - The property "inventory listing" for things has been  
>> withdrawn.
>>        (A fossil from the days of Inform 6: in I7's more rule- 
>> oriented way of
>>        looking at things, gadgets like this one are more an  
>> obstruction than a
>>        help, and it was striking that not one of the hundreds of  
>> examples ever
>>        used this property. And users often found it misleading that  
>> the
>> property
>>        didn't play well with the activity "printing the name of  
>> something".)
>
> Setting an "inventory listing" property seems to be the most
> straightforward way to disable the built-in inventory details like
> "(providing light)" as of 5J39. If it's going to be removed, I hope
> we'll have another way to do that - maybe a "printing inventory
> details of something" activity.

Indeed, my question tonight on raif was prompted by removing the  
inventory listing for one of my objects, replacing it with a rule, and  
realizing that (providing light) was stuck in my object description.

Adam