| PowerPage v1.2
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ by Richard Fairhurst (c) Robot PD Library 1991 Utility programs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As well as the main PowerPage program, this disc also contains a number of extra support utilities for PowerPage. This file explains what the utilities are for and how to use them. 1. TEXT EDITOR If you don't have a word-processor or other text editor, then you can use this one to prepare text for import into PowerPage. After loading it from the menu, you will be given a disc catalogue. If you want to load a file and edit it, then type in its name and press ENTER - otherwise just press ENTER. A list of keys will come up. Press any key and you will be ready to edit the text. You can move the cursor around the document with the cursor keys, use the DEL and ENTER keys in the normal way, insert new lines by pressing CTRL-I and delete lines by pressing CTRL-D. If you want to insert an embedded style code (for example, to toggle bold on or off), use CTRL-X. So, for example, if you wanted the sentence "This program is a really amazing utility" with the word "amazing" in bold, underlined text, you would type: This program is a really [CTRL-X]B[CTRL-X]Uamazing[CTRL-X]B[CTRL-X]U utility ^ ^ ^ ^ bold and underline and toggle them off toggle on When you press CTRL-X, a bullet-style symbol will appear on the screen. The available codes are B, U, T and I (bold, underline, thin and italics) and they should all be prefixed with CTRL-X. To save the file, press CTRL-S. A catalogue will appear and you will be prompted for the filename to save. To load in a new file (or start again from scratch), CTRL-L will return you to the beginning. 2. TEXT CONVERSION If you prefer to use your own word-processor or text editor, you might find that it does not let you use CTRL-X (CHR$(24)) characters for PowerPage style codes. With this program, that's no problem. You should first prepare your text file using the word-processor, but instead of using CTRL-X for the style code, use another character unused anywhere else in the document (like "~", obtainable by pressing CTRL-2). In this example, then, the code to turn bold on or off would be ~B. When you have finished, save it out as an ASCII file. Then load the PowerPage Text Conversion utility, enter the name of the file (note that the file has a maximum of 500 lines) and then enter the character you are using instead of CTRL-X. The CTRL-X character will be substituted wherever your replacement character is met and the file rewritten to disc. 3. FONT EDITOR With PowerPage you are not limited to only one font on each page: you can use as many as you like. This utility will help you create them. The program is very straightforward to use, as the keys are listed on-screen at all times. In brief, you edit each character by moving the flashing cursor around and pressing COPY to set or reset each pixel. You can move the whole character in any direction by pressing SHIFT and the cursor keys, rotate it with R, invert with I, or flip in either the x- or y-axis by X or Y. When you have edited that character, press ENTER and you can (using cursor keys and copy) select a new character from the display in the middle of the screen, which is edited in the same way. To save a font, press S and enter the filename. The extension .CHR will be added if you do not provide one. Similarly, to load press L and enter a filename. Finally, to catalogue the disc, press C and then a file specification (e.g. *.CHR for all .CHR files). 4. PROCEDURE FOR EDITING LARGE FONTS We have not supplied a utility to let you edit the large ".FNT" fonts, as at that scale, it is better to use an art package. Instead, we have supplied a template screen file called "LARGE.SCR". Boot up your favourite art package and set it to MODE 2. (Suitable packages include Advanced Art Studio, GPaint and Mode 2 Screen Design - anything that saves the screen as a 17k binary file.) Then load the LARGE.SCR template file off your PowerPage disc. A grid will appear, each square containing a character in the standard Amstrad font. (There are brief instructions at the foot of the screen: you don't need to remove them). To define your characters, then, just replace each character by its new version. The fonts can be up to 15 pixels by 15 pixels in size: however, we would recommend that you leave a pixel or two's space at the left of each character. You might find that an art package such as GPaint, with its large zoom facility, is particularly suited to this sort of work. (Of course, if your art package is well-featured, your job will be much easier!) When you have finished, save the file out onto a disc (in standard 17k binary format) and load the GRABBER program off the PowerPage disc (using the menu). Enter the filename of the screen to be loaded in, and then the filename of the font to be saved (the standard .FNT extension will be added if you do not specify one). The font will be converted from your screen file into the font file. Note that you can also enter a font description and date (up to a maximum of 16 characters each). This is not necessary for PowerPage, but is provided purely for Stop Press compatibility purposes. 5. HEADLINE GENERATOR As well as the standard PowerPage features, we have provided a utility to let you create headlines using two extra-large fonts (from the Mini-PrintShop program). The fonts are Times Roman and De-Ville. All you need to do is load the Headline Generator and then enter all the options required (you will be prompted and given examples). The headline will be shown and you will be asked to confirm that it's ok. If it is, then you can type in a filename (without an extension) and it will be saved as a .CUT file ready to load into PowerPage using the "Import Clip Art" option. The Times Roman font is on the PowerPage disc, but if you want to use De-Ville you will also need a copy of Robot PD collection AMS37 - Mini-Print-Shop Clip Art. 6. MODE 1 TO 2 SCREEN CONVERSION If you would like to load a MODE 1 screen into PowerPage (using the Load Picture) option, then running this first will convert the screen into a MODE 2 file, with ink 1 solid black, and inks 2 and 3 as striped patterns (which are so close together that they appear grey). The original screen is wiped and replaced with a new one. If you want to use another disc, just insert it and press ENTER/RETURN when asked for the filename. 7. MISCELLANEOUS There are also a few example files of fonts and clip art on the disc, together with a complete example page. These utilities should prove useful to PowerPage users. If there is anything you would like catered for in PowerPage, then please write to Robot PD - we'll do what we can! Richard Fairhurst 26.9.91 Robot PD Library |