PROFESSIONAL
PUBLISHER
DTP SYSTEM
Published by
Digital Precision Ltd
CONTENTS
A. OVERVIEW
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Desktop Publishing
1.2 What You Have Got
1.3 Copying the Disk
1.4 How to Use This Manual
1.5 Thanks
2. THE PROFESSIONAL APPROACH
3. PAGE EDITING
3.1 Start-Up
3.2 Mode Text
3.2.1 Screen layout
3.2.2 The function keys
3.2.3 Manual QLS text entry
3.2.4 What else to do with a Window
3.3 Mode Font
3.3.1 Manual HDF text entry
3.3.2 Ringing the changes
3.4 Mode Draw
3.5 Mode Line
3.6 Mode Fill
4. LOADING AND SAVING
4.1 Loading Text
4.1.1 Where will you put it?
4.1.2 Where will you take it from?
4.1.3 Text formatting
4.1.4 Starting from mid-file
4.2 Loading Pictures
4.2.1 Where does the picture come from?
4.2.2 Pictorial tricks
4.2.3 Cut and paste
4.3 Saving and Loading Pages
4.4 Auxiliary File Functions
4.4.1 Directory
4.4.2 Delete
4.4.3 Format
5. PAGE GLOBALS
5.1 Number of Pages, Orientation Dimensions
5.2 Layout Guides and Cameo Grid
6. FONT EDITORS
6.1 The QLS Editor
6.1.1 The letter assignment
6.1.2 Editing
6.1.3 Saving and loading
6.2 The HDF Editor
6.2.1 Code Letter Assignment
6.2.2 Editing
6.2.3 Saving and loading
7. PRINTING
7.1 Requirements
7.2 Putting the Epson Through Its Paces
7.3 Changing the Printer Driver
7.3.1 The rationale
7.3.2 The parameters
7.3.3 Saving and loading
7.4 High-Resolution Printers
8. PROGRAM CONTROL
8.1 Mouse v. Keyboard
8.2 Multitasking
8.3 Quitting
9. AUXILIARY PROGRAMS
9.1 Configurator
9.2 Page Converter
9.3 Font Converter
9.4 grafiX
9.4.1 Purpose
9.4.2 Preparation
9.4.3 Start-up
9.4.4 The input file
9.4.5 Supplementary questions
9.4.6 The printer
9.4.7 Scaling
9.4.8 Interpolation (anti-aliasing)
9.4.9 Execution
9.4.10 Printer-driver file
9.4.11 Parameter strings
9.5 Word Processors and Graphics Programs
B. ALPHABETIC SECTION
A. OVERVIEW
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Desktop Publishing
The fascinating field of desktop publishing attempts to produce
printed output that will come close in quality to the more
traditional printing processes, although only a microcomputer
and an attached printer with graphics capability are used.
As the printer is used in its graphics mode, far more different
fonts can be put on the Page than by a word-processing program.
Desktop Publishing thus does not need the more expensive
resources of conventional printing; while it can also do without
some of the technical qualifications required in the printing
trade, the aesthetic training acquired by human printers cannot
be entirely forgone. Depending on the user's aesthetic talent,
he will nonetheless be able to produce output that is pleasing
to the eye after some experience.
The central object of Desktop Publishing programs is the Page
rather than the whole publication, because it is the individual
Page that is viewed at a given time. The main operations that
can be performed on a Page are:
- global Page design, e.g. definition of margins, columns etc.;
- entry of text, both manually and by loading of previously
stored material, in any of several fonts of type (with
'highlight' variations such as bold print, italics etc.) and
to any part of the Page;
- the placing of graphics, both entered manually (free-hand and
geometric drawings) and loaded from a previously saved file
(e.g. clip art, photographs, video images) on the Page.
All these operations should be easy to perform and, within
reason, easy to undo if the user is dissatisfied with some of
his work.
A desktop publishing system also includes features to make
itself comprehensible to various models of printer ('printer
drivers') and to permit printing in the several graphics modes
supported by a printer.
Font editors which enable the user to supplement the fonts
provided with user-designed modifications (or entirely new
fonts) are among the most useful auxiliary features of desktop
publishing systems.
1.2 What You Have Got
The Professional Publisher package, the most comprehensive
desktop publishing program ever produced for the Sinclair QL
microcomputer, comes in the form of one floppy disk (3.5" or
5.25") and this manual. If your QL has not been upgraded for
floppy disks and at least 512K of expansion memory, please
refer to 'Machine requirements' in the Alphabetic Section.
The disk contains:
- the main program, publish_task, with its booter program, boot.
The use of this program is what most of this manual is about;
- five files with SuperBASIC extensions needed: runtime_exts,
eye_q_exts, publish1_exts, publish2_exts and mouse_exts; these
are all loaded automatically by the main booter program;
- four files that hold the default values of various variables:
epson_driver, variable_default, default_layout and
fill_patterns; these are also automatically loaded at start-up
time
- eleven files containing clip art; their names and use will be
found under Clip Art in the Alphabetic Section.
- three auxiliary programs: configure_exe (to change the various
defaults), convert_page_exe (to make pages saved by the
earlier and less powerful Special Desktop Publisher readable
by Professional Publisher), and convert_font_exe (to do the
same to fonts saved under the earlier program); each with its
associated booter which has _boot instead of _exe in the
filename. These programs are used separately; explanations
are given in Chapter 9.
- a large number of fonts of the conventional QL size and
resolution (the abbreviation QLS will be used for these), with
filenames ending in _qls;
- numerous fonts of much higher definition and versatility
(we'll refer to them as HDF), with filenames ending in _hdf.
While the supplied built-in printer driver is excellent, Digital
Precision always believe in providing alternatives. PDQL have
modified their printer driver grafiX for us. Refer to section
9.4 for details.
The file updates_doc (to be read with Quill) with information
about enhancements to the program added after this manual was
printed may be present - if so, please read it.
As supplied, the disk is pretty full. To make room on it, move
the auxiliary files somewhere else. The best way to make use of
this room is to install LIGHTNING on it - it is as easy as pie
to do this, and LIGHTNING will speed up PROFESSIONAL PUBLISHER a
good two times fairly across the board. If you already have
LIGHTNING, put ALL the modules (text, graphics and maths) onto
Professional Publisher.
LIGHTNING SPECIAL EDITION is even better than LIGHTNING! It
provides you with eighty QL fonts, most of them completely new.
If you have a THOR, you will need the special THOR version of
Professional Publisher - the word THOR will appear on the front
of the disk. This manual applies equally to both versions.
1.3 Copying the Disk
Of course you realise that before using the package you should
make backup copies of the disk for your own protection. You
probably know how to do this; if not, you'll find instructions
under 'Backing up' in the Alphabetic Section.
We urge you to read the entry under 'Copyright' in that Section;
Digital Precision will not hesitate to prosecute copyright
violators anywhere. We offer rewards (with anonymity guaranteed)
for information on pirates.
1.4 How to Use This Manual
The first part of this manual is intended to give you a rapid
overview of the features of Professional Publisher, so that you
can start using it as rapidly as possible. If anything is
unclear or for in-depth information, we refer you to the
amply cross-referenced Alphabetic Section, where details on each
feature will be found, technical terms explained, and practical
tips offered.
1.5 Thanks
The program itself was produced by a team led by Andrew Astrand,
programmer and innovator supreme. Andrew, who (in his spare
time) is reading computer science at one of the country's
leading universities, was assisted by his father Cliff.
We thank polymath Dr Helmut Aigner of Vienna who is responsible
for 80% of this manual. Mission control and the other 20% (the
bludners) were by Freddy Vachha, DP's technical director....
2. The Professional Approach
No single menu could possibly hold all the options available to
the user of Professional Publisher. Nor would it make much
sense to offer them all at the same time, as you are not likely
to place text and graphics on the Page helter-skelter.
We have therefore modularised Professional Publisher in such a
way that you can select from among five modes of manual entry
and seven major menus (one for automatic entry from files, the
other six for auxiliary functions).
They are all accessed, after you have passed an initial screen
that facilitates multitasking, from a Main Menu. A graphic
representation is given overleaf:
^
v
---------
| Initial |
| Screen |<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
--------- ^
v ^
-------------------------------------------------------- ^
| Main | ^
>| Menu | ^
^ -------------------------------------------------------- ^
^ v ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
^ v v v v v v v v ^
^ ---- ------- ---- ---- -------- ----- ------- -------
^ | 1. || 2. || 3. || 4. || 5. || 6. || 7. || 8. |
^ |Edit|| Page ||Edit||Edit|| File ||Print||Printer||Multi- |
^ |Page||Globals||HDF ||QLS ||Handling||Page ||Driver ||tasking|
^ ---- ------- ---- ---- -------- ----- ------- -------
^ v
^ v
^ ----
^ |Mode| Movement along the arrows requires certain
-|Text| keypresses or mouse button clicks. These are
---- all indicated in menus on the screen and
^ tabulated under Navigation in the Alphabetic
v Section.
----
|Mode| Mode Text is for manual entry of text using
|Font| the low-definition but space-saving QLS
---- characters.
^
v Mode Font is for manual entry of text using
---- the versatile HDF characters.
|Mode|
|Draw| Mode Draw is for manual entry of free-hand
---- drawings, using strokes of 256 different
^ 'brushes'.
v
---- Mode Line is for manual entry of geometric
|Mode| shapes: straight lines, arcs, and filled and
|Line| unfilled rectangular boxes, circles and
---- ellipses.
^
v Mode Fill is for filling any enclosed area on
---- the Page with a virtually infinite choice of
|Mode| patterns.
|Fill|
---- In all these modes only a section of the Page
under construction (typically of A4 size) is
visible on the screen. That section is selected when passing
from Edit Page to Mode Text.
In the Main Menu and in most sub-menus a scale model of the Page
(called the cameo) is visible. This is too small to show
details, but it does give an overview of the general Page layout
and of how Page construction is coming along. There is also a
close-up (full-size) view of the currently interesting Page area
on screen whenever necessary.
The 'Page Globals' sub-menu lets the user treat the Page as a
whole: fix its size, turn it sideways, set its margins and
columns, etc. As there may be two pages in memory concurrently,
this sub-menu also permits swapping of the currently handled
Page.
The 'Edit fonts' and 'Edit QL sets' sub-menus are for
supplementing the already vast supply of QLS and HDF fonts that
comes with Professional Publisher. Users may modify the
supplied fonts or design entirely new ones. Because of the
multitude of supplied fonts, these sub-menus may not be needed
much by the beginning user.
The 'File handling' sub-menu permits
- the entry of previously saved text and pictures on the Page;
- saving and reloading of unfinished (and finished) Pages;
- auxiliary functions: obtaining a file directory from a disk,
deleting a file and formatting a medium. Other auxiliary
functions, such as file copying, are available through
multitasking.
The 'Print page' sub-menu does what it says. It works with the
Page currently in the QL's memory. A Page that is saved on disk
must first be loaded from the 'File handling' menu. Several
styles of printing (passes, Page orientation, print density) are
supported.
The 'Printer driver' menu is for those whose printer is not
fully Epson-compatible. (If it is, the default values the
program comes with will ensure perfect output without changing
any parameters. Your printer is probably Epson-compatible if
its manual states that it is; it certainly is if graphic output
from the Psion EASEL program, supplied with the QL, through that
program's default printer driver works on it.) To attune the QL
to any other 9-pin printer, the 'Printer driver' sub-menu will
ask the user certain questions he can answer from the printer
manual, and then make the necessary software adjustments.
The 'Swap tasks' sub-menu is the only way, other than resetting
or switching off the computer, to exit from Professional
Publisher and use another task. At your option, Professional
Publisher can either be re-entered ('multitasking') or
abandoned.
3. PAGE EDITING
3.1 Start-Up
To get your Professional Publisher program up and running,
insert the disk in floppy drive 1, reset your QL and press F1
when the Monitor/TV question appears on the screen. Loading
will take a minute or more. To speed up loading, cut down the
number of fonts automatically loaded into RAM by Professional
Publisher using the configurator (see section 9.1 LATER!).
If you wish to use the Smiling Mouse to control your input, you
must have it plugged in before switching on the QL.
You will first see a small initial window at centre screen,
inviting you to press Ctrl and C together (do so, unless there
is a flashing cursor in the window) and then Enter. The Main
Menu, complete with cameo, will now be displayed.
If the size of the Page you want to design is NOT 960 pixels
across by 800 pixels down (a typical A4 Page held upright), you
must make the necessary adjustments (width, height and/or
orientation) immediately by moving to sub-menu 2 (see
Subsection 5.1); you cannot change these parameters after you
have put something on the Page and still get a correct printout
(you can, however, return to the original dimensions and
orientation).
For the purposes of this overview we shall assume that an
upright ('portrait' rather than 'landscape') Page is what you
want. Note that information on Page size and orientation is
given at the bottom of the screen.
The screen also displays, along the edges of the cameo, the Page
dimensions in centimetres. (We shall learn how to change the
indication to inches in Subsection 5.1). These are given as an
aid to your planning only; the printout may or may not come out
in this size depending on the options you select when you give
the Print command.
Smiling Mouse owners may want to press the "2" and "9" keys to
transfer control to the mouse and then click the Cancel
(left-hand) button to return to the Main Menu. If you do this
without having a mouse connected, however, you are in trouble
(you can only re-activate the keyboard control by "clicking"
with a mouse - Catch 22)!
We shall now make our first selection from a menu. We want menu
item 1 (Edit page) and find this item already highlighted. All
we have to do now is to confirm that this is indeed what we
want. There are two ways of doing this from the keyboard (the
space bar and the Enter key), and one from the mouse (the
right-hand or Select button). From now on we shall take it for
granted that pressing the space bar and pressing the Select
button are equivalent, as are pressing Esc and going to the
Esc option and pressing Select.
A red rectangle marked with two arrowhead cursor symbols, the
'shuttle', now appears in the top left-hand corner of the cameo.
This represents the top left-hand section of the Page. We also
get a life-size close-up of part of the shuttle area in a new
window that opens at screen bottom right. The place of the arrow
at the centre of the close-up corresponds to the top left-hand
arrow on the cameo. Areas shown in red on the close-up are off
the Page and therefore inaccessible.
If we want to put our first efforts on this part of the Page,
fine; all we have to do is press the space bar. If we want to
select another portion, we can move the shuttle as indicated on
the panel displayed on the screen. Under keyboard control, the
four arrow (or cursor) keys move the shuttle by 32 pixels a tap;
in combination with the control key, 8 pixels a tap; and in
combination with the shift key, to the nearest 'guide' in the
desired direction with each tap. The guides are imaginary lines
visible on the cameo which help in putting text and graphics in
the right place: margins, column delimiters and auxiliary
horizontal lines called column breaks. We shall learn to place
these wherever we like in due course; for now let's accept the
default ones. As an exercise, move the shuttle to the top
right-hand corner of the cameo and press the space bar.
As movement of the mouse roller is not fine enough to effect
accurate small movements across the cameo, put the mouse pointer
in the screen panel where some options are directly available.
Move it by rolling the mouse until the mouse pointer is in the
desired arrow (32 pixel or 8 pixel movement in the appropriate
direction) , then click Select as often as desired. ESC and
select screen area are similarly supported.
3.2 Mode Text.
The Main Menu, cameo and close-up now disappear from the screen.
Instead we get a large white window that covers most of the
screen (this is the area represented by the cameo as we last saw
it; we'll call it the Screen with an upper-case S for clarity),
two rulers at bottom and right, and a narrow information window
at extreme right.
3.2.1 Screen layout
All we see on the Screen are the guides and an arrowhead cursor.
The rulers have markings which correspond to centimetres.
The information window tells us, from top to bottom:
- that we are now in Mode Text (for manual QLS text entry),
- where Screen top left is with respect to Page top left (the
Screen X and Y co-ordinates); the white numbers are units of
one 'square' (i.e. 8 pixels), the red ones are extra pixels;
- where the cursor is with respect to Page top left (the Page X
and Y co-ordinates);
- the current QLS font assignments and style selection. You can
select any two fonts (one for the 'regular' characters, the
other for foreign characters and special symbols) from a
selection of twenty-four to be used for your text. You will
want to use different font pairs for regular ('draft') text
and for the 'highlights' (bold, italic, superscript, subscript
and one other, unnamed highlight). As a default, draft style
uses first font B and second font N.
Somehow you must also tell the program which of the styles is
to be in force when you type the next character, and whether
this is to be underlined and/or inverted (i.e. have black and
white exchanged). The default is draft, non-underlined,
non-inverted. You actually get to see a sample of this style
(28 typical characters, the last 7 from the second font) in
the information window;
- the current settings for ink and paper (default: black ink,
white paper).
All of these can be changed by you, but for the moment let's
accept the defaults.
3.2.2 The function keys
The bottom of the information window tells you what pressing the
function keys will do for you. For F1, F2 and F3, this is the
same action in all five modes:
- F1 will freeze the co-ordinates in the information window so
they won't change when you move the cursor; another tap on F1
will unfreeze them.
- F2 will switch the rulers off and on. A menu will be
displayed, giving you the option of controlling either the
vertical or the horizontal ruler. As an exercise, let's
remove the horizontal ruler. This time the highlight is in
the wrong place; this means you have three keyboard options:
- press the down arrow key; when option 2 is highlighted,
press the space bar;
- as above, but press Enter instead of the space bar;
- press 2 (the number of the option).
With the mouse, roll the pointer until option 2 is
highlighted, then click Select.
- F3 will lay a grid of 16 pixels mesh width over the Screen to
help in accurate cursor placement.
Let's not deal with F4 for the moment, since we're going to use
it ultimately to leave Mode Text. F5 will show you a Help
window with information on what you can do in the mode you're
in. Among other things, pressing Enter will take keyboard users
to a sub-mode named Control. This has different features in
each mode but is always characterised by a C-shaped cursor. You
may wish to change, say, the ink colour repeatedly and see the
symbol in the information window turn to white, through various
grey stipples and back to black.
Scrolling the Page isn't very exciting while there's nothing on
it, but you'll at least see the guides move and the co-ordinates
change (unless you've frozen them) while the cursor seems to
stay in the same place. You can also scroll any part of the
Page towards the rulers (except certain parts of the top left
section of the Page) to determine the accurate position of
anything that you've put on the Page.
You cannot access the function keys while in Control sub-mode;
leave it by pressing Esc.
Mouse users will make these adjustments from the information
window itself. Click INK, or PAPER, or a co-ordinate (upwards
with Select, downwards with Cancel). There is no Control mode,
since Smiling Mice are too ferocious to be controlled!
3.2.3 Manual QLS text entry
But all these are secondary matters. By now you'll be impatient
to get some text on the Page. All right, here goes. First
define a Window into which your text will go. Move the cursor
to the intended top left-hand corner and press Space. Then move
the cursor to the intended bottom right-hand corner and press
Space. The Window will turn green, and an Options menu will be
displayed. Select 1 and choose the desired CSIZE from the next
menu, after which the window turns red. (If you aren't sure,
select Demonstration first.)
You may now select any of several printing styles for the text
you are about to enter. If you are satisfied with the default,
which is called draft, you can start typing immediately. But if
you wish to enter highlighted text, press F4. A menu will
permit you to select bold, italic, superscript, subscript or
another highlight as the current style ; this will be reflected
by the filled square in the information window moving to the
selected highlight); there are also options to toggle
underlining and inversing (i.e. exchanging black and white).
You may also assign different QLS fonts from the disk to the
different styles (option 9, which will offer a sub-menu).
Having made your style selection, you can now type text, which
will appear in the currently selected style (i.e. Draft). The
usual cursor movement and character deletion functions apply;
you can also use the up and down arrow keys for vertical cursor
movement, or press F1 to delete a line or F2 to insert a line.
This is one place where even mouse owners must use the keyboard.
Note that the text you enter gets word-wrapped, i.e., a word
that will no longer fit on a line will be moved to the next line
in its entirety.
Pressing F4 at this stage will display a menu which, together
with its associated sub-menus, offers you another stab at
changing the current font assignments.
Return to the menuless Page and press Esc. You will now see
another menu, which you may move to another part of the Screen
by selecting 7 if you find it obscures too much of your text.
Option 1 gives you an opportunity to select various forms of
text justification ('Both' means both left and right) and to
control certain justification parameters such as the
distribution of filling space and exceptions made for indented
lines as well as the last line in a paragraph or Window. The
selected ink and/or paper for the whole Window may be changed
retroactively (option 2). Option 5 takes you back to your
Window for further editing if you have spotted a mistake (all
justifications are thereby cancelled and may have to be redone).
Options 6 and Esc both close the Window, but 6 removes the text
with it as well and should only be chosen if you have really
changed your mind.
Esc is the normal exit when you have finished your work in the
Window: the part of the screen that was your Window will return
to paper colour (white unless you changed paper colour or
inversed the Window) and you will be re-presented with the
window outline, with a cursor at the realised bottom right-hand
corner of the window. There are now four choices available.
If you now press Space the Window will go red (except where it
overlaps bits that were black, where it will show green) and you
will be presented with the Options menu once again - you can now
enter new text into the same window area. You will NOT be able
to edit what was previously entered - it will be cleared if you
choose options 1 or 2. Refer to section 3.2.4 for more details
of what can be accomplished from the Options menu.
If before pressing Space you use the cursor keys, you will be
able to resize the window.
A third choice is to press Enter. The cursor turns into a C for
Control mode - you can now scroll the whole Screen so you are
looking at a different portion of the page. Pressing Esc here
will return you to the "cursor in the bottom right-hand corner"
situation.
The final choice is to press Esc again. This will be interpreted
as a clear desire to leave the text entry system, and a cursor
will appear at the position occupied by top left-hand corner of
the window. The entered text is now part of your page.
3.2.4 What else to do with a Window
You may now start another Window. If it overlaps an existing
Window and you select the 'Enter text' option again, the
overlapping portion will be cleared. Rather than enter text,
you can avail yourself of some other options offered by the
Window-open menu. You may clear the Window (option 2), exchange
black and white in it (4), or mirror it horizontally (5) or
vertically (6). 7 will give you a chance to scroll it (using
the cursor keys, and without wraparound), and 8 will draw the
outline of the Window (a 'box') in the current ink colour onto
the Page.
If you want to scroll (say up) a window with the mouse, put the
mouse cursor above the window and press Select. To scroll it
right, do a Select with the cursor on the right, etc. When you
finish, press Cancel - if the cursor was inside the window, you
will keep the contents, if the cursor was outside you will
abandon them.
Option 3 is the first half of a cut-and-paste routine. Try it
by opening a Window wholly or partly over text in an already
closed Window. Select 3. No effect will be seen, but the
contents of the new Window will have been copied into scratch
memory. Press Esc.
We now come to the deferred description of the effects of the F4
key. Option 1 in the menu now displayed is the one that
interests us. Move the cursor to an empty area on the Screen;
this will be the top left corner of the paste. You must make
sure that there is room enough on the Screen to the right and
downwards (do not worry about the information panel, we'll
automatically move it out of the way if needed), else the paste
will not be made and you will hear a bleep. Select 1. Move the
cursor elsewhere and select 1 again. You can make multiple
(even overlapping) copies this way. The cut area in scratch
memory will remain intact until the next cut is made or the QL
is reset.
Options 2 and 3 of the F4 menu allow you to reassign and display
the QLS's, while Esc will take you back to Mode Text.
In each F4 menu, there are also navigation options which will
move you to another mode or to the main menu.
3.3 Mode Font
In Mode Font we can also enter text, but this time we use the
high-definition fonts. These are composed of characters that
may be from 8x8 to 48x48 pixels in size and can thus show much
finer detail. The definable character range is 32-191, which is
great for special symbols and foreign character sets.
The centre of the information window now shows the code letter
of the currently selected HDF (default B). The information
window also shows the current settings of various highlight and
distortion parameters, as well as the ink colour and the
horizontal net offset (Space) and the inclusive vertical offset
(Linefeed) between characters, both measured in pixels. The
defaults are no highlights or distortions, OR mode (i.e. text
written over existing ink will just be superimposed), 3 pixels
between two characters, 20 pixels between the base-lines of two
successive lines.
3.3.1 Manual HDF text entry
Let's put a few characters on the Page. Mode Font is the only
one to have a Type sub-mode; you reach it by pressing Space
after moving the cursor to where you wish your left margin to be
(no formal Window will be defined in this mode). The cursor
will turn to a T-shape, and you may start typing.
If you type beyond the right-hand edge of the Screen, the Screen
will automatically scroll until the edge of the Page is reached;
if you have selected a section of the Page near the right-hand
edge when entering Mode Text, scrolling can therefore not take
place. Nothing will stop you from overwriting a margin.
Pressing the Enter key will take you to the next line, just
below the first character you typed. Automatic upward scrolling
of the Screen will occur if a new line takes you beyond the
lower edge of the Screen, unless the bottom edge of the Page is
reached.
The Type sub-mode, too, precludes use of the function keys.
Press Esc to return from it. You may now wish to change some of
the parameters shown in the information window.
3.3.2 Ringing the changes
Keyboard users have two options: enter Control sub-mode (press
Enter) and press the initials as given in the information window
(press F5 for further help), or press F4 and make menu
selections. Mouse users click the desired parameter in the
information window. Some of the options lead to a space-bar
toggle, others to a space-bar cycle, still others go into
sub-menus.
Selection of the current font is aided by a window that shows
you what each font is like. Note that HDF A is composed
entirely of graphic patterns rather than the usual characters.
The bold and italic styles are modifications of the current
font, not a different one altogether, as for the QLS. For
italics you can select from 16 leftward and 16 rightward slants
(see how the sample exclamation mark changes shape as you go
through the steps).
Rotation is an option unavailable for font B, because it is only
permitted on 'square' fonts (i.e. if width and height are
equal); where permitted, characters can be turned on either side
or stood on their heads. Underlining may be black, grey or off.
Inversing an HDF is a complex function: you may choose to invert
any of 8 horizontal strips that make up a character, any
combination, or the entire character!
The magnification feature permits you to use an HDF several
times its original size; the magnification factor may be
different in the horizontal and vertical directions. The
merging feature lets you use some other (fixed) character from
the same or another font (font A comes in handy here) as a
background on which all characters are written. You will be
prompted to select first the font and then the character to
serve as a background, to decide on the merge mode (AND, OR,
XOR) and to enable or disable the merging.
Whenever you have made a change, return to the Type sub-mode and
type until another parameter change is necessary.
Note that cursor movement is by one pixel only; similarly
character deletion will remove only one pixel column in the
current font height. This is because the characters of an HDF
are usually of different width so as to permit proportional
spacing; and italicising makes for further variation in width.
You will by now need no coaching to move to the next mode, Mode
Draw. If you do, look up Navigation in the Alphabetic Section.
3.4 Mode Draw
This is where you do your freehand drawing. With 128 brushes at
your disposal, nothing much can stand between you and the Tate.
The centre of the information window shows you a palette of 64
brushes, with the current one repeated on top. The current
merge option (OR) is highlighted. Besides the usual AND, OR,
XOR (which you will find explained in the QL User Manual's
Keywords section and in the Alphabetic section of this manual),
there is a fourth option, OVER (i.e. overpainting).
The cursor is red and in the shape of the current brush.
Whenever you press the space bar, a 'footprint' of the cursor in
the current ink will be left on the Page. You can undo your
work by pressing U when in Control sub-mode (or clicking Cancel
on the mouse). This will restore everything since the last mode
change, cursor-key operation or Screen scrolling; a second undo
operation will restore the state before the first undo.
Leaving a trail is one area where a mouse makes life easier: to
do it best from the keyboard, hold SPACE down and press the
cursor key.
From the Control sub-mode (or from the information window if you
have a mouse) you can switch brushes (they will cycle through
the palette), change merge modes or palettes or inverse all
brushes (so that you have an effective 4 palettes at your
disposal). To swap brushes with the mouse, use the S or I
feature at the base of all the paintbrush sets.
There is a special feature for mouse control in Mode Draw: it is
called Characteristics and available via F1. Changing the
parameter from 0 to 1, 3 or 7 will affect the way the mouse
controls the brush so as to prevent undesirable merging of
stippled brushes.
Note that stunning effects can be obtained by going over the
same area with two different brushes in succession, depending on
the merge modes. If it is too late for the undo function, you
can sometimes erase unwanted artwork by using the same brush a
second time in XOR mode.
Now that we've left our mark on the Page, let's move to Mode
Line.
3.5 Mode Line
This is where the engineers come into their own. Line segments,
arcs, rectangular boxes, circles and ellipses can be drawn here,
the last three optionally filled in the ink colour.
The centre of the information window of Mode Line just contains
a kind of menu for mouse owners, listing the shapes that can be
drawn and giving a fill parameter and an undo function, as well
as the usual options for ink and paper.
When you first enter this mode, the selected shape is a line,
and a suggested line is shown in green on the Screen. It is
highly unlikely that you can use it as it is; therefore you can
drag one end all over the Screen with the cursor, then place the
cursor on the other end by typing X, and drag it to its
destination. On the mouse, Cancel replaces X. When satisfied
with the placement of the line, press the space bar. You can
start on the next line immediately.
To draw a different shape, say a box or a circle, go into the
Control sub-mode (the Cancel button on the mouse has a state in
its cycle that will enable the C-shaped cursor) and type the
initial of the desired shape (or move the mouse pointer to the
appropriate line in the information window and click Select).
The two points between which the cursor can be toggled will then
constitute the diagonal of the box (as box sides are always
parallel to the screen edges, this is unequivocal) or the radius
of the circle. This auxiliary line will also be shown but will
not go onto the Page when the shape is finalised.
Boxes whose sides are not parallel to the edges of the screen
will have to be constructed from lines.
Arcs and ellipses cannot be uniquely determined by a single
line. The line will constitute the chord of the arc or the
semi-major axis of the ellipse (something akin to the radius of
a circle) and will again not show on the final Page. But the
angle of the arc and the eccentricity of the ellipse need
separate adjustment. Press Enter and use the + and - keys to
adjust; or Press the Cancel button on the mouse until the C
cursor shows, move it into the information window and click + or
- as the case warrants. Note that you cannot go beyond certain
reasonable values of angle or eccentricity, particularly since
the QDOS arc routine has a bug for extreme values.
The fill toggle and the undo function are also available when
the C cursor is active. F4 in Mode Line only serves for
navigation.
3.6 Mode Fill
This is the last of the graphic modes. It allows you to fill
any white area enclosed entirely by black or any black area
enclosed entirely in white with any pattern composed of
repetitions of an HDF character. The area filled may be as
small as the loop in a "6" or as large as the entire Screen (but
not beyond).
The centre of the information window again shows the available
options: change font, change character, exchange black and
white, and undo. They are all available from the Command
sub-mode, or from the information window itself under mouse
control. The information window is completed by a window large
enough to give an idea of the effect of the fill texture.
The default HDF, not surprisingly, is font A with its various
textures, but you can switch to a regular font and use, say, an
ampersand in an extravagant style as a fill pattern.
To perform the actual fill operation, exit from Control sub-mode
by pressing Esc (not required if you have a mouse), move the
cursor inside the desired area and press the space bar. The
operation will be performed in two passes: the area first slowly
changes to green and then rapidly to the desired pattern.
Filling may be aborted midway by pressing the Capslock key; or
it may be reversed by pressing U in Control sub-mode (or
clicking Undo).
When you have done all of your manual editing of the Page, it is
time to navigate back to the Main Menu. It is actually wise to
do so from time to time during your manual editing efforts, to
cast a glance at the cameo and see whether the overall Page
structure is what you'd planned it to be.
4. LOADING AND SAVING
Both text and pictures may be put on the Page not only manually
but also by loading from a previously saved file. Together with
options for saving and reloading a complete Page, as well as
several auxiliary file operations, these functions are available
from sub-menu 5 of the Main Menu. We shall follow the same
order of presentation as for manual entry and treat the
functions that correspond to Mode Text, Mode Font and the
graphic modes first.
4.1 Loading Text
This is the best way of getting text onto a page.
Text that is loaded onto a Professional Publisher Page must
of course have been previously saved - saved Professional
Publisher pages comprise dots (pixels) and not characters, from
which text is not retrievable as a character stream except by AI
techniques which you will have to discover yourself! This may
have been done by means of the QUILL text-processing system that
came with your QL, either with the Save command (which produces
a file whose name ends in _doc) or with the Print command (which
produces a file whose name ends in _lis). On the other hand
your file may have been produced with the aid of Digital
Precision's The Editor or with some other program that produces
an ASCII file (the program's manual will say whether it does) or
indeed from a SuperBASIC program. All of these can be read by
Professional Publisher.
At this stage it is worthwhile stating that, memory permitting,
the ideal environment for Professional Publisher is to work
alongside with Digital Precision's THE EDITOR SPECIAL EDITION.
Do your initial text work in EDITOR, save the file (to ramdisk
if you wish) and then load in the file with Professional
Publisher. To multitask EDITOR with the publisher is easy: boot
up publisher, choose option 8 and then 1 from the main menu,
press CTRL + C, and type in EXEC device_EDT_BIN where device is
the location of the editor disk. Then CTRL + C will toggle
between the BASIC, publisher and EDITOR.
By way of contrast to manual text entry, which is mainly
recommended for short texts, reading from a file offers the
following extra features:
- You may define several Windows, which will be filled in the
order in which you defined them.
- You may distort the Windows so that the area you wish to
reserve for text will neither overlap an area destined for
graphics nor leave unwanted white space. The same feature is
also useful for dropcaps.
- Instead of defining any Windows, you may simply fill the whole
Page with text or distribute your text over two to nine
columns of equal width and equal spacing.
- Since much the same principles apply to the loading of QLS and
HDF text, it is possible to have justified margins even with
the proportionally spaced HDF characters with kerning down to
pixel resolution.
4.1.1 Where will you put it?
All right, let's see how it is done. From the Main Menu you
select first 5 and then 4. Your first choice will be where the
text is to go.
You may use previously defined Windows, either saved (option 2)
or the ones last used in the current session (option 4); or you
may use the columns shown on both the cameo and the Page by the
vertical column lines, within the limits of the horizontal
margin lines (option 3). Subsection 5.2 of this Chapter will
tell you how to redefine the columns, including a non-column,
whole-Page option. Note that the horizontal column guides will
have no influence on the loading area; each column will be
understood to be bounded by the top and bottom margin only.
A general note: At various points within Professional Publisher
you are asked for a filename. If there is no Escape option
indicated, but you want to escape from the option, the trick is
to delete (using Ctrl and the left cursor key, as usual) all the
characters in the default filename presented and then press
Enter.
In many cases, however, you will wish to take option 1, i.e. the
definition of a new set of Windows. You will now be working in
the cameo, and again you will have the help of a close-up for
fine manoeuvring. The panel displayed on the screen tells you
that you are defining Window no. 1; you do this as for a
manual-entry Window by moving the cursor and pressing the space
bar to define opposite corners. Once a Window has been defined,
you are invited to define another one by pressing the space bar
a third time and going through the motions again. Your Windows
may overlap, but text loaded into the later Window will blank
out any text in the earlier one. When you have defined your
last Window, press Esc. This will take you to a new menu.
Before continuing (option 1), you may decide to save your
Windows on disk for re-use. If you take the save option, you
are prompted for a filename in the usual way, and if you have
forgotten to switch your disk to the unprotected state, an error
message will invite you to do so. Reloading, as you will
remember, requires the selection sequence 5, 4, 2 from the Main
Menu.
There is also another, more interesting option called
'Wraparound windows', which enables you to distort the vertical
sides of any Window into a polygon of up to 33 lines, so that
corners may be cut and recesses provided for graphics, dropcaps,
or simply creative Window shapes. Select 2, and the left-hand
edge of your Window No. 1 will be highlighted by square end
points filled in red. You may now move the cursor to any point
on the cameo within the latitudes defined by the Window's top
and bottom edges and press the space bar. A new point will be
marked there, and the edge will be distorted to include that
point. You may go on to define up to 32 such points, which will
yield quite a complicated Window boundary. If not satisfied,
you can successively undo your work by pressing Esc. The Enter
key, on the other hand, terminates work on the current edge for
the moment and takes you to the right-hand edge of Window no. 1
(and then successively through the edges of all the other
Windows). Pressing the Enter key when you are working on the
right-hand edge of your last Window will trigger a prompt which
permits you either to start all over (if you feel you have
further corrections to make, option 1) or to declare yourself
satisfied (option 2).
The main point of Wraparound windows is to pour text around
existing "things" on the page - titles, other text (either
created in Mode Text, Mode Font or loaded from file), pictures
(created in Modes Draw, Line and Fill, or perhaps loaded from
file as described in section 4.2) or whatever.
Note that there are really no restrictions on the shape of
Wraparound windows - you could make them circular if you so
wished (to be pedantically accurate, not circular but 66-sided,
convex, regular polygonal, which is a damned good approximation
to circular!), and they can be re-entrant (i.e., non-polygonal).
It is a good idea to create a number of different Wraparound
windows, with a range of sizes and shapes, and save them (as
described earlier) both individually and in useful combinations.
This will give you convenient shapes to "pour" text into at
later stages.
4.1.2 Where will you take it from?
The Continue option (1) will now take you to a menu which asks
you the name of your text file and its type. Select 1, edit the
filename and press Enter. The default for the file type is
ASCII; if you wish to change it, select 2 to cycle through
QUILL_LIS and QUILL_DOC; the default itself can be changed with
the Configurator program (see Subsection 9.1). When the correct
filename and file type are visible on screen, select 3.
4.1.3 Text format
The next menu is among the most versatile in the whole program,
which is saying a great deal. As a default it suggests that you
wish to load QLS ('STANDARD') text to CSIZE 0,0 , ignoring both
linefeeds and highlights, with word-wrap and justification of
both margins on. If that happens to be what you want, just
select 1. But you have plenty of other options.
Option 6 toggles between QLS and HDF characters; this is perhaps
the most important decision you have to make at this juncture.
Next there is Configuration (option 2), which decides whether
words overflowing a line are to be broken. The cycle is WORD
WRAP (never), HYPHENATE (sometimes) and OFF (always). In case
you select HYPHENATE, you'd better follow up by selecting 0,
whereupon a sub-menu will ask you the minimum number of
characters that must be left in the first and in the second part
of a broken word (we at Digital Precision of course never break
ours). The default is 3, and values from 1 to 8 are accepted.
Linefeeds may be included or ignored (option 3 acts as a
toggle). If you decide to ignore the linefeeds in the text
file, a space will be put wherever the original has a new line.
Highlights such as underlining, bold print, subscripts and the
like may also be included or ignored (option 4). If you opt to
include them, the program will do all that's necessary for a
QUILL file. In the case of an ASCII file, however, there is no
standard rule that says which control characters in the file
correspond to which type of highlight. Changing these
definitions and also the assignment of specific fonts to the
different types of highlight is what option 7 is all about.
The sub-menu you are shown on selecting this option is different
for QLS and HDF text. In the case of QLS you are shown the
currently assigned control character and (except for underlining
and inversing) the two fonts (for 'regular' and 'special'
characters; remember?) that will be used to represent them. On
selecting any number you will be asked to enter a key
combination (one of the keys pressed must be Ctrl) that is to be
the new control character for that highlight, and if applicable
you will also get the choice of first and second fonts as in the
manual-entry mode.
In HDF the menu items are not numbered. When you select a line,
that line blanks and you have to enter in succession the code
letter of the font for that highlight, y/n decisions on boldness
and italics (yes and no will be represented on screen by filled
and unfilled circles respectively), the amount of linefeed and
inter-character space, both in pixels (defaults 20 and 1
respectively), and the merge parameter (default off). If any of
these terms seem unclear, check in A 3.3 or in the Alphabetic
Section. Esc terminates your interlude with the fonts and
control characters.
Option 9 of the big menu (Character size) also has different
effects depending on whether QLS or HDF has been selected in
option 6. For QLS loading, you are asked the two CSIZE
parameters in turn (width can be from 0 to 3 for regular
characters, corresponding to 6, 8, 12 and 16 pixels
respectively, and 1 only for extended-width characters; height
can be 0 (10 pixels) or 1 (20 pixels). You are subsequently
asked the height of the linefeed (default 10 or 20, depending on
your choice of second CSIZE parameter; values from 0 to 99 are
accepted). With an HDF selection you are asked the desired
magnification of the basic font size in the X and Y direction;
linefeed has already been taken care of under option 7.
Finally there is the question of justification, which of course
only arises (except for the last line of a paragraph) if you
have selected either word wrap or hyphenation under option 2.
Option 5 gives you the choice of cycling through the sub-options
already known from manual-entry mode: Both (both edges), off,
left, right and centre, while option 8 lets you tell the program
under which circumstances justification should be ignored and
how the extra empty pixel rows required for full justification
should be distributed (i.e. how many per cent between words and
how many between characters).
4.1.4 Starting from mid-file
With all parameters set, we are again ready to move on and
select option 1 in the big menu. The first 64 characters of the
file will appear at the bottom of the screen. But who says you
want to start the first Window on your Page with the first
character of your text? A lot may have gone onto a previously
prepared Page that may even have been printed already; so you
must have the option of starting the filling of Windows or
columns with any character in your file. This is why you are now
offered an opportunity to move about in the text until the first
character in the bottom window is the first character you want
to load. When this has been achieved, press Esc. You will be
rewarded with the message 'Please wait', and the columns or
Windows in the cameo will start to fill with red lines,
indicating the progress of the loading. Note that the columns
or Windows will be cleared before loading; thus nothing of the
previous contents will be left even if the new text is shorter.
You can stop the loading at any time by pressing Esc. An 'Are
you sure?' message will be displayed, and you can resume the
loading by entering N or abort it by entering Y.
If you want to make a detailed check about the appearance of the
loaded text, navigate to one of the manual-entry modes. If
you are not satisfied with the appearance of the text (e.g.
there are no linefeeds, some lines start with 'inexplicable'
spaces, characters appear too spaced-out, word-breaks occur too
close to the ends, or you don't want hyphenation after all), go
back to the Main Menu, and reselect 5 and 4.
Then make the appropriate changes in configuration (including
hyphenate parameters), linefeeds, highlights and justification
(including parameters) before reselecting '1. Put text on page.'
If your text still looks weird, do not blame Professional
Publisher! Instead, master this option by experimenting.
4.2 Loading Pictures
4.2.1 Where does the picture come from?
Like text, a picture to be loaded must previously have been
saved. (But you can copy a picture from one part of the Page to
another as well, and because this is so similar to loading, both
the program and the manual treat it as a kind of loading).
A picture saved on file has either been produced by Digital
Precision's top-of-the-range graphics program, EYE-Q, or in some
other way (which includes a SuperBASIC program that uses the
SBYTES command - something like SBYTES filename, 131072, 32768
as the screen starts at address 131072 and has length 32768).
Professional Publisher can deal with either if you tell it which
to expect. If you give the wrong type, you'll get garbage on
the screen, in which case just have another go. By the way,
EYE-Q files must not be of the monochrome type (compression is
fine); but you can always reload a compressed file into EYE-Q
and re-save it without compression. By the way, all the clip
art that comes with Professional Publisher is of the EYE-Q type.
When using WCOPY on your system be careful with compressed EYE-Q
files. Some WCOPY versions write to areas in the file header
where EYE-Q squirrels away information! Experiment with the
supplied clip-art files - if they reload perfectly after a
WCOPY, the alarm is off.
Easel screens can be output as _pic files, which are the
equivalent of SBYTES'd screens.
The 'Load picture' function is started by the selection sequence
2, 5, 3 from the main menu. Professional Publisher will ask you
the source of the picture; if SBYTES (the default) or EYE-Q, you
will be prompted for a filename; if from the Page, the cameo
will be shown, giving you a chance to select opposite corners of
the picture with the usual presses of the space bar.
The selected picture will now be put on the screen - in 8 or 4
colours or in black-and-white, depending on the source -, but it
is in scratch memory only. It will only be placed on the Page
through a cut-and-paste operation much like the one described in
Subsection 3.2.4 (the paste part is actually the one described
there). But before you define a cut on the loaded picture,
you'll be given the opportunity to modify and distort it in
several ways.
4.2.2 Pictorial tricks
If you press Esc, a menu headed 'Tricks' will be displayed. You
may use any, all or none on your picture.
Option 1 (Texture) should be selected for a colour picture;
but you may wish to recolour it first by using option 7 below.
Press 4 if it is in 4 colours, or 8 if it is in 8. The picture
will convert to black-and-white, but with a suitable grey-scale
conversion as in a photograph. If you neglect to use this
trick, only true black and white will be printed.
Options 2 (Invert) and 3 (Reflect) are well known by now.
Options 4 (Symmetry) and 5 (Magnify) ask you to designate the
horizontal or vertical picture half that will be used to either
be mirrored in the other half as in a playing card or blown up
to fill the area of the whole picture. Option 6 produces a
forty-five degree slant of all vertical lines in the picture (to
right or left at your option); pixels that are thereby moved off
the screen reappear on the other side. Option 7 (Recolour) is a
de-luxe version of inversing; you may not only exchange black
and white but (if you still have a colour picture) turn all
pixels of a given primary colour into any other (or leave them
unchanged). The space bar cycles through the 'to' colours in the
selected line. Reduce does what it says - you may select either
horizontal or vertical compaction to 7/8 the previous size.
Option 9 (Scroll) permits both 8-pixel and single-pixel
scrolling (use the cursor keys alone or in combination with
Ctrl; alternatively click the desired arrow with the mouse);
press Esc when done.
4.2.3 Cut and paste
If you have made some blunder in using the tricks, all is not
lost; simply return to the Files menu by selecting 0 and reload
the picture. If you are satisfied, though (and this may be
the case without your even selecting the tricks menu), press
Esc. You will now have to decide on the area of the picture to
select for cutting. If your picture fills the whole screen with
its width of 512 pixels, the cut must not encompass the whole of
it, because there will be no way to paste it on a Screen only
400 pixels wide. (If this happens to be your heart's desire,
load the picture twice and do separate cut-and-paste operations.
Define opposite corners of the cut in the usual way (two presses
of the space bar or clicks of the Select button). The picture
will disappear from the screen, but the cut will remain in
scratch memory (destroying, however, any cut made in Mode Text,
because this uses the same scratch memory). Now for the second
part of the operation: navigate to Mode Text, press F4, move the
cursor to the intended top left corner of the paste and press 1,
in exactly the same way as for a cut Window. Again it is
thoroughly feasible to paste several copies of the same cut.
4.3 Saving and Loading Pages
The Page saving and loading functions are accessed from the Main
Menu by the selection sequences 5, 1 and 5, 2 respectively.
When saving a Page, you are first asked whether you wish to save
the whole Page or only a section thereof; in the latter case you
are prompted to define the section on the cameo in the usual
way. You are then asked for a filename; we recommend one that
ends in _scr or _pic. If there is already a file of that name,
you are sensibly asked whether you wish to overwrite it; if not,
you are prompted for a new filename.
Loading the Page works in reverse (surprise!). You must first
give a filename; Professional Publisher will realise whether it
is a complete Page and load it without further ado if it is;
otherwise you will be prompted to move a shuttle of the correct
size across the cameo to determine where on the Page the loaded
section should go; press space/Select to finalise.
If you wish to load a Page that was saved under the previous
version, Special Desktop Publisher, you must first convert it
for use by Professional Publisher - refer to Subsection 9.2.
We shall now provide a description of the Professional Publisher
page (or page fragment) file format - useful if you want to
tinker or to write your own dedicated printer driver. If you
have better things to do with your time, skip this section.
The first 18 bytes of the file are a header. They are:
DTP3PAGEaabbccdd??
where:
DTP3PAGE = 8 byte invariant identifier
?? = contents do not matter - we set both bytes to ASCII(0)
aa = Width (horizontal measure) of saved portion, in pixels
bb = Height (vertical measure) of saved portion, in pixels
cc = Offset of left edge of saved portion from left hand edge of
page, in pixels
dd = Offset of top edge of saved portion from top edge of page,
in pixels
aa, bb, cc and dd are word values, with the less significant
byte first. For example, if the default A4 page was being saved
in toto, aa would be 960, bb would be 800 and both cc and dd
would be 0. Correspondingly, the sequence of ASCII values of the
first 18 bytes would be:
68, 84, 80, 51, 80, 65, 71, 69, 3, 192, 3, 32, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0
since 3*256+192 = 960 and 3*256+32 = 800.
After the 18 byte header, the screen data is stored in
successive horizontal strips each of one pixel "height", strip
by strip. Within each strip in turn the pixels are recorded
going from left to right. Each white pixel is represented by a
set bit (i.e., 1) and each black pixel by an unset bit (i.e.,
0). So if your page comprises a lot of white space, you will see
lots of bytes with value 255 (128+64+32+16+8+4+2+1).
Note that going from left to right in a byte, the most
most significant bit (x128) is first and the least significant
bit (x1) comes last.
If the width (horizontal measure) is not an exact multiple of 8
pixels, it will be padded out with white space (i.e. 1 bits) to
the next higher multiple of 8 pixels. This is because we want to
make life simple for those writing printer drivers for
Professional Publisher files - each horizontal strip will be
represented by an integral number of bytes.
The length of a Professional Publisher file will hence be:
18 + bb * INT(aa / 8 + .9) bytes
as INT(aa / 8 + .9) is the number of whole bytes required to
accommodate aa bits. The file would comprise, after the 18 byte
header, bb sets of INT(aa / 8 + .9) bytes, with no separators.
For a saved page of default dimensions, this works out to:
18 + 800 * INT(960 / 8 + .9) = 18 + 800 * INT(120.9) = 18 + 800
* 120 = 96018 bytes.
4.4 Auxiliary File Functions
There are some SuperBASIC file operations that would be useful
occasionally when working with Professional Publisher. All of
them can be accessed from the Main Menu by the selection
sequence 8, 1, followed by Ctrl+C; pressing Ctrl+C again will
cycle through any other tasks running and ultimately return to
Professional Publisher's initial screen.
Some of the more useful file functions, are, however, also
available from within the program to make life easier for you.
4.4.1 Directory
The Directory function is accessed from the Main Menu by the
selection sequence 5, 5. If you enter a device name, such as
flp1_, you will get a full directory of that device. If,
however, you add anything after the underscore, this will be
taken as a 'wildcard', i.e. the listing will be of all filenames
containing that string. If, say, your selection is flp1_qls,
the listing will give all the QLS font files whose name end in
_qls but also a file called EQLS42 (the wildcard is case-blind).
The listing will stop after a Window is filled; you may abandon
it by pressing Esc or continue by pressing any other key. Esc
is also de rigueur after the last item has been listed.
4.4.2 Delete
This is an extremely simple function. You select it with the
sequence 5, 6 from the Main Menu and supply the name of the file
you wish to delete. If it wasn't there in the first place,
Professional Publisher (politeness being a trait of
professionals if not of SuperBASIC) will tell you so.
4.4.3 Format
Again an easy one. The sequence from the Main Menu is 5, 8.
Because of the dire consequences of an unwanted erasure of a
whole medium, you get a warning message, and the formatting is
only executed if you confirm your intention. You get two sector
messages in succession: on a floppy disk, the first should read
1440/1440 sectors, the second 1434/1440 sectors, because the
mapping and directory files, each taking the three-sector
minimum, will by then be inscribed on the disk.
5. PAGE GLOBALS
There are several operations which affect the whole Page, so
that neither manual editing of a given section nor loading text
into a sub-area of the Page, seems an appropriate part of the
program to look for them. This is where the Page Globals
sub-menu, which is reached from the Main Menu by selecting 2, is
useful.
5.1 Number of Pages, Orientation, Dimensions
For one thing, you may have two Pages in working memory at the
same time; so there must be a means to move from Page 1, which
is the start-up default, to Page 2 and back again. Option 1 of
the Page Globals sub-menu will do the trick, and the new
Page number will be displayed in the bottom strip. If it isn't,
you haven't got enough memory left to hold two Pages at the
current dimensions.
You may also wish to change the orientation of the current Page
(the other Page won't be affected) from the start-up default,
Portrait, to Landscape (sideways) or back again. This is done
by selecting option 2 of the Page Globals sub-menu. The new
orientation will be displayed in the bottom strip but not on the
cameo; rather, the cameo in Landscape orientation should be
viewed with your monitor stood on its right side (in your
imagination, we hope), since the right-hand edge of the cameo
will correspond to the bottom edge of the Page. A few taps on
the cursor keys will verify this.
Remember that any change of orientation must be performed on an
empty Page, or you will not be able to get a useful printout.
A similar caution applies to a change of Page size (which will
affect both Pages) in pixels. Select 5 and then 1 from the Page
Globals menu; when prompted, enter the desired width, then the
height. Width values from 480 to 1920 and height values from
400 to 1600 will be accepted but only the part of your entry
that is divisible by 80 will be executed. Again the change will
be reflected in the bottom strip; the cameo will also change
size, but for the larger Page sizes its scale may be halved so
that it will fit on the screen without obscuring the Main Menu.
The defaults are 960 pixels width and 800 pixels height; they
may be changed with the Configurator program, as may the working
memory set aside for holding the Pages (see Subsection 9.1).
You will get an error message if available memory isn't
sufficient for even a single Page of the selected dimensions.
The maximum of 1920x1600 is achievable on a TRUMPCARD QL,
provided you have reconfigured the supplied version to allocate
384,000 bytes for the page.
It is also possible to change the Page size in units by
selecting 5 and then 2 from the Page Globals menu. As this is
for convenience in layout only and not reflected in the actual
size of the printout, it is permissible even with something
already on the Page. The size indications along the cameo will
change, as will the layout guides, since this depends on the
ratio between the distance from the edges of the Page and the
Page size. You will be prompted for two values in cm or inches,
whichever is the current unit. Up to 5 characters with values
from 1 to 999 can be entered.
While we're at it, we may want to change the units from the
default cm to inches or back again. The selection sequence from
the Page Globals menu is 2, 8, 6.
5.2 Layout Guides and Cameo Grid
We next come to a series of commands affecting the layout
guides, i.e. margins (selection sequence 2, 8, 1), columns (2,
8, 2) and column breaks (2, 8, 3). All of these sub-menus
prompt you for values in the current units and offer defaults:
all four margins 1 cm off the respective edges; 4 columns with
a gutter (column gap) width of .4 cm; 3 column breaks at 7.4,
14.8 and 22.2 cm from the top. Generally up to 6 characters can
be entered, and values that will not leave at least 1 cm per
column and a non-zero column height will not be accepted.
Another unacceptable value is 1 column; if you wish a Page not
divided into columns, enter 0. All of these commands will of
course change the respective lines on the cameo and on the Page.
You may, however, also make these lines disappear by selecting
2, 8, 5, 3 from the Page Globals menu, and to reappear again (2,
8, 5, 1).
All current guides may be saved for re-use on a later Page
(selection sequence 2, 8, 7); for reloading select 2, 8, 8. You
must enter a filename in either case; an error message will be
displayed if the file you try to load doesn't contain guides.
The final Page Globals values are the horizontal and vertical
mesh width of the auxiliary grid that can be superimposed on the
cameo: the selection sequence is 2, 8, 4, 1 for the horizontal
gap and 2, 8, 4, 2 for the vertical. The defaults are
one-sixth the Page width and one-eighth the Page height; the
accepted minima are one-eighth and one-tenth respectively. This
grid can only be shown when the guides are switched off; the
selection sequence 2, 8, 5, 2 will do both.
6. EDITORS
Professional Publisher includes a veritable treasure-house of
fonts, both QLS and HDF, for your use. Many users will find the
selection more than sufficient for their purposes; but we
certainly do not wish to stop creative people from designing and
using their own fonts. That is why the package also includes
two editor routines for the design of the two types of font.
6.1 The QLS Editor
6.1.1 Code letter assignment
The QLS Editor is accessed by selecting 4 from the Main Menu.
You will first be shown a menu consisting of the 12 code letters
A to L, each one followed by the first 17 characters of the font
assigned to it. Pressing the right arrow key will toggle to
another selection of twelve fonts labelled M to X. If there is
a letter that has no current font assignment (this is not the
case at start-up), the letter in question will be followed by a
blank line. Fonts A, B, C and M are needed by the program and
can therefore not be selected for editing, deletion or
overwriting by loading.
You must now select the code letter to which you wish to assign
your new font. If you wish to start your design from scratch,
select a letter that is followed by a blank line, or if there is
none, decide on one which you wish to remove. (You can always
reload it from file later). But you may also select the code
letter of an existing font which you wish to modify. You will
be shown a new menu which includes an option to remove the
current font (select 6). This may also be taken to reclaim
working memory. It takes you back to the Main Menu; for further
editing reselect 4 and the code letter of your choice.
A new window will open at the bottom of the screen, showing the
current appearance of the character set you selected in black
(two lines; nothing for an empty set) and the corresponding
characters of the standard set in red above them, giving an
indication of the keypresses required to produce the
corresponding black character. (For the compound keypresses
required for foreign and special characters, consult the
Concepts Section of the QL User Guide (entry 'ASCII code').
If you are designing a new set, you may wish to make it either a
first set ('regular' characters, ASCII 31 to 127) or a second
set (foreign and special characters, ASCII 128 to 191). Select
option 4 and then the desired range. Your choice will be
reflected in the red characters in the bottom window, which will
start with a checkerboard pattern for a first font and with the
umlauted 'a' for a second font.
6.1.2 Editing
To start editing, select 1. The bottom window will now sport a
green bar cursor above the first character, the top left part of
the screen will show an enlarged pixel grid with that character
magnified, and a menu will be displayed at screen top right.
Let's assume you wish to design or redesign the first character
in the font. The cursor in the top part of the screen may be
moved between the grid (where it will show as a square) and the
menu (where it will show as a highlight bar). Move the cursor
about in the grid and use the space bar to turn a square to ink
colour and Esc to turn it to paper colour. The grid itself is
colour-coded to warn you that only the six leftmost columns may
have pixels set to ink colour if the font is to be used in all
CSIZEs; otherwise only CSIZES 1/0 and 1/1 will be supported.
(Do leave the first column blank as well for spacing; in other
words, use columns 2 to 6, or 2 to 8.)
Some global changes to a character are possible if you move the
cursor to the menu. You may clear the whole grid to paper
colour (select 4), exchange ink- and paper-coloured pixels (5),
mirror the grid vertically (6) or horizontally (7).
All changes are first made to scratch memory only; they won't be
taken over into working memory until you move the cursor to the
menu and select 1 (store character).
You may now wish to edit a new character. Move the cursor to
the menu and select 2. Caution: If you do this (or select Esc
to finish editing) without having selected 1 beforehand, any
changes made to the previous character will be lost. The green
cursor in the bottom window will now be enabled and may be moved
to the desired character. Press the space bar, and the new
character will appear in the grid, ready for editing.
If you wish to save yourself some work by designing, say, an F
by removing pixels from an already defined E, proceed as
follows. Select F as your new character as above, then move the
cursor into the menu and select 3. You will be prompted to use
the bottom (green) cursor again to choose your template
character and confirm your decision by pressing the space bar.
6.1.3 Saving and loading
When your editing is done, press Esc to return to the
intermediate menu. You will probably want to save your
character set now, as it is most unlikely that the fruit of your
labours is to be used in the current session only. Select 2 and
enter the filename of your choice when prompted (we suggest a
name ending in _qls).
When you want to load a saved set, select 4 and the code letter
of your choice from the Main Menu as above, followed by 3.
Enter the desired filename when prompted; you'll get an error
message if the file doesn't contain a QLS.
Option 6 (not Esc by way of exception) will return you to the
Main Menu.
6.2 The HDF Editor
6.2.1 Code Letter Assignment
The HDF Editor is accessed by selecting 3 from the Main Menu. A
thin vertical strip at centre screen will show a selection of
characters from the current font (default: font B), with arrows
indicating that the topmost character is considered to be
current. If no font is assigned to the current code letter, the
vertical strip will be empty. Font A, which consists of
textures needed in Mode Fill, cannot be selected for editing,
deletion or overwriting by loading.
Select the code letter of your choice with the horizontal cursor
keys. You may wish to select an empty font if you want to
design your new font from scratch or load a stored font into
that slot. Confirm your selection by pressing Esc. A five-item
menu will now appear, with item 4 reading 'Remove font' in case
of a previously defined font, or 'Create font' in case of a
previously empty font. In addition, a strip at the bottom of
the screen gives the code letter, dimensions and RAM requirement
of the current font (default: font B, 16x24 pixels, 5136 bytes).
If you wish to create a new font in a previously empty slot, you
must select 4 and decide on the grid dimensions. You will be
prompted to enter the width and height in pixels (from 8 to 48
in steps of 8, or 0 to cancel your decision). Note that if you
wish to avail yourself of the rotation feature (see Subsection
3.3.2), grid width and height of the font must be the same.
In case of an existing font, option 4 will remove it from
working RAM, freeing the associated working RAM, and return to
the Main Menu. When asked for a name under which your new HDF is
to be saved, we recommend you use one ending in _hdf.
6.2.2 Editing
The principles of HDF character editing are much the same as for
QLS characters. All HDF fonts are defined for ASCII codes 32 to
191 (though you need not go as far as 191!); there is therefore
no choice between a first and a second font. Neither is there a
CSIZE; the magnification that takes its place is decided not in
the Editor but during the preparation of text entry. What can
be done, however, is to cut the effective width of a character
to achieve proportionality, and to define the base-line where
the underline character will be printed. This can obviously
also be used as a height reference for characters with
'descenders' (g, j etc.). If you select A, the cursor will move
the horizontal and the vertical red line that represent the
right edge and the base-line of a character respectively. The
space bar is again used to finalise your choice. For natural
proportionality between, say, 'W' and '!' it is recommended that
the leftmost column of the grid include at least one pixel in
ink colour and that the vertical red line be placed to the right
of the rightmost non-blank column.
Many editing options are similar to those for QLS fonts. Option
1 will store a character (necessary to copy your changes from
scratch to working memory), option 4 will select a new character
(the up and down cursor keys will scroll the centre strip; press
space when the character of your choice is topmost); option 3
then permits the loading of a template for changing (follow the
same instructions again). Option 5 clears the grid to paper
colour; option 6 exchanges ink- and paper-coloured pixels.
Option 7 mirrors the grid horizontally, option 8 vertically.
There are also a few extra options. You can remove the current
character completely from the font (option 2); this frees the
working memory it occupied. If a removed character is later
encountered during text entry, the only effect will be that the
cursor moves one pixel row to the right, thus creating an extra
inter-character space. You may scroll the grid (option 9, then
use the cursor keys and Esc to finalise); white space without
grid lines will scroll in from the opposite end. If you have a
mouse, select the scroll character option - then if you want to
scroll right, move the cursor to the right hand column of the
grid and keep tappping Select, etc. Finally option 0 will
permit you to fill all pixels within an ink-enclosed area of
paper colour by moving the cursor there and pressing the space
bar.
6.2.3 Saving and loading
Saving (option 2 in the intermediate menu) and loading (option
3) work in much the same way as for the QLS fonts. We suggest
filenames ending in _font for the HDFs.
If you wish to load a font designed under the previous version
of the program (Special Desktop Publisher), it must first be
converted by an auxiliary program to make it readable by
Professional Publisher. See Subsection 9.3.
A few words on the format of HDF files is in place. The size of
a _hdf file defining n characters of height h pixels and width w
pixels is given by 16 + 512 + n*h*w/8.
The first 16 bytes comprise 4 long words (more significant bytes
first, 4 bytes per long word). The first long word gives the
length of the file in bytes. The second one is the number of
bytes taken to store each character (h*w/8). The third one is
the character width in bytes (h/8) and the last is the character
height in pixels. Note that no information on the character
codes for the contents is needed. This is because:
(1) All hdf fonts start with chr$(32)
(2) The number of characters in the font is the result of
subtracting from the first long word the number 528, and then
dividing by the contents of the second long word.
The next 512 bytes should be viewed as 256 pairs. Each pair of
bytes gives width + base-line position for each character in
turn, from chr$(0) to chr$(255). The first byte in each pair
gives the position of the vertical proportionality line,
measured in pixels from the left-most position. The second byte
gives the position of the base-line measured in pixels from the
bottom of the grid. Byte values for characters outside the
supplied range in the actual font file are irrelevant.
The rest of the file is devoted to bit data on each character in
turn. Within each character, it starts at the top left and
moving from left to right until the end of the grid and then
down one pixel line and again from left to right and so on until
the bottom right of the grid is reached.
7. PRINTING
7.1 Requirements
As Professional Publisher handles more fonts than are resident
in any printer, in addition to single-pixel kerning and
graphics, a daisywheel printer will be unsuitable for output
from this program. Your task is easiest if your printer is an
Epson-compatible 9-pin type (if it will correctly print from the
EASEL business graphics program through that program's default
printer driver, it is). In that case, you need only ensure that
your printer is connected to the QL (typically by the port
labelled ser1) and switched on. An attempt to output data an
unconnected 'ser' device is likely to crash the QL!
7.2 Putting the Epson Through Its Paces
All set? Select 6 from the main menu. You will first be asked
the number of passes you wish the printer to make in outputting
the current Page. Values from 1 to 5 may be selected, with the
higher values taking longer but permitting to squeeze the last
drops of ink out of a geriatric printer ribbon.
Next comes the choice of orientation: print it as the portrait
or landscape it was designed as, or turn it on its side. Two
menus follow that allow you to halve or double the standard
width and height of the printout as defined in the printer
manual. 'Fingerprint' hardcopy that is condensed both
horizontally and vertically is thus supported. On the
'vertical' menu there is a fourth option called 'Interpolate':
it will insert a suitably computed pixel row between any two
'regular' rows.
In all sub-menus you are offered the option of pressing Esc if
you have changed your mind about printing. But if you select
one of the numbered options on the 'vertical' menu, printing
will at last start. The cameo will go red in step with the
printing process and white again when finished. You may abort
printing by pressing Esc, but this will not affect information
that has already been stored in the buffer of your printer.
7.3 Changing the Printer Driver
7.3.1 The rationale
The straight-in landing of Subsection 7.3 may not be suitable in
your case. Your printer may not be Epson-compatible; it may be
set to create automatic linefeeds or connected to a port other
than ser1; you may wish to 'print' to a file for later transfer
to a printer (perhaps the printer noise would wake cat/wife); or
your first trial printout may not have worked out.
In all of these cases Professional Publisher will let you change
its built-in printer driver routine as warranted by
circumstances. Select 7 from the Main Menu and go through all
options of the 'Drivers' menu from 3 to 7. You may need to
consult your printer manual if you aren't sure of some of the
answers to the questions you'll be asked.
7.3.2 The parameters
Option 3 requires you to enter Y if your printer automatically
creates a 'return' to the left margin after a linefeed
character; N if the printer expects both 'characters' to come
from the computer.
Option 4 asks you for the characters your printer expects as
commands for certain amounts of paper feed. Select each line in
turn and enter the sequence of ASCII characters given in your
printer manual, unless the defaults offered happen to be
correct. Use '27' for ESC, press Enter once after each value
(there may be up to five) and twice when that code sequence is
finished. To indicate that a 1/9-inch paper feed requires the
code sequence 'Esc 51 20' you would thus select the 1/9" line
with the space bar or Select button and type: 27 (Enter) 51
(Enter) 20 (Enter) (Enter). Of course only values from 0 to 255
will make sense.
Option 5 is very similar with its questions about single, double
and quadruple graphics density, but each line needs the number
of pixels characteristic of the indicated density first,
followed by character codes as above. Pixel values from 0 to
9999 are accepted.
Option 6 lets you change the default baud rate your printer
expects from the default of 9600. Again values from 0 to 9999
will be accepted, but as the QL only supports baud rates
computed by successive halving of 9600, the program will
automatically correct a non-supported value to the closest legal
value.
Option 7 lets you substitute the port of your choice (ser2, par,
flp1_temp or whatever) for the default ser1.
When you have modified the printer driver to your requirements,
you can start printing.
7.3.3 Saving and loading
Redefining the default printer driver during each Professional
Publisher session would be tedious indeed. Fortunately you can
save your modified printer driver to a file with option 1 on the
'Drivers' menu and re-load it on a later occasion with option 2.
As usual, you'll get an error message if the file you are
attempting to load does not contain a printer driver.
Your printer driver will even load automatically if you save it
under the name epson_driver, overwriting the default printer
driver on your Professional Publisher disk. You can always
restore the old one by recopying from the master disk. (You did
make a copy, didn't you?)
Yet another way is to tell the program to load your printer
driver rather than epson_driver on start_up. The Configurator
program (see Subsection 9.2) will do just that.
7.4 High-Resolution Printers
The built-in driver copes best with 8 and 9. 24 pin printers and
dot-matrix compatible laser printers are also supported: better
quality will be obtained from grafiX.
If you want laser-printer output but lack a laser printer,
please refer to the entry 'Laser Printer' in the Alphabetic
Section.
8. PROGRAM CONTROL
8.1 Mouse v. Keyboard
To switch from keyboard control to mouse control or back again,
select 2 and then 9 from the Main Menu. Don't do it when your
mouse is not connected, or you'll be in trouble.
8.2 Multitasking
To leave Professional Publisher temporarily - say, to do some
some computations or copying operations in SuperBASIC or to
edit/save text in Digital Precision's Editor - select 8 and then
1 from the Main Menu. This will take you to the initial screen,
which a series of Ctrl+C keypresses will get you out of and
(your work done) back into.
8.3 Quitting
To quit Professional Publisher irrevocably, select 8 and then 2
from the Main Menu. You will receive a warning message and a
chance for second thoughts. N will take you back to the Main
Menu to let you perform the 'save' you may have forgotten; but Y
will remove the Publisher task from the QL's memory and deposit
you in SuperBASIC (or perhaps some other task that is currently
loaded).
On some QL systems, SuperBASIC may not be re-awakenable after a
a Quit. If you have such a system, use the multitasking option
(as described in section 8.2) instead of Quit, and either use
the TURBO toolkit command REMOVE_TASK 1,0,0 or the SuperToolkit
command RJOB 1,0,0 (depending on which you have available) to
remove the Professional Publisher task (which we have assumed is
the first task invoked on the QL - if not, use LIST_TASKS or
JOBS to list them). Professional Publisher will still wish to
"own" the drive it booted from - sorry!
9. Auxiliary Programs
All the following programs have a support function for
Professional Publisher. To use them, save whatever in your
current program seems worth saving, withdraw the Professional
Publisher disk, reset your QL and press F1 at the appropriate
time. Reinsert the disk and LRUN the boot program associated
with the desired function. When done, reset the QL again.
9.1 Configurator
This program lets you change the start-up defaults of
Professional Publisher semi-permanently, i.e. until you decide
to run the Configurator again.
The boot program is called configure_boot. The menu and
sub-menu options are:
1. Page variables
1. Page memory (original default 192000 bytes)
2. Page width (960 pixels)
3. Page height (800 pixels)
4. Quit
2. Default fonts
1. Font memory (65000 bytes)
2. High definition fonts (see Note 1)
3. QL fonts (see Note 1)
4. Quit
3. Text parameters
A. Hyphenation: minimum left (3)
B. minimum right (3)
C. Justification: Required length (0 %)
D. Last line (No)
E. Paragraphs (No)
F. Indents (< 2)
G. Justification (Both)
H. Between letters (40 %)
I. Text load: Linefeeds? (No)
J. Highlights? (Yes)
K. Configuration (Hyphenation)
L. File type (ASCII)
M. Font type (Standard)
N. Control codes (sub-menu)
O. Standard highlights (sub-menu)
P. High definition highlights (sub-menu)
Q. Quit
4. Miscellaneous
1. Default file name (flp1_)
2. Mouse present (Yes)
3. Default control (Keyboard) (see Note 2)
4. Horizontal ruler (Yes)
5. Vertical ruler (Yes)
6. Default printer driver (epson_driver) (see Note 3)
7. Default layout (default_layout) (see Note 3)
8. Quit
5. Load old defaults (see Note 4)
6. Configure disk (see Note 5)
Notes: 1. Assign a filename to any or all letters from A to X,
or quit by pressing Z. HDF A and QLS A, B, C and M
cannot be reassigned other filenames.
2. This toggles to Mouse.
3. Enter the desired filename.
4. If you wish to undo your changes and restart from the
original values, select 5 (before selecting 6, of
course).
5. This finalises your selections and reconfigures the
default files.
9.2 Page Converter
This program makes Pages saved from the old program version,
Special Desktop Publisher, readable by Professional Publisher.
The name of the boot program is convert_page_boot.
You will be asked the width of the original page in pixels, the
name of the original file and the new name for the PP-readable
file. Everything else is automatic. This is not a user-friendly
program, so make sure you get the names right!
9.3 Font Converter
This program makes HDFs saved from the old program version,
Special Desktop Publisher, readable by Professional Publisher.
The name of the boot program is convert_font_boot.
You will be asked the height of the original font in pixels
(normally 16, but 24 if some characters have been defined with
descenders), the two filenames that make up the old font
(normally ending in _fnt for the pixel configurations and in
_wdt for the character widths and descenders) and the new name
for the (single) PP-readable file (we suggest that it should end
in _font). Everything else is automatic. Get the names right!
9.4 grafiX
9.4.1 Purpose
The program, which is available to Professional Publisher owners
on disk for ten pounds direct from Digital Precision allows a
graphic Image file (e.g. a Professional Publisher file of any
size, or a Desktop Publisher/DTP Special Edition/Page Designer 2
file or a 'set' of Front Page files, or a QL Screen Dump of any
size) to be printed to any dot matrix printer, including 24-pin
printers and dot-matrix compatible laser printers.
The resulting printout may be scaled up or down in either
dimension (or left unscaled) and rotated through 90 degrees, or
left with its original orientation.
The program requires a memory expansion - its operational size
is about 150k depending on the size of the file to be printed -
and it uses the same Toolkit as Desktop Publisher; namely the
TURBO Toolkit.
All support relating to the use of grafiX should be obtained
direct from PDQL, Unit 1, Heaton House, Camden St, Birmingham B1
3BZ (telephone: 021 200 2313) and not from Digital Precision.
9.4.2 Preparation
Before the program may be run, your printer's characteristics
must have been entered on to the printer customisation file, the
supplied version of which is called 'driver_dat'.
Most commonly available printers are already defined on this
file, but if yours is not, the method for entering the required
details is described at the end of this Subsection. PDQL would
be interested in hearing from people who find they have to
update or add to the file, so that the distributed version of
the file can be amended for the benefit of others.
Also, before the program is started, the TURBO Toolkit
extensions should be available in QL memory: users of
Professional Publisher will already have this available (it is
in the file 'runtime_exts' and is automatically invoked in
Professional Publisher's boot-up procedure). For use outside of
the Professional Publisher environment, first invoke the
supplied extensions using:
_ADDR=RESPR(7168):LBYTES FLP1_runtime_exts,_ADDR:CALL _ADDR:NEW
9.4.3 Start-up
The program is started in the usual way - using EXEC, EX,
EXECUTE or whatever method you use for an "executable"
multitasking program.
Hence the start-up command to be entered from
SuperBASIC to invoke the program would be, say,
EXEC FLP1_grafiX_BIN
Use CTRL+C (hold CTRL down, tap the C key) to switch control
between grafiX and other tasks.
Professional Publisher owners can incorporate the start-up
command for grafiX in the 'boot' program for Professional
Publisher, provided there is sufficient memory to hold both
programs simultaneously. Do this by adding a line immediately
after the EXEC publish_task line (but before the NEW statement!)
which EXECs the appropriate version of grafiX. If you are unsure
of how to do this, don't: invoke grafiX by going to SuperBASIC
from within Professional Publisher (Switch tasks - option 8 on
the main menu) and, from BASIC, type in the above-mentioned EXEC
command.
Do NOT take out the Prfessional Publisher disk from the boot-up
drive or else you will get a "files still open" error message.
grafiX_bin should either be on the same disk as Professional
Publisher (move the fonts onto a second disk to make space -
move fonts not specified as being ones that are needed at
boot-up - see section 9.1) or be loaded from another drive.
Note for Taskmaster users: The program MUST NOT be loaded with
the "shared code" option.
Note for QRAM users: The program MUST NOT be "hotkeyed". Select
it from the 'Files' menu.
When the program has started, the screen is cleared, headings
are displayed and the first 'prompt' of the start-up dialogue
appears.
The program needs the user to supply some details about three
things:
the input Image file
the printer to be used
the scaling to be used
9.4.4 The input file
The first few questions are about the Image file:
the name of the file to be printed,
the origin of the file,
various details depending on the file's origin
whether 90-degree rotation is required
whether ink and paper are to be reversed
* 'Enter device and name of file: '
Sample Responses: flp2_page_one_v4
ram1_schematic
The program expects the device/file name to be at
least 6 characters long. Otherwise, it squeaks and
repeats the question.
* 'File Source (DTP, PD2, FP, Scr, Again): '
Sample responses: D - for Desktop Publisher
R - for Professional Publisher
P - to indicate Page Designer 2
F - to indicate Gap's Front Page
S - to indicate a QL screen dump
A - to respecify the file name
Some supplementary questions may be asked, depending on the
source of the file - see notes at end of section.
After the questions, the image dimensions are displayed, for
example: 'DTP page width: ' wwww ' Height: ' hhhh ' where wwww
and hhhh are the selected (or default) sizes.
* 'Rotate thru 90' (n/y): '
Depending on your output requirements, it may be convenient to
swap the "x" and "y" axes of the image.
* 'Invert black and white (y/n): '
In its screen image file, PP uses 'white' as "ink" and 'black'
as "paper". This will usually result in tremendous amounts of
ink at print time, since it is likely that most of your image
will be white. If you reply 'y' (the default) to this question,
black in your screen image will be treated as 'ink' and white
will be treated as 'paper'.
9.4.5 Supplementary questions
* Desktop Publisher
the PP page size used,
whether the page is 'vertical' or 'sideways'
(PP terminology)
>> 'DTP page width (960,480,800,1280): '
Sample Responses: ENTER - defaults to 960
1280
If you have taken special action in PP to adjust the
Page size, then the revised size should be declared -
otherwise just press ENTER
>> 'DTP page height (800,400): '
Sample Responses: ENTER - defaults to 800
See above.
>> 'Is DTP page vertical or sideways (v/s): '
The default response - if you just press ENTER - is 'v'. In the
same way as the Page size, you will have selected 'sideways' as
non-standard orientation when creating the Page in PP.
* Page Designer 2
No additional questions. Image dimensions are determined by
examining the file. A 'compressed' file image may not be
processed: the program will squeak and reject the file.
* Front Page
No additional questions. Image dimensions are fixed. It is
expected that 4 files will be available on the indicated device
and that the name entered is the "root" name. For example, if
the response to the filename prompt was "flp2_draft", then the
files "flp2_draft1", "flp2_draft2", "flp2_draft3" and
"flp2_draft4" will be expected to be present.
* Screen Dump
The usual width of a screen dump is 512 pixels. If appropriate
action has been taken, the dump width may be less. This will be
known to the creator of the file (you ?). The following
question has a default response of 512.
'Dump width ( <= 512 ): '
The image depth is computed from the file size.
9.4.6 The printer
The program will output to any suitable device. This may be the
more obvious printer ports - ser1, ser2, par - or maybe a file
on disk or RAM disk etc. Some images which involve scaling and
inversion and so forth may take up to 10 minutes to process, and
if several copies are required, it may be quicker to send the
output to a file and subsequently copy the file to the print
device as many times as is required.
* 'Enter print device (default "ser1"): '
Sample Responses: ENTER - default ser1
flp2_grafdump
* 'Passes: '
Sample Responses: ENTER - default 1 pass
2 - two passes
Each 'pass' of the print head may be repeated, if necessary with
a suitable vertical offset - assuming the appropriate parameters
have been defined for the printer to be used. On printers with
low vertical resolution, this technique may result in a more
'solid' image.
Whether or not printing is actually going to take place, it is
necessary for the program to know which type of printer will
ultimately be used. The printer must be fully described to the
program, and the details are required to be on the 'driver'
file.
* 'Driver filename (default "driver_dat"): '
Sample Responses: ENTER - default filename
flp2_myprinter_driver
The format of the parameters on the driver file is described at
the end of this Subsection.
For each set of parameters on the driver file, the program
displays the printer name and an associated 'ID number' from 1
upwards; when all names have been listed, the following message
is displayed:
* 'Enter id number of required printer type: '
If the name of the printer that you want is on view, then key in
the ID number. If it is not, then just press ENTER. If there
are more names on file, these will then be displayed, otherwise
the program will HALT with the message:
'Update Graphics Driver file with required parameters and
restart'
When the required printer has been identified, the selection
dialogue is cleared from the screen and replaced by the message:
'Selected printer: ' printer_name
9.4.7 Scaling
The program is already aware of the dimensions and 'dot density'
of the QL screen; so it knows what it takes to make a circle
look like a circle on the QL.
Having been told what printer is in use, it also knows what it
takes to make a circle look like a circle on that printer. So
the program does the necessary calculations to work out in what
way the incoming data has to be transformed (rescaled) to
preserve the "aspect ratio" so that the image on screen can be
reproduced on paper.
The results of these calculations are displayed as follows:
Preserving aspect ratio
The resulting print image will be as follows: Width Height
(inches): wwww hhhh
The scaling factors are (input : output): Horiz. Vertical
a:b c:d
The program has worked out what is the minimum adjustment to
preserve the aspect ratio, and also at that adjustment what the
image size on the paper will be. One of a:b or c:d will be 1:1,
so this tells you what the vertical/horizontal scale ratio
should be to preserve the aspect ratio. If the program computes
a horizontal scaling that will result in a line longer than your
printer can handle, the program will squeak and scale down both
figures accordingly.
The scaling factors might be displayed as:
1:1.032 1:1
This means that for every input pixel on a 'row', the program
must generate 1.032 pixels, or more properly, the program will
"invent" 32 pixels in the print output for every 1000 pixels in
the image file row of pixels. No vertical adjustment will be
made. Another case:
1:1 1.022:1
This would mean that each 'row' would be left unscaled, but that
out of every 1022 input rows, only 1000 would get printed.
You are then provided with the chance to override these figures
- if for example the printed image will be too small, you may
want to scale up the image, or you may be prepared for the
aspect ratio to be changed or whatever.
'Do you want to change the scaling (n/r/y): '
If the response is 'r', the program will restart the dialogue -
perhaps you wish to use a different printer resolution, or
decide that the image would "fit" better if rotated, or
whatever.
Only if you reply 'y' will the next question appear:
* 'Enter scaling as numbers (horiz, vert): '
Sample Responses: 1.33 (ENTER) 1.777 (ENTER)
1 (ENTER) .978 (ENTER)
The numbers you are required to enter are the OUTPUT scaling
numbers, so you can assume that you are entering 'x' and 'y' in
the implied: 1:x 1:y
If you want to increase the image in size, your number should be
greater than 1. If you want to reduce in size, the number
should be less than 1. If you change the horizontal scale, the
program will check that the number of pixels implied does not
exceed the maximum width of your printer. If it does, the
program will squeak and ask for the numbers again.
After the new scaling has been entered and accepted, the program
redisplays the scaling 'panel' showing the revised stats:
Manually scaled
The resulting print image will be as follows: Width Height
(inches): wwww hhhh
The scaling factors are (input : output): Horiz. Vertical
a:b c:d
9.4.8 Interpolation (anti-aliasing)
If either of the scaling figures is in excess of 1 - i.e. the
image is to be scaled up vertically or horizontally, or both -
the program will ask if interpolation is required.
What this means is that if the program "invents" pixels or rows
and if these are left as "paper", the resulting image could
become sparse. With interpolation switched 'on', the program
will have a look at the context of the invented pixel or row and
decide whether ink or paper is more appropriate to preserve the
image.
* 'Do you want horiz. interpolation (n/y): '
* 'Do you want vert. interpolation (n/y): '
Note also that if vertical scale reduction is in effect, the
program attempts to preserve image integrity. Pixel rows that
are to be 'discarded' are examined, and structurally significant
information is extracted before the row is discarded. This data
is incorporated on the next row to be printed.
9.4.9 Execution
That finishes the dialogue. The program goes on to load the
whole of the Image file (it has to have it all if sideways
images are to be processed). If insufficient memory is
available, the program will HALT, displaying the message "Out of
memory".
Processing then commences. Factors that influence the process
time are - in decreasing significance:
(a) Sideways orientation of input file
(b) Horizontal scaling up
(c) Width of a pixel row (longer row = longer time)
(d) Vertical scaling up
(e) Horizontal interpolation
(f) Vertical interpolation
(g) Inversion of ink and paper
A file that scores badly on all of these points may take up to
10 minutes to print on grafiX_bin.
During printing the program scans the keyboard, and if any
keypress is detected, it will ask if the print is to be aborted:
'Terminate now (n/y): '
If the response is 'n', printing continues. If the response is
'y', printing of the image ceases, and the end-of-print stats
are written to the printer.
After the current image file has been processed, the program
asks:
'Another image (y/n): '
If the response is 'n', the program terminates; else the
dialogue is restarted. You will be given the option of re-using
values already entered - this greatly cuts the number of
keypresses required when you are outputting a number of pages.
9.4.10 Printer-driver file
The structure of the printer-driver file has been deliberately
designed for ease of editing. You should, if the need arises,
be able to adjust or add to the file without difficulty.
For the purposes of this program , there are at least 12 items
of information required to describe each printer. You WILL need
your printer manual, but not much else.
The file can most easily be edited using Digital Precision's
Editor program, Metacomco's ED (or similar ASCII editors like
Arcturus, Spy or Talent's or Computer One's), or perhaps
importing the file into Quill and writing the updated file using
the Print command (NOT Save) of Quill - with headers, footers,
paging set off, and without supplying a "printer_dat" file to
Quill.
Each line of the file MUST begin with semicolon - if it does
not, then the program won't see the line. (So, if you want, you
can put comments in the file.) At least 13 lines are required
for each printer (or printer mode). The first line is the
printer name, followed by the remaining parameter lines. Each
parameter is distinguished by a 4-character identifier.
(Parameters marked ** are mandatory only if multi-pass printing
is to be used. )
Name, Identifying name of printer
GPRE, Preamble for graphics - e.g. set linefeed height
GPOS, Postamble after graphics - e.g. reset lf height
GEOL, End of line code - single pass printing
GFST, End of line code - first pass of print **
GLST, End of line code - last pass of print **
GINT, End of line code - intermediate print passes **
GPFX, Graphics line prefix
GCTL, Length of graphics string controller (chars)
GCTT, Type of controller
0 = characters
1 = binary; m.s. byte first
2 = binary; m.s. byte last
3 = no controller
GHZD, Horiz. dots per inch
GVTD, Vert. dots per inch
GHZM, Max. Horiz dots per line
GFBH, First bit of byte is High pin(1) or Low pin(0)
GPIN, Number of pins in print head
GSPD, Transmission speed (BAUD)
(remaining parameters are optional, depending on your printer)
PEL, End of line code for text (if other than CR, LF)
GFIR, The number of pins that actually fire
GFIL, A character not allowed in a graphic stream
GESC, The sequence to be used to replace GFIL
Some of the information required for the parameters contains
some strange characters, as you will see from your printer
manual.
Rather than have you searching around for some weird key
combinations on the QL, we have set up string conventions so
that information in your printer manual may be entered directly
into the driver file.
9.4.11 Parameter strings
Characters in parameter strings may be expressed either as a
letter or as a sequence of letters - which will be used exactly
as they appear (e.g. UPPER CASE or lower case) - or as a decimal
number representing the ASCII code for the (single) character to
be used.
Combinations of letters and decimal numbers are allowed. A
comma must be used as a separator. Leading spaces in front of
each element of the string are ignored. A decimal number must
be prefixed by . If the character is required as a letter,
it must occur as . Neither a comma nor a semicolon character
may used in a string of letters. If either is needed, use 44
or 59 respectively instead. Equally, a string may not BEGIN
with a space - use 32 if the requirement arises.
So, for example, to set up a string as the Graphics preamble
ESC "E" ESC "T14" ESC ";" ESC " AB,"
the parameter line would look like:
;GPRE, 27, E, 27, T14, 27, 59, 27, 32, AB, 44
An example parameter set:
;Name,CITOH M7500 - Double Density
;GPRE,27,E,27,T16, 13
. select 12 cpi; set lf to 16/144 of an inch
;GPOS,27, A, 13
. reset to 6 lines per inch, return print head
;GEOL,10,13
. LF CR
;GPFX,27,S
. ESC S in front of each graphics line (double den.)
;GCTL,4
. 4 byte string controller
;GCTT,0
. controller is ASCII characters
;GHZD,120
. printing at 120 horiz. dots per inch
;GVTD, 72
. printing at 72 vert. dots per inch
;GHZM,960
. platen width 8 inches => 960 dots max
;GFBH,0
. leading bit of graphics byte is low pin, not high pin
;GPIN,8
. 8 pins fired in print head
;GSPD,4800
. baud rate 4800
Another parameter set - it is Epson standard:
;Name, Star NL10 - Double Den
;GPRE, 27, A, 8, 13
. set linefeed at 8/72", do carriage return
;GPOS, 27, 2, 13
. set linefeed at 1/6", do carriage return
;GEOL, 13, 10
. end-of-line code is CR, LF - single-pass printing
;GFST, 13, 27, J, 1
. set CR and 1/216" linefeed after 1st pass
;GLST, 13, 27, J, 23
. set CR and 23/216" linefeed after last pass
;GINT, 13
. set CR and no linefeed on intermediate passes
;GPFX, 27, L
. double-density prefix is ESC, L
;GCTL, 2
. controller length is 2 bytes
;GCTT, 2
. controller type is binary with m.s. byte 2nd
;GHZD, 120
. double density ==> 120 dpi
;GVTD, 72
. 8 pins per 8/72" ==> 72 dots per inch vertical
;GHZM, 960
. platen width 8", times 120 dpi
;GFBH, 1
. first bit of byte maps to 'top' pin in print head
;GPIN, 8
. 8 usable pins in print head
;GOFF, 0
. Byte offset not relevant
;GSPD, 9600
. Standard baud rate
Another parameter set - quite tricky
This printer sets "graphics mode". Within that mode all data is
considered to be graphic output, unless preceded by ETX (ASCII
3)
;Name, IDS 480 - Paper Tiger
;GPRE, 3
. set printer in Graphic mode (Exp. FuN. DIP Switch req'd)
;GPOS, 3, 2
. set printer in Text mode
;GEOL, 3, 14
. Vertical Advance "2"
;GFST, 3, 13
. Carriage Ret; N.B. "Auto LF" DIP switch off
;GLST, 3, 13
;GINT, 3, 14
;GPFX,
;GCTL, 0
;GCTT, 3
;GHZD, 84
;GVTD, 84
;GHZM, 672
;GFBH, 0
. bit 0 of each data byte is high pin
;GPIN, 8
. 8 pins in print head, but see GFIR
;GSPD, 9600
;PEOL, 13, 10
;GFIR, 7
. Only top 7 pins fire - 1 bit per byte ignored
;GFIL, 3
. if 3 occurs as data pattern .....
;GESC, 3, 3
. send 3, 3 instead
9.5 Word Processors and Graphics Programs
Professional Publisher is a general-purpose desktop publishing
program. Some text- or graphics-handling facilities that you
may wish to use before you load text or pictures onto a Page may
only be available in dedicated text-processing or art programs.
All programs of these types that we know of work well with
Professional Publisher; indeed you can multitask them. May we
especially recommend Digital Precision's The Editor for
sophisticated text handling and Eye-Q, the most versatile
graphics processing program for the QL.
B. ALPHABETIC SECTION
This section gives detailed explanations of the technical terms used
in this manual and instructions for every operation featured in
Professional Publisher. Though you will normally be guided by the
menus and soon use frequent operations automatically without giving
them a thought, we have thought it useful to offer detailed help if
you are in need of it.
When a key is to be pressed in response to a menu, moving the menu bar
to the desired option with the cursor keys or mouse and then pressing
the space bar or the Enter key (or the Select button on the mouse) is
almost always an alternative.
Abort.
To interrupt a computer command in mid-execution.
(1) To abort the printing of a page, press the Esc key.
(2) To abort a fill operation, press the Capslock key.
(3) To abort the loading of text from a file, press the Esc key.
The abort command can be rescinded by entering N in answer to
the prompt 'Are you sure?'
AND.
A Boolean function whose input in this program are two rectangles
of equal size. Its output is another rectangle of the same size,
where each pixel is in paper colour unless the corresponding pixel
in both input figures is in ink colour. The result of ANDing the /
and \ characters is just a dot in the centre of a screen position
reserved for a character.
(1) To select AND for drawing, navigate to Mode Draw, enter the
Command sub-mode by pressing Enter, then type A and return from
Command sub-mode by hitting Esc.
(2) To select AND for merging HDF characters, navigate to Mode
Font; press F4, followed by 4 and A, then do your merging.
Angle.
(1) The parameter which controls the amount of curvature of an arc.
It is the angle between the two radii from the ends of the arc
(the angle 'subtended' by the arc).
(2) The amount of 'tilting' of an ellipse from the horizontal. In
Professional Publisher it is set indirectly by setting the end
points of the axis of the ellipse.
Arc.
Part of the circumference of a circle. To draw an arc: Navigate to
Mode Line. Move the cursor to one of the desired end points.
Exchange end points with the X key. Move the cursor to the other
end point. Use the Enter key to enter the Command sub-mode. Press
A for arc. The arc shown on the screen will be approximately a
quarter circle. To increase the angle subtended by the arc, press
+, to decrease it, press -. It is possible to move the arc past
the chord connecting the end points; this chord will not be drawn.
Press the Esc key to leave the Command sub-mode; you may then draw
further arcs, boxes, circles, ellipses or lines, or exit Mode Line
by pressing F4 and selecting from the menu.
Art file.
A file containing graphic information that can be saved from and
loaded to the screen. It is good practice to use filenames with a
_pic or _scr extension. For loading, the program distinguishes
between files produced by EYE-Q and other files (compressed EYE-Q
files must first be loaded back into EYE-Q and re-saved without
compression - part-screens are OK, though).
For art files included in the Professional Publisher package see
Clip art.
ASCII.
American Standard Code for Information Interchange; the way
characters in any text are represented by numbers up to 255 in most
microcomputers. The table of assignments is printed under 'ASCII
Code' in the Concepts section of the QL User Manual.
Note: The fact that only ASCII codes from 0 to 127 are truly
standardised and those from 128 up are likely to be different for
other computers and for different printers is fortunately
irrelevant when you use Professional Publisher.
ASCII file.
A file consisting of text in ASCII characters. Any control codes
for highlights etc. are embedded and not batched at the start
and/or end of the file.
Backing up.
There are hundreds of ways to lose the information on your
Professional Publisher master disks, even though write-protected.
There is just one way to counteract this danger: make at least one
copy of each master disk right away. Put the master disk in drive
1, a formatted empty disk in drive 2, and type WCOPY flp1_ to flp2_
(followed by Enter). Type A in response to the prompt at the
bottom of the screen. If you have a single disk drive, insert the
master disk in the drive and type WCOPY flp1_ to ram2_. When the
cursor reappears, insert a formatted, empty disk in the drive and
enter WCOPY ram2_ to flp1_. Type A in response to the prompt at
the bottom of the screen.
After copying is finished, label the secondary disks and lock the
master disks away in a safe place. See also Copyright.
Baud rate.
The rate of transmission between communication devices. One baud
means one bit, i.e. one yes-no choice, per second. In Professional
Publisher, the baud rate is of importance for communication with
your printer. Consult your printer manual for the baud rate to
select; unless it is 9600, the default, correct it by navigating to
the main menu and pressing 7 and 6 in succession. Then edit the
baud-rate value. If the value you selected is not among those
supported by the QL, the program will automatically select the
nearest legal value. On being returned to the Driver menu, press 1
and save the modified printer driver under the name of your choice.
Bold.
One of the highlights that can vary the appearance of an HDF or
QLS. It is distinguished by thicker character strokes. Default
values may be changed by means of the Configurator program.
(1) To select the QLS you have defined as bold for manual text
entry, navigate to Mode Text, open a Window and choose CSIZE.
Press F4, 2 and Esc in succession; then enter your text.
(2) When loading a QLS text file into Windows or columns, text
saved as bold in a QUILL file will always be loaded correctly.
If bold characters from a non-QUILL file are not reproduced
correctly, you will have to change the highlights and reload.
(3) When entering HDF text manually, bold characters may also be
selected. After navigating to Mode Font, enter the Control
sub-mode by pressing Enter; then press B. The square against
'Bold' in the information window will be filled. (The B key is
a toggle; to revert to normal characters, follow exactly the
same procedure.) Leave the Control sub-mode with Esc, enter the
Type sub-mode by hitting the space bar, and type.
(4) When loading an HDF text file into Windows or columns, be sure
to make the highlights assignment so that text intended as bold
comes out in whichever font you find most desirable.
Boolean function.
As used in Professional Publisher, a routine which accepts two
series of bits (each bit standing for either 'ink' or 'paper') and
produces as output another series of bits of the same length
according to a well-defined rule. The Boolean functions supported
are AND, OR, OVER and XOR.
Box.
(1) The outline of a rectangle (sides parallel to screen) placed on
the Page in the current ink colour around a Window for manual
text entry. After navigating to Mode Text and opening a
Window, you will be presented with the Options panel. Now
press 8 to draw the box.
(2) A rectangle (sides parallel to the screen, outline or filled)
placed on the Page in the current ink colour. To draw a box:
Navigate to Mode Line. Move the cursor to one of the desired
corners. Exchange corners with the X key. Move the cursor to
the opposite corner. Use the Enter key to enter the Command
sub-mode. Press B for box. The box will be filled if the fill
parameter is set. The diagonal, which is also shown, will not
be drawn. Press the Esc key to leave the Command sub-mode; you
may then draw further arcs, boxes, circles, ellipses or lines,
or exit Mode Line by pressing F4 and selecting from the menu.
Brush.
A pattern contained in an 8x8-pixel square, which may be placed on
the Page repeatedly in contiguous positions to give the effect of
the sweep of a painter's brush. To select a brush, navigate to
Mode Draw, enter the Command sub-mode and press B. This will cycle
you through the 64 brushes shown in the palette in the information
window. The shape of the cursor (red ink, white paper) will change
to the current brush, which will also be displayed against the word
BRUSH in the information window. 192 further brushes are available
through the S key (which toggles to a second palette) and the I key
(which toggles to an inversion of the current palette.
You can also change the effect of the brushes by selecting one of
the Boolean functions (AND, OR, OVER, XOR), which determine how the
brush will affect what is already there on the screen. To make the
change, press A, O, V or X respectively; it will be echoed in the
information window.
Leave the Command sub-mode by pressing Esc, then start drawing.
Byte.
A unit in which memory capacity in computers and devices is
measured. One byte is composed of 8 encodings of yes-or-no
decisions; another way of looking at it is the capacity to hold one
character.
Cameo.
A scale model (1 : 4 or 1 : 8, depending on Page size) of the Page
that is being prepared, first displayed at start-up. It also shows
the layout guides; but you can opt instead to see the grid (press
2, 8, 5, 2 in succession) or neither guides nor grid (press 2, 8,
5, 3). To re-display the layout guides, press 2, 8, 5, 1. The
cameo should be consulted from time to time to see whether the
development of the Page is progressing as desired. To this end all
you have to do is to navigate to the main menu.
If your page orientation is landscape, the cameo should be viewed
as though your screen were turned on its right-hand side; i.e., the
right-hand edge of the cameo corresponds to the bottom of the Page.
Cancel
The left-hand button on the mouse; it corresponds to the Esc key.
Character.
A letter, one-digit number, punctuation mark etc. that can be
printed to the screen or to a printer. Frequently a space is also
considered to be a character. A character can be unequivocally
referred to by its ASCII code (e.g. 65 for upper-case A, 32 for
space).
Characteristics.
A parameter which influences the resolution of mouse movement and
can thus be used to prevent unwanted merging of stippled brushes in
Mode Draw. More precisely, it is the offset in pixels between
successive screen images of the cursor (= paintbrush). To change
characteristics, press F4 and select 0 (the default), 1, 3 or 7
from the menu. Experiment with the different values until you know
which is best for your current purpose.
=1 allows printing only in the even pixel positions
=3 allows printing only in pixel positions that are multiples of 4
=7 allows printing only in pixel positions that are multiples of 8
=0 allows printing in all pixeel positions
Under keyboard control, the characteristics are of little use and
should be left at the default setting.
Circle.
To place a circle on the Page in the current ink colour: Navigate
to Mode Line. Move the cursor to the desired centre. Exchange
points with the X key. Move the cursor to any point on the
circumference. Use the Enter key to enter the Command sub-mode.
Press C for circle. The circle will be filled if the fill
parameter is set. The radius, which is also shown, will not be
drawn. Press the Esc key to leave the Command sub-mode; you may
then draw further arcs, boxes, circles, ellipses or lines, or exit
Mode Line by pressing F4 and selecting from the menu.
Clear.
To cover the Page, or an area on it, with the current paper colour,
thus erasing anything printed or drawn there.
(1) To clear the whole Page: Navigate to the Main Menu and press 2,
7 and 1 in succession. As this is irreversible major surgery,
you will be asked whether you are really sure. Edit the prompt
N to Y if you are and press Enter; if you have changed your
mind, just press Enter with the N unchanged.
(2) To clear a section of the Page: Navigate to the main menu and
press 2, 7 and 2 in succession. Use the cursor keys to
determine the top left-hand corner of the section to be cleared
on the cameo; repeat for the bottom right-hand corner.
(3) When a Window is opened for manual entry of QLS text, it is
filled with spaces and thus clears everything it covers. If you
should wish to clear it while it is still open, press 2 when
the menu whose first line is '1. Enter text' is shown. If the
Window is no longer open, open a new one over it.
Clip art.
A type of art file containing figures and symbols that come in
handy to illustrate many texts. The desired figure may be placed
on the Page by the cutting and pasting process after loading the
picture that contains it.
11 clip-art files are included in the Professional Publisher
package under the names balls1_pic, balls2_pic, food_pic,
logos_pic, misc1_pic, misc2_pic, signs_pic, storage_media_pic,
technical_pic, timepieces_pic and travel_pic. All of them are
EYE-Q screens; so press 2 when the relevant menu is shown in the
loading sequence.
Close-up.
A window that is shown on screen (bottom right) at some times as a
magnification (to actual size on the Page) of part of the cameo.
The arrowhead cursor is always at the close-up's centre and
corresponds to the cameo cursor at top left of the shuttle.
cm.
Abbreviation for centimetre, a linear measure that has been in use
in Europe for two centuries. In case you must know, it is 1/2.54".
The default unit is cm. If you have switched to inches and wish to
reset to cm, navigate to the Main Menu and press 2, 8 and 6 in
succession.
Colour.
Professional Publisher only supports black-and-white printing. Each
colour in what was originally a 4- or 8-colour picture is rendered
differently, as in a photograph, by grey-scale conversion. When the
program uses 'colour' in other contexts (e.g. in Mode Font), it
refers to various stipples giving the effect of grey, typically for
an ink.
Column.
When text is loaded onto the Page but not into specifically defined
Windows, the area delimited by the margins can be either unbroken
or divided into 2 to 9 columns. The vertical column lines are shown
in green on the cameo and on the Page (unless you have selected
another option for the layout guides). Like the other layout
guides they can be redefined, saved, loaded and used as lines of
reference in cursor movement.
The default at start-up is 4 columns. The gutter or column gap may
also be adjusted by the user; the default at start-up is .4 cm, and
no combination of columns and column gaps is permitted that would
result in a column width less than 1 cm.
To change the column setting: Navigate to the Main Menu; then press
2, 8, 2 and 1 in succession; edit the value shown and press Enter.
Next press 2 to edit the column gap similarly; press Enter and Esc.
Column break.
One of up to 8 imaginary horizontal lines shown in red on the cameo
and on the Page (unless you have selected another option for the
layout guides). Like the other layout guides they can be
redefined, saved, loaded and used as lines of reference in cursor
movement. The default at start-up is 3 column breaks at 7.4, 14.8
and 22.2 cm from the top of the Page.
The column breaks facilitate rapid and accurate shuttle.
To change a column-break setting: Navigate to the Main Menu; then
press 2, 8 and 3 in succession, followed by the desired number key
(1 to 8); edit the value shown (use 0 for none); then press Enter
and Esc.
Condensed length/width.
A way of printing, supported by most printers, in which a denser
image of half the nominal length and/or width is produced. Also
known as quadruple density. See Standard length/width; Extended
length/width.
Configuration.
As used in Professional Publisher, the treatment given to text on
loading when the right-hand edge of a Window or column is reached
in the middle of a word. There are three configuration options:
(1) Word wrap: the whole word is placed at the beginning of the
next line.
(2) Hyphenate: the word is hyphenated if the conditions of the
hyphenate parameters are met; else it is placed at the
beginning of the next line. This is the default.
(3) Off: the whole line is filled without regard to word
boundaries; i.e. words may be split without hyphens.
To change the configuration you must be in the process of loading
text. When presented with the menu headed by '1. Put text on
page', press 2 and use the space bar or Enter key to cycle among
the options. If no further adjustments are to be made, press 1.
Configurator.
Two auxiliary programs contained in the Professional Publisher
package (filenames configure_boot and configure_exe) to change the
defaults which Professional Publisher uses on start-up. By using
the configurator you won't have to change them to your favourite
settings whenever you work with the main program.
To use the Configurator, you must un-write protect the disk on
which it is contained and insert it into drive 1 AFTER you have
reset the QL and pressed F1. Enter LRUN flp1_configure_boot. This
will boot configure_exe, which in turn will display a series of
menus. The values you start out with are normally contained in the
files named epson_driver, variable_default and default_layout. If
you want to start with values contained in other files, press
option 4 when shown the first menu, followed by 6 (to change the
printer driver filename) or 7 (to enter the filename for the layout
guides) and edit the appropriate filenames.
Option 1 permits you to change the default Page size (960x800
pixels) and the memory reserved for two pages (192000 bytes).
Illegal selections will be turned down with a beep; you may,
however, reduce the memory assignment to a value that will permit
only one Page to be in memory at any time. Select 4 from the
sub-menu when you are done.
Option 2 permits you to select the character sets (fonts) available
at start-up (up to 24 each of QLS and HDF), as well as the amount
of memory reserved for them (default 65000 bytes). Note that the
amount of memory needed depends on the number of fonts loaded; for
HDF also on the number of characters contained in each font (you
may leave characters undefined) as well as on the size of the grid
selected for each font. Press 3 for QLS or 2 for HDF. For each
assignment to any of the identification letters B to X, press that
letter (if necessary, press the right arrow key first) and edit the
desired filename, which normally ends in _qls for a QLS file and in
_hdf for an HDF file. If you delete (6) the whole filename, the
current letter will remain unassigned. QLS A to C and HDF A are
protected and cannot be changed. When finished, press Z. When
finished with both font types, press 4. Caution: It is your
responsibility to ensure that the files you refer to contain the
correct type of information. Loading a QLS file instead of an HDF
file, or a text file instead of either, is almost certain to hang
Professional Publisher at start-up!
Option 3 allows you to change the parameters which control the
loading of text from a file. Further information will be found
under each term that appears on the sub-menu in question.
Option 4 allows you to change the defaults for the filename prompt
originally flp1_), the mouse parameters (mouse present but keyboard
control initially selected), visibility of the rulers (both on),
the printer driver filename (epson_driver) and the layout guides
filename (default_layout). Press 8 after you have made all
changes.
If you are completely disgusted with your alterations and want to
start afresh, you can restore the old settings by means of Option
5. No changes will be made to your disk until you press 6 and enter
Y when asked whether you are sure.
Control.
(1) A sub-mode of Mode Text, Mode Font, Mode Draw, Mode Line and
Mode Fill. It is entered from any of these modes by pressing
Enter, and left by pressing Esc.
In Mode Text this sub-mode permits changing ink and paper; in
Mode Font it permits changing of fonts, geometric operations on
characters, and adjustment of spacing; in Mode Draw it permits
changing brushes and palettes, as well as Boolean functions; in
Mode Line it permits changing shapes, ink or paper, as well as
toggling fill status; and in Mode Fill it permits selection of
fill textures. In the last three modes it also offers an undo
feature and in all but Mode Font a facility for scrolling the
Screen. Note that to scroll around with the mouse you must go
to the appropriate X (or Y) co-ordinate indicator and press
Select to move up (or left) and Cancel to move down (or right).
(2) The type of access to Professional Publisher. It may be either
by keyboard (the default, which may be changed by means of the
Configurator program) or by mouse. Manual text entry will,
however, always require the keyboard. To toggle between
keyboard and mouse control, navigate to the Main Menu and press
2, followed by 9.
Control codes.
See Highlights.
Convert.
Two pairs of programs included in the Professional Publisher
package which enable you to make new versions of Pages and HDF
files saved with the previous version (Special Desktop Publisher)
so that they can be read and used by Professional Publisher.
(1) To create a PP-readable version of a Page saved under Special
Desktop Publisher, insert the PP disk in drive 1 AFTER
resetting the QL and pressing F1. Then enter LRUN
flp1_page_boot, which will get flp1_page_exe running. Edit the
defaults offered for the width of the original Page in pixels,
the original filename and the new filename.
(2) To create a PP-readable version of a font saved under Special
Desktop Publisher, insert the PP disk in drive 1 AFTER
resetting the QL and pressing F1. Then enter LRUN
flp1_hdf_boot, which will get flp1_page_exe running. Edit the
defaults offered for the font height (normally 16, but 24 if
the original font includes characters for which you have set a
descent below the base line; the width is always 16 and is
therefore not asked for), for the two original filenames
associated with the font (they will normally be identical
except for the extensions _fnt and _wdt) and for the desired
new filename (suggested extension _hdf). The new file will
contain the information from both old fonts.
Reset the QL when finished with either Convert program.
Co-ordinates.
At most times, two pairs of co-ordinates will be shown near the
upper right-hand corner of the screen. The first pair, abbreviated
SCX and SCY for Screen (or section), indicate the horizontal and
vertical distance from Page top left to Screen top left; the second
pair, abbreviated PGX and PGY for Page, the horizontal and vertical
distance from Page top left to the cursor.
White numbers indicate squares (1 square = 8 pixels); red numbers
from 0 to 7 indicate any extra pixels.
The PGX and PGY co-ordinates will normally change as you move the
cursor; if this irritates you, exit any sub-mode you may be in by
pressing Esc; then press F1, which acts as a toggle to freeze and
unfreeze the change of co-ordinates.
Copyright.
Under international copyright law you may make as many copies of
Professional Publisher for your own use as you need; but you will
become criminally and civilly liable if you copy the program or
permit it to be copied for any other purpose.
Create.
You may create your own HDF or QLS fonts.
(1) To create an entirely new font: Navigate to the Main Menu.
Press 3 and then the right arrow key until the vertical strip
at centre screen becomes empty. Press 4 and enter first the
desired width and then the desired height of characters in
pixels. The only values accepted are 8, 16, 24, 32, 40 and 48
(0 means you don't want to go ahead after all). Next press 1,
and you may start editing. You need not define the entire
font; characters left undefined will not occupy any memory.
Entering an undefined character will move the cursor one pixel
to the right.) When you are finished, don't forget to save the
new font.
(2) To produce a new HDF by modifying an existing one: Navigate to
the Main Menu. Press 3 and then the right arrow key until the
vertical strip at centre screen becomes empty. Press 3 and
edit the name of the old file, then press Enter. When the
empty strip is filled, press 1, and you may start editing. When
you are finished, don't forget to save the new font.
(3) To create an entirely new QLS: Navigate to the Main Menu. Press
4; from the menu at centre page select a letter followed by
empty spaces. Press the corresponding letter (you may also use
the right arrow key first to toggle to a second set of
letters), followed by 1, and you may start editing. When you
are finished, don't forget to save your QLS.
(4) To produce a new QLS by modifying an existing one: Proceed as
for (3); but before pressing 1, press 2, edit the name of the
old file, and wait for the new set to appear against the letter
you have chosen.
Creation of a pleasing font from scratch is not an easy job; if you
have access to a book of fonts which are in the public domain, why
not use them? Or use the c80 QLS sets in LIGHTNING SPECIAL EDITION?
CSIZE.
Text printed from any of the QLS may be selected in 8 different
character sizes, as in the SuperBASIC CSIZE command. Each CSIZE is
characterised by a pair of parameters as follows:
1st parameter 2nd parameter Width in pixels Height in pixels
0 0 6 10
0 1 6 20
1 0 8 10
1 1 8 20
2 0 12 10
2 1 12 20
3 0 16 10
3 1 16 20
(1) When entering QLS text manually (Mode Text), you are led to a
menu that forces you to make a CSIZE selection. (You may have
to use the cursor keys or the mouse to select, and the space
bar or Enter to finalise your decision: pressing a number key
will correctly select the first parameter but assume the second
parameter to be 0). There is an option to select a
demonstration first: if chosen, it will place the word EXAMPLE
on screen in all 8 CSIZEs.
(2) When loading QLS text, you are led to a menu whose first item
is '1. Put text on page'. At this point you may change the
default CSIZE of 0,0 by entering 9. You may then successively
edit the first and second CSIZE parameters (only the values
tabulated above are accepted), each followed by Enter. Another
Enter will leave the default linefeed (10 or 20) intact. If
you wish to change no other parameters, you may initiate
loading by pressing 1.
The equivalent of CSIZE for the HDFs is magnification.
Cursor.
A symbol on the screen which indicates where any input will be
placed. The standard cursor shape is an arrowhead (sometimes two
arrowheads placed against each other). The cursor changes to a
rectangle for manual QLS input and when you are designing a QLS or
an HDF; to the current brush shape in Mode Draw; to the letter T in
the Type sub-mode of Mode Font; and to the letter C in the various
Control sub-modes.
The cursor is moved with the cursor keys in steps of 1, 8 or 32
pixels or to the nearest guide (depending on the current mode and
on the simultaneous pressing of Space or Ctrl). The cursor is moved
continuously by moving the mouse; for fine movement, e.g. on the
cameo, the cursor may be moved into the appropriate arrow shape on
the current instructions panel and clicking the Select button.
Cursor keys.
Four keys marked with arrows. They are used to move the cursor and
to pass through a menu; occasionally to toggle or cycle.
Cut.
The action of defining a rectangle on the Page and copying it into
scratch storage for later pasting. Any previous contents of the
scratch storage for pasting will be lost at the moment of a cut.
(1) To cut the area of a text Window: When presented with the
Options menu of Mode Text, press 1 and continue. The Window
will remain in its previous place on the Page.
(2) To cut a whole picture, or a picture section: While the picture
is on screen, move the cursor to the top left corner of the
desired section and press the space bar. Repeat for the lower
right corner. The picture will be removed from the screen - it
was never on the Page - and only remain in scratch storage.
Cycle.
The action of moving through three or more menu items (which may be
shown simultaneously or one after another) by repeatedly pressing
the same key (usually the space bar); pressing the key on the last
item will again switch to the first. On reaching the desired item,
press Enter. See Toggle.
Default.
The action taken by a computer program whenever it needs a value
for a user-selectable parameter but the user has either had no
opportunity to make the selection (i.e. at start-up) or refused to
do so (by entering nothing).
Many of the default values of Professional Publisher can be changed
by means of the Configurator program.
Delete.
To remove from working memory or external memory.
(1) To delete any file (Page, picture, QLS, HDF, guides, Windows ,
printer driver or even a file alien to Professional Publisher)
from disk, navigate to the Main Menu, then press 5 and 6 in
succession. The message 'Delete which file?' will appear, and
you can edit the suggested default filename. When finished,
press Enter. To delete another file, press 6 again and
continue. A more radical way of deletion, which erases all
files on a medium is to format it.
(2) While a Window for manual QLS entry is open, it may be
redefined by moving and/or deleting its corners. Pressing Esc
will delete the bottom right-hand corner; if this no longer
exists, it will delete the top left-hand corner.
(3) To delete a QLS character which has been manually put in a
Window (while it is still open and the square cursor is
visible): Either place the cursor over it and press the right
arrow key while holding down the Ctrl key; or place the cursor
on the next character and press the left arrow key while
holding down the Ctrl key.
(4) To delete a whole line from a Window for manual QLS entry (and
make the followinmg lines scroll up), there must be an active
rectangular cursor in the Window. Move it to the line to be
deleted and press F1.
(5) To delete one vertical column (!) of pixels in HDF text (Mode
Font): If you are in the Control sub-mode, leave it by
pressing Esc. Enter the Type sub-mode by pressing T. Now
either place the cursor on the pixel column to be deleted and
press the right arrow key while holding down the Ctrl key; or
place the cursor on the next pixel row and press the left arrow
key while holding down the Control key. The reason for having
a single pixel column deleted is that font characters are not
of constant width, and italics may make the variations even
greater.
Descent.
The distance in pixels by which certain lower-case characters (g,
j, p, q, y) descend below the base-line as defined by other
characters; the part below the base-line is called the descender.
(1) The QLS's assume a constant descent of 2 pixels; keep this in
mind when designing a new QLS.
(2) The descent of each character in an HDF can be defined or
modified by you. To do so: Navigate to the Main Screen; press
3, select a font with the horizontal cursor keys or mouse,
press 3 again, select the character to edit with the vertical
cursor keys or mouse, then press A. Use the vertical cursor
keys or mouse again to move the thin horizontal red line in the
grid , which represents the base-line. You will normally wish
to have the base-line at the same level for all characters of a
font. When satisfied, press Enter (or Select on the mouse).
Desktop publisher.
A computer program which enables the combination of a microcomputer
and an associated printer to produce printed output which may
include both text and graphics to give an overall appearance that
comes close to that of professionally printed books and
periodicals.
Professional Publisher is by far the most powerful desktop
publisher for the QL.
Device.
A piece of hardware which can communicate with a computer. A
device may be used for input, output, or both.
Devices used with the QL must be referred to by standard names,
such as scr (screen), ser (serial output port), net (network). See
the entry 'Device' in the Concepts section of the QL User Manual.
Professional Publisher also assumes that you have at least one
floppy disk drive, so that the QL will recognise the device name
flp1_ (a second drive would of course be referred to as flp2_);
most disk expansions for the QL will also inlude RAM disks (device
names ram1_ to ram8_).
As some commands on the QL require either the name of a device or
that of a file (e.g. a Page may be saved to neto_3 or to
flp2_poster_pge), the terms 'device name' and 'filename' are often
used interchangeably.
Digitiser.
A device that captures the image from a video recorder or camera
for computer processing. As digitised images often have slight
flaws, it is a good idea to use EYE-Q or another art program to
clean them up. They can then be loaded onto a Professional
Publisher Page.
Dimensions.
At the start of a Professional Publisher session you must indicate
the size of the Page you are preparing (if you have two Pages in
memory simultaneously, they must be of the same size but may have
different orientation) in two ways, unless you are ready to accept
the default values of 800 by 960 pixels and A4 size (21x29.7 cm).
(1) Page size in pixels, together with the number of dots per inch
characteristic of your printer and various selections made in
your printer driver, determines the actual size of the printed
Page (more pixels mean a denser printout) and the percentage of
the Page visible on the Screen (480x256 pixels) at one time.
If you try to change the pixel dimensions with anything already
on the Page, it will come out garbled on both the screen and
the printout. You can recover the original Page by changing
the dimensions back to their former values, but there is no way
of getting useful output with changed values.
To change the pixel dimensions: Navigate to the Main Menu and
press 2, 5 and 1 in succession. Edit the width value and press
Enter; then edit the height value and press Enter. Any width
between 400 and 1600 pixels and any height between 480 and 1920
pixels (both in steps of 80; odd values are automatically
rounded down to the nearest multiple of 80) may be selected.
Combining the top values of width and height will, however,
overtax your QL's memory: you'll get an error message and a
chance to enter a pair of feasible values.
(2) Page size in units (cm or inches) acts only as an aid to you in
determining the position of the layout guides as well as of
text and graphics on the Page. It has no influence on the
actual size of the printout but should rather be chosen
according to true printout size - see (1) above.
To change the unit dimensions: Navigate to the Main Menu and
press 2, 5 and 2 in succession. Edit the width value and press
Enter; then edit the height value and press Enter. Any value
from 1 to 999 cm and up to 5 characters (e.g. 21.48) are OK.
Directory.
A list of all the files on a device.
To obtain the directory of, say, the disk in drive 1: Navigate to
the Main Menu and press 5 twice. Then edit the default value
offered to read flp1_ and press Enter. If you enter flp1_font
instead, you will get a selective directory of all the files on the
disk in flp1 which contain the string 'font' in any mixture of
upper and lower case, e.g. myfont, FONT_design, LAFOntaine (see
Wildcard).
If there are more directory items than can be shown at once, output
will stop after a window is filled. You may then either abort the
listing by pressing Esc or continue by pressing any other key. Any
key will take you back to the menu after the last item has been
displayed.
Disk.
A device for input and output that can hold files. It has more
memory and is both faster and more reliable than a microdrive
cartridge. Alas, it is not usable on the basic QL but requires the
addition of both hardware (disk drive) and software (disk driver).
Professional Publisher is so large and so powerful that it requires
a disk installation. See also RAM disk.
Double density.
(1) A way of squeezing twice as much memory onto a disk. All disks
used on the QL are of this type.
(2) See Standard length/width.
Draft.
(1) The less pretty print mode (as opposed to letter quality) in
many printers. The term is not applicable to the graphics mode
and is therefore irrelevant when Professional Publisher is
used.
(2) The appearance of a QLS that is used for run-of-the-mill text,
as opposed to highlights.
Draw.
The mode in which you can do (and amend) free-hand drawing on the
Page by using brushes. In this mode the information window shows
the current brush, a palette and the currently selected Boolean
function.
To reach Mode Draw: See Navigation.
Dropcaps.
Greatly magnified letters at the start of a chapter, article or
paragraph in some forms of printing. This effect may be achieved
by selecting an appropriate HDF and defining a wraparound Window to
be filled with the remaining, smaller-sized text.
Eccentricity.
A measure of the amount by which the shape of an ellipse deviates
from a circle. In Professional Publisher this is controlled by
changing the length of the second axis with the + and - keys.
Edit.
(1) Whenever you put any text or graphics on the Page manually
(rather than loading it from a file), you are said to edit it.
To do so, navigate to the Main Menu and press 1. Next, move
the shuttle to the section of Page you wish to work on and
press Enter. You can then navigate to the five editing modes
(Text, Font, Draw, Line, Fill).
(2) Whenever the program asks you to enter a device name, filename
or number, your entry may be 'edited', i.e. altered, in the
usual way: move between the ends of what you have already
entered with the horizontal cursor keys; delete characters by
pressing the horizontal cursor keys with the Ctrl key held
down; insert characters at the cursor position by typing them;
indicate that editing is finished by pressing Enter.
(3) When manually entering QLS text into a Window, you have the
same options as in (2); in addition, the vertical cursor keys
are enabled for cursor movement in the Window, and you may use
F1 to delete and F2 to insert a whole line. See also Word
process.
(4) You can also edit any character in the QLS and in the HDF. See
Editor.
Editor.
Software which permits modification of a file. Professional
Publisher contains two character editors for modifying QLS and HDF.
(1) To enter the QLS editor: Navigate to the Main Menu; then press
4. A menu will appear, from which you can select the set to
edit by pressing any of the letter keys from A to M (or, for
another selection, the right cursor key, followed by a letter
key from N to X). Now a grid magnifying the pixels of
individual characters will appear on the left-hand side of the
screen and a menu on the right-hand side. The cursor keys
control the square cursor in the grid; with the horizontal
cursor keys you can also move off the grid and into the menu.
The colouring of the grid reminds you that you should only use
pixel columns 2 to 6 for a QLS that is to be used in all
CSIZES, and 2 to 8 for a 'special' set which should only be
used in CSIZEs 1/0 and 1/1 (0/0 and 0/1 will have characters
running into one another, and the other CSIZEs will give
unpredictable character fragments).
A window at the bottom of the screen will show the current set
in black and, above it, the key each character corresponds to.
If you are designing a previously empty QLS, you may wish to
start it at either ASCII 32 ('first' set) or at ASCII 129
('second' set). To make your selection, press 4, followed by
either F or S.
To edit a character: press 1, followed by 2. Use the
horizontal cursor keys to move the green bar that serves as a
cursor in the bottom window to select the character you wish to
edit; then press the space bar. (Or control the cursor with
the mouse and terminate with Select.)
The selected character will appear in the grid, and you can
edit it as shown:
Space (cursor on a square) turns the square to ink colour
Enter (cursor on a square) turns the square to paper colour
3 (cursor in the menu) lets you select another character
as before and puts it in the grid
(so you can edit, say, your F
from an already defined E)
4 (cursor in the menu) clears the grid
5 (cursor in the menu) inverses the grid
6 (cursor in the menu) inverts the grid
7 (cursor in the menu) reflects the grid
All changes are only made to scratch memory; if you wish to
accept them, you must move to the menu and press 1 to store the
character in working memory. You can then select a new
character to edit by pressing 2; if you failed to press 1, the
changes you have made to the last character will be cancelled.
When all characters of the set have been completed, press Esc
from the menu and press 2 to save your new character set. When
prompted for a filename, you might as well follow the
convention and choose one that ends in _qls.
(2) To enter the HDF editor: Navigate to the Main Menu; then press
3. A narrow window will appear, from which you can select the
font to edit by pressing either of the horizontal cursor keys;
when your selection has been made, press Esc. Now a grid
magnifying the pixels of individual characters will appear on
the left-hand side of the screen and a menu on the right-hand
side. The cursor keys control the square cursor in the grid;
with the horizontal cursor keys you can also move off the grid
and into the menu.
To edit a character: press 4. If you wish to start your
editing, say of E, from the grid representation of another
character, say F, first select the E with the up or down cursor
key or mouse; then move the cursor to the menu with the right
arrow key, press 3 and select F. If you prefer to design your
new F from scratch on a blank grid, select F in the first
place, move the cursor into the menu and press 5. You can now
edit the selected character as follows:
Space (cursor on a square) turns the square to ink colour
Enter (cursor on a square) turns the square to paper colour
5 (cursor in the menu) clears the grid
6 (cursor in the menu) inverses the grid
7 (cursor in the menu) reflects the grid
8 (cursor in the menu) inverts the grid
9 (cursor in the menu) enables the cursor keys or mouse
to scroll the grid; terminate
with Esc or Cancel
0 (cursor in the menu) pressing the space bar will fill
the ink-enclosed area around the
cursor; terminate with Esc or
Cancel
A (cursor in the menu) permits changing descent and
proportionality; terminate with
Esc or Cancel.
In order not to defeat the advantages of proportionality, you
are advised to have the leftmost points of each font character
in the same grid column (normally 1 or 2).
All changes are only made to scratch memory; if you wish to
accept them, you must move to the menu and press 1 to store the
character in working memory. You can then select a new
character to edit by pressing 4; if you failed to press 1, the
changes you have made to the last character will be cancelled.
To remove a character entirely from working memory, there is a
simplified way: just press 2 from the menu; the grid (scratch
memory) will remain unchanged.
When all characters of the set have been completed, press Esc
from the menu and press 2 to save your new font. When prompted
for a filename, you might as well follow the convention and
choose one that ends in _hdf.
(3) 'The Editor' is the name of Digital Precision's top-notch
program for the modification of any type of file whatsoever,
including aspects of text processing the writers of QUILL
didn't even dream of.
Ellipse.
To draw an ellipse: Navigate to Mode Line. Move the cursor to the
spot where the ellipse is to have its centre. Exchange end points
with the X key. Move the cursor to the spot where the longer axis
is to have one of its end points. Use the Enter key to enter the
Command sub-mode. Press E for ellipse. The ellipse will be filled
if the fill parameter is set. The half-axis also shown will not be
drawn. The ellipse will have an approximate axis ratio of 2 : 1.
To increase this ratio press +, to decrease it press -. Press the
Esc key to leave the Command sub-mode; you may then draw further
arcs, boxes, circles, ellipses or lines, or exit Mode Line by
pressing F4 and selecting from the menu.
Enter.
A key found on every computer keyboard, although on some it is
marked 'Return' or sports a bent arrow. Its main uses in
Professional Publisher are:
(1) to finalise a selection from a menu (interchangeably with the
space bar);
(2) to indicate that the input of a device name, filename or number
is finished;
(3) to switch to the Control sub-mode.
Error message.
Most error messages listed in the QL User Manual can also occur in
Professional Publisher; some, however, have a slightly improved
wording:
Arithmetic overflow instead of Overflow
Bad device name instead of Bad name
File error instead of Bad or changed medium
There are also a few additional self-explaining error messages:
File too long
NOT ENOUGH MEMORY
Page section is too large
Unknown
Wrong file
None of these error messages will crash the program; you can always
recover from the error.
In the - highly unlikely - case that the program does crash, with
an error message of the type:
Task publisher_task halted after line ..., reason: ...,
or if you ever get the 'Unknown' message (this, too, is most
unlikely), please report the details of the crash to Digital
Precision, and we will find a way to fix it - permanently.
Esc.
Short for Escape; a key found on every computer keyboard. In
Professional Publisher it will usually return you to the menu from
which you came, thus performing upwards navigation; in some cases,
where this would be counterproductive, it switches you instead to
the next phase of the program.
The Esc key will not work when the program expects input. If you
cannot come up with a filename that doesn't result in an error
message, delete all the characters and press Enter; this will work
as an ersatz Esc key.
When a mouse is used for input, the Cancel button takes over
the function of the Esc key.
Extended length/width.
A way of printing, supported by most printers, in which a less
dense image of twice the nominal length and/or width is produced.
Also known as single density. See Condensed length/width; Standard
length/width.
Extension.
(1) An optional last part of a filename, starting with the last
underscore character. It is frequently used to designate
certain types of files, e.g. _doc and _lis for QUILL files,
_qls and _fnt for fonts, _pic and _scr for graphic files.
(2) A machine-code procedure or function that can be loaded into
the QL to permit the use of extra SuperBASIC keywords.
Professional Publisher contains four files with such extensions
(filenames ending in _exts).
External memory.
Memory on a device, which will not be erased when the computer is
switched off. See Scratch memory; Working memory.
EYE-Q.
Digital Precision's specialised graphics program which runs rings
around the competition. It will work hand in glove with
Professional Publisher.
File.
A collection of data which can be output to a device under a name,
the filename, and recovered from the device by specifying that
name.
Professional Publisher uses files for the following purposes (but
it can delete any other type of file, too):
(1) Pages
(2) text files (for input only)
(3) pictures (for input only)
(4) QLS
(5) HDF
(6) guides
(7) Windows
(8) printer drivers
(9) the information file updates_doc
Filename.
A string of characters used to distinguish one file from another.
When asked by Professional Publisher to enter a filename, you may
use 3 to 26 characters of your choice, including the device name.
If your filename has zero characters, the intended command will not
be executed, and you will be returned to the menu from which you
came. If access to the specified file produces an error, the QL
will burp, an error message will be printed on the screen, and you
may enter another filename.
File printing.
You can 'print' a Page to disk and defer the actual printout for a
later occasion. To print to a file, all you have to do is select a
filename like flp2_prt within your printer driver and then go
through the normal print sequence. To send the file to the
printer, you don't even have to load Professional Publisher. Just
be sure that the correct disk is inserted and, with the QL in
SuperBASIC, type COPY_N flp2_prt TO SER1 (or TO whatever other
device name may be appropriate for your printer; see the entry
'Devices' in the Concepts Section of the QL User Manual or the
manual for any extra hardware you may be using).
Fill.
To Change an 'empty' closed figure, such as the circumference of a
circle, to a 'filled' one (a disk) on the Page. There are three
ways to fill a figure in Professional Publisher, and all may be
aborted, prodcuing a partial fill, by pressing the Capslock key.
(1) Any box, circle or ellipse (but not a polygon created from
lines) can be filled at creation in Mode Draw if the 'fill
parameter' is set. To toggle this parameter, press F when in
Control sub-mode.
(2) Any figure in which black encloses white (even the loops in a
character like 8) can be filled in Mode Fill with any pattern
contained in the 24 current fonts. (Font A is particularly
useful here.) The information window in Mode Fill shows the
currently selected font and the texture achieved by
continuously repeating the currently selected character.
To perform a filling operation: Navigate to Mode Fill and press
C to enter the Control sub-mode. Select a font with the F key,
a character with the C key; if desired, invert the fill pattern
with the F key. Then exit Command sub-mode by pressing Esc,
move the cursor into the innards of the figure and press the
Space Bar. If you don't like the result, press C, followed by
U immediately, i.e. before pressing any other key.
To fill a figure where white encloses black: Navigate to the
Main Menu, press 2 twice; navigate to Mode Fill and proceed as
above, using inversion; finally navigate back to the Main Menu
and again press 2 twice.
(3) When designing an HDF, you can often save time by filling a
whole enclosed area with the ink colour. When the Font Editor
menu is displayed, press the 0 key, then move the cursor inside
the desired area with the cursor keys or mouse, and press the
space bar.
Fingerprinting.
An accurate rendition of the Page in 1/4 scale - only available if
your printer supports quadruple density. If you are using a
1920x1600 screen, and print it out at quadruple density, you will
get the result in A4 size with improved resolution of 240 x 144
dpi.
Font.
(1) A loose way of referring to either a QLS or an HDF. While
Professional Publisher offers you a large variety of fonts, you
shouldn't yield to the temptation to use all or most of them on
a single page. To give an effect that is both aesthetically
pleasing and professional, limit yourself to, say, two fonts
with at most three different highlights for each.
(2) Mode Font is the mode used for HDF text entry onto the Page; it
can be navigated to. It is the only mode which, in addition to
the Control sub-mode also has a Text sub-mode for actual text
entry. The information window in Mode Font shows the currently
selected font and the status of various parameters affecting
the next character entered. A shallow window at the bottom of
the screen displays the code letter of the currently selected
HDF as well as its pixel width and height and the number of
bytes the HDF takes in memory.
Format.
(1) The exact form which computer input or output takes (e.g.
number of decimals). See Configuration, Highlights,
Hyphenation.
(2) To arrange the internal layout of a storage medium so that it
can communicate with given hardware and software. This process
also deletes any files currently stored on the medium.
Microdrive cartridges and disks must be formatted before first
use, or the QL will not be able to access them.
To format a medium: Navigate to the Main menu and press first
5, then 7. A warning message about the effects of formatting
will be displayed, and you may now enter, say, flp1_ to format
the disk in drive 1, or nowt (or another spurious device name)
if you have changed your mind.
grafiX.
A self-contained printer-driver program which is an alternative to
Professional Publisher's printer-driver section but will only work
on a saved Page.
Graphics codes.
Printers use different code sequences to control the production of
output of condensed, standard and extended length/width. Sometimes
the number of pixels printed in a row is also non-standard. The
number of pixels per row and the code sequences used by most 9-pin
printers are included in Professional Publisher as defaults:
Condensed (quad): 480 Esc 75
Standard (double): 960 Esc 76
Extended (single): 1920 Esc 90
If your printer uses different values (check the printer manual),
you can adjust Professional Publisher's built-in printer driver as
follows: Navigate to the Main Menu and press 7, followed by 5.
You will first be prompted for the 'single' values. Enter the
number of pixels per row first (1 to 9999 will be accepted) and
press Enter. Continue with the code sequence required for
condensed printing, typing 27 instead of Esc, and press Enter after
each number. After the last number press Enter a second time. In
the display, 27 will appear as Esc, and you will be next be
prompted for the 'double' values. Proceed as above, and again for
the 'Quad' values. You will be returned to the 'Drivers' menu, and
you should now save your amended printer driver by pressing 1 and
following the prompt.
Graphics modes
These are: Mode Draw, Mode Line, Mode Fill.
Grey-scale conversion.
The automatic selection of different stipples of black and white
for Screen areas in red and green, so that they can be
distinguished as different shades of grey in a black-and-white
representation, such as a printout. If you desire grey-scale
conversion of a loaded picture, press Esc while the picture is on
screen, followed by 1. Next press 4 if the picture is in four
colours, or 8 if it is in 8 colours. The appropriate grey-scale
conversion will then be made.
If you cut your picture without having used this option, all pixels
that were originally blue, red or magenta will come out black,
while all pixels that were originally green, cyan or yellow will
come out white. This is in fact the only way in which some other
programs work.
Grid.
(1) An auxiliary pattern of horizontal and vertical lines that can
be superimposed on the Screen but will in no case be copied
onto the Page. The distance between grid lines is 16 pixels, so
that the mesh size is one square.
To toggle the grid, the arrowhead cursor must be visible on the
Screen. (If it is not, you are in a sub-mode, which you must
exit by pressing Esc.) Press F3.
(2) An auxiliary pattern of horizontal and vertical lines that can
be superimposed on the cameo to assist in layout work. The
default distances between grid lines are 3.5 cm horizontally
and 3.7125 cm vertically; different distances can be defined by
the user.
To make the grid visible: Navigate to the Main Menu and press
2, 8, 4 and 2 in succession. This will turn off any layout
guides that may have been visible.
To modify the grid distances: Navigate to the Main Menu and
press 2, 8 and 4 in sucession. Press 1 to change the
horizontal gap by editingthe prompted value; press 2 to change
the vertical gap. No more than 8 horizontal and 10 vertical
grid lines will be permitted. Press Esc when finished.
(3) A rectangle divided into smaller rectangles in an enlarged
representation of a QLS HDF for purposes of editing. There are
8 small squares in a row in the QLS, and 8, 16, 24, 32, 40, or
48 in the HDF. There are 10 small squares on top of each other
in the QLS, and 8, 16, 24, 32, 40 or 48 (not necessarily the
same number as in a row) in the HDF.
(4) A rectangle much like those of (3) which serves as an aid in
setting the magnification of an HDF.
Guide.
One of the following kinds of imaginary lines on a Page: margin,
column, column break. In certain modes the cursor keys, when
pressed with the Shift key held down, will move the cursor to the
nearest guide in the selected direction. The visibility of all
guides on the cameo and on the Screen may be controlled by
navigating to the Main Menu and pressing 2, 8 and 5, followed by 1
(guides on) or 2 or 3 (guides off).
Gutter.
See Column.
Hardware.
Unlike software, those portions of a computer system that are
capable of being kicked. For example, a microcartridge tape is
capable of being kicked (we suspect it often is) and thus is
hardware, while the program on it is software.
HDF.
Short for 'high-definition font', a special feature of Professional
Publisher. Each HDF is a set of characters of much higher
definition than a QLS, either side of the grid being 8, 16, 24, 32,
40 or 48 pixels in length. Any 24 (or fewer) of these fonts may be
selected and are then instantly available for putting on the Page
in Mode Font, and the disk contains plenty more, identifiable by
filenames ending in _hdf. Each HDF may comprise up to 160
characters, from space to the Copyright symbol, ASCII 32 to 191.
Various geometric operations can be performed on each character, so
that an asymmetric character like G may be put on the Page in over
a million different ways, not including magnification, underlining
and merging with another character.
The combination of all features makes it unlikely that you can use
each possible modification of each character in each supplied HDF
within a lifetime. But if that doesn't satisfy you, you can always
define your own HDFs!
HDF text can be put on the page by navigating to Mode Font and
switching to the Type sub-mode by pressing the space bar. You may
also create and edit HDFs at will.
Help.
In Modes Text, Font, Draw, Line and Fill (but not in the Command or
Type sub-modes), you can obtain an overview of all the actions
performable in the current mode by pressing F5. Pressing any key
will either switch to a second page of information or return you to
the mode you were in.
High-definition font.
See HDF.
Highlight.
(1) A set of characters chosen deliberately to stand out when used
in combination with draft characters. Highlights for the QLS
include bold, inverse, italic, other, subscript, superscript
and underline; they are produced by selecting a different pair
of QLS to represent each highlight (if you don't feel up to
this choice, the defaults are very reasonable). Highlights for
the HDFs include bold, inverse, italic and underline; they are
produced by manipulating one and the same HDF.
(1.1) When entering text in the QLS manually, you are taken to
a menu titled FONTS, which directs you to make the
desired highlight selections.
(1.2) When loading QLS text, you are taken to a menu whose
sixth item is '6. Font type'. If this line goes on to
say HIGH DEF, press 6 and use the space bar to toggle to
STANDARD. At that point press 4 and use the space bar to
toggle whether highlights in the file should be taken
over onto the page. Pressing 7 will lead you to a
sub-menu which permits a re-definition of the control
codes that indicate highlights in the file, as well as a
re-assignment of the default QLS's used for each of the
highlight types.
(1.3) When entering text manually in HDF (Mode Font), change
the highlights by entering Control sub-mode with Esc
followed by the Enter key, then toggle bold with B,
inverse with V, italics with I and underline with U;
finally return to the Type sub-mode by pressing Esc and
the space bar.
(1.4) When loading HDF text, you are taken to a menu whose
sixth item is '6. Font type'. If this line goes on to
say STANDARD, press 6 and use the space bar to toggle to
HIGH DEF. At that point press 4, and you will be shown a
Table with six lines and six columns. Each line
corresponds to one highlight that may be contained in the
text to be loaded. Unless you like the defaults shown
(an empty circle stands for No, a filled circle for Yes),
use the up and down cursor keys to move to the highlight
whose assignments you wish to change and press the space
bar or Enter. The Table values for that line will be
blanked, and you must now make six decisions. First
select a letter from the HDFs shown. Then type Y or N
(followed by Enter) to decide whether the bold version of
that HDF should be used and whether it should be
italicised. If your answer to the latter question was
yes, you will be given a chance to adjust the slant with
the horizontal cursor keys. Next edit the height of each
linefeed and the width of each space between characters
in pixels, terminating each entry with Enter. Finally you
are asked whether you wish to merge with a different
character; if so, you may select a font with the
horizontal cursor keys, a character with the vertical
cursor keys, and enable merging with the M character as a
toggle. Repeat the process for each other line of the
Table where you wish to make changes; press Esc when
finished.
If you should need to change the assignment of HDFs to
file-embedded control characters before loading, you must
do it in QLS mode. In the menu whose first line reads
'1. Put text on page' select 6 to toggle from HIGH DEF to
STANDARD, proceed as under (2) above, then select 6 again
and continue the loading sequence.
(2) Another form of highlight is the colour bar displayed in a menu
to indicate the currently selected item; it can be moved by the
up and down cursor keys, by the mouse or by typing the
appropriate number.
Hyphenation.
When text is loaded from a file and configuration is set to
hyphenate, it is possible to set two hyphenation parameters which
determine the minimum number of characters that must be present
before and after the hyphen if the word is to be hyphenated rather
than word-wrapped. To change these parameters from their default
value of 3: When you are in the menu whose first line reads '1. Put
text on page', press 0. You will be prompted for the two
parameters, which may be set to any value between 1 and 9. Press
Enter after each parameter; you will be returned to the 'Put text
on page' menu.
Inch.
A linear measure both ancient and unwieldy, often abbreviated ".
It equals 2.54 cm.
The default unit is cm. If you wish to toggle to inches, navigate
to the Main Menu and press 2, 8 and 6 in succession.
Indent.
To start a line of text, e.g. the first line of a paragraph or a
sub-category in a list, deliberately in a column other than the
first.
When manually entering QLS text or loading QLS or HDF text from a
file, you can decide whether and to what extent indented lines,
i.e. lines starting with spaces, are to be 'unindented'; the
effect will only be noticeable in case of 'left' and 'both'
justification.
(1) Manual QLS entry: After you have pressed Esc to complete text
entry and the menu headed 'Text' appears, press 1 and then 6.
For continuation see below.
(2) Loading: When you are presented with the menu whose first line
is '1. Put text on page', press 8. For continuation see below.
In either case continue by moving the highlight to 'Indent' with
the down cursor key or mouse. Press the space bar to cycle through
the options: < 2 to < 7, Yes and No (< 2 is the default); press
Enter when the desired option is shown. < 3 means that every line
that starts with 1 or 2 spaces will be shifted to start at the left
margin of the column or Window , whereas lines starting with three
or more spaces will remain untouched. If 'both' has been selected,
the analog principle applies at the end of each line. 'Yes' means
that all lines will be normalised, 'No' none.
Information window.
The area displayed in the rightmost 12 % of the screen (the other
88 % being taken up by the Screen) when you are editing the Page.
The top line tells you the mode you are in (Text, Font, Draw, Line,
Fill). Next come the current co-ordinates. The centre of the
information window is different in each mode, showing the current
settings of parameters relevant to that mode. At the bottom of the
information window a reminder of the effect of the five function
keys F1 to F5 is displayed.
Initial Screen.
This is just a small window that instructs you to press C while
holding down the control key, followed by Enter. Depending on the
configuration of your QL, the cursor in this window may already be
flashing, in which case you need only press Enter. You will then
be taken to the Main Menu.
You will be returned to the initial screen when you switch tasks
(see Multitasking). Press C while holding down the Ctrl key, if
necessary repeatedly, until the flashing cursor is 'in' the desired
task.
Ink.
The colour in which text and graphics are put on the Page.
(1) When you enter QLS text manually, the default ink is black. You
may toggle to white when in Mode Text by pressing Enter (this
enters the Command sub-mode) and then I. The change will be
reflected in the information window. Press Esc, unless you
also want to change the paper.
(2) When you load text from a file, the ink is black.
(3) When entering HDF text in Mode Font, you can control the ink
for all characters yet to be typed by pressing Enter to go into
the Control sub-mode, followed by C. Now use the space bar to
cycle through the seven options offered in the information
window: black, white and five stipples giving different shades
of grey. When the desired ink shows, press Esc, move the
cursor to the desired top left-hand corner of your text, press
T and start entering text.
Under mouse control, move the cursor into the information
window and onto the INK panel; then press the Select button to
cycle through the inks.
(4) When drawing shapes in Mode Line, you can change the ink by
pressing Enter (this will put you in the Control sub-mode),
followed by I. You can then cycle through 7 ink colours
(black, white and five stipples for different shades of grey)
by means of the space bar. Your choice will be echoed in the
information window.
Under mouse control, move the cursor into the information
window and onto the INK panel; then press the Select button to
cycle through the inks.
(5) For freehand drawing in Mode Draw and for filling shapes in
Mode Fill, you select the brush or the texture respectively
instead of the ink.
Insert.
To place amidst working memory, scrolling what comes after the
cursor position.
(1) To insert a QLS character in a manual-insertion Window while it
is still open and the square cursor is visible: Place the
cursor over the character BEFORE which the new character should
go and type the latter.
(2) To insert an empty line in a Window for manual QLS entry (and
make the following lines scroll down), there must be an active
rectangular cursor in the Window. Move it to the spot where
the extra line is to appear and press F2.
Interpolation.
Estimation of the shape or texture of a graph between points for
which it has actually been computed. This is important when your
Page is stretched or squeezed to the dimensions you specified,
because screen pixels and printer dots are then unlikely to
coincide.
(1) Professional Publisher automatically performs the necessary
computations to avoid gaps and corners in screen output.
(2) When instructing Professional Publisher to print a Page, you
will find an option '4. Interpolate' in the last (length) menu
before printing starts. If you select it by pressing 4, each
pixel will be repeated at a slight vertical offset to obtain a
'denser' image.
(3) The grafiX printer driver contains an option to select
horizontal and/or vertical interpolation.
Inverse.
To exchange black and white in a given area. This may affect
individual characters, all characters of a QLS or HDF, the contents
of a Window, or the whole Page.
(1) When entering QLS text manually, you will be led to a menu
whose first line is 'Enter text'. To inverse whatever is in
the current Window, press 4.
(2) When you are loading text from a file, the control code 'Ctrl +
V' (ASCII 22) will as a default cause following characters to
be loaded in inverse. You can change this value when you are
in the menu whose first line reads '1. Put text on page' by
pressing 7 twice and responding to the prompt 'Enter new code'
by pressing a letter key while holding down Esc.
(3) When entering HDF text in Mode Font, you can inverse the whole
font for all characters yet to be typed by pressing Enter to go
into the Control sub-mode, followed by V. You will be shown an
enlarged character divided horizontally into 8 strips. You may
select any or all strips for inversing by typing the strip
number, thus selecting from no less than 512 different
inversing styles. The enlarged character will show the effect
of your selections, and you may undo any or all of them by
retyping the number of the strip in question. When finally
satisfied, press Esc, move the cursor to the desired top
left-hand corner of your text, press T and start entering text.
(4) For freehand drawing in Mode Draw, you can inverse all the
brushes by pressing Enter to go into the Control sub-mode,
followed by V and Esc.
(5) The same sequence of keypresses serves for inversion of the
current texture for filling shapes in Mode Fill.
(6) When editing a QLS character, you can inverse the whole grid by
moving the cursor off its right edge into the menu and pressing
4.
(7) When editing an HDF character, you can similarly inverse the
whole grid by moving the cursor off its right edge into the
menu and pressing 4.
(8) To inverse the whole Page, navigate to the Main Menu and press
2 followed by 4.
(9) When loading a picture, the place of inversion is taken by the
more powerful recolour command.
Invert.
To reflect a given area as though a mirror were placed at right
angles to the Page along its left (or right) edge. Inverting may
be performed on individual characters, all characters of a QLS or
HDF, the contents of a Window, or the whole Page. If you can't
remember the difference between inverting and inversing, note that
the two symmetry operations, invert and reflect, both end with t,
while the colour operation, inverse, does not.
(1) When entering QLS text manually, you will be led to a menu
whose first line is 'Enter text'. To invert whatever is in the
current Window, press 6.
(2) When manually entering HDF text in Mode Font, you can invert
the whole font for all characters yet to be typed by pressing
Enter to go into the Control sub-mode, followed by N. Press
Esc, move the cursor to the desired top left-hand corner of
your text, press T and start entering text.
(3) When editing a QLS character, you can invert the whole grid by
moving the cursor off its right edge into the menu and pressing
5.
(4) When editing an HDF character, you can similarly invert the
whole grid by moving the cursor off its right edge into the
menu and pressing 8.
(5) To invert the whole Page, navigate to the main menu and press
2, followed by 2.
(6) To invert a loaded picture, press Esc and then 2.
Italic.
One of the highlights that can vary the appearance of an HDF or
QLS, distinguished by slanting main lines.
(1) To select the QLS you have defined as italic for manual text
entry, navigate to Mode Text, open a Window and choose CSIZE.
Press F4, 3 and Esc in succession; then enter your text.
(2) When loading a QLS text file into Windows or columns, text
saved as italic in a QUILL file will always be loaded
correctly. If italic characters from a non-QUILL file are not
reproduced correctly, you will have to change the highlights
and reload.
(3) When entering HDF text manually, italic characters may also be
selected. After navigating to Mode Font, enter the Control
sub-mode by pressing Enter; then press I. You can then select
any of sixteen slants in either direction with the horizontal
cursor keys. As a control, the appearance of an upper-case I
will change accordingly, and in the information window the
square against the word 'Italic' will be replaced by a right or
left arrow in all positions except neutral. Leave the Control
sub-mode with Esc, enter the Type sub-mode by hitting the space
bar, and type.
(4) When loading an HDF text file into Windows or columns, be sure
to make the highlights assignment so that text intended as
italic comes out in whichever font you find most desirable.
Justify.
To align either end or both ends of each line of text with the
respective margins, or to centre each line in its column or Window.
(1) When you have finished entering QLS text manually and pressed
Esc, you will be taken to a menu headed 'Text'. Press 1,
followed by another 1 (for left justification), or 2 (for right
justification), or 3 (for centring), or 4 ('Both', for
justification at both ends of the line), or 5 ('Off', leaving
all leading and trailing spaces untouched).
(2) When loading text from a file, you will be taken to a menu
whose first line is '1. Put text on page'. Press 5, and use
the space bar to cycle through the options 'Both' (for
justification at both ends of the line; this is the default),
'Off' (leaving all leading and trailing spaces untouched),
'Left', 'Right' and 'Centre'.
(3) When you enter HDF text manually (Mode Font), it will always be
left-justified.
K.
Abbreviation for kilobyte, the unit in which memory capacity in
computers and devices is measured. One K is composed of 8192
encodings of yes-or-no decisions; another way of looking at it is
the capacity to hold 1024 characters.
Kerning.
Performing justification at both ends of a line by widening not
only the spaces between words (which might become excessively wide)
but also the distances between characters within a word. Kerning is
fully supported by Professional Publisher.
(1) When entering QLS text manually, you will be taken to a menu
headed 'Text'. Press 1 and then 6. The first two lines of the
menu now displayed indicate that as a default, 40 % of
justification will be carried out between characters and 60 %
between words. To change this distribution (in steps of 5 %),
move the highlighted menu bar to the item whose percentage you
wish to increase and press the space bar for each 5 % gain. The
other parameter will be automatically decreased by the same
percentage. When satisfied, press Esc.
(2) When loading text from a file, you will be taken to a menu
whose first line is '1. Put text on page.' Press 6 and
continue as above.
Landscape.
One of the two orientations of a Page, with the long edges
horizontal.
Laser printer.
If you do not have a laser printer but wish to have high quality
laser printer output of your saved pages, write to:
Taylor Made Systems, 71 Wellington Close, Hepworth Way, Walton
on Thames, Surrey KT12 1BB
Last line.
The last line of a paragraph or of a Window may be exempted from
the justification that applies to other text that is being loaded
or to QLS text that is being entered manually. Press 6 when the
menu headed 'Text' appears (manual entry); or press 8 when the menu
whose first item is '1. Put text on page' appears (loading). In
either case move the highlight to Paragraph or Last line with the
up and down cursor keys or mouse, and use the space bar to toggle
between Yes (filled circle; justify) and No (empty circle: do not
justify). The defaults are No for the last line of a paragraph and
Yes for the last line of a Window.
Layout.
The distribution of guides on the Page. To change the layout,
navigate to the Main Menu and press 2, then 8. The menu now
displayed will offer all the required options.
Layout guide.
See Guide.
Lightning.
Digital Precision's magic-wand software that will greatly enhance
the speed of ALL your QL software (including, but not limited to,
Professional Publisher) and provide loads more QLS fonts too!
Line.
One of the modes for editing a Page. It may be navigated to and
permits the drawing not only of lines but also of arcs, boxes,
circles and ellipses.
The information window in Mode Line shows the currently selected
ink and paper colours.
To draw a line: Navigate to Mode Line. Move the cursor to one of
the desired end points. Exchange corners with the X key. Move the
cursor to the other end point. Use the Enter key to enter the
Command sub-mode. Press L for line, and the line will be drawn.
Press the Esc key to leave the Command sub-mode; you may then draw
further arcs, boxes, circles, ellipses or lines, or exit Mode Line
by pressing F4 and selecting from the menu.
Linefeed.
A non-printing character (ASCII 10) which is generated during text
entry whenever the Enter key is pressed. It moves the cursor to
the beginning of the next line. Professional Publisher will
normally adjust linefeeds automatically to the number of pixels in
keeping with the current vertical CSIZE or magnification. The
following special cases should be borne in mind:
(1) When loading text from a file, you may wish linefeeds to appear
in the columns or Windows as in the original text, or you may
wish to suppress them (this is the default). If you wish to
keep them, press 3 when you are in the menu whose first line is
'1. Put text on page' and use the space bar to toggle between
the two options. For HDF loading, see also (3).
(2) When entering HDF text manually in Mode Font, you can adjust
the linefeed from its default, which is 20 pixels, to any value
between 0 and 64. The value will be multiplied by whatever
vertical magnification is currently set. To adjust the
linefeed value: If you are in the Type sub-mode, leave it by
pressing Esc. Enter the Control sub-mode by pressing Enter.
Adjust the linefeed with the up and down error keys and press
Esc when satisfied. Go to the Type sub-mode by pressing the
space bar and start typing.
(3) When loading HDF text from a file, press 7 when you are in the
menu whose first line is '1. Put text on page'. Select a line
of the Table displayed by means of the up and down cursor keys
and the space bar, or by means of the mouse; edit the
parameters shown in the column headers for the HDF in question
(see Highlights) and in particular the height of the linefeed
in pixels, unless you are satisfied with the default value of
20. Repeat the process for all other lines referring to HDFs
you wish to use. When finished, press Esc.
(4) Your printer may be set to either a 'mere' linefeed (continue
printing in the next line to the right of the last column
printed on the current line) or to 'linefeed + return' (also
known as 'automatic linefeed'; continue printing from column 1
of the next line). The default is the former, unless you have
used the Configurator program to load a printer driver with the
other setting. If you wish to change the setting or aren't
sure which one is currently in force, navigate to the Main
Menu; press 7, followed by 3, and enter Y or N depending on
your printer setting in response to the question 'Are automatic
linefeeds set (Y/N)'. This is one instance where you must make
an unequivocal response; Esc will not work, but a mere Enter
will be taken as 'No'.
Your response will become part of the current printer driver;
you may wish to make it permanent by saving the printer driver.
If you use the grafiX printer driver and your printer is
already included on its menu, no adjustment need be performed.
Line spacing.
Printers use different code sequences to control different amounts
of paper feed. The codes used by most printers are included in
Professional Publisher as defaults:
1/9 inch: Esc 51 24
1/216 inch: Esc 51 1
11/216 inches: Esc 51 11
0: Esc 65 0
If your printer uses different values (check the printer manual),
you can adjust Professional Publisher's built-in printer driver as
follows: Navigate to the Main Menu and press 7, followed by 4. You
will be presented with a menu from which you can select the code to
be changed. Enter the code sequence required, typing 27 instead of
Esc, and press Enter after each number. After the last number
press Enter a second time. In the display, 27 will appear as Esc,
and you may move to a different menu line to change another
setting. When you are done, press Esc. You will be returned to the
'Drivers' menu, and you should now save your amended printer driver
by pressing 1 and following the prompt.
Load.
To copy a file from external memory into a designated area of
working memory. The previous contents of that area will be lost
without warning!
(1) To load - and start - Professional Publisher, place the program
disk in drive 1, reset the QL, and press F1 when prompted. As
the program is over 200 K in length, loading will take a minute
or two. If you wish to have another program resident in the QL
simultaneously with Professional Publisher, see Multitasking.
(2) To load a Page, navigate to the Main Menu and press 5, followed
by 2. When prompted for a filename, edit the default filename
offered and press Enter.
(3) To load QLS or HDF text, proceed as above, but press 4 instead
of 2. Decide on the use of Windows or columns (to load
Windows, press 2; when prompted for a filename, edit the
default Windows filename offered and press Enter). To load
QLS, menu item 6 (Font Type) must be STANDARD, while to load
HDF it must be HIGH DEF; if it isn't the right type, press 6
and the space bar. Next press 1, - unless you wish to make
further changes to the appearance of the text; edit the text
filename as prompted. Type 2 and use the space bar to cycle
between the file types ASCII (the default), QUILL_LIS and
QUILL_DOC. Having made your selection, press 3 and - unless you
wish to make further changes to the appearance of the text - 1.
A one-line window showing the first 64 characters of the text
will appear at the bottom of the screen, and a menu will offer
several options to start loading at some other point in the
text. (This is important if you have already loaded part of the
file onto a previous Page). When satisfied, press Esc. The
message 'Please wait' will appear, and the columns or Windows
will be filled with red lines to indicate the progress of the
loading. You can abort loading by pressing Esc.
(4) To load a picture, navigate to the Main Menu and press 3. Tell
the program whether you are loading a picture produced by EYE-Q
(press 2) or a screen saved normally, e.g. with the SuperBASIC
SBYTES command (press 1). Then edit the default filename you
are offered (picture filenames typically end in _scr or _pic)
and press Enter. If you have guessed the file type wrong and
get garbage on the screen, press Esc, 0 and 3 in succession.
(5) To load a QLS, navigate to the main menu and press 4. Select
one of the letters A to L (or, after toggling with the right
arrow key, M to X); the set shown against this letter is the
one to be replaced. Then type 3, edit the default filename
offered, and press Enter. QLS's are typically stored under
filenames ending in _qls.
(6) To load an HDF, navigate to the main menu, press 3 and use the
horizontal cursor keys to select one of the fonts A to X as the
one to be replaced. Press 3, edit the default filename
offered, and press Enter. HDFs are typically stored under
filenames ending in _fnt.
(7) To load a set of guides: navigate to the Main Menu and press 2,
8 and 6 in succession. Edit the default filename offered and
press Enter.
(8) To load a set of Windows: see (3) above.
(9) To load a printer driver: navigate to the Main Menu and press
2, 7 and 2 in succession. Edit the default filename offered
and press Enter.
Machine requirements.
Professional Publisher needs a QL computer with at least 512 K RAM
expansion (minimum total 640 K), at least one disk drive with the
associated software, and an Epson-compatible 9-pin or 24-pin
printer. Ah well, a printer cable to connect the printer to the QL
is also a good idea.) You must also connect a monitor rather than a
TV set to your QL; else you will not be able to see parts of the
screen. A Smiling Mouse for input control is optional. While our
advertising has always clearly stated the need for a full memory
expansion, you may perhaps still have acquired Professional
Publisher even though your QL has not been upgraded to the above
standards. In that case you might well consider getting an upgrade
now; prices for this hardware have become quite reasonable. If you
do have at least 256 K expansion (total 384 K), write to us to
exchange Professional Publisher for the less powerful Special
Edition Desktop Publisher.
If you are using the grafiX printer driver, you may find that 640 K
will not suffice to have Professional Publisher and grafiX resident
simultaneously, although this simultaneity is not crucial. If you
wish to upgrade, we can offer you Miracle Systems' Trump Card, a
768 K extension with disk driver, RAM disk driver and Tony Tebby's
Toolkit II.
Magnification.
The expansion of an area of the Page to several times its original
size in pixels horizontally and/or vertically.
(1) To magnify the HDF you have selected for manual text entry
(Mode Font): If you are in the Type sub-mode, exit it with Esc.
Select the Control sub-mode by pressing either X or Y. A grid
will be displayed with the top left square filled in red. You
can expand and re-shrink the red area with the cursor keys or
mouse up to 8 times the basic size; the X (horizontal) and Y
(vertical) magnification factors displayed in the information
window will change accordingly. All text-associated parameters
(space, line feed) will be automatically magnified as well.
(2) To magnify the HDF you have selected for loading from a file:
When the menu whose first item reads '1. Put text on page' is
displayed, press 9. Press X to edit the X magnification, Y to
edit the Y magnification (the defaults are 1, i.e. none, and
values up to 4 may be entered.
(3) To magnify a picture that you have loaded means to select one
half of it and expand that half to full screen size, discarding
the other half. To do this, press Esc, 5 and any number from 1
to 4, depending on which half of the picture you wish to blow
up. (Hadn't thought that an object could have four halves, had
you?)
(4) To magnify the whole Page at printout time, see extended
length/width.
Margins.
The imaginary lines parallel to the edges of the paper that enclose
the area you wish to cover with text and/or graphics. They are
shown in white on the cameo and optionally on the Page, and
automatically taken into account when you define columns; like the
other guides they can be redefined, saved, loaded and used as lines
of reference in cursor movement.
To change the margin settings from their default values of 1 cm:
Navigate to the Main Menu, press 2, followed by 8 and 1. Next
press any of the number keys 1 to 4, depending on which margin you
wish to change, and edit the current value. You may use up to 6
characters, including any decimals, and you must of course leave
some area between either pair of margins. When you are satisfied,
press Enter, and you will see the black line in question move on
the cameo.
Medium.
See Storage medium.
Memory.
Hardware that is a key component of any computer and of many
devices; the part where information is stored. Professional
Publisher works within the part of the QL's memory called RAM;
information about the Page you are building up is either scratch
memory or working memory. The contents of scratch memory will be
lost if you indicate that you are disgusted with the appearance of
some part of the Page and wish to retry; the contents of both
scratch and working memory will be lost when you switch off or
reset the QL, unless you have saved them to external memory on
disk.
Memory expansion.
Hardware which permits you to increase the RAM of your QL from its
original 128 K. It comes in chunks of 128 K or multiples thereof.
See Machine requirements.
Menu.
A list of user's choices that appears on the screen in the course
of execution of a program. The proposed choice is highlighted,
i.e. shown in a different colour from the rest. This 'menu bar'
can be moved with the cursor keys or a mouse to the desired option,
which is then confirmed by pressing the space bar or the Enter key.
Alternatively typing the number of the chosen item on the list (or,
if the option starts with a letter, that letter) will also make the
selection in most cases.
Merge.
To combine. In Professional Publisher the term is used for the
application of a Boolean function (AND, OR, XOR) to two font
characters to yield a new character when typing HDF text in Mode
Font or loading it from a file. As the 'merge character' can be a
graphic pattern, merging can give the effect of writing on a
patterned background.
To select a merge character:
(1) From Mode Font:
If you are in Type sub-mode, leave it by pressing Esc. Press M
and use the cursor keys or mouse to change the character and
font suggested in the top two lines of the displayed panel. Use
the A, O or X key to select the desired Boolean function, and
the M key to toggle between enabling and disabling the merging.
All your choices will be echoed in the information window.
Press Esc, move the cursor to the desired place, press the
space bar and start typing.
(2) When loading:
When the menu whose first item is '1. Put text on page'
appears, press 4 and select a line from the Table that will be
displayed by means of the cursor keys and space bar (or by
means of the mouse). When the line becomes blank, make the
desired selections (See Highlights). The last selection,
merge, will offer much the same options as in (1) above. Repeat
as necessary for the other lines.
Mirror image.
See Reflect.
Mode.
One of five states the program may assume when you wish to edit the
Page: Text, Font, Draw, Line and Fill. Each mode permits placing
different types of items on the Page. For reaching any mode: See
Navigation.
Mouse.
An input device for a computer which offers an alternative to
typing in many situations. It features a roller to control cursor
movement and one or more buttons to enter commands with. QL mice
come with two buttons: 'Select'(right) and 'Cancel' (left). Rolling
the mouse will move the cursor in the desired direction, while
pressing Select corresponds to the space bar, and pressing Cancel
to Esc.
When fine movement is required, e.g. on the cameo, the cursor may
be moved into the instructions panel and the Select button pressed
while the cursor is on the respective arrow.
Scrolling the Screen works by moving the cursor into the
information windows and pressing a button with the cursor on the
SCX or SCY coordinate: Select will increase the co-ordinate, Cancel
will decrease it.
There is no control on the mouse that corresponds to the Enter key.
Therefore there is no Control sub-mode when working with the mouse.
Instead, move the mouse onto the desired parameter in the
information window and use Select to toggle or cycle.
In Mode Line, pressing Select will cycle round (a) one end of the
shape, (b) the other end, (c) the C-shaped cursor of what would
otherwise be the Control sub-mode.
To navigate between modes with the mouse: Move the mouse pointer to
the top line of the information window and press Select to go to
the next mode, Cancel to go to the previous mode. The mode
sequence is: Text - Font - Draw - Line - Fill.
Professional Publisher must be told whether a mouse is connected to
your QL. The default (which can be changed with the Configurator
program) is keyboard control. To switch to mouse control,
disabling the cursor keys, navigate to the Main Menu and select 2,
followed by 9. (Warning: Doing this with no mouse connected will
hang your QL.) The same selection sequence is used for returning
to cursor-key control.
Multitasking.
Having two or more programs running simultaneously on the same
computer. The QL, unlike many other micros, supports multitasking,
but only one of the programs can be in interpreted SuperBASIC. (One
of many good reasons to get Digital Precision's TURBO compiler,
which produces fully multitasking - and immensely faster -
programs.)
If you wish to access another program (except the SuperBASIC
interpreter, which is always available) while Professional
Publisher is running, (QUILL or Digital Precision's The Editor
might be a good idea), we advise you to start the other program(s)
first. Then put the Professional Publisher disk in drive 1, press
C while holding down the Ctrl key (if necessary, repeat this until
the flashing cursor indicates that you are in SuperBASIC), and type
LRUN flp1_boot. Professional Publisher will then be loaded and
executed.
Even accessing the lowly SuperBASIC interpreter can make a lot of
sense, e.g. to perform some computation or to execute a file
operation not directly supported by Professional Publisher (e.g.
COPY).
To switch from Professional Publisher to another program: Navigate
to the Main Menu and press 8 and 1 in succession; this will return
you to the initial screen. Now press C while holding down the Ctrl
key as many times as necessary for the cursor to appear in the
program of your choice. If you do not wish to return to
Professional Publisher, you can quit it by pressing 2 instead of 1.
In that case don't forget to save the result of your efforts first!
(Come to think of it, this is a good idea even if you do return to
Professional Publisher; are you really sure that whatever other
program you are using - if it isn't by Digital Precision - won't
crash?) To make assurance double sure (yes, this is the original
quotation), you will be asked to confirm your desire to quit.
Navigation.
Moving from one state of Professional Publisher to another. The
main states and the key sequences to switch beween them are as
follows (* stands for 'Move shuttle and press the space bar'):
Main Mode Mode Mode Mode Mode
Menu Text Font Draw Line Fill
To move from
Main Menu to: 1 * 1 * F4 1 * F4 1 * F4 1 * F4
4 4 F4 C 4 F4 C 4 F4 C
F4 4 F4 5
Mode Text to: F4 5 F4 4 F4 4 F4 4 F4 4
F4 C F4 C F4 C
F4 4 F4 5
Mode Font to: F4 D F4 D F4 C F4 C F4 C
F4 5 F4 4 F4 5
Mode Draw to: F4 6 F4 2 F4 3 F4 4 F4 5
Mode Line to: F4 5 F4 1 F4 2 F4 3 F4 4
Mode Fill to: F4 5 F4 1 F4 2 F4 3 F4 4
If you happen to be in a sub-mode (cursor in the shape of a C or
T), you must press Esc before F4.
If you are in any sub-mode of the Main Menu, repeated presses of
the Esc key will return you to that menu. See also Mouse.
Options.
Another word for choices. When the information window is visible,
you can call up a menu of options, which include navigation, by
pressing F4. If you happen to be in a sub-mode (cursor in the
shape of a C or T), you must first press Esc.
OR.
A Boolean function whose input in this program are two rectangles
of equal size. Its output is another rectangle of the same size,
where each pixel is in paper colour unless the corresponding pixel
in at least one of the input figures is in ink colour. The result
of ORing the / and \ characters is the character X.
(1) To select OR for drawing, navigate to MODE DRAW, enter the
Command sub-mode by pressing Enter, then type O and return from
Command sub-mode by hitting Esc.
(2) To select OR for merging HDF characters, navigate to Mode Font;
press F4, followed by 4 and O, then do your merging.
Orientation.
The way the paper is to be arranged to reproduce the Screen
(Landscape, Portrait). The default at start-up is Portrait. If
you wish to change the orientation of a page (it need not be the
same one for page 1 and page 2), do it before you have put anything
on the Page! Navigate to the Main Menu and press 2, followed by 6.
If you do this with anything already on the Page, it will come out
garbled on both the screen and the printout. Fortunately this
sorry state of affairs is reversible. Change the Page orientation
back to its former state, and at print time, when the menu with the
first line '1. As Cameo' appears, press 2 for sideways printing.
Other.
One of the highlights that can vary the appearance of a QLS or be
selected for representation by a specific HDF when loading text
from a file. We thought you might like to have the option of
defining an extra kind of highlight in addition to the standard
ones.
(1) To select the QLS you have defined as 'other' for manual text
entry, navigate to Mode Text, open a Window and choose CSIZE.
Press F4, 6 and Esc in succession; then enter your text.
(2) When loading a QLS or HDF file, parts of which are to appear in
the 'other' set, into Windows or columns, it must contain
appropriate control characters, which must be reflected in the
highlights you have set.
OVER.
A Boolean function whose input in this program are two rectangles
of equal size. Its output is another rectangle of the same size,
where each pixel is exactly the same as the corresponding pixel in
the 'new' rectangle, irrespective of the 'old' rectangle. The
result of OVERing the / character on the \ character is /.
The function is only meaningful, and therefore supported, for
drawing with brushes. To select OVER, navigate to MODE DRAW, enter
the Command sub-mode by pressing Enter, then type V and return from
Command sub-mode by hitting Esc.
Overwrite.
When prompted for a filename in the process of saving, you may give
the name of a file which already exists. In this case,
Professional Publisher asks you whether you wish to overwrite the
existing file. If your answer is Y, the file will be overwritten;
if N, you will be asked for another filename.
Page.
The end product of all your efforts; but also its representation in
the computer while you are working at it. When used in this sense,
we always give it an upper-case initial to distinguish it from,
say, a page of this manual.
Even at the smallest dimensions selectable (400x480 pixels), a
whole Page will not fit on the Screen (400x256 pixels); indeed with
the standard A4 page (800x960 pixels) selected (See Dimension),
you'll only have 2/15, or some 13 %, of the Page visible at any
time! The cameo is provided to help you visualise the Page in spite
of this limitation, with the close-up as a further aid.
Unless you have chosen very large Page dimensions, you can have two
Pages in the QL's memory at the same time. Even if you plan a
single Page, the other one may be useful as a scratch pad to copy
to and from and to try out all kinds of variants. To toggle
between the two Pages, navigate to the Main Menu and press 2,
followed by 1. The new selection will be reflected in the strip at
the bottom of the screen.
Palette.
A set of 64 brushes (not colours, as in the conventional palette)
to choose from for freehand drawing.
Paper.
The colour of the background against which text and graphics are
put on the Page. If you change the background colour, this will
affect the result of all the following clear and scroll commands.
(1) When you enter QLS text manually, the paper is red, but this
changes to white when you close the Window.
(2) When you load text from a file, the default paper is white. You
may toggle to black when in Mode Text by pressing Enter (this
enters the Command sub-mode) and then P. The change will be
reflected in the information window. Press Esc, unless you
also want to change the ink.
(3) When drawing shapes in Mode Line, you can change the paper by
pressing Enter (this will put you in the Control sub-mode),
followed by P. You can then cycle through 7 paper colours
(black, white and five stipples for different shades of grey)
by means of the space bar. Your choice will be echoed in the
information window.
Paragraph.
Professional Publisher assumes paragraphs of text to be separated
by blank lines. The only occasion where this is meaningful is
justification of text either entered manually (QLS only) or loaded
from a file, because special treatment may be reserved for the last
line of a paragraph. See Last line.
Pass.
The number of times the same action is performed on a file or part
of it.
(1) When printing, you will be led to a menu by which you can
specify between 1 and 5 printer passes. More passes take
longer, but they make for a darker picture (important when your
printer ribbon has been used a lot and you don't want to throw
it away just yet).
(2) Some of the tricks in connection with loaded pictures are
performed in two passes.
Paste.
The action of copying a rectangle that has been cut from scratch
memory in a desired area on a Page (it need not be the same Page
from which it has been cut). The same rectangle may be pasted any
number of times in different places, because the scratch memory
will not be overwritten until the next cut. Whatever was on the
Page in the area pasted over, however, will be lost, unless the
FIRST key pressed after pasting is Esc (this will undo the paste
but keep the scratch memory intact).
To paste whatever Window or picture was most recently cut: Navigate
to Mode Text and move the cursor to where you want the top left
corner of the paste to go. Then press F4, followed by 3. (If
nothing happens besides a bleep, it means that the Paste is too
large for the Screen. Relocate the Window towards the top left
corner of the Screen, or re-cut to smaller dimensions.) For
repeated pasting use the cursor keys and press 3 again. If the
area to be pasted on is not on the Screen (or even on the other
Page), navigate to the Main Menu and perform a change of Page (if
necessary) and an Edit Page (Edit).
PGX, PGY
See Co-ordinates.
Photograph.
The easiest way to put a photograph on a printed Page is to define
an empty Window in the appropriate place. After printing, mount
the photograph and photocopy the result. For a more high-tech
alternative see Digitiser.
Picture.
A graphic screen (up to 512x256 pixels) or part screen that can be
loaded from a file, subjected to various tricks and pasted onto the
Page.
The picture may be originally in four-colour or eight-colour mode,
but it will be reproduced in black and white (and shades of grey;
see Grey-scale conversion).
Pixel.
An individual dot on the screen or on a printed page that can be
accessed individually by a computer program. The word is an
abbreviation of 'pic(ture)s el(ement).'
Planning.
Desktop publishing doesn't mean that the computer will plan your
page. It is usually wise to do some general layout planning with
pencil and paper before even starting Professional Publisher.
Port.
A connection by which a computer can communicate with the outside
world. As used in Professional Publisher's printer driver, it is a
device name that refers to the jack where the printer cable is
plugged in; but a filename may be substituted if deferred printing
is desired.
Portrait.
One of the two orientations of a Page, with the long edges
vertical.
Print.
The action by which your efforts to compose a Page are finally
transferred to paper. Be sure that your printer is connected and
switched on and that the printer driver fits it. Navigate to the
Main menu and press 6. You will be taken through three menus, one
for Page orientation, one for Page width and one for Page length
(see Interpolate). After you have made the appropriate selection,
printing will start. The cameo will change colour in step with the
printout. You may interrupt printing at any time by pressing Esc.
Printer.
An output device that produces hard copy under computer control.
Just about any printer will work together with the QL, but
Professional Publisher may need to have its printer driver changed
to fit the printer, or the grafiX printer driver may need to have
the parameters for your printer added to it. See also Machine
requirements.
Printer Driver.
Software which enables a given computer and a given printer to
communicate. Professional Publisher includes a default printer
driver which will work if your printer is Epson-compatible (to find
out whether it is, consult the printer manual or try to print an
EASEL file. If your printer deviates from standard, you must
reconfigure and save the printer driver and then load the printer
driver for every session in which you intend to use Professional
Publisher for printing. This can be made automatic with the
Configurator program.
For all printer-driver operations, navigate to the Main Menu and
press 7. You can then change the linefeed parameter, the codes for
line spacing and for the printer's graphics modes, the baud rate
and the device name of the printer (the default is SER1; to change
it, navigate to the Main Menu, press 7 and edit the default to
SER1c, PARN, NETO_2 or whatever connection you have established for
your printer; you may even give a filename for file printing); when
satisfied, press Enter). You can also load and save a printer
driver.
For an alternative printer driver see grafiX.
Proportionality.
All characters in the QLS take the same amount of space on the Page
(it depends on the CSIZE selected). This means that an equal
amount of space will be reserved for I and for W, as on most
typewriters. The characters in an HDF, on the other hand, can be
of different width, resulting in an effect much like typeset text.
Character width is determined when an HDF is edited: When the menu
whose first line reads '1. Store character' is shown, press A. Use
the horizontal cursor keys or the mouse to move the thin vertical
red line in the grid , which determines character width. It should
normally be fairly close to the rightmost square that is filled in
red. When satisfied, press Space (on the mouse: Set).
QLS (short for QL set).
A set of characters which fit onto an 8x6 pixel grid (the QL User
manual refers to them as fonts, but this term also covers the very
different HDFs in Professional Publisher).
As a default, 24 QLS are available for putting on the Page, either
manually in Mode Text or by loading from a file; and the disks
contain plenty more, identifiable by filenames ending in _qls. The
file standard_qls contains the set that comes with the QL computer;
the one we all love to hate.
Owing to a quirk of the QL, each QLS is composed of two subsets,
one for the common characters (ASCII 31 - 127) and one for foreign
characters and special symbols (ASCII 128 - 191). It is therefore
necessary to assign two sets each to the draft style and the
various highlight styles (unless you are satisfied with the
defaults) before putting QLS characters on the Page. To change the
set assignments when entering text manually (Mode Text): While the
text Window is still open, press F4, followed by 9; then select
either Draft or the highlight to which the assignments are to be
made (number keys 1 to 6). Select the first subset you wish to
assign to the selected style by pressing a letter key from A to L
(or the right arrow key for a further selection, followed by a
letter key from M to X). Repeat for the second subset. Your
selections will be reflected in the information window.
To change the set assignments when loading text from a file: See
Highlights.
You can also see the current choices for the different styles by
navigating to Mode Text and pressing F4, followed by 3. For each
style A to H, a to h, 1 to 8, and 8 upper-case special letters from
the second subset will be shown on the screen. Pressing Esc will
take you back to the calling menu.
You may also create and edit QLS's at will.
Quadruple density.
See Condensed length/width.
QUILL.
The word processing program that comes with the QL computer. While
the document files it produces are not standard ASCII files, they
can still be loaded onto a Professional Publisher Page. QUILL_DOC,
QUILL_LIS.
QUILL_DOC.
An option available to you when loading text from a file. Use it
when the file has been produced from QUILL with the Save command
(normally resulting in a filename ending in _doc).
QUILL_LIS.
An option available to you when loading text from a file. Use it
when the file has been produced from QUILL with the Print command
(normally resulting in a filename ending in _lis).
Quit.
To exit from a program so that it can only be entered by
re-starting.
To quit Professional Publisher, navigate to the Main Menu; press 8
and then 2; reply Y to the confirmation question.
RAM.
That part of a computer's memory whose contents can be changed by
software and are wiped clean when the machine is switched off. The
term is an abbreviation of 'random-access memory', which is a
misnomer, because there are other types of memory which also offer
'random access'; but all this is irrelevant to the use of
Professional Publisher.
RAM disk.
A facility by which a computer's RAM, to the extent that it is not
currently used for other purposes, can be addressed as if it were a
device. This can be useful for intermediate storage during a
session, because RAM-disk access is much faster than floppy-disk or
(ugh!) microdrive access; but all information on RAM disks will be
lost when the machine is switched off or reset, so that you should
copy to floppy disk whatever you wish to keep in more permanent
storage.
The basic QL has no RAM-disk facilities; but your disk-drive
package may well include them. In that case you can use
(typically) ram1_ to ram8_ much like any other device name when
loading and saving files.
Range.
Any QLS must contain either the characters from ASCII 32 to 128 or
from ASCII 129 to 191. When designing a new QLS (rather than
editing an existing one), you will want to make the choice:
Navigate to the Main Menu and press 4. Select a code letter for
the new QLS by pressing a letter key from A to L (or, after
pressing the right arrow key, M to X). Then press 4 and F for
First range or S for Second range.
Recolour.
One of the tricks available when loading a picture. As pictures,
no matter whether originally produced in four-colour or
eight-colour mode, are always loaded in four-colour mode,
recolouring tells the QL which new colour to use for all black,
red, green and white pixels respectively. The result will affect
grey-scale conversion.
To perform this trick, press Esc, followed by 7, while the picture
is on screen. Select an original colour with one of the number
keys 1 to 4, then use the space bar or the Enter key to cycle
through the choices for the target colour; then move on to a
different original colour and repeat. When satisfied, press 5.
Reduce.
One of the tricks that can be performed on a loaded picture. It
will compress the picture by one eighth of its size either
horizontally or vertically.
To invoke this trick, press Esc while the picture is on screen,
followed by 8 and either 1 (for horizontal reduction) or 2 (for
vertical reduction).
Reflect.
To reflect a given area as though a mirror were placed opposite it.
Reflecting may be performed on individual characters, all
characters of a QLS or HDF, the contents of a Window, or the whole
Page.
(1) When entering QLS text manually, you will be led to a menu
whose first line is 'Enter text'. To reflect whatever is in
the current Window, press 5.
(2) When entering HDF text in Mode Font, you can reflect the whole
HDF for all characters yet to be typed by pressing Enter to go
into the Control sub-mode, followed by R. Press Esc, move the
cursor to the desired top left-hand corner of your text, press
T and start entering text.
(3) When editing a QLS character, you can reflect the whole grid by
moving the cursor off its edge into the menu and pressing 6.
(4) When editing an HDF character, you can similarly reflect the
whole grid by moving the cursor off its right edge into the
menu and pressing 7.
(5) To reflect the whole Page, navigate to the Main Menu and press
2, followed by 3.
(6) To reflect a loaded picture, press Esc and then 3.
Remove.
To clear all characters of a QLS or HDF in working memory. This
will free the working memory that was required to hold it.
(1) To remove a QLS: Navigate to the Main Menu; press 4. Select
the set to be removed by pressing the key with the appropriate
letter as shown on the screen (if this is in the range M to X,
you must first press the right arrow key). Then press 5.
(2) To remove an HDF: Navigate to the Main Menu; press 3. Select
the HDF to be removed with the horizontal cursor keys; then
press 4.
Return.
(1) An option offered in many menus. It is normally taken by
pressing Esc and will take you back to the previous menu. This
is important in navigation and in cases when you don't really
want to select any of the other options offered.
(2) See Enter.
Reverse.
Another word for Reflect.
Rotate.
An action that can be performed on any HDF character in Mode Font
before it is put on the Page but only if the HDF has been defined
with equal width and height. Rotations of 90, 180 and 270 degrees
are possible.
To rotate a character: If you happen to be in the Type sub-mode,
press Esc to leave it. Enter the Control sub-mode by pressing
Enter, then press R. You can then turn the character clockwise and
anticlockwise with the right and left cursor key respectively.
Your choice will be echoed in a small character-sized widow at the
centre of the screen and in the information window. Press Esc and
the space bar; then type.
Ruler.
An auxiliary pattern of lines that can be superimposed at the right
and/or at the bottom margin of the Screen but will in no case be
copied onto the Page. The default at start-up provides for both
rulers to be shown (and thus to reduce the size of the effective
Screen), but this default may be changed with the Configurator
program. The divisions on the rulers depend on the currently
selected units: either cm (and, if feasible, tenths of cm) or
inches (and, if feasible, sixths of inches).
To toggle the rulers, the arrowhead cursor must be visible on the
Screen. (If it is not, you are in a sub-mode, which you must exit
by pressing Esc.) Press F2, followed by either 1 (for the vertical
ruler) or 2 (for the horizontal ruler).
Save.
To copy a file from a designated area of working memory to external
memory. For saving, Professional Publisher will never accept a
filename that already exists: the QL will burp, and you are asked
again to enter a filename.
A save operation will not be executed if the target disk is
write-protected. If you get an error message to this effect,
withdraw the disk, throw the protection switch on it, re-insert it
and re-issue the command.
If the filename you entered is found to exist on the target disk,
you will be asked whether you wish to overwrite it. If your answer
is negative, you are prompted for another filename.
(1) To save a Page, navigate to the Main Menu and press 5, edit the
default filename offered and press Enter.
(2) To save a QLS or HDF: See Edit.
(3) To save a set of guides: Navigate to the Main Menu and press 2,
8 and 5. Edit the default filename offered and press Enter.
(4) To save a set of Windows when loading characters from a file:
See Window.
(5) To save a printer driver: See Printer driver.
Scratch memory.
Part of a computer's memory which is used during a program run to
hold provisional material, which can later be copied into working
memory or abandoned. Different areas of scratch memory are used
for (a) the definition of wraparound Windows, (b) cutting and
pasting, and (c) the undo function.
Screen.
(1) When used with a small initial in this manual: the part of the
monitor on which the output of your QL appears.
(2) When used with a capital initial in this manual: the area
displayed in the leftmost 88 % of the screen (the other 12 %
are reserved for the information window). It represents the
section of the Page selected by moving the shuttle across the
cameo and pressing Enter.
It may be useful for you to know that with Landscape
orientation of a standard A4 Page (800x960 pixels), the Screen
will show exactly half the width of the Page, i.e. the width of
either of the two A5 pages you may be trying to compose.
Scroll.
To move the contents of any area on the screen in any of the four
main directions so that the line (usually of pixels) closest to one
edge disappears, the following lines shift by one unit in the
desired direction, and the line at the opposite end is cleared.
(1) To scroll the contents of a Window opened for manual QLS text
entry: Press F4 while the Window is open, then 7. Each tap on
one of the cursor keys will scroll by one pixel; press the
space bar or the Enter key when finished.
(2) When typing text in a font, the Screen will automatically
scroll to the left if the character currently typed would go
wholly or partly beyond the right-hand edge of the Screen (but
not of the Page. The correct continuation of the Page is
scrolled in from the right. An analog principle applies if a
linefeed would send the cursor off the bottom of the Screen
(but not of the Page).
(3) When you are in the Command sub-mode of any mode, the cursor
keys will scroll the Screen by 8 pixels, with the correct
continuation of the Page scrolled in from the appropriate side.
(4) When editing an HDF, you may scroll the grid by moving the
cursor off the grid into the menu and pressing 9. Each tap on
one of the cursor keys will scroll by one square; white space
without grid lines will be scrolled in from the appropriate
side. Press the space bar or enter key when finished. If you
have a mouse, move the mouse to the extreme line/column of the
grid which represents the direction of motion (go to the
right-most column for moving right and press Select).
(5) To scroll a loaded picture: Press Esc, followed by 9. Each tap
on one of the cursor keys will scroll the picture by 8 pixels.
Press the space bar, Enter key or Esc key when finished.
If you are in a mode that doesn't permit scrolling of the Screen
and wish to move to a different part of the Page: navigate to the
Main Menu and re-select the Page Section. Then navigate back to
the mode you came from.
Section.
The part of the Page visible on the Screen at any one time. To
select it, navigate to the Main Menu and press 1. Move the shuttle
across the cameo with the cursor keys as directed by the panel on
the screen (the close-up will be useful for fine tuning); press the
space bar or Enter key when satisfied.
Select.
The right-hand button on the QL mouse.
Shape.
One of the geometric figures that can be drawn in Mode Line: arc,
box, circle, ellipse, line.
Shuttle.
The green rectangle within the cameo which designates the section
of the Page currently selected as the Screen.
Single density.
See Extended length/width.
Slant.
(1) The degree of obliqueness of italic characters. It can be set
to any of 32 values (plus upright) for font characters.
(2) One of the tricks that can be performed on a loaded picture. It
will distort all vertical lines to a 45-degree inclination to
the right or to the left. Pixels which would be moved off the
screen by this process reappear from the other side.
To slant a loaded picture, press Esc while the picture is on
screen, then type 6, followed by either 1 (for slanting to the
right) or 2 (to the left). The trick is performed in two
passes.
Software.
Those portions of a computer system that cannot be kicked - the
intangible bits like programs.
Space.
The empty character (ASCII 32) that is put on the screen when the
space bar is pressed.
(1) For writing QLS text, the width of a space is the same as that
of any other character. It may, however, be extended for
purposes of justification (see Kerning).
(2) For writing HDF text, the width of a space is specifically
defined for that character (ASCII 32; see Proportionality).
For best appearance of the text (see Justification; Kerning),
the width of the space character should not be defined to be
less than that of the widest other character.
Space bar.
The key that stands out on the keyboard by its shape and absence of
marking. Its most frequent use in Professional Publisher is the
confirmation of menu selections. If you are using a mouse, press
the Select button instead of the space bar.
Spacing.
The number of pixels between any two successive HDF characters.
(1) When entering HDF text manually, you can adjust the spacing
from its default, which is 3 pixels, to any value between 1 and
8. If you are in the Type sub-mode, leave it by pressing Esc.
Enter the Control sub-mode by pressing C. Adjust the linefeed
with the up and down error keys and press Esc when satisfied.
Go to the Type sub-mode by pressing space and start typing.
(2) When loading HDF text from a file, press 7 when you are in the
menu whose first line is '1. Put text on page'. Select a line
of the Table displayed by means of the up and down cursor keys
and the space bar, or by means of the mouse; edit the
parameters shown in the column headers for the HDF in question
(see Highlights) and in particular the width of the linefeed in
pixels, unless you are satisfied with the default value of 1.
Repeat the process in all other lines referring to HDFs you
wish to use. When finished, press Esc.
Square.
A unit for measuring distances on the screen: a square is 8 pixels
wide and 8 pixels high.
Standard length/width.
The 'regular' way of printing, in which an image of exactly nominal
length and/or width is produced. Also known as double density.
See Condensed length/width; Extended length/width.
Start-up.
When Professional Publisher is loaded and the keypresses required
by the initial screen have been made, the Main Menu will appear on
the screen. At that moment many user-adjustable parameters are set
to their default values. They are all explained under the relevant
keywords; you can reset them at your discretion at appropriate
times. It is also possible to have Professional Publisher use
start-up parameters of your choice; see Configurator.
Stipple.
A pattern consisting of a regular repetition of colours (black and
white only for Professional Publisher), making an area appear as
though it had a mixed colour. See Grey-scale conversion.
Storage medium.
A medium which can hold external memory. The main storage medium
used by Professional Publisher is the floppy disk. You may use
other storage media (hard disks; RAM disks; yes, even microdrives)
provided (a) you've got them and (b) you know what you are doing.
Style.
(1) Another word for Boolean function (so used in Professional
Publisher menus).
(2) The set of features composed of the QLS or HDF called draft and
the QLS's or HDFs that represent the different highlights (so
used in this manual).
(3) What Professional Publisher gives your publications.
Sub-mode.
Either of the two program states Control and Type, distinguished by
the cursor shape (C and T respectively) and reachable from Mode
Font and (Control only) Mode Text, Mode Draw, Mode Line and Mode
Fill. Under mouse control there is no Control sub-mode; see Mouse.
Subscript.
One of the highlights that can vary the appearance of a QLS or be
selected for representation by a specific HDF when loading text
from a file. It is distinguished by smaller characters with a
baseline normally lower than that of draft text.
(1) To select the QLS you have defined as subscript for manual text
entry, navigate to Mode Text, open a Window and choose CSIZE.
Press F4, 5 and Esc in succession; then enter your text.
(2) When loading a QLS or HDF file into Windows or columns, text
saved as subscript in a QUILL file will always be loaded
correctly. If subscript characters from a non-QUILL file are
not reproduced correctly, you will have to change the
highlights and reload.
Superscript.
One of the highlights that can vary the appearance of a QLS or be
selected for representation by a specific HDF when loading text
from a file. It distinguished by smaller characters with a
baseline higher than that of draft text. Superscripts are used
e.g. for exponents.
(1) To select the QLS you have defined as superscript for manual
text entry, navigate to Mode Text, open a Window and choose
CSIZE. Press F4, 4 and Esc in succession; then enter your
text.
(2) When loading a QLS or HDF file into Windows or columns, text
saved as superscript in a QUILL file will always be loaded
correctly. If superscript characters from a non-QUILL file are
not reproduced correctly, you will have to change the
highlights and reload.
Swapping Pages.
See Page.
Symmetry.
One of the tricks that can be performed on a loaded picture. It
consists in leaving half the picture unchanged and substituting
that half, in reflected or inverted form, for the other half. One
application is the design of playing cards.
To perform the symmetry trick on a picture: Press Esc while the
picture is on the screen, followed by 4. Next press one of the
number keys 1 to 4 as directed by the menu to select the half to be
retained.
Tabulator.
A key on the QL keyboard that produces a non-printing character
(ASCII 9) and will, in some programs (e.g. QUILL), move the cursor
to the next column designated by means of some subroutine as a 'tab
stop'.
The tab character will be interpreted correctly when QUILL files
are loaded into Professional Publisher. It will, however, not be
recognised when it occurs in other software; the appropriate number
of spaces should be substituted for each tab character in an ASCII
file before it is loaded.
Task.
Any program running on the QL. If a SuperBASIC program is running,
it is the SuperBASIC interpreter, rather than the actual program,
that is considered to be the task. See Multitasking.
Template.
If certain parts of a Page (e.g. the header of a newsletter) must
be used again and again, prepare a Page that contains only the
constant parts and save it as a template; this can be loaded
whenever needed, and work is only required on the variable parts.
Text.
(1) Any succession of characters intended to go on the Page.
(2) The mode in which you can manually enter QLS characters on the
Page. In this mode the information window shows the currently
selected printing style (draft or one of the highlights) and
the two subsets currently associated with each style; 28 sample
characters in the current style, and the colours selected for
ink and paper.
To reach Mode Text: See Navigation.
Texture.
(1) A pattern formed by continuous repetition of an HDF character.
It may be used to fill any figure enclosed by black.
(2) One of the tricks that can be performed on a loaded picture.
Depending on the source picture, which may have been produced
in 4-colour or 8-colour mode, the trick selects the more
suitable grey-scale conversion.
To select texture: Press Esc while the picture is on the
screen, followed by 4 for mode-4 texture and 8 for mode-8
texture.
Toggle.
The action of switching between two menu items (which may be shown
simultaneously or one after another) by repeatedly pressing the
same key. See Cycle.
Trick.
One of several operations that may be performed on a loaded picture
before it is cut. See Invert, Magnification, Recolour, Reduce,
Reflect, Scrolling, Slant, Symmetry, Texture.
TURBO.
Digital Precision's record-breaking compiler program, which will
speed up SuperBASIC programs by factors of several dozen and makes
them suitable for multitasking to boot.
Most of Professional Publisher has been written using Turbo; we can
assure you that it is sheer pleasure to use.
Type.
The sub-mode of Mode Font in which you can put font characters on
the Page.
To reach this sub-mode: Navigate to Mode Font and press the space
bar (or the Select key on the mouse).
Underline.
A feature that can be added to an HDF or QLS.
(1) To toggle underlining of manually entered QLS text, press F4
followed by 7 while the text Window is open.
(2) When loading an HDF or QLS text file into Windows or columns,
text saved as underlined in a QUILL file will always be loaded
correctly. If underlining from a non-QUILL file is not
reproduced correctly, you will have to change the highlights
and reload.
(3) Underlining may also be selected for manual HDF entry. After
navigating to Mode Font, enter the Control sub-mode by pressing
Enter; then press U. This will cycle through no, grey, and
black underlining; your choice will be echoed in the
information window. Leave the Control sub-mode with Esc, enter
the Type sub-mode by hitting the space bar, and type.
Undo.
A feature by which you may erase recently executed unsatisfactory
attempts to put something on the Page. It is comparable to the
clear feature, but more powerful.
(1) Whenever you
(1.1) navigate to any of the graphics modes (Mode Draw, Mode
Line or Mode Fill);
(1.2) press any of the function keys F1 to F5 while in one of
these modes (except in the Control submodes, where the
keys are disabled);
(1.3) scroll the Screen in any of these modes;
a copy of the current Screen is made to scratch memory
(overwriting what has been there before, so that you lose the
chance to use the undo feature when you switch modes).
(2) Whenever you press U in the Control sub-mode of a graphics
mode, working memory (the current Screen) and scratch memory
are exchanged. This in effect reconstitutes an earlier version
of the Screen; you are therefore advised to press, say, F3
twice whenever you have reached an acceptable phase of your
graphics work and embark on a more experimental phase. To
continue with your artwork, leave the Control sub-mode by
pressing Esc.
(3) When defining a Window for manual QLS entry, you may press Esc
to cancel the most recently performed definition of a corner.
(4) A paste operation can be undone by pressing Esc before any
other key is pressed.
(5) When defining the shape of a wraparound Window, you can always
remove distortions of the edge whose end points are highlighted
in red in reverse sequence of their creation by repeatedly
pressing Esc.
Unit.
Either cm or inches may be selected for operations requiring input
or output in some unit of linear measure. The start-up default is
cm; to toggle to inches navigate to the Main Menu and press 2, 8
and 6 in succession.
Updates_doc.
A file with stop-press information on any improvements to
Professional Publisher. Load it into QUILL, or indeed into
Professional Publisher itself (QUILL_DOC setting) and read it or
make a hard copy to attach to your manual by using either program's
Print feature.
Wildcard.
A sequence of characters that stands for any larger sequence
containing it. See Directory.
Window.
(1) When used with a lower-case initial in this manual, the word
'window' has the same meaning as in the QL User Manual.
(2) When used with an upper-case initial in this program, 'Window'
refers to an area of the Page into which text or graphics are
to be fitted.
(2.1) To enter QLS text manually onto the Page: Navigate to the
Main Menu, select the appropriate Page section with the
cursor keys and press the space bar or Enter. The next
two presses of the space bar will determine the top left
and bottom right corner of the Window the text will go
into.
You can now perform various operations on it and get
repeated chances to change its dimensions. The Window
will be closed (become unavailable for further
processing) if, while the menu headed 'Text' is on the
screen, you press 6 (this will also clear the Window) or
Esc (this will retain the text contained in the Window on
the Page). You can always erase it by opening and
retaining a new, empty Window on top of it.
(2.2) When loading QLS or HDF text from a file, pressing 5 and
4 will take you to a menu which offers you the options,
besides using the already defined columns, of loading,
defining or restoring Windows. To load, press 2 and edit
the default filename that appears on the screen. To
restore the Windows most recently used in the current
session, simply press 4. To define, press 1. You are
first invited to define Window number 1. As usual, you
move the cursor with the cursor keys, this time on the
cameo; and two touches of the space bar will define
opposite corners of the Window. You are next asked
whether you want another Window. If so, press the space
bar again to repeat the process for Window number 2, and
so forth as long as you wish. When you have defined your
last Window, press Esc. A new menu now gives you the
chance to change the shape of any Window from the
standard rectangle (press 2; for the further procedure
see Wraparound). Once you have accepted or declined
this opportunity, you may wish to save your Windows for
later re-use (press 3).
After some further grilling by Professional Publisher
(not Window-related), your text will finally go on the
Page, and you will be pleased to see by the red lines on
the cameo that the Windows are filled in exactly the same
order as you defined them. Any excess text that overflows
the last Window will not be loaded. (You may want to
load it onto your next Page, using the 'Text start' menu
in the loading routine.
(2.3) The area of a loaded picture that is defined for cutting
and pasting by means of two touches of the space bar is
in many ways like a Window, without being actually called
so.
Word process.
(1) What you do when you use QUILL and its cousins.
(2) A chance that you get if, after manual entry of QLS text into a
Window, you observe that some characters should after all be
inserted, deleted or changed. When the menu headed 'Text'
appears and you press 5, you are returned to the Window (with
any previous justification cancelled), where you may perform
cursor movement and editing.
Word wrap.
A feature by which a word of text entered will be moved to the
beginning of the next line if it comes so late on a line that it
will not fit on it in its entirety.
Word wrap is normally automatic for all forms of text entry in
Professional Publisher. It can, however, be disabled when loading
text from a file (See Hyphenation).
Working memory.
The part of a computer's memory that is used for irreversible
operations during a program run. See Scratch memory.
Wraparound.
A feature offered during the loading of QLS or HDF text from a file
after new Windows have been defined. If you press 2 when the menu
whose first line reads '1. Continue' appears, you may distort the
vertical edges of any of the (rectangular) Windows to just about
any shape. This will be useful if text is to be written all
around, but not into, a drawing or picture; also for special
graphic effects, such as dropcaps, or printing a poem about
diamonds into a diamond-shaped Window.
The end points of the left-hand side of Window number 1 will be
highlighted in red as well as marked with tiny squares on the cameo
to distinguish them as 'marked points'. You have the usual freedom
of the cursor keys; and when you press the space bar, another point
will be marked on the cameo. (However, if the cursor is beyond the
upper or lower edge of the Window, the QL will burp and no mark
will be set.) The line connecting the two adjacent marked points
(one in the closest pixel row not lower than the mark, and one in
the closest pixel row below it; at the start this will simply mean
the left edge of the Window) will be deflected to include the new
point. (If this should result in a T shape, the section furthest
from the new mark will be removed, but the mark at its end, now
isolated, at its end will be preserved.) Everything is written
into scratch memory; thus if you are not satisfied, you can press
Esc as many times as necessary, and each keypress will undo one
edge distortion, working backwards through your definitions.
When the left-hand edge is finished, press Enter, and the red
highlight will move to the right-hand edge. (The square marks are
only shown for the current edge.) After that edge has been
re-shaped, another Enter will take you to the left-hand edge of
Window number 2.
When you press Enter while the right-hand edge of the last Window
is highlighted, you will be given the option of starting the cycle
afresh (press 1) or declaring yourself satisfied (press 2). For
further action see Window.
Note: It is perfectly legal for a wraparound Window to intersect
itself.
XOR.
A Boolean function whose input in this program are two rectangles
of equal size. Its output is another rectangle of the same size,
where each pixel is: in paper colour if the corresponding pixel is
either in ink colour in both input figures or in paper colour in
both input figures; and in ink colour if the corresponding pixel is
in ink colour in one input rectangle and in paper colour in the
other. The result of XORing the / and \ characters is the letter X
with a hole at the cross-over point.
(1) To select XOR for drawing, navigate to MODE DRAW, enter the
Command sub-mode by pressing Enter, then type X and return from
Command sub-mode by hitting Esc.
(2) To select XOR for merging font characters, navigate to Mode
Font; press F4, followed by 4 and X, then do your merging.