ClickWorks - The Background
Frequently Asked Questions


What is ClickWorks?
ClickWorks is a powerful new multimedia authoring tool for multimedia
developers.

When was ClickWorks released?
October 1996

Who is Pitango?
Pitango Multimedia Ltd. is a provider of technology solutions for interactive publishing. In an ever changing and ever challenging world of information communication, Pitango is committed to providing state of the art, smart and simple software solutions based on the most current systems in hardware and software. Pitango's products are aimed at the creative communication community. Its products meet challenges in content creation and assembly, content delivery and content update.

Where is Pitango based?
The core Research and Development Pitango team is based in Israel.

Sales and marketing, customer support and distribution within Europe are overseen through the Scitex Europe headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.

Sales and marketing, customer support and distribution within the US are overseen through Pitango Multimedia Inc., based in Boston.

Who is Scitex?
Scitex corporation is a world leader in the development, manufacturing
and marketing of digital tools for visual communication in the graphic arts,
digital printing and digital video markets. The multinational company is
headquartered in Herzlia, Israel.

Why should I buy ClickWorks?
ClickWorks will enable you to develop multimedia titles fast.

What types of products can I create with ClickWorks?
ClickWorks is ideal for creating and re-purposing products such as catalogues,
magazines, directories, travel guides, business presentations and training
manuals - in fact anything that requires frequent updating or fast production
cycles.

What are the main benefits of ClickWorks?
Ease of use and shortened learning curve
Professional scripting is made simple
Easy handling of multiple media
Database access and powerful search capabilities
Access to the Internet for Web-CD production
Superior text handling
Flexibility through extension development

How long will it take to learn ClickWorks?
The ClickWorks intuitive interface is designed to enable you to develop your
presentation right from the first minute.

Authoring without Programming

Do I need programming skills to use ClickWorks?
With ClickWorks there is no need to program or write code. ClickWorks achieves
the same results by much simpler methods and places required information at your
fingertips at all times.

How does ClickWorks author without programming ?
ClickWorks provides two metaphors for authoring presentation behaviour:
events-based and time-based.

The Event Metaphor uses cause and effect logic, in which a causing element and
event are selected, which in turn triggers off a corresponding effect.
ClickWorks enables the author to design presentation behaviour by simply
selecting options from a series of intelligent lists provided in the Events
Palette.

The Time Metaphor enables control of the unfolding of presentation behaviour as
it progresses along a time line. Each screen can be depicted in a time line for
editing.
Events may be triggered from time scenarios or vice versa.

What is the Time Palette?
The ClickWorks Time Palette enables you to create one or more scenarios and to
edit each one in turn. Using the time palette provided by ClickWorks, you can
choreograph the behaviour of each box in the presentation and define when each
box appears, plays and then disappears, (various transitions or
animations) in sequential or overlapping time periods.

What is an Events palette?
The Events palette provides an interactive and easy-to-use environment for
designing presentation behaviour. It has been designed so that no special
commands or code need to be learned - the author simply selects options from a
series of intelligent lists provided on the Events palette, which saves time and
effort.

What is Presentation Editor (PE) ?
The Presentation Editor is used to develop an electronic storyboard for your
multimedia presentation. It provides a graphic object-oriented environment
which represents the structure and flow of the presentation you are preparing.

By adding screen icons to the Presentation Editor window and drawing links between
the screens, you create a structured diagram which provides a starting point
from which you can design the flow of your presentation, as you would do on
paper.

What is the Screen Editor?
The Screen Editor is an authoring environment in which you can design the
appearance of a screen, the objects that it contains and how they behave in
response to events or time. ClickWorks is object-oriented, which means that
every screen or box can be easily created, animated, linked to an event or
scenario or even duplicated quickly.

What is a Media Palette?
The Media palette provides a list of all the media in your presentation. Before
a media can be used in a ClickWorks presentation, it must be added to the
presentation's Media palette. From there, media can be dragged and dropped into
a box in a screen and information about its file, appearance and play attributes
can be displayed and edited. All your media is visible at any one time.

Which media files does ClickWorks support?
Media refers to movie, image, sound, animation and text files. These are the
components that comprise a multi-media presentation. ClickWorks supports all
leading following media file formats:
Movie: QuickTime, MPEG
Image: TIFF, JPEG, GIF, PICT, CT, LW, EPS, DCS
Sound: Sound Resource (also known as System 7 sound), AIFF, Midi, WAV
Text: ClickWorks™ utilizes XTND translators to import text files from many word processors. The text can be imported with original styling in tact. ASCII text.
Animations: Director, animated GIF

Systems and Platforms

What platform do I need to develop a project?
Initially the ClickWorks authoring environment is Power Mac with 24 MB RAM and
System 7.5 software.

What systems do I need to run ClickWorks?
To run a ClickWorks product you will need System 7.1 or higher running on:
Any 68030 Macintosh or higher with 8MB RAM or more or
Any Power Mac with 8MB RAM or more.
Any MPC running Windows 95 or NT with 8MB RAM or more.
Once authored, the presentations can be played on other platforms.

Connecting to the Internet and Databases

Does ClickWorks connect to the Internet?
ClickWorks' near-line Internet capability enables products authored with
ClickWorks to combine fixed content stored locally - on CD ROM or hard disk, for
example - with "live" variable information held on on-line Internet web sites.

Using the ClickWorks WebLink Extension, media files, text and animated GIF, can
be dragged and dropped from any web site and will trigger the Internet
connection during presentation playtime. This enables you to produce Web CDs
and enjoy the best of both worlds - the volume of the CD-ROM and the
up-to-the-minute information from the Web.

WebLink includes support for itemised text, so that multiple items can be
imported from a single text file and assigned to multiple boxes in the document,
which is especially suited to handling pricing information. WebLink even has
the ability to launch a Web browser from the Player to view a specific URL.

Upgrades and Extensions

What kind of extensions exist today ?
Please refer to the "about ClickWorks Extensions" file

How can I upgrade my current version?
Updated versions of ClickWorks can be downloaded for free from the Pitango web site
(www.pitango.com). Upgrade CDs can be obtained from the European support
centre upon request.

What is a ClickOn?
Pitango has developed an extension mechanism called ClickOn - to both authoring
and runtime applications, allowing third parties to add software extensions
ranging from input/output devices to full Internet access.

In which languages is ClickWorks localised?
The software and documentation is localised in English, French, German, Italian
and Japanese

 

Where can I buy a ClickWorks?
Dealer information can be obtained from the following distributors:

BENELUX
MGS Nederland bv, Larixlaan 2, 3833 AM LEUSDEN
Tel: +31 (0)33 496 1588 Fax: +31 33 495 1230
Contact: Reindert Van Emst

MGS Belgium bvba, Zandvoortstraat 12c, 2800 MECHELEN
Tel: +32 15 280740 Fax: +32 15 - 20 8432
Contact: Peter Arensman

FRANCE
P.INGENIERIE, 19, rue du 8 mai 1945
94117 ARCUEIL CEDEX, France
Tel: +33 (1) 47 40 40 00 Fax: +33 (10 47 40 81 72
AppleLink PI.Paris
Contact: Laurent Ernwein

GERMANY
FONTSHOP GmbH Berlin, Verlag & Software
Bergmannstrabe 102, D-10961 Berlin
Germany
Tel: +49 (0) 30 695 89 5 Fax: +49 (0) 30 692 88 65
Internet: http://www.fontshop.de
Contact: Roland Klein

ITALY
PICO s r l., viale Piave 35 - 42100 Reggio Emilia, Italy
Tel: +39 (0)522-440012/3 Fax: +39 (0)522-586119
Applink: ITA0237 Compuserve: 100112,507
Contact: Mauro Poli

UK
PRINCIPAL DISTRIBUTION, 1 Roundwood Avenue, Stockley Park
Uxbridge, Middlesex UB11 1AY, England
Tel:+44 (0)1706 832000 Fax: +44 (0)181 813 6787
Email: Alan_Clarke@principal.co.uk
Contact: Alan Clarke

For sales information in other countries please contact Scitex Europe at
ClickWorks@mail.ste.Scitex.Com or telephone +32 2 352 2617

Where can I get technical support?
Support is available free of charge in English, Italian, French, German and
Dutch during the first 90 days after purchase. Support is given over toll free
telephone lines, Email and fax.