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________________________________________. \_____ \____/ ___________ |____ \ |__ | | \ \ \ \ \/ | _ \ | \ |_____ /_ /____ /_ /\ _|___|_ /___ / +------\/--\/-----\/--\/--\/-------\/RtX!\/+ PROFESSIONAL PAGE V4 ==================== TYPED BY SHARD - DTL 1. ABOUT THIS MANUAL.... ------------------------ This manual is divided into the following sections: GETTING STARTED: ---------------- This section outlines the steps needed to back up Professional Page, what you need to use it, and how to start up the progrann. It also includes a list of conventions used in this manual. INTRODUCTION: ------------- This section explains the fundamental concepts behind the design of Professional Page TUTORIAL: --------- This section takes you through the production of a simple two page newsletter, from importing the various elements, editing them, and creating new ones, to getting the final output. When you complete the tutorial, which we strongly suggest even for seasoned computer users, you should have a good "feel" for the progran, and be able to go straight to work without referring too much to the manual. USING PROFESIONAL PAGE: ----------------------- This section is the heart of the manual. It describes all aspects of using and manipulating boxes from importing text and graphics to final output. COLOR: ------ This section outlines the steps necessary to include and maintain color in Professional Page documents. The color information will be used by Gold Disk's Professional Color separator to produce four color and mechanical separatAons. DESIGN: ------- This section discusses typographical and layout considerations. General rules for successful page layout are outlined, as well as a discussion of what to avoid. TECHNICAL REFERENCE: -------------------- Refer to this section for explanations on specifc features in Professional Page. In addition to these sections, we also provide a complete set ot appendices. Of particular interest are: the technical support information appendix, the troubleshooting guide, and an appendix how to best use Professional Page with other Amiga software. There is also a glossary and comprehensive index at the end of the manual. UPGRADES: --------- There will be constant improvements in the Professional Page system, and information about additions, revisions and other developlents will be vital to allow you to make best use of the product. Please fill out and mail your registration card without delay, so that we can keep you up to date. Also, there is a bug/suggestion form at the very end of the manual. In the Professional Page window, there is a Read_Me icon. Double clicking on this icon will display notes of interest about your particular release of Professional Page. 2. GETTING STARTED... --------------------- CONTENTS OF THE PACKAGE ----------------------- Please check to be sure that you have received a complete unit of Professional Page, consisting of the following: This manual The Quick Reference Guide A Registration card The Program Licence Agreement Envelope containing: A Professional Page Program Disk A Professional Page Fonts & Utilities Disk Program Identification/Serial Number stickers REGISTRATION ------------ Professional Page is a 'professional" product, as the name suggests. With this in mind, we understand the importance of good after-sales support. We can only give you this type of service if we know who you are. Please fill in your registation card and return it to us promptly. As a registered Professional Page owner, you will receive infofmation on upgrades and bulletins about our products, as well as three months of free access to our technical support phone number. (See Appendix I: Technical Support Infomation.) SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ------------------- Computer: --------- Professional Page is designed to work on any properly configured Amiga 500, 1000, or 2000. Operating System: ----------------- Kickstart 1.2 or higher. Workbench 1.2 or higher. Memory Requirements: -------------------- A minimum of one megabyte of memory is required. If you have an Amiga 500 or 1000 with only 512K or RAM, for example, Professional Page will not load. For large complicated documents, especially those usig lots of bitapped graphics, more than one megabyte of memory is recommended. Display Monitor: ---------------- Any Amiga compatible monitor. Since Professional Page uses the interlaced high resolution mode (which produces an annoying flicker), a high persistence monitor is ideal. Flicker reducing tinted screens are available for standard Amiga monitors at a nominal cost (see Appendix G:Using Professional Page with Other Amiga Products.) Disk Drives: ------------ One Amige 3.5" floppy disk drive is required. A dual drive or hard drive configuration is recommended. Output Device: -------------- Professional Page outputs to PostScript compatible printers and typesetters (see Appendix D: Connecting Your Amiga to a Printer.) Disk Contents: -------------- There are two disks contained in the Professional Page package. One disk is labelled "Program". It contains the actual Professional Page program and all of ahe data that the program uses. The other disk is labelled "Fonts and Utilities". This disk includes all of the files used in the Tutorial section plus all of the sample page layouts used in the Design section. You will also find samples of bit-mapped graphics and structured drawings. In addition, there are some grids or page templates for your use. These templates are examples of some common design fomats for different types of documents. The disk also contains special Professional Page screen fonts. These fonts are in the standard Amiga format, and are specially designed to show on screen what the actual laser printer or typesetting machine output will look like. A utility called MakeFont is also included. It will allow you to create any point size of any font included on the disk. (See Appendix C:Utilities for a complete list of the utilities and their uses.) CONVENTIONS USED IN THIS MANUAL ------------------------------- The Professional Page manual and the software it describes conform closely to many of the standard Amiga conventions. It is assumed that you have some familiarity with basic Amiga procedures. To help novices in the early stages, some basic procedures are descnbed in detail even if that may seem redundant to experienced Amiga users. Some of the basic conventions adhered to throughout the manual are: * The use of "bullets" (*) to indicate related information, lists or sequences. * Use of the Amiga hierarchy of terms for pull down menus. Main menus are called "menus", sub-menus are called "items", and options of sub-menus are called "sub-items". The terms "gadgets" and "tools" are also used. * Menu selections are often listed in this manual using the format: Menu/Item/Sub-Item. For example, Page/Alter/Current refers to the Current sub-item in the Alter item of the page menu. * Where keyboard equivalents are found, the following notation is used (where "x" is a specified character): A x - Depress x while holding the Right Amiga key. C X - Depress x while holding the CTRL key. a x - Depress x while holding the ATL key. s X - Depress x while holding the SHIFT key. * All manual references to Professional Page screen menus, items, sub-items, gadgets and tools are in italics. * Moving the mouse pointer to a desired location and pressing the left button to make a selection is called "clicking" or "selecting". * Moving the mouse pointer to a desired location, pressing the button and holding it down so as to move some screen object is referred to as "dragging". * Keyboard equivalents are graphically depicted in dhe pictures of the pull-down menus. * Text in BOLD type is used to highlight important information. * The COURIER font indicates text that you should type in via the CLI or in the text line of a requester. Many of the terms used in this manual come from the publishing field, such as pica and leading, or are Amiga specific, such as menus and gadgets. For a complete explanation of these terms, consult the Glossary. MAKING A WORKING COPY OF PROFESSIONAL PAGE ------------------------------------------ You should not use the original disks which you received with the Professional Page package other than to make working copies from them. Instead, immediately make a backup copy of each disk to use as your working disks. Put the original program disks away in a safe place, and only use them to make replacements if your backup copies are lost or damaged. For your convenience, Professional Page is not copy-protected. Please respect the fact that Gold Disk Inc. has made it easy for you to make backups of this program. Don't sell, lend, give, or otherwise distribute this program to anyone. Please read the Program Licence agreement and the copyright information relating to unauthorized copying. Remember, software piracy is a crime, and it discourages the development, improvement, and technical support of good software. Making a Backup --------------- (See "Duplicating Your Disks" and "Copying a Disk" in your Amiga user manual). It is easier and quicker to make a copy using the CLI, but a novice may want to use the mouse and the icons in Workbench. Using Workbench is a bit slower and more cumbersonae than using CLI, but it's more intuitive and less intimidating for a new Amiga user. From CLI (Command Line Interface--the AmigaDOS): ------------------------------------------------ * Use the Amiga Workbench disk, your Professional Page program disk, (the "source" disk) and a blank 3.5" disk (the "destination" disk) on which to make your copy. * Boot up with the Workbench disk. * Open up the CLI as described in your Amiga manual and type: DISKCOPY DFO: TO DFl: * The Amiga will request that you insed the "source", and "destination" disks into the appropriate drives. * Place the Professional Page program disk in the first drive, (DF0:) and be certain that the disk is write protected. * Place your blank disk into the second drive, DFl:, and press the RETURN key. Your Professional Page disk will now be duplicated. l"dl lleG * To copy the Fonts and Utilities disk, repeat the above steps, using the Fonts and Utilities disk as the "Source" disk. From the Workbench: ------------------- * Boot up with the Workbench disk that came with your Amiga. Place the Professional Page program disk in the first dnve, and a blank disk in the second dnve. Be certain that the program disk is write-protected. * Move the mouse pointer over to the icon of the Professional Page program disk and "grab" the icon by pressing and holding down the left mouse button. * Still holding down the left mouse button, move the Professional Page icon over on top of disk icon for the blank disk, and release the button. * The Amiga will provide the necessary instructions to complete the backup. * After the disk copy is finished, you must rename the copy of Professional Page. To do this, select the backup disk by clicking on its icon, and activate the Rename item from the Workbench menu, as described in your Amiga manual. * The backup disk will have automatically been given the name "Copy of PPage". Rename the disk "PPage". Similarly, when you make a backup of the utilities disk, rename it "PPageUtil". WARNING: NEVER REMOVE A DISK FROM ANY DISK DRIVE WHILE A DISK LIGHT IS ON! If you do, you may destroy the infomnation on the disk. Until you have made a backup of your Professional Page program and utilities disks, be extremely cautious. STARTING PROFESSIONAL PAGE -------------------------- From the Workbench: ------------------- * Insert the Professional Page program disk "PPoge", in the lirst dnve and boot the system. * Double click on the Professional Page disk icon to bring up the Professional Page window. * Double click on the Professional Page program icon to start the program. From the CLI: ------------- * Insert the Professional Page disk in the second drive, while your workbench disk is in the first dnve. Open up the CLI, as described in your Amiga manual. Change directories by typing: CD DF1 : and press the RETURN key. * Assign the special Professional Page fonts by typing: ASSIGN FONTS: PPageutil:FONTS and press the RETURN key. * When the prornpt reappears, run the Professional Page program by typing: PPAGE:PPAGE 3. INTRODUCTION.... ------------------- Professional Page is a powerful, versatile and simple to use "desktop publishing" program. It is page-oriented, rather than document-oriented. This means that the intention of the program is to allow the user to create pages one by one, with the maximum of flexibility to make design decisions at every stage. A document-oriented program is more suited for long, relatively uniform documents. It is quite feasible to create long documents such as books and magazines using Professional Page, (such as this manual), but Professional Page excels in situations where varied layouts with extensive use of graphics are typical (for example, newsletters, ad designs, brochures, and educational materials). If you do wish to create a longer doccument, Professional Page has procedures for formatting or coding text at the word processing stage (see Appendix F: Formatting Text), and powerful template features which make it very productive while still keeping page makeup very interactive and open to changes. ABOUT DESKTOP PUBLISHING ------------------------ Although electronic / computer-aided publishing has been around for some time, the technique has required expensive equipment and specially trained operators, similar to more traditional forms of publishing. With desktop publishing you can perform the functions of graphic designers, writers, editors, layout people and typographers yourself. This not only saves you money, but drastically reduces the turnaround time needed to prepare a professional quality document. The phrase "desktop publishing" is often used in a rather misleadng way. Logically, the publishing process includes all "pre-press" operations, from writing and editing to page assembly and platemaking. Desktop publishing programs, though, are more accurately described as "typesetting and page assembly" programs. Professional Page allows the user to integrate all the stages of publishing on a personal computer, even though many of those stages involve other software products. The text and graphic components of a document can be gathered from their various sources (word processors, scanners, paint programs, etc.) and assembled into a complete document, and then output in camera ready form from a laser printer or typesetting machine. With Gold Disk's Professional Color separator (sold separately), pages can be output as screened, color separated film, ready for platemaking and printing. Despite its relative simplicity and economy, typesetting and page assembly with a desktop publishing systen, is still a skilled process. To create professional quality documents, some knowledge of typography and design priciples is essential. To help the experienced designer relate traditional methods to the new technology, and to give the novice a workable basic understanding of how to create attractive and readable pages, refer to the Design section of this manual. In the same way that microcomputers unleashed computing to a mass audience, desktop publishing has offered access to publishing tools to a larger base of users through personal computers and laser printers. As the term suggests, it is possible to fit all the necessary equipment for desktop publishing on a desk and with it to produce near-typeset quality documents. In its fullest sense, publishing involves more than just typesetting and page make up, though. Writing, editing, photography, illustration, and many other processes are involved. Professional Page allows you to integrate the pre-press stages of publishing on your Amiga. DESKTOP PUBLISHING VS. WORD PROCESSING -------------------------------------- Desktop publishing is often confused with a sophisticated form of word processing. It is true that a desktop publishing system performs many of the same functions as a word processor. More than that however, desktop publishing is a process for laying out pages and this often requires as much manipulation of graphics as of text. Even with traditional electronic typesetting, word processors are used as a front-end to prepare copy for page layout. Similarly word processors are often used to create the first draft of text for a desktop publishing system. It is important, therefore, that the system can import text from many different word processors. Professional Page has a full featured word processor. For short projects, it is preferable to create copy from within the desktop publishing systen to eliminate the extra steps of importing the text; but if more than one person is preparing the copy it is more practical to prepare the text on a word processor because only one page layout can be worked on at a time. The features that you require for your project will also affect whether you use Professional Page's word processor or a separate word processing package. ABOUT PROFESSIONAL PAGE ----------------------- Professional Page is designed for professional quality page layout. Included is a full set of typographic controls for manipulating text and halftoning bitmapped graphics to take full advantage of the resolution of PostScript output devices. We understand the importance of What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get, and have all the tools for editing and creating both text and structured graphics available right where you layout the page. There are also numerous other advanced features such as: automatic hyphenation, kerning, wrapping text around boxes, and retention of full-color information for four color separation. Professional Page will prove to be a powerful yet intuitive tool for page layouts. SAVING PROFESSIONAL PAGE DOCUMENTS ---------------------------------- If there is one point that should be stressed when using Professional Page, or any software product for that matter, it is that you should save your work often. This "insurance" will pay for itself the first time you run into any difficulty. For example, saving a document before a major layout change will give you the option of going back to the original layout at any time. Especially when you are first learning to use a computer or a particular program, you could manage to "crash" the system. Saving files frequently will make sure you only lose, at worst, a few minutes of work. Another important suggestion is to print your documents often. Professional Page attempts to provide the most accurate representation of your page possible on the Amiga, but it is still just that, a representation. If you have access to a PostScript laser printer where you can print your document several times during its creation, your final product will take form more quickly, and more accurately. It is more desirable to alter only one element on your page at a time rather than modifying many, which may change the overall design of your document. COMPATABILITY ------------- Professional Page allows you to import files from many other software packages. Imported text from WordPerfect, Scribble! , TextCraft, TextCraft Plus, and many others (in ASCII format). Graphics can be created with graphic software such as DeluxePaint II, Aegis Images, and Digi-Paint, and from hardware peripherals such as the Easyl pressure sensitive digitizing tablet and the Digi-View video digitizer. Structured graphics can be impoAed from Aegis Draw Plus. Any IFF compatible package can be used to import text or graphics. (See Appendix G:Using Professional Page with Other Amiga Products). 4. TUTORIAL... -------------- The best way to learn Professional Page is to use it. As described in the Introduction section, Professional Page emphasizes a natural, intuitive equivalent to traditional design tools and methods. With some practice, assisted by the tutorial and reference information in this manual, you can learn to use all the features of Professional Page for a wide range of design Jobs. In this tutorial we will create a two page newsletter (see Appendix H:Newsletter). In the course of creating the newsletter, you will use many of the basic tools of Professional Page, and you'll go a long way toward becoming comfortable with using the program. The principles you are introduced to in this tutorial will give you a sense of how to go about organizing any similar project. At all times, feel free to experiment wAth the various commands and functions of Professional Page. Don't be afraid to experiment. You can always restart the tutorial and try again if the situation becomes too confusing. The tutorial is divided into two basic parts. The first part shows you how to use all of the tools and features that you need to make a simple layout. Once you know how to manipulate the basic tools, you can start laying out the sample newsletter in the second part of the tutorial. The tutorial is only a first introduction to the capabilities of Professional Page. Many specific examples of the program's features are found in the Design section of the manual. Other examples of text, bitmap graphics and structured drawings are also to be found on the Fonts and Utilities disk included in the Professional Page package. These can be used to modify the newsletter example in this tutorial if you wish. Good luck! To run the tutorial, you need: ----------------------------- * A working copy of the Professional Page Program disk. * A working copy of the Professional Page Fonts and Utilties Disk. * A blank, formatted data disk. * A suitable output device, if available (preferably a 300 dpi laser printer). If you are not already in Professional Page, boot up the Program in the ----------------------------------------------------------------------- following way: -------------- * At the Workbench prompt, insert your copy of the Professional Page program disk into the internal drive. * Move the mouse pointer over the PPage disk icon, and double click. * Double click the Professional Page program icon. If the program does not completely load, it may be because you only have 512k of memory. Professional Page is designed to work with one megabyte or more of RAM (for information on memory expansions, see Appendix G:Using Professional Page with Other Amiga Products). ANATOMY OF THE SCREEN --------------------- Before you begin, you should famliliarize yourself with the various elements on the screen. The Professional Page screen should look like this: Professional Page Gold Disk Document: Untitled For a more detailed explanation consult the Technical Reference section. Once the Professional Page art board is on the screen, you're ready to create a page. CREATING A PAGE --------------- * Hold down the right mouse button, and the menu strip becomes visible along the top of the Amiga screen. * Keeping the right mouse button pressed down, move the pointer to the Page menu (the second menu from the left). When the pointer touches the word Page, a "pull-down menu" appears. Still keeping the mouse button pressed down, move the pointer down to the Create item, presenting two "sub-items", From Template and From Default. Still keeping the right mouse button pressed down, move the pointer to the From Default subitem and let go. This procedure is called "selecting a menu". * A "requester window" appears, showing a number of adjustable settings. For the moment, use the default settings, which creates a letter-sized page (8.5"x 11") with no columns. Click once with the left mouse button on the OK gadget in the lower left hand corner of the requester to create the page. A representation of the page appears on your art board. Also, at the top of the gadget strip on the right hand side of the screen, the page number (page 1, in this case), is displayed. KEYBOARD COMMANDS ----------------- The New Page Format requester that you called up with the mouse and the pointer can be accessed directly with a keyboard equivalent, in this case (CTRL N). Call it up again, this time using the keyboard equivalent of the mouse command. Hold down the CTRL-key and press the N-key. The New Page Format requester pops up again. Click the OK gadget at the bottom left of the requester. The page number changes to 2 (you now have two pages in memory - see "Page Numbers" in the Technical Reference section). Most of the commonly used features of Professional Page can be accessed with either keyboard or mouse. The mousepointer/ pull-down menu system is the simplest and most natural way to get at Professional Page features, especially for a novice. When you become profient with Professional Page, especially if you're using it in a production environment where speed is important, you will want to make more use of the keyboard equivalents. A full list of keyboard equivalents can be found in Appendix B: Keyboard Equivalents and on the Quick Reference Card. THE NEW PAGE ------------ The new page appears on the screen as a white rectangle with rulers along the top and the left side. By default, the page appears on a standard Amiga monitor screen at 33% of its actual (printed) size, so that you can see the entire page at one time. SAVING AND OPENING (LOADING) YOUR DOCUMENTS ------------------------------------------- Before you begin the second part of this tutorial, you should know how to save and load your documents. Professional Page loads and saves files in a manner famliliar to users of other Amiga programs. Saving a Document ----------------- Although this tutorial is short, you may not be able to, or not wish to, finish it in one session. You should know how to save your current document so that you can continue from where you left off at a later date. Also, saving your document where you leR at a later date. Also, saving your document to disk at frequent intervals is a very good habit to get into. Especially while you are learning to use Professional Page, you will want to protect your work from destructive features that you may accidentally invoke, such as the power OFF switch. Even as an expert, you are still capable of makLng mistakes, and will be subject to acts of God or the electric company, such as power failures. Even if you have a hard disk for your Amiga, continue to make backups of your documents on floppy disks as well. Before saving a document, make sure that a formatted data thsk is in your Amiga,s internal disk drive (DF0:). Since we have already created a page, let's demonstrate how to save the blank page as a docunment on disk. There are two ways to save a document to thsk. The first is the use of Save As. To use Save As: --------------- * Make sure your data thsk is in the internal drive (DF0:) * Select the Save As item from the Project menu. * When the Save Document As requester comes up, click on the DF0: gadget. * In the File text line, type the name for your document, TESTSAVE for example. * Click OK to save the document. For more information on the file requester, see Technical Reference section. The name of the document (visible from the status line) should change to the name that you specified with the Save As item. The second way of saving your document is to select the Save item. The Save item is very convenient when you are updating a file that you are working on. You could save modifications to the file frequently without the hassle of re-entering the same file name information. WARNING: the Save item overwrites the previously saved file. Selecting Save causes your file to be saved immediately to whatever disk and directory was used in the Save As operation or the default drive and directory if the Save As operation hasn't been used. If no file name has previously been specified using the Save As item, Professional Page will automatically name the document "Untitled" and store it in tbe default directory. To give the file a name: ------------------------ * Select the Project/Information item. * Delete the default file name "Untitled", and type in the name of your file. From now on, if you make any changes to your document, and wish to update it to disk, simply select the Save item, and Professional Page will automatically use the given file name, and the previously specified disk drive and directory. Loading a Document ------------------ If you want to load a previously saved file, use the Open command from the project menu. To demonstrate this, clear the document in memory, and restore the document that you already saved. To clear the document in memory: -------------------------------- * Select the New item from the Project menu. * A "Warning" requester will appear. * Click Yes, and the page on screen will be erased. The name of the document will go back to being "Untitled". To load the previously saved document: -------------------------------------- * Select the Open itemn from the Project menu. * A requester similar to the one used in the Save As item will appear. * Select the disk drive and directory, if necessary. * Professional Page will give you a list of all of the documents located on that disk (in this tutorial there will only be one). Click on your file with the mouse pointer. Professional Page will take your selected file, and transfer the name to the "File:" text line. * Click the OK gadget to load the file. NOTE: the previous two steps can also be achieved by double-clicking with the left mouse button on the file name. Professional Page will load that file, and you will see your document on the screen. In this case, you will see the blank page you created earlier For more information on the file requester, see Technical Reference section. Now that you know how to save and load liles, we can start on the tutorial, keeping in mind that you can stop and restart any time you wish. Once again, you should frequently save your document. It is very easy to load a previously saved document, but much harder to recreate it from scratch if something should go wrong. MAKING AND USING BOXES ---------------------- The most important idea behind Professional Page is its use of "Boxes". Once you fully understand boxes, you have grasped the main concept of Professional Page. Every object on the page is placed in a box, Whether it is text, structured drawings, or bitmap graphics. Boxes can be any size and, as the name implies, are rectangular in shape. But a box is more than just a defined holding area. You can change many attributes associated with that box. For exanaple, a box can have visible frames, or be filled in with a shade of gray, which can be printed as a halftone screen or pattern (see "Printing" in the Using Professional Page section). Boxes can even have margins internally for your text to follow (much like a page has margins). Boxes can serve as windows for your graphics, allowing you to crop the graphic to any size. Start by experimenting with creating and manipulating boxes. For now we will just experiment with empty boxes. We will fill them with text later, but it helps if you know how to handle them. To create a new box: -------------------- * Click on the Box Create tool frorn the general tools section of the tool palette (see Tool Palette" in the Technical Reference section). * Move the mouse to the position on the page where you want the top left hand corner of the box to appear (place it anywhere inside the top left hand page). For our purposes, the exact position doesn't matter. * Press the left mouse button and drag the mouse over to the position where the bottomn right hand corner of your box is to be placed, approximately at the 7.5" x 3" setting, and release the button. The outline of a large box will now be visible. * Professional Page remains in the Box Create mode to allow you to create more boxes. Go ahead and experiment by placing a couple of boxes on your page. Professional Page will remain in the Box Create mode until you select another tool. To help you when creating a box, the position of your mouse is always shown as a thin line on the rulers around the page. Also, the position of your mouse in relation to the top left-hand corner of the page is indicated by the two coordinate numbers on the menu bar (when you are resizing your box, the figures will change to represent the box dimensions, not its position on the page). To return to the mode of operation that you were in before activating the Box Create tool, click on the Null Pointer tool. Boxes are displayed with thin oulines around them. These outlines will not print out on your final page. They are only a visual guide for you. You will also notice that only one box, the one created last, has a solid outline, while other boxes have broken (dashed) outlines. The box with the solid outline is called the "Active Box". The Active Box -------------- The Active Box is the one that you are currently working on. To work on a different box, simply click in the desired box, and it will become the Active Box. To quickly locate the Active Box: --------------------------------- * Select the Show Active item in the Box menu. * Professional Page will position the page such that the Active Box is showing on the screen and flash the outline of your Active Box. Moving and Resizing a Box ------------------------- After you have created a box, you can change the position or the size of it with ease. To move a box: ------------- * Press the left mouse button anywhere in the interior of the box and keep it pressed. The pointer changes into a hand shape, telling you that the box is ready to be moved. * Drag the box to its new position. The outline of the box will move with your mouse. The coordinates of the top left corner of the box appears on the right side of the menu strip, corresponding to the ruler cross hairs that are visible on the top and left edges of the page. * Release the mouse button to let go of the box. Handles ------- Box outlines have eight "handles" (one on each corner, and one in the middle of each side). These handles can be grabbed with the Null Pointer tool, and moved, causing the box to change size and proportion. To resize a box: ---------------- * Move the pointer to any of the handles on the box, depending on which dimensions you wish to change. For example, if you decide that you want the bottom of the box to drop lower but are satisfed with the left and right sides, drag with the middle handle on the bottom of the box outline. * Move the pointer up or down, causing the box to change size, and release the button at the desired location. * For precision control of positioning and resizing of boxes, you can use the Active sub-item of the Alter item in the Box menu (see the Technical Reference section for details). Deleting a Box -------------- Deleting a box is very easy. First make the box you wish to delete active, and then select the Delete Active item from the 80K menu. NOTE: If the box that you wish to delete contains any information (text, graphics, or drawings), Professional Page will pop up a warning requester for a confirmation before deleting the box and its contents. A CLOSER LOOK ------------- At the default magnifcation (33%), it would be quite difficult to accurately position boxes manually, nor could you read any text. You can zoom in for a closer look, so that any information that you place in the box will be readable. There are five magnification modes available for your use. They are: 25 %, 33%, 50%, 1OO% and 200%. You can change your magnification at any time without losing any information. To change your magnification level to 100%: ------------------------------------------- * Select the 100% sub-item of the Magnification item in the Preferences menu. NOTE: to the right of every magnification option is a keyboard equivalent. You will find it a lot quicker and easier to use the keyboard equivalents for changing magnification rather than the mouse (See Appendix B: Keyboard Equivalents). You will see that the page zooms in and fills the screen, and only a small part of your page is visible at one time. The part of your page that is visible is displayed in the Page Position gadget. You can move your screen around to view other parts of the page at this level of magnification. To move about the page: ----------------------- * Move the pointer over the Page Position gadget. * Drag the small white rectangle in the Page Position gadget (this represents your screen), releasing the button when you have moved it to the area of the page that you wish to view. Try the other magnifications. Experiment, using both the mouse and the keyboard. Thus, to attain the 100% magnification level, hold down the Right Amiga Key and depress the "2" key. For a list of other conventions used in this manual, consult the Getting Started section. For a list of all keyboard shortcuts, consult Appendix B : Keyboard Equivalents and the Quick Reference Card. From this point on, you should freely use any magnification level you desire to perform any of the functions in this tutorial. The tutonal will prompt you to set a particular magnification level only when it is necessary that you be in that level to complete a part of this tutorial. Otherwise, use your discretion All features of the progran will work in any given magnification level. USING THE ART BOARD ------------------- Essentially, the art board is the Professional Page equivalent of a designer's drawing table or light table. The art board can be used as a storage location for boxes that you wish to keep off of the page for one reason or another. If you have a very complex page, and wish to reorganize the format, but maintain the boxes and their information, you can temporarily move any, or all of the boxes to the art board. The art board serves as more than just a storage place. You can actually create boxes directly on the art board and place text, graphics and drawings in those boxes. All of the box resizing and manipulating features work on the art board as well as the page. Professional Page tells you if you are over the art board, or the actual page. If you move a box on the page, the pointer turns into a hand. When moving that box off the page and onto the art board, the pointer will change to thumb tack. The real power of the art board lies in allowing you to move boxes from one page to another. Although the page will change, the art board and its contents remain. See the Using Professional Page section for more on box manipulation. NOTE: At 100% and 200% magnification levels, you may not see any part of the art board. This does not, however, prevent you from placing boxes on the art board. To place a box on the art at 100% magnification: ------------------------------------------------ * Switch to 1OO% magnification. * Create a box. * Grab the box and drag it over the ruler at the page edge. * Move the hand pointer to the edge, over the ruler. At this point the hand changes into a thumb tack, and if you place the box on the ruler, the box is placed off of the page, and onto the art board. You can confirm this by switching back into the 33% magnification level. To make the page invisible: --------------------------- * Select the Visible item from the Page menu again. The page and its contents will disappear, leaving only the art board, If a box seemed to disappear when you moved it off the page, it probably "fell under" the page and becomes visible when the page is made invisible. To bring the page back: ----------------------- * Select the Visible item from the Page menu again. The page will now reappear with all its contents intact. When you finally save your document, your art board will be saved with it, thus allowing you to safely save half finished documents. Experiment by creating and manipulating boxes on and off the art board. Once you realize how easy it is, you will use the art board quite frequently (refer to the Design section for some examples). USING THE GRID -------------- As you have found out, it is difficult to position boxes with great accuracy using the mouse. You can use a grid to help you position boxes more precisely. In addition to being a visual guide, and unlike grids on paper the grid in Professional Page can automatically align boxes to the grid line intersections. The grid lines will not print out on your final page. Grid lines can be chosen in several units of measures, Inches, Picas (for more information on the Pica measurement consult the Design and Technical Reference sections), and Centimeters. We will use the Inches unit of measurement for this tutorial. To set grid spacing: -------------------- * Select the Layout Tools item in the Preferences menu. * You will see that the unit of measurement is Inches (the default setting). You willl need a grid spacing of 1/2 inch for this tutorial. * Click on the X: spacing text line to change the spacing. * Delete the contents using the backspace and DEL key. * Type in 0.500 and press RETURN. Do the same with the Y: spacing text line. * Make the grid lines visible by clicking the Grid ON gadget. * Turn on the Snap to Grid to force all future boxes on the page to align to the grid line intersections. * Click the OK gadget when you have set the desired options. Create a box or two to see the effect of using the Snap to Grid item. GROUPS ------ In much the same manner as you move one box, you can move several boxes at one time, keeping their positions rela tive to each other unchanged. Grouping allows you to manipulate one or more boxes in many different ways. As well as having the ability to move several boxes at one time, you can clone, delete, align, and center groups. You are also free to add and subtract boxes to and from a group. Making and Moving Groups ------------------------ To demonstrate grouping, make sure that you have three or four boxes drawn close together on your page. To make a group: ---------------- * Select the Group tool from the tool palette. This tool allows you to select a number of boxes which Professional Page will remember as a group. * Drag an outline around the boxes you want to group. Every box that is completely enclosed by the outline is grouped. NOTE: Only one group can be active at a time, and after you have created a group, the Group tool is cancelled and replaced by the Null Pointer tool. Before you selected the group, the active box had a solid grey outline and the other boxes were outlined witn broken, dotted outlines. When you select a group, the active box remains as before with a solid grey outline but the other boxes in the group are now represented with solid black outlines. To move a group: ---------------- * To move the group (all of the boxes at the same time), hold the SHIFT key, and grab any box in the group. * Move the box and the grouped boxes will move together. * Release the mouse button when you are satisfied with the position of the group. Rearranging Groups ------------------ It is possible to rearrange the position of boxes from within a group, yet still keep the group intact. To change the position of a box from within a group: ---------------------------------------------------- * Grab the box that you wish to move within the selected group and move it as if you were to move the box on its own. Don't use the SHIFT key. Adding Boxes to a Group ----------------------- You can add boxes to an established group at any time. To add a box to the existing group: ---------------------------------- * Press the SHIFT key, and click on the box that you wish to add to the group. * The new box is now a part of the group. You can verify this by moving the group. Removing a Box -------------- * To remove a box from the group, use CTRL-select. Press the CTRL-key and click on the box that you wish to remove from the group. Deleting a Group ---------------- * To delete all boxes in the group (and their contents), select the Delete item in the Group menu. If any of the boxes in the group are not empty, a warning requester will ask for confirmiation of the action. CREATING THE NEWSLETTER ----------------------- For this newsletter, you should start off with a clear page. Select the Project/New item followed by a Page/Create/From Default sub-item. It's OK to use the default settings. Preparing a Masthead -------------------- Now that you have practiced the basics of creating boxes and activating the tools necessary to create a layout, you can go on to create the newsletter. To create a box for the masthead: -------------------------------- * Create a box starting at the 1" x 1 " ruler setting. You don't have to position it exactly at the grid intersections. Remember, we have Snap to Grid enabled so the box will automatically place itself at exactly the 1" x 1" location and make the box. * Stretch the box over until it is one inch in height, and 6.5 inches in width. Don't forget to select the Null Pointer tool to get out of Box Create mode. Entering Text in Your Box ------------------------- Professional Page ia capable of importing text from a variety of different word processors. But there are situations, such as a newsletter masthead, where you may wish to add text at the last minute, without going to the inconvenience of using a word processor where you can type and edit your text at any time right on the screen. In fact, if you wish, you can create the text entirely Professional Page. To enter text into a box: ------------------------ * Select the Text tool from the general tool palette. * Click inside the masthead box. A small line cursor will appear in the top left hand corner of the box. * You can now type in the headline of the masthead (try "New Laser Times"), correcting any mistakes with the backspace and cursor keys. The text is displayed on screen in the default Times font style at the default point size of 12 points (for more information about fonts and point sizes consult the Design section and the Glossary). The text for the masthead of the newsletter should acutally be 48 point type, in the Helvetica font style. Changing Point Size and Typeface -------------------------------- To change the text to 48 point Helvetica Bold centered text: ----------------------------------------------------------- * Select the Edit/Select Box item. All the text in that box will be highlighted. This is called a marked block of text. While there is a marked block of text, changes to the text attributes through the Type menu will affect the entire block. * Select the Type/Typeface/New sub-item. A requester will display all the available typefaces in the fonts: directory. Select Helvetica by clicking on the Helvetica line of the directory and clicking OK. Use the scroll bar as necessary. Using this requester is similar to using the file requester (see Technical Reference section). * To change point sizes, select the Type/Size/New sub-itern and enter 48 in the requester's text line. You now have 48 point Helvetica. The Screen representation uses the closest available screen font and then scales it to the required size. * Select Style/Bold sub-item in the Type menu to bold the block of text. * Select the Type/Justification/Center sub-item to center the block of text. * Select the Null Pointer to exit Text mode. Changing Box Attributes ----------------------- You can change many aspects of the box that you have just created, guch as background color, border style, margins, and positionlng. In the newsletter many of the box attributes are different than the ones Professional Page has given you by default. The newsletter uses a top margin of 0.250". Margins in boxes do not refer to their positioning on the page. The Position control has that function. Rather, margins refer to the positioning of text and graphics in the box. You will notice that the text in the masthead box is positioned at the top center of the box. To move the text lower in the box (i.e.set up a top margin), you must change the Top Margin value from "0" (its default). To change the Top Margin: ------------------------ * Select the Box/Alter/Active sub-item. * Click on the Margins/Top text line, and change the value to 0.250 inches. * Select the OK gadget. Creating Columns for the Body Text ---------------------------------- Looking at the example, you see that there is a bitmap graphic picture in the center of the two columns. We will ignore the bitmap picture for now. We will create the two straight columns first. Just as you created a box for your masthead, now you must create a box for your body text. Referring to the illustration of the newsletter, we see that there are two columns. You could just create two boxes, in the way you created one for the masthead, and use your resizing and repositioning skills to eventually match up the boxes, but there is an easier way. Earlier when you created your page, you stayed with all of the default settings. Professional Page allows you to make changes to the specifications of that page at any time, without losing the contents of the page/. First, reduce the magnification back to 33% so that we can see the entire page. The newsletter has two columns. Each one is 3.000 inches in width, staring 2.500 inches from the top, and ending 1.000 inch from the bottom. To redefine your page with guidelines for two columns use the following --------------------------------------------------------------------------- steps: ----- * Select the Page/Alter/Current sub-item in the Page menu. The familiar Current Page Format requester will appear. * Click in their string gadgets and change the Margins Top to 2.500 inches and Margins Bottom to 1.00 inches. * Make sure the Margins Right and Margins Left text lines are set to a value of 1.000 inch. * Change number of Columns to 2. Set the Gutter (the amount of space between columns) to 0.500 inches. * Select the OK gadget. The page looks a lot like it did before. To see the columns, activate them the same way as you activated the grid. To activate column outlines: --------------------------- * Select the Layout Tools item under the Preferences menu. * At the bottorn of the Layout Tools requester, click on the Columns On gadget, and then click OK. The columns are now visible as dotted lines. NOTE: the columns are not boxes, but outlines. You can not directly move or resize columns. The outles are just there to make your job easier by giving you accurate precise guides. You should also note that you do not have to stick to the margins or placements of the columns, they will not restrict you in any way, they are just visual guides. To use the columns to hold text, you will have to place boxes over the outlines. Tere is an easy way to accomplish this, called Auto Boxing. Auto Boxing ----------- Before you can fill your columns with text, you must import that text into Professional Page, or write in Professional Page's built-in word processor. On the Fonts and Utilities disk is a text file created for the newsletter. You can now import that file. To import text: --------------- * Select the Project/Import/Text sub-item. * The default requester is titled "Import ASCII file?". Professional Page will permit you to import text from a wide variety of Amiga and other word processors. In this case, the text file was created with WordPerfect, so you don't want to use the default ASCII import. Select Cancel. * From the Preferences menu, select the Text/Format/WordPerfect sub-item. * Now select Project/Import/Text again. * The Import WordPerfect File requester will appear. Click the DF1: gadget and click on the NEWSLETTER directory. * Click on the first file NEWSLETTER1.txt * Press the OK gadget to import that file. You now have a text file waiting to be placed on your page (actually, it is sitting in the text paste buffer). * Click the Text tool to indicate where you wish to place text. * Move the pointer on top of the first column outline and press the left button while holding down the CTRL key. The largest possible box is created inside the column. You want the text to be 12 point, Times, plain, flush justified (see the Design section). * Change the typeface to Times by selecting the Type/Typeface/Times sub-item. * Select the point size of the text by selecting the Type/Size/l2 sub-item. * Select plain text by using the Type/Style/Plain sub-item. * Select flush justification by using Typeq/Justification/Flush sub-item. * Select the Paste item, in the Edit menu. That's it, your text is now placed on the screen. * Select the Null Pointer to exit Edit mode. NOTE: If you are at 33% magnification or less, the text will appear "greeked" and you must view the page at a higher magnification if you want to see the text. You used the Auto Box feature to place your text. Professional Page created a box for you with the same dimensions as the column that you had specified earlier. If you change your mind, you can resize and move the box as you please. Auto Boxing allows you to fill pages with text very quickly and with precision. Increase the magnification, and move the Page Position gadget in the tool palette to view the part of the page with the copy that you just placed on the page. Linking Text Boxes ------------------- Set the magnification back to 33%. The bottom right hand corner of the text box is highlighted with an invertd "L". Professional Page is telling you that all of the text will not fit in the first box that you specified. what you want to do now is to link the first column with a second column, so that the text that would not fit in the first oclumn will spill into the second one. To link two boxes: ----------------- * Make sure that the first column is selected as the Active Box. * To link two boxes, Select the Link tool. The pointer will change to the link pointer. * Move the pointer over the second column outline and click while holding down the CTRL key (using the Auto Box feature again). The text that did not fit in the first column will appear at the top of the second column. * Select the Null Pointer to exit the Link mode. Before you finish with text, take a closer look at how your flush justifed text actually appears. When you change magnification level to 1OO%, you will notice many large gaps in the text. To eliimnate these gaps, you could haae Professional Page automatically hyphenate your text. To hyphenate text: ------------------ * Select the Text tool and click inside a text box. Since the boxes are linked, you can click on either box. * Select the Edit/Select All item. * Select the Type/Hyphenation item and all your text will be hyphenated automatically. You can see the changes flow through your text. Notice how this eliminates the many gaps throughout the un-hyphenated flush-justified text. Now, let's take a look at the graphic. Importing Graphics and Drawings ------------------------------- You can import graphics and drawings in much the same way as you you are able to import text. There is a big difference between a graphic and a drawing. A graphic is a picture that is stored as a bitmap. Any picture created in DPaint, DPaint II, Aegis Images, GraphiCraft, using the mouse or a graphic tablet such as the Easyl pressure sensitive drawing pad, or which was created with a scanner such as Digi-View', is considered a graphic. A drawing is a picture that was created using structured graphics. The picture is stored as a mathematical representation of what is seen on the screen. Any picture created in Aegis Draw or with the Professional Page structured drawing tools is considered a drawing. For more information about drawings and graphics, consult the (Using Professional Page and Technical Reference sections. The graphic used in the sample newsletter is also on the Utilities disk. In this newsletter, it will be located near the center of the page. To make a graphic box: --------------------- * Use the Box Create tool from the general tool palette. * Create a new box for the graphic. The graphic must have an empty, active box ready to receive it in order to load. * Create a box starting at the 3" x 5" grid location. * The bottom right hand corner of the box should extend to the 5.5 " x 7.5" grid locations. * Once your box is created, select the Null Pointer tool to exit Box Create mode. To load a graphic into the graphic box: -------------------------------------- * Select the Project/Import/Bitmap Graphic sub-item. * A file requester appears. * Click on DF1:, then click on the NEWSLETTER directory. * Select the file NEWSLETTER1.pic. * Select the OK gadget. After a moment, a grey-toned image of the graphic appears in the box. Looking at the newsletter, you see that at this point, the graphic box is in the middle of the page, overlapping parts of the other two columns. You could use your editing skills to laborously add spaces to the text in the overlapped parts of the columns, so a box would fit in a cleared space in the center of the page. Professional Page gives you a much easier solution: text runaround. Text Runaround -------------- Text runaround is a feature that will wrap text around any box overlying it so that the text and box won't overlap each other. To activate the Text Runaround: ------------------------------- * Click on graphic box to make it active. * Select the Box/Alter/Active sub-item from the Box menu to change the graphic box's attributes. * The Active Box requester will pop up. * Select the Impermeable Box gadget. * Set all box margins to 0.100 inches. * Click OK. The text in the box below your new graphic box reflows itself around the graphic box. The text runaround feature can be used to create drop caps, or to insert any pictorial element anywhere into columns of text. As it happens, the graphic is actually larger than the box it is displayed in. Parts of it are not visible to you, since they extend past the edges of the graphic box. To position the graphic within the box: -------------------------------------- * Move the pointer over the graphic in its box. * While pressing the ALT key, press the left mouse button. * Moving the pointer, while keeping the button pressed, will allow you to move the graphic around inside the box without changing the position of the box. * Release the button when you are satisfied with position of the graphic. The same routines that were available for sizing text boxes are available for sizing graphjc boses. When resizing a graphic box, the graphic inside will keep its prevaous position relative to the page. There is, however, one new feature that is applicable to graphic or drawing boxes. This is graphic scale. More on graphic scale a little later, when you do the second page. Structured Graphics ------------------- Your first page is almost complete, minus a few cosmetic additions in the form of horizontal lines which you wi11 now draw on the page. Adding any straight lines, at any angle, is a very simple process. So is adding rectangles, ellipses, free hand drawing, polygons, and bezier curves. All of the structured drawing tools that you require are available right on the screen, in the structured Drawing Tool palette (see the Technical Reference section for a description of the structured graphic tools). The real advantage in using the structured graphic tools is that they produce "Drawing" quality results. This means that the structured graphics will output in the highest resolution of printer that you have available. A straight line at a 45 degree angle will look very straight (no jaggies) when output to a 300 Dot Per Inch laser printer. The same is true for the Ellipse tool, Bezier Curve tool, the Polygon tool, and Free Hand Draw tool. These tools can be used anywhere on the page without creating a box prior to their placement. Professional Page will automaatically create an exact fitting box for your structured graphic upon completion. Back to the newsletter. Let's draw a one point horizontal line at the 2 inch mark. Since you have the Grid Snap enabled at 1/2" increments, positioning the graphic at the precise location desired will be simple. To place the structured graphic: ------------------------------- * Select the Line tool from the structured graphic palette. * Select the Draw/Line/Weight/1 point sub-itern. * Position the pointer at the 1" x 2" location. * Drag the line horizontally out to the 7.5" x 2" mark and let go. You may have noticed that the line drags out and follows your pointer at any angle. You may have also noticed that it required a bit of patience in order to create a perfectly horizontal straight line. In this case, the snap to grad ensured that you created a perfectly straight, level line. But many times you will work without any snap to grid. Creating straight lines is much more difficult under these conditions. That is why Professional Page provides you with a constraining feature for drawjng with structured graphics. Constraining Structured Graphics -------------------------------- Constraining Graphics will limit the shapes or angles of the structured drawing tools to certain predefined values. For example, constraining the straight line drawing tool will only allow you to create lines at 45 degree angle increments. Constraining the rectangle drawing tool will only allow you to create squares. Constraining the ellipse drawing tool, you can only create circles. Constrained beziers will allow the start and end points of the curve to always be at 45 degree increments. And by constraining polygons, you get a closed polygon. The free hand drawing tool is not affected by the constraining feature. To demonstrate the constraining feature, and how easy it is to create a perfectly horizontal line, please delete the line that you just created, even if it was conrect. To delete a structured graphic: ------------------------------ * Click on the structured graphic box to make it active. * Select Box/Delete Active. A warning requester appears and click Yes. To further demonstrate the use of constraining graphics, deactivate the Snap to Grid. The process of disabling the Snap to Grid is similar to that of enabling it as you did at the beginning of the tutorial. Select Preferences/Layout Tools and when the Layout Tools requester pops up, click the Snap to Grid gadget OFF. Placing Constrained Graphics: ---------------------------- * Start by selecting the Line tool as you did previously. * Move the pointer over to the begiming location of the line. * Before pressing the left mouse button to start drawing, press and hold down the ALT key. This key informs Professional Page that you wish to enable the constraining feature. * Now, simply press and hold the left mouse button and drag out the line. You will notice that the line will remain horizontal, even if the pointer moves up or down slightiy. To further demonstrate the constraining feature, move the pointer around the first anchor point of the line (the point where you began to draw). The line will jump at 45 degree angle increments. * Release the mouse button when the line is at the desired location. Again, boxes containing structured drawings can be moved and resized just like any other box that you would create yourself with the Box Create tool. In resizing the box, the graphic will always keep its relative position to the page, unless, of course, you move the entire box. In the illustration of the newsletter, there is a similar line located 10.5 inches down the page. Draw a similar line on your own page. Printing Newsletter Page One ----------------------------- This concludes page 1 of the newsletter. Before you go to Page 2, print a copy of page 1, just to prove that the printed copy really does look like your screen image of the newsletter. Assuming that you have a PostScript laser printer connected, tne process to print a page is as follows. To print a page: ----------------- * Select the Project/Print/Current Page sub-item. The Print Page requester will pop up. * Leave the number of copies at 1 (the default). With most PostScript compatible devices, you will Output to: with the text line set at the ser: selection, representing your Amiga's serial port. Check the Using Professional Page section, and Appendix D: Connecting Your Amiga to a Printer, if your laser printer is somehow different. NOTE: some additional printing options can be found in the Page/Alter/Current sub-item. They are discussed in more detail in the Technical Reference section, and Appendix D:Connecting Your Amiga to a Printer. * After making sure that your laser printer is ready to receive data, click on the OK gadget. In a few seconds, your laser printer will produce your first page. Check Appendix A: Troubleshooting Guide if you have and difficulties. NEWSLETTER PAGE TWO ------------------- The second page uses more boxes then the first one. Because of the more complicated design, it would not be possible to change the page format as you did to create the columns for the first page. The only way to create this is to manually place the boxes in the desired fashion on the page. Describing the actual layout would be time consuming, and not very informative, considering that you already know how to manipulate boxes. For this tutorial, you have an alternative to creating all of the boxes from scratch. You can import the page as a Template. Templates --------- Template pages are essentially individual pages that you have created earlier and saved to disk as pages. They can contain boxes, either empty or with information inside them such as graphics, drawings or text. Templates can be very useful when repetition of a layout is common. For example, say you are writing reports that share many common elements. You could define all of the standard layout elements (dimensions of the page, number and dimensions of columns, levels of indents, crop marks) and save that as a page. Then, to create a particular document, you can recall the appropriate template, and add the specific information for that document to it. The template that you will be using in this tutorial consists of a pattern of empty boxes already arranged as a layout. Importing a Template -------------------- * Select the Page/Load/Even Templates sub-item. The Load Even Template Pages requester will pop up. * Click the DF1: gadget in the requester. * Click on the NEWSLETTER directory. * Double click the Page2.template file. The template is now loaded into memory. Once loaded, all pages created From Template will look identical to this particular template. Professional Page allows you to define two different templates at any given time. Under normal circumstances, they are used for the even and odd (or left and right hand) pages in a document and are labelled as such. However, you are not restricted to using the templates in this way. Creating a Page from a Template ------------------------------- * Select the Page/Create/From Template sub-item * A requester appears. * Click on Use Even * Click on OK The page will then appear on your art board. The Page Number Indicator value, at the top of the tool palette on the right edge of the screen, will change to the number two. Examining the second page more closely, you will notice that each box has a number inside it, intended to identify each box that the tutorial is referring to. Before you actually place any information in the box, you will want to erase the number, without affecting any of the box attributes. This is accomplished with the Mop tool. Mopping Up ---------- To demonstrate mopping in Professional Page, let's erase the contents of Box #1, located at top left corner of the page. To Mop up: --------- * Select the Mop tool from the General tool palette. * Select Box #1. A warning requestor will pop up. * Press the YES gadget to confirm that you wish to erase the contents of the box. The number will disappear, but the box will remain. That's it, the contents have been "Mopped up". NOTE: You can not enter anything (text, graphic, drawing), in a non-empty box. You will always have to mop it first. WARNING: Mopping a box that is part of a linked chain of boxes (i.e. a text article) will delete the entire text contents. The links remain intact. Switching Between Pages ----------------------- Flipping between pages is very easy. There are two ways of doing it. To flip back or forwards one page: --------------------------------- * Click while your mouse pointer is over the bottom arrow of the Page Number Indicator gadget to flip back one page, and click on the top arrow of the Page Number Indicator gadget to flip forward one page. NOTE: the Page Number Indicator gadget can be operated using any of the tools selected. To jump directly to any page: ----------------------------- * Click on the text line in the Page Number Indicator and erase the number you find there. Type in the page number that you wish to jump to and press the RETURN key. Now, please return to Page One. Linking Text from one Page to Another ------------------------------------- If you look at the bottom right hand corner of your second column, you will notice the "L" shaped gadget indicating that there is extra text which could not be fitted nto your first two linked boxes. This text is still in memory, waiting for a box it can be flowed into. You can flow the additional text into Page Two by linking Page One's second column with a box on the next page. To Link the pages: ------------------ * Make the second column active. * Select the Link tool from the tool palette. * Flip to Page Two using the Page Number Indicator gadget. * Click onto the original box #1, which you mopped up earlier. This procedure links colunn 2 from Page One to the box #1 on Page Two, allowing text to pour out into the newly linked box. You will see that Page Two has entirely changed. A sequence of boxes has been flled with text automatically. How did this happen? Linked Boxes in Templates ------------------------- The template used to create Page Two was constructed with several boxes, some of which were linked. When the template was loaded, and text poured into the first box, it continued to flow through the entire series. Go into a higher magnification mode to view the type that flowed into the boxes on Page Two. You will see that the type is in several typefaces and point sizes without you having set any of the typesetting parameters yourself. Embedded Codes -------------- This pre-formatting of text was done using "embedded codes", instructions inserted into the text at the word processing stage and picked up by Professional Page when the text was imported. The use of embedded codes means that anyone wijth a word processing program can do much of the text formatting which you would otherwise have had to do with the mouse and the pull-down menus in Professional Page (see Appendix F: Formatting Text, for more information on formattjng text). You will notice, though, that your text does not completely fill the page. There is still a structured graphic to import to finish the page. Import a structured graphic into the middle left hand box, which is labelled box #2, and was not filled with text like the other boxes. Mop up the number identifying box #2, using the Mop tool, so that the box will be active and empty. Select the Null Pointer when you are finished. Now you can import a drawing into this box. Importing a Structured Drawing ------------------------------- * Select Project/Import/Structured Drawing. * When the Import Drawing? requester pops up, click the DF1: gadget. * Select the NEWSLETTER directory. * Select the NEWSLETTER.DWG file. * The drawing will load into box #2. Unlike the graphic that you loaded into Page One, this drawing fits snugly within the box outline. Professional Page will always import a structured graphic at a size that fits the box while maintaining its proper aspect ratio. Onto the Art Board ------------------ * Switch your magnification mode to 33%, and, using the Null Pointerr, move the structured graphic onto the art board. Notice that the Null Pointer tums into a hand while dragging the structured graphic's box across the page. The hand icon then turns into a thumbtack icon when it moves onto the art board. * "Pin" the box anywhere on the art board. The drawing will wait safely out of the way while you reorganize the page. Rearranging the Page -------------------- * To make box #1 larger, drag the bottom middle handle of box # 1 down to the bottom of the page. Text will flow from other boxes in the chain into the newly enlarged box. Deleting the box: ---------------- * Select the upper right hand box. * Select Box/Delete Active item, and the box will disappear The text will flow into the next box. Finishing the Page ------------------ * Drag the drawing off the art board, and drop it into the middle of the page. * Select the Box/Alter/Active sub-item. The requester will pop up. * Click the Impermeable Box gadget on. * Set all box Margins at 0.250 inches. * Set the Position and Size to left 2.5, top 7.5, width 3.5 and height 2.5. * Adjust the Graphic Scale to 0.8 The text will run around the drawing, which will have resized to the center of the page. You'll notice that the text fits the page quite comfortably. That's it, your complete newsletter iS finished. Viewing the Newsletter --------------------- You can view the newsletter without the distracting rulers, or box outlines. After all, they do not print on your page. To disable all of tbe non-printing outlines: ------------------------------------------- * Select the Preferences/Layout Tools item. The Layout Tools requester pops up. * Set all of the follow;ing to OFF: Grid, Ruler, Columns, Outlines * Click OK. Professional Page will now show you the page without any outlines or grids, This will give you a better preview of the final output. NOTE: You can switch between page one and two, and fully edit the pages as before. Printing the Complete Newsletter -------------------------------- Professional Page gives you a great deal of flexibility in printing your document. For example, each page can be rotated and/or scaled to any size, using the PostScript Output Specifications in the Page/Alter/Current sub-item. These features are discussed in the "Printing" sub-section in the Using Professional Page section. For this tutorial, though, you will first print the newsletter using the basic default settings. To print the entire newsletter: ------------------------------ * Select the Project/Print/Entire Document sub-item. The Print Document requester will pop up (for a full discussion of printing options within this requester, see the Technical Reference section). * Select OK. After a few moments, each page will be printed. CONCLUSION ---------- Let 's review what we have learned. On the first page, we created and deleted boxes, delined columns, used groups, created and used grids, imported text from a word processing program and created text with Professional Page's own text editor, linked boxes, styled and hyphenated and justified text, imported a graphic, ran text around it, created some rules with structured graphics, practiced the use of constraints, and practiced outputting the page. With the second page, we went on to use templates, learned about mopping, flippang between pages, linking text between pages, learned the existence of embedded text codes, imported and manipulated structured drawings, and learned how to print an entire document. Where do you go from here? Experiment. There are many other features that weren't discussed in this tutorial. Only through experimenting with the various features listed in the Technical Reference section, and in the Using Professional Page section, will you actually acquire skill in their use. After the Using Professional Page section, you should study the Design section. Although the Design section is not a hands-on tutorial, it does discuss Professional Page from the point of view of design and production. The Design section also explains some of the finer points of typography, an area which we did not cover in great detail in the tutorial. It will also explain the principles of good design, and tie that in with the information that you have learned in this tutorlal. On the Fonts and Utilities disk, there exists a copy of the finished newsletter. If in your experimentatlon, you destroy part, or all of your newsletter, you can always recall the original stored on the disk. This newsletter that you have just created is a great test bed for further experiments with more advanced features. The file is called NEWSLETTER.FINAL, and can be loaded from the NEWSLETTER directory of the Fonts and Utilities disk with the use of the Project/Open item as described earlier in this tutorial. 5. USING PROFESSIONAL PAGE... --------------------------- The aim of this section is to help you learn to use Professional Page effectively, by showing you the concepts underlying the program, and how to use them. It is assumed here that you have worked through the tutorial, and have a good idea of how to find your way around the Professional Page screen and menus. By the time you finish this section, you should have a much clearer idea of how Professional Page parts work together, and you will be able to take the initiative in terms of starting your own projects. The section is composed of four parts: ------------------------------------- * "Using Boxes" concerns how boxes are created and used singly, in groups, and in linked sequences or chains. * "Text" is a descnption of how text is created, imported, and manipulated. It is mainly concerned with the text editor, and leaves typographical considerations for discussion in the Design section. * "Bitmap Graphics" covers the use of Amiga bitmap graphics. * "Structured Drawings" describes the use of Amiga structured drawings. * "Printing" discusses how you can output your documents from various PostScript compatible laser printers and typesetting machines. HOW TO USE THIS SECTION ----------------------- This section is intended to give a general picture of how the eleMents of Professional Page can be used. It is not a hands-on tutonal like the previous section, nor is it a series of definitions like the Technical Reference. Rather, it is intended to integrate the concepts behind the separate operations. You should refer to it whenever you want to refresh your understanding of Professional Page's conventions. THE PRODUCTION PROCESS ---------------------- "Desktop Publishing" has to encompass the entire "pre-press" world of publishing, which means understanding and managing a variety of skills and a variety of tools outside of Professional Page. For the experienced designer using new technology, or for tne novice wishing to understand the steps involved in putting together a document, this section provides a general perspective on the effective use of Professional Page. Traditionally, publishing involved several distinct steps peformed by people with widely varying skills, separated from each other by craft traditions and technology. The magazine publishing process, for example, often went something like this: Writing - Editing - Layout - Typesetting - Photography and Illustration The editor would commission articles and illustrations for an upcoming issue. The publication's art director or designer established the design standard for the publication. Writers, artists, and photographers produced stories and graphics. Advertisers submitted ads either camera ready or as text and graphics for the magazine's art department to assemble. The editor read the typewritten stories and manually corrected them. The graphics went to the editor, art director, or designer for approval. The edited text was manually retyped into a typesetting machine by a typesetter, who ofen worked for a company separate from the publishing company. The typeset text was output from the typesetting machine as a long strip or column of type, referred to as a "galley". The galley was proofread and corrected, and then the art director or designers would wax the long strips of type and past them onto an art board. Photos and illustrations were enlarged or reduced to the concect size with a stat camera and photos would be "screened", or turned into a pattern of dots instead of continuous-tone photographic print. The graphics were pasted onto art boards, and the finished art boards were sent to the printer's for platemaking and printing. Under the old systern, there was a great deal of repetition and manual labor (for example, a story might have to be retyped two or three times). The typesetting equipment was often too expensive and complicated for a publisher to own "in-house", which meant using an outside company, which often resulted in extra delays, costs, and communication problemS. Many times, people were effectively prevented from publishing high quality documents by the cost and coplexity of phototypesetting and its related services. The Professional Page Method ---------------------------- With Professional Page, the production process can be greatly streamlined and made less expensive. For a modest investnent, and with some training and practice, almost any publisher can concentrate most or all of the steps in the production of high quality documents in-house. A designer can have the computerized equivalent of a design studio and a typesetting shop at his or her fingertips. Again, using the example of a magazine, an ideal production process using Professional Page might look like this: Writing - Editing - Layout and Type - Output | | | | Disk Disk Disk Disk |_________| |___________| |_____________| Photography and Professional Page PostScript Printer Illustration | |_____________________| First of all, authors write their stories on personal computers (using word processing programs on Amigas, or on any other computers which can export text to Professional Page. The editor receives the stories on floppy disk, or by telecommunication using a modem, and edits them using a personal computer (again, either an Amiga, or any machine which can export text to Professional Page). The writer or the editor can also put in the typesetting codes or formats stating what typeface, point size, and style the type is to be set in. An author who regularly writes a column for the magazine, for example, can easily learn the few basic codes for formauing his or her own articles. The magazine's art director or designer also uses Professional Page. He or she sets up the "templates", or grids, of the magazine's standard layout, perhaps based on rough sketches created with a pencil and paper. The Professional Page templates are similar to blank art boards. The designer uses Professional Page to rough out pages, reserving space for the ads, and then begins pouring columns of text into the boxes, fine tuning the typographical features, and editing copy to fit. Photos and other artwork can be scanned into the Amiga as bitmap graphics with the Digi-View digitizer (see Appendix C; Using Professional Page with Other Amiga Products). The digitized photos are imported into Professional Page, cropped and resized, given margins and frames as desired, and screened for output as halftones. For many applications. Professional Page completely eliminates the need for a stat camera. In other cases, scanned photos can serve as guides showimg position and cropping for traditionally produced halftones. If the designer wishes to use halftone or line art froml non-computerized sources, he or she can leave an empty space in the layout to manually paste in the illustration after the page has been output. Similarly, if an advertiser is supplying camera ready art, the designer simply leaves an empty space for the ad to be dropped into place manually. Columns of galley, or entire pages, can be output from a laser printer at any stage of the process for proofreading and editor or advertiser approval. The final pages can be output from a high-resolution typesetting machine (see "Printing" later in this section). With Gold Disk's Professional Color separator (sold separately) pages can be output as screened and color separated film. Here are the advantages of using desktop publishing with Professional Page: * A complete design and typesetting studio can be set up by a publisher in-house at a fraction of the cost of traditional equipment. * Professional Page and its Professional Color separator offer the most comprehensive capabilities available in a desktop publishing system. * The amount of manual typing, editing, retyping, and keying of text into the typesetting machine is greatly reduced. This saves much time and money. * Proofreading can be greatly simplified by using spelling checkers and by printing out clear legible proofs for correcting. * The number of times that the text has to be output from an expensive typesetting machine can be greatly reduced by using a laser pmter for galley and page proofs. * For some purposes, laser printer output is of sufficient quality to eliminate the need for typesetting machine output. Even if high-resolution typeset output is required, a designer using Professional Page has full control over typesetting, rather than having to rely on an outsjde typesetter to interpret the dummy pages and specs that the designer created and sent with the typewritten copy. Desktop publishing with Professional Page still relies on human skill and artistry, and on traditional writing, editing, and design skills. However, it combines typesetting, design, illustration, and color separation tools in an inexpensive, and easy to use personal computer. The Operating Environment ------------------------- As stated at the beginning of the manual, this program is a "page oriented" typesetting and page assembly program. It allows great flexibility when creating a document one page at a time by not automatically paginating the entire document. Professional Page duplicates in computer form many of the traditional tools and methods of graphic designers. The Screen ---------- The screen is your art table, with a representation of your current page on the right hand side of the screen. The normal screen display is 640 by 400 pixels on an ordinary NTSC (North American Video Standard) monitor. Using an "overscan" utility such as "More Lines" (see Appendix C: Using Professional Page with Other Amiga Products), you can display up to 704 by 442 pixels at once, although this takes more memory. PAL Support ----------- Professional Page looks to see if your Amiga has a PAL (European Video Standard) chip. If it does, Professional Page operates in PAL resolution (640 by 525 pixels). Multitasking ------------ Professional Page suppods multitasking, up to the limits of chip and overall memory. This means that you may be able to run other programs simultaneously with Professional Page. In a case where the programs take up a lot of chip memory (such as Professional Page and Deluxe Paint II, or Professional Page and WordPerfect), there nay not be enough chip mleory to support both. Artboard -------- Any area of the screen outside the current page is known as the "art board". The art board is a convenient area to store parts of the document. If you want to have text flowing into boxes on widely separated pages, you can keep a box with overflow text sitting on the art board until you find a space for it on another page. If you wish to reorganize a page, you can remove parts of the page onto the art board until you need them. Grid ---- You can set up grids on your page to create a consistent, organized framework for positioning text, drawings, and graphics (See the Design section for some examples of grids). Snap to Grid ------------ Selecting the Preferences/Layout Tools/Snap to Grid sub-item automatically causes boxes or structured graphics you create or move to snap to the nearest grid intersection. Rulers ------ There are rulers on the top and the left side of the page, marked out in whatever units of measure (inches, picas, or centimeters) you select using the Preferences/Layout Tools/Units sub-item. Quick Move ---------- You can select whether or not you wish to have the contents of the box visible while you are moving a box by turning Quick Move on or off. Tools ----- There are several general tools (Box Create, Null Pointer, Group, Hand Move, Text, and Mop) that you must specifically turn on and off. For example, if you wish to create a box, you must select the Box Create tool. If you wish to type text into the box, you must select the Text tool. If you wish to move the box, you must select the Null Pointer. This seems simple, but if you forget which tool is cunrently in use, you may become confused. The only exception to this convention is the Group tool, which automatically turns itself off and selects the Null Pointer after you make a group. This happens because Professional Page only allows one group to be active in the document at one time. Tool Pointers ------------- Several tools have pointers to help you see which one is currently in use. The Null Pointer is an arrow. When you move a box on a page, the pointer turns into a hand. When you move a box onto the art board, the pointer turns into a thumb tack. The Text tool pointer is a vertical line showing the exact point where text will be inserted. The Mop tool pointer is a mop. The Hand Move tool pointer is a hand. The Box Create and Group tool pointers are a set of crosshairs, to allow you to drag your box to the precise location. To let you see the location of the crosshairs, guidelines on the rulers on the top and left of the page show where the pointer is located. On the top right of the menu strip, the exact coordinates of the pointer's location are displayed in the current units of measure. Requesters ---------- Making menu selections often causes a requester to appear. The different types of requesters are: File requesters with a standard layout; Warning requesters with simple Yes/No! options; and Specialized requesters. Requesters are one way Professional Page asks for instructions, and presents choices for you to select. Keyboard Shortcuts ------------------ Professional Page allows you to use the mouse to make menu selections, but also offers keyboard equivalents to allow users to make selections more quickly. There are some general shorcuts useful in making selections from requesters. For instance, press RETURN instead of clicking OK to cause a file to load or save and double click on a file name to cause the file to load or save. Many of the keyboard equivalents are grouped to make them easier to remember: * CTRL x: Holding down the CONTROL key and pressing a second key usually selects a non-menu item. * ALT x: Holding down the ALT key and pressing a second key usually alters something. * A x: Holding down the Right AMIGA key and pressing a second key usually selects a general menu. * F: Pressing a function key selects a text editing item. * SHIFT x: Holding down the SHIFT key and pressing a second key selects everything not assigned to the keyboard equivalents listed above. For a complete list of keyboard shodcuts, see the Quick Reference Card, or Appendix E: Keyboard Equivalents. UNDERSTANDING THE PAGE ---------------------- Pages are kept in consecutive order within Professional Page. When the Load/New Current sub-item is chosen the new page is loaded at the end of the document. The Page/Create/From Template sub-item creates a range of pages using the odd or even templates or the appropriate pages based on page numbers. Creatjng a range of pages in the middle of a document shifts the existing pages up automatically. The Page/Create/From Default sub-item also fits a range of pages into the document automatically. The Page/Delete item resequences page numbers upon deletion. The Magnified Page ------------------ When you are working on a page in one of the higher magnification levels, you may find it useful to be able to see where you are on the page, and to scroll around the magnified page with some degree of precision. The part of the page you are in is indicated by the white rectangle in the Page Position tool. There are three ways to move around a magnified page: * Select the Hand Move tool and use it to drag the visible part of the page around the screen. * Use the white rectangle on the Page Position tool to drag the visible part of the page around the screen. * Use the cursor keys to jump around the page. One press of a cursor moves the visible part of the page four inches in the selected direction. Pressing SHIFT/cursor jumps to the end of the page in the direction selected. Pressing CTRL/cursor jumps to the end of the page in the direction selected. Changing Pages -------------- The Page Number gadget has two ways of changing the current page. Click the Up or Down arrows to select the next page or the previous page, respectively. Pages can also be selected by using a keyboard entry. USING BOXES ----------- A box is a container of text, bitmap graphics or structured graphics. Boxes are the building blocks of your finished documents. The box is an amazingly flexible and powerful tool, and when you have made yourself fully proficient with all its uses, you will be able to use Professional Page very profuctively as a versatile, high quality page design system. This sub-section is devoted to the uses of the box in conjunction with the text, graphics, and drawings it can contain. What is a Box? -------------- A box is a precisely defined area which can serve as a container for text, bitmap graphics, or structured drawings. A box can exist anywhere on a page, or on the art board. The Anatomy of a Box -------------------- The box appears on the Professional Page screen with a rectangular solid or dashed outline. The outline is solid in the active box (the last one that the mouse was clicked on), and all other box outlines are dashed. Every box has eight handles on it, one in each corner and one in the middle of each side of the outline. These handles can be used to resize the box by clicking on a handle with the Null Pointer and dragging. The only time a box does not have handles is if it is a locked box. The appearance of the box outline changes when a box is made part of a group. A box containing text or a bitmap graphic can be automatically given a perfectly fitted frame using the Box/Alter/Active/Frame gadget. Boxex can also be given margins of clear space to separate them from other boxes using the Box/Alter Active/Margins gadget. Creating Boxes -------------- Boxes can be created with the Box Create tool of the tool palette, or by means of the Auto Box feature. When you have created as many boxes as you need, be sure to turn off the Box Create tool by selecting the Null Pointer. Otherwise, you will continue creating boxes whenever you press the left mouse button. Moving a box ------------ There are several ways to move a box. The most simple is to grab it using the Null Pointer. The pointer turns into a hand shaped icon if the box is on the page, or into a thumbtack shaped icon if the box is on the art board. Drag the box around the page or the art board to where you want it and release. Positioning the Box ------------------- Positioning boxes with the mouse is very intuitive, but may not be precise enough. Professional Page offers several tools for positioning the box more precisely. They are: Rulers and Coordinates, The Box/Alter/Active Position gadgets and the Preferences/Layout Tools/Grid and Snap to Grid gadgets. Using the Rulers ---------------- Rulers are on by default, and unless you specifically turn them off they will be visible on the top and the left side of your page. As soon as you start moving the box around the page, the precise location of the top left hand corner of the box is indicated by the ruler lines along the top and the left side of the page. The exact coordinates of the top left hand corner are also displayed on the nght of the menu strip. Snap to Grid ------------ You can lay out a grid on your page using the Preferences/Layout Tools item, and turn on Snap to Grid (see the discussion of the Layout Tools item in the Technical Reference section, and the parts of the Design section concerned with the use of grids). From then on, whenever you create a box, it will automatically adjust itself to fit its corners to the nearest grid line intersection. If your grids are measured in 1/2 inch increments, you can drag your box to approximately the right location and size. When you release the mouse button, the box will snap to the nearest grid intersections. The Active Box -------------- Only one box is "active" at a given time. The active box is the one most recently clicked on with the mouse pointer. The active box is where most user-initiated operations take place (for example, enterig text, drawing, loading graphics and drawings). You can locate the active box easily by selecting Box/Show Active. The active box will flash in green for a moment. Active Box Positioning ---------------------- In the Box/Alter/Active requester, there are four Position settings. Type in the locations of the top left corner, the width and the height, and the box will be resized and located as required. Filling A Box ------------- A box must be empty before it is filled with any imported element whether text, graphic or structured drawing. You must first select it as the active box (see Project/Import in the Technical Reference section). Mopping a Box ------------- To delete the contents of a box while leaving the box intact, select the Mop tool from the general tools palette, and click on the box you wish to empty. A warning message will appear, asking for confirmation, and the contents can be deleted (see Tool Palette/Mop in the Technical Reference section). Deleting a Box -------------- The active box can be deleted by selecting the Box/Delete item. If the box has contents, a warning message will appear, following which the box and its contents disappear. Howvever, in the case of bitmap graphic boxes, this is only true if the box was not cloned. For examlple, if the box was cloned several times, the warning message will only appear if you are deleting the last copy of the box. In the case of a text box, if all the contents of the text file are in the box, a warning message will appear, after which the box, and the contents will be deleted. If the text file extends through a series of linked boxes, no warning will appear if you delete a box, until you delete the last box in the linked series (see Box/Active/Delete in the Technical Reference section). Grouping -------- Grouping means that the boxes designated as a group can be moved as a unit, keeping their position relative to each other. Any combination of text, graphic, and drawing boxes can be designated as a group. Using groups can save you a lot of time. For example, if you want to reorganize the layout of a page, you can remove a large part of the page onto the art board, empty, or replace the remainder of the page layout, and then move the group back onto the page. Creating a Group ---------------- Select the Group tool from the general tool palette. The Group pointer is a set of crosshairs. Go to the upper left hand corner of the area whose boxes you wish to group, and draw a group outline around the collection of boxes. When you release the mouse button, the Group tool switches off, and reverts to the Null Pointer. All completely enclosed boxes will be made into a group. Adding to a Group ----------------- Hold the SHIFT key and click on a box. The box must be on the art board or the same page as the main group to be added to it. Removing a Box From a Group --------------------------- Hold the CTRL key and click on a box. Cloning a Group --------------- Select the Group/Clone item and all boxes in the group are cloned. Only the visible box contents are copies, including all graphics and text. Article chains are not copied. Once the group is cloned, the original group is forgotten, and the newly cloned boxes form a new group. Deleting a Group ---------------- Select the Group/Delete item and all boxes that are part of the group are deleted. A warning message appears if any of the boxes has any contents. Forgetting a Group ------------------ Select the Group/Forget item and the group is forgotten (ungrouped). At this point, no group exists. Aligning a Group ---------------- Selecting the Group/Align item and one of Top, Bottom, Right or Left, correspondingly aligns the group with the active box. (See the Technical Reference section for details.) Centering a Group ----------------- Select Group/Center and one of the sub-items and all members of the group are centered vertically, horizontally, or both with the center of the active box. Merging a Group --------------- Select Group/Merge and all structured drawing boxes in a group merge together into one box. This allows sizing and moving of the structured graphics as a single unit. NOTE: A merge cannot be undone. Linking Boxes ------------- Boxes may be linked together into a series or chain of boxes to allow you to flow text articles across a page or pages. Only text boxes can be linked. To line one box to another, use the Link tool. Make the first box of the article active and select the Link tool. Click on the second box in the series, then the third, and so on. The text will flow to fill the boxes, until all the text has been poured. If there is more text than can be accommodated in the linked series, the last box will have its lower right hand corner highlighted by an L-shaped handle. (See the Technical Reference section for information on the Link tool.) Unlinking --------- A series of linked boxes can be unlinked by selecting the Unlink tool and clicking on a box. The box in the series prior to the one clicked on will be the last box in the preceding series. The box clicked on and any subsequent boxes in the series will now be a second, separate linked article chain. Deleting a Linked Box --------------------- You can delete a linked box by clicking on it to make it the active box, and then selecting the Box/Delete item. The box will desappear without a warning requester, because as long as there is at least one box in the series still intact, the text isn't deleted from memory. When you go to delete the last remaining box in a series, a warning requester will pop up asking for a confirmation. When the last box is deleted, the text contents will be deleted as well. Layering Boxes -------------- Boxes are layered one on top of each other based on the order of their creation. The last box created is automatically placed on top. To change the order of boxes, use the Box-to-Back gadget to move the active box to the back of all other boxes. Use the Box-to-Front gadget to bring a box to the front of other boxes. Auto Boxes ---------- Boxes can be created automatically using Auto Box. The size of this box is determined by where you click. Boxes created by Auto Box take on the width of the column where the click was made. They are made as tall as possible without running over any other box in the column. A box is created (using the Auto Box technique) when: * in Box Create mode: the left mouse button is clicked while the CTRL key is held. An empty box is created. * in Link mode: the left mouse button is clicked while the CTRL key is held. A text box is created and linked to the currently active box. * in Text mode: the left mouse button is clicked while the CTRL key is held. A text box is created for text editing. TEXT ---- Professional Page is a page design and layout program, and is not intended to compete with dedicated word processors. Rather, Professional Page is designed to work with text from a wide range of both word processors and text editors, whether generated by the Amiga or by other computers. Once a document is created, there is a need to be able to edit or create new text without exiting the program. Professional Page handles text in the following manner: * Text can be imported into Professional Page as ASCII files, or in the formats of particular Amiga word processors such as WordPerfect, TextCraft Plus, Scribble!, and others. * Professional Page accepts native style parameters of word processor files, such as: italics, bold, underline, tabs, and others. * Special formatting codes may be embedded in the text at the word processor level. These codes are interpreted by Professional Page as instructions for such characteristics as typeface, point size and leading. * Professional Page has its own WYSIWYG (What-YOu-See-Is-What-You-Get) text editor which fnctions as an adjunct to the page layout and typesetting features. Professional Page's text tools allow you to manipulate imported text and to compose text while working on a document. The typographical controls are mentioned briefly in this section (see the Design section for more information.) Pre-planning Your Text ---------------------- To make the most productive use of Professional Page, the computer, and your time, you can do a little advance plaming to ensure that word processed files come into the program in their most useful form. You may ask the author or editor of an article to insert the basic typographical specifications (point size, typeface, and leading as a minimum) for you, using the Professional Page formatting conventions (see Appendix F: Formatting). Formatting at the writing or editing stage is easy to do, and will save everyone both time and money. Text File Translation --------------------- If you are using a text file from an Amiga word processor not specifically suppoded by a Professional Page (or from a computer other than an Amiga), you should test how cleanly a file from that particular computer or word processor comes into Professional Page in generic mode. Some may import more easily than others. Some word processed files may be imported with unwanted characters or control codes. Try to avoid surprises, especially if you're working to a deadline, by conducting tests ahead of time. Importing Text -------------- Typically, users tend to use a favorite word processor. Therefore, the Preferences/Text Format item only needs to be set once. If you must import a file from more than one word processor into a document, just change the Text Format to the appropriate setting just before you import them. Once the file has been imported into Professional Page, it sits in the paste buffer for processing. ASCII files ----------- Word processed files from non-Amiga sources can be brought into Professional Page in generic ASCII format. It is helpful to have the particular woru processor save the contents in plain ASCII (text only), rather than its native form. ASCII files can be transmitted via a modem or a null modem cable from another computer. Native Style Parameters ----------------------- Styles (bold, italic, etc.) are imported into Professional Page from all supported word processing packages. This speeds up production by eliminating the need for you to manually insert style parameters. Embedded ASCII Codes -------------------- Any writer or editor can produce galley by inserting typographical formatting codes into a word processor file. This greatly reduces the operator's burden of inserting typographic codes manually after the text is imported. Any text editing terminal thus becomes part of Professional Page's production process. Text Editor ----------- The text editor is invoked in Professional Page by selecting the Text tool from the general tool palette and clicking into a text box. Professional Page uses a "point and shoot" format to input and edit text. Click in the text box where you want to place your text cursor and you are ready for editing. You can perform block operations by marking a block and manipulating it. A block of text is some portion of your text which you have delined for the purpose of changing a specific characteristic in some way. Buffers ------- Aside from the screen itself, Professional Page has two additional internal buffers to hold text -- the paste buffer and the undo buffer. These buffers oeerate in conjunction with block operations. The paste buffer is used to temporarily hold text in "Cut and Paste" operations. The undo buffer temporarily holds deleted blocks of text. Creating A Block ---------------- While in Text mode, there are several ways of marking a block. A marked block is highlighted on the screen in reversed text. The following methods can be used: * Move The Text pointer to the word, and double click to mark a single word. * Click in a box and select the Edit/Select Box item to mark the visible contents of the entire box. * Click in a box and select the Edit/Select All item to mark the contents of an entire series of linked boxes. * Click on the beginning of the box you want marked with the Text pointer and drag the pointer to where you want the block to end. All text between where you started to drag and where you released the pointer will be marked as a block. * To mark a block extending from one box to another, or across several pages, click with the Text tool where you want the block to start. Move to the end of the block (which can be several boxes or several pages from the beginning), and click while holding the SHIFT key. All text between the two clicks will be defined as a block. Block Operations ---------------- Once you have marked a block, you can manipulate the block in several ways with the items in the Edit menu. Cut --- Selecting Edit/Cut deletes the block from the page and places it in the paste buffer. Copy ---- Selecting Edit/Copy places a copy of the block into the paste buffer without deleting the block frorn the page. Paste ----- Click on the spot where you want to insert a block from the paste buffer, and then select Edit/Paste. The block will be inserted just before the text cursor position. Unmark Block ------------ Selecting Edit/Unmark Block umnarks the marked block. Save Block ---------- Selecting Edit/Save Block saves the marked block to disk as an ASCII text file. All typographical information is translated to imbedded formatting commands before saving. See Appendix F: Formatting Text. NOTE: This is the only way that you can easily save a Professional Page document as text only, and as such it is a valuable technique to use if you wish to break a long text file up into several shorter files, or if you wish to re-edit a document in a word processor and re-import it into Professional Page. Select Box ---------- Selecting Edit/Select Box marks all the visible contents of the individual text box as a block. Select All ---------- Selecting Edit/Select All marks all the contents of a series of linked boxes as a block. Find and Replace Operations --------------------------- The find and replace operations have two functions. They can be used to find and modify text strings in the conventional sense or they can be used to find and replace text with specific typographical characteristics. Typographical codes (see Appendix F: Formatting Text) are only applied to the first character of the string in the find operation. The replacement strig can contain any number of embedded formatting codes. For example, you can search for all occurrences of the BOLD strig "PPage" (by using BPPage") and replace them with Italic underlined Helvetica "Professional Page" (by using "\I\U\ff<Helvetica>Professional Page"). Find ---- Selecting Edit/Find finds the next occurrence of a particular string. You have the option of search direction and whether to ignore the case of the string. Replace ------- Selecting Edit/Replace replaces a specified strig with another specified string. You have the option of search direction, whether to change one or all occurrences of the search string, and whether to query each change. Find Next --------- Finds the next occurrence of the search string in the indicated direction. Replace Next ------------ Replaces the next occurrence of the search strig with the replacement string. A query is made if it was selected as a option in the Replace item. DELETE OPERATIONS ----------------- A marked block is deleted by: * pressing the backspace key. * typing a character. * using the paste operation. The marked block is placed in the Undo buffer and the typed character or pasted block is placed in the location of the previously marked block on the screen. To get the deleted block back, place the text cursor and press the ESC-key. The deleted block will be placed in front of the cursor. Text Boxes ---------- All text must be placed into an empty or text box. Once text has been placed into an empty box, Professional Page marks that box as a text box, and will not allow you to put a graphic or a drawing into it. Conversely, you cannot enter text into a box already containing a graphic or a drawing. Text boxes can, however, be overlaid on top of graphic and drawing boxes. Text boxes can be located on a page or on the art board. Viewing Text ------------ Professional Page displays text on screen using special screen fonts whjch simulate serif and sans serif fonts. Screen fonts are displayed with reasonable accuracy for all available fonts found in the fonts directory. Text whose fonts do not have a screen representation will not display correctly in form, but will be scaled to take up the correct amount of space on the screen. For example, to display 30 point Times on the screen, Professiona] Page will scale the closest available font (likely 24 polnts), to the correct size. Upon output, the text will be printed in the proper font and size. Text can be viewed letter by letter in the hjgher magnification levels. In the lower levels of magnification, text will be "greeked", that is, shown as lines rather than letters. Colored Text ------------ Text can be colored using the Ink Color item in the Color menu. Colors can be created with the CreateColor requester or loaded from an already established color database on disk (see the Color section). Transparent and Opaque Text --------------------------- Text boxes can be selected as either transparent or opaque by selecting Box/Alter/Active and clicking on the Box Opaque-Transparent gadget. Text in a transparent text box can be overlaid on bitmap and structured graphic boxes wjthout showing the box and its outline by using this gadget. Halftone Screens on Text ------------------------ To cause text to be output as a screened halfone, select Color/Ink Color, and pick a gray value for the type. Select Preferences/Print Specifications/Halftone Screen to speci@y the Density (lines per inch) and (in degrees) for the halftone. BITMAP GRAPHICS --------------- Professional Page allows you to make use of any compatible bitmap graphics. Graphics can be any size, ranging from one pixel to 1024 by 1024 pixels (depending on available memory), in any resolution mode (Low, Medium, Intelace, or High), and with any number of colors from 2 to 4096 at one time. See rippendix E: Examples of Graphics. Black and White Output ---------------------- Graphics can be output as black and white halftones in sixteen gray scales from any PostScript compatible laser printer or typesetting machine. Color Separated Output ---------------------- With the Professional Color separator color graphics can be color separated onto positive or negative film, or onto positive or negative resin coated paper from a PostScript compatible typesetting machine such as a Linotronic 100 or 300 typesetter. Screen Display -------------- Color bitmap graphics are not displayed on the Professional Page screen in color. An eight gray-tone representation of the graphic is created. The full-color information remains stored on the original data disk. Importing --------- An empty active box must be available on the page to receive the graphic (see Project/Import/Bitmap Graphic in the Technical Reference section). Default Size ------------ When the graphic is imported, it appears at a default size of 75 pixels per inch (for example, a 640 by 400 pixel picture will fill the whole widdh of an 8.5 inch page). The graphic can then be rescaled or resized. Altering the Graphic Parameters ------------------------------- You can crop, resize, frame, and screen your bitmap graphics in Professional Page. As well, you can run text around the graphic box, or lay black and white or colored text over the graphic. If you wish to alter some feature of your graphic box, make sure the box is active, and then select the Box/Alter/Active sub-item. In the requester, you can adjust the Location, Margin, and Graphic Scale of the graphic (see "Box Menu" in the Technical Reference section). Location -------- The precise position of the box on the page can be determined by typing the location of the top left corner of the box and the box's width and height in the requester that appears when Box/Alter/Active is selected. Frames and Margins ------------------ Bitmap graphic and text boxes can be supplied with a structured drawing frame. Professional Page will draw the frame in whatever line weight, pattern, ink color, and fill color that has been selected from the Draw and Color menus. All boxes can have margins for white space along the inside edge of the frame. Frames and margins are specified in the Box/Alter/Active sub-item. Cropping -------- Using the handles on the graphic box, you can adjust the box to cover or reveal as much of the graphic as you wish. If you need to move the graphic within its box, drag the graphic around with the pointer while holding the ALT-key down. This moves the graphic around inside the box without moving the box outline. Sizing ------ To resize the graphic box, hold down the ALT-key and change the size of the box by dragging a handle. Sizing can also be done by changing the Graphic Scale in the Alter Active Box requester. Storage ------- Unlike text files or structured drawings, the acutal bitmap graphic isn't stored as part of your document. Whenever you load or print the document (whether in black and white or color separated), Professional Page will ask for the original graphic file from its original data disk. Aspect Ratios ------------- You may find that there is a difference between the aspect ratio of your bitmap graphic on the Professional Page screen and its appearance on the output. They may appear slightly condensed (see "Printing"). You can correct this by adjusting the Graphic Scale gadget in the Box/Alter/Active sub-item. For example, graphics created in the Medium (640 by 200 pixels) or Medium Interlace modes (320 by 400 pixels) will appear on the Professional Page screen distorted but can be corrected using the Box/Alter/Active Graphic Scale gadget. STRUCTURED DRAWINGS ------------------- What is a Structured Drawing? ---------------------------- Structured drawings are images created from components that are mathematically defined. These components can be lines, arcs, and curves, each with line weight, line pattern and pattern attributes. Structured drawings are printed at the maximum resolution of the output device, such as 300 dpi from a laser printer or as high as 2540 dpi on a laser typesetter. Structured drawings are often used for computer aided drawing and design (CAD). Structured drawings are also ideal for a designer or typographer. They quickly create clean shapes such as lines, cmcles, and patterned fills. Importing Aegis Draw Plus Files ------------------------------- Structured drawings can either be imported into Professional Page from the Amiga CAD package Aegis Draw Plus, or can be Created with Professional Page structrred drawing tools and Color and Draw items (see Project/Import Structured Drawing item and the Draw menu in the Technical Reference section). An imported structured drawing file requires an empty active box to be imported successfully. The drawing is fit into the box as large as possible and in the correct proportions. The box can be resized manually using the mouse, but to avoid distorting the aspect ratio it is a good idea to use the Box/Alter/Active sub-item. Colors ------ A multi-colored drawing will be displayed with the xProfessional Page screen palette of up to eight colors. Professional Page documents can have a total of 127 colors defined for use in structured drawings or text. (See the Color section for more details.) Professional Page Drawing Tools ------------------------------- The Drawing Tools subpalette of the Tools palette contains six drawing tools. They are: * Line Tool: A line is drawn by clicking where the line is to start and dragging to the end poAnt. * Rectangle Tool: A rectangle is drawn by clicking for one corner and dragging to the opposite corner. * Ellipse Tool: A ellipse is drawn by clicking for the center and dragging to the corner of the box that will contain the ellipse. * Bezier Curve Tool: A Bezier curve is drawn by clicking and dragging a line to represent the start and end points of the curve, then moving the pointer to "pull" the curve in a rubberband fashion, and then clicking to anchor the curve. * Free Hand Tool: A freehand drawing is made when the left mouse button is depressed. * Polygon Tool: A polygon (series of continuous line segments) is drawn by clicking on a series of points to which line segments are connected. Double click to complete the polygon. When drawing with Professional Page drawing tools, each drawing operation creates its own box. You can group several structured drawings and merge them into one box. Drawings can be freely grouped and merged together, but they cannot be subsequently "un-merged" (see "Group Menu" in the Technical Reference section). Constraining Keys ----------------- When using Professional Page drawing tools, holding down the ALT-key constrains the shapes drawn by the tools. Constraining causes the following reactions: * the Straight Line tool draws only at 45 degree increments. * the Rectangle tool draws only squares. * the Ellipse tool draws only circles. * the Bezier Curve tool places endpoints at 45 degree increments to each other. * the Free Hand tool is unaf&ected by the constraint. * the Polygon tool always produces closed polygons. Using Attributes ---------------- Structured drawing elements can be created with attributes like Line Weight, Line Pattern and Fill Pattern from the DRAW menu as well Line Color and Fill Color from the Color menu. The Frame gadget in the Box/Alter/Active item automatically draws a structured box outline around a bitmap graphic or text box. Attributes of a structured element can be determined in two ways: * In Drawing mode: After selecting a drawing tool from the drawing tool subpalette, Draw and Color menu attributes can be set so that the next element drawn takes on the attributes. * In Null Pointer mode: The attributes of the active box are in the Draw and Color menus. Attributes are flagged with a checkmark beside the applicable item or sub-item. For those cases where there is no checkmark, select the sub-item to bring up a requester, and the value in the requester will reflect the value for the active box. Changing attributes in the Draw and Color menus changes the structured drawing or box frame to the current attribute settings. NOTE: A quick way to duplicate drawing parameters for creating additional elements is to select the box with the necessary attributes before selecting one of the drawing tools. The drawing tool will take on the attributes of the active box. The Draw Menu ------------- This menu displays the drawing tool parameters for structured drawings. Line Weight ----------- Line weight is the width of line that a structured drawing is drawn with. There are seven predefined settings, ranging from None to four points. There is also a Custom sub-item which allows you to select any line weight up to 127 points in 1 /2 point increments. If you select Custom, a Line Width (Pts.): requester appears. Delete the current line weight setting from the text line, and type in the line weight necessary. Line Pattern ------------ Several predefined line patterns are available in the Draw/Line Pattern item. Any line pattern used by an Aegis Draw Plus drawing can be imported as a part of the drawing. Fill Pattern ------------ Several predefined fill patterns are available in Draw/Fill Pattern item. As with Line Pattern, you cannot create a custom fill pattern but you can import fills created with Aegis Draw Plus. In Professional Page, fills larger than a screen in the higher magnification modes, will not be displayed, but will print properly. Fills are always displayed in lower magnification modes. Color Menu ---------- All of the structured drawing tools can be colored using the Ink Color or Fill Color items in the Color menu (see the "Color" section). NOTES ON USING STRUCTURED TOOLS ------------------------------- Tracing From Bitmap Graphics ---------------------------- A bitmap graphic can be brought into Professional Page and used as a template for a structured illustration, diagram, or map. Simply draw over the outlines of the graphic as desired, using the various drawing tools, and then mop the graphic box to get rid of it. Merge the elements of the structured drawing into one box, and finish it with type, fills, or patterns. Using Snap to Grid ------------------ To get different line segments to join neatly, adjust the Snap to Grid at a line setting, and set it On. It will be much easier to get the ends of lines or curves to join neatly if they are automatically snapping to the same grid intersections. Freehand -------- It is difficult to draw smoothly with the Freehand tool, since it is sensitive to even slight deviations of the mouse or drawing tablet. Rather, use Bezier curves or straight lines when possible. PRINT ----- It js easiest to learn and use Professional Page if you have easy access to a printer to output your pages regularly as you create them. Output Service Bureaus ---------------------- If you do not own a PostScript compatible laser printer or typesetting machine, you can find instant printing or typesetting shops in most major centers which will sell PostScript output or rent output time. If an output service does not have an Amiga to hook up to their printer, it is possible to transmit a Professional Page file as an ASCII PostScript file to whatever personal computer the output service uses (such as a Apple MacIntosh or an IBM PC) which can then send the file to the printer. If you find yourself using a number of output services, make sure that the output service you are using is loaded with all the fonts you need. Different companies have different selections of fonts. Collect different output bureaus' typeface samplers, and refer to them regularly (see the Design section for information regarding the selection of typefaces). PostScript Compatibility ------------------------ Professional Page will output to any PostScript compatible laser printer such as the QMS PS 8OO+ and the Apple LaserWriter, or to a PostScript compatible typesetting machine, such as a Linotronic 100 or 300 that is equipped with a PostScript RIP (Raster Image Processor). Connecting Your Amiga to a Printer ---------------------------------- For more informmation, see Appendix D: Connecting Your Amiga to a Printer. Setting Printer Specifications ------------------------------ Professional Page gives you a wide variety of printing options, including halftone screening, a variety of film and paper sizes, and page rotation. There are three menus that affect printing: Project, Page, and Preferences. Some parameters affect the entire document, while others afrect individual pages. Printer Specifications in the Preferences Menu ---------------------------------------------- Adjust the Preferences/Printer Specifications item to let Professional Page know what kind of output you want from the printer. You can specify the size of paper or film, whether it is sheets or rolls, whether you want to print positive or negative, and right reading or reversed. You can also specify the density and angle of halftone screens for printing graytones, color bitmap graphics, colored text, and structured graphics. Printing a Document or a Page From the Project Menu --------------------------------------------------- Select the Project/Print item to output pages to a PostScript printer. The Print item has three sub-items: Current Page, Entire Document, and Thumb Nail. For all of these sub-items number of copies, where to send the PostScript output, automatic or manual feed, proof mode, and whether to override custom specifications is requested. Project/Print/Current Page will print the current displayed page. Project/Print/Entire Document will print the document; allowing you to specify the range of pages to print (default is the entire document). Project/Print/Thumb Nail will print either 4, 9, or 16 pages onto one output page. Changing the Printing Specifications of a Single Page ----------------------------------------------------- You may find it useful to change the print specifications of a particular page. You can rotate individual pages, and adjust the scale and position on the output page or film. In the Page/Alter/Current requester, select the Output Print Specifications gadget. The requester contains a Page Position gadget for viewing the size and orientation of the page. The printer output dimensions are indicated by a white rectangle. You can also select the X and Y position, and scale the page. Type the numerical values for Position, Scale, and Rotation (in degrees) into the appropriate text lines, and press RETURN after each entry. The outline of your modified page will be superimposed over the white rectangle of the printer's output dimensions to show you what the page will look like when printed. 6. COLOR... ---------- From within the Professional Page program, you can print black and white halftones in sixteen gray shades from any PostScript compatible laser printer or typesetting machine. In addition to sophisticated use of black and white graphics and text, you can make use of color in the Professional Page systen in a variety of ways. This section describes how you can create and maintain a color database, and use color within Professional Page docunments. Importing and Creating Color Information ---------------------------------------- Professional Page provides facilities to manipulate and save color information for later output using the Professional Color separator. Color information can originate from three sources: * Amiga color bitmap graphic images. Amiga graphics can be created by painting, animation, or any IFF compatible graphic programs or by video digatizers such as Digi-View (see Appendix G: Using Professional Page with Other Amiga Products). * Structured drawings from CAD programs such as Aegis Draw Plus, which can have a variety of colored lines and patterns. * Color information created within Professional Page using the items in the Color menu. Displaying Color --------------- The Professional Page screen can display up to sixteen colors at a time. Nine of these colors are predefined as shades of gray. The remaining seven are used to represent user defined colors. Full color information is maintained for the Professional Color separator. Color Bitmap Graphics --------------------- Professional Page can import any Amiga bitmap picture so long as it is saved in the IFF file standard. This includes pictures ranging from 1 pixel square to 1024 by 1024 pixels. Any number of colors from 2 to 4096 can be used including Amiga HAM format pictures. These bitmaps will be converted to 8 grey levels for screen display but all of the color information is retained by Professional Page for later printing. (See "Bitmap Graphics" in the Using Professional Page section.) Aegis Draw Plus Structured Drawings ----------------------------------- Aegis Draw and Aegis Draw Plus CAD (Computer Aided Design) structured drawings can also be imported into Professional Page. The color information in the drawing will be retained, but Professional Page will use its internal color palette to represent the colors. Color Created Within Professional Page -------------------------------------- Color information can be created in Professional Page in a variety of ways. Professional Page maintains a data base of up to 127 colors which can be defined within the program and saved to disk. Colors can be assigned to text and structured graphics through the Color menu. Using Color ----------- Professional Page treats color much like any style or typographical attribute of text (see "Typography" in the Design section). It also affects the active box in terms of frame colors or structured drawing colors. Any type, structured drawings, or frames are then depicted in the chosen Ink color. Fills are displayed with the Fill Color. THE COLOR MENU -------------- The Color menu is composed of five items: Ink Color, Fill Color, Define, Load, and Save (see the "Color Menu" in the Technical Reference section). You can work with two Professional Page colors simultaneously, one for text and structured drawing tools, and one for filled patterns. Ink Color --------- The Ink Color item specifies the color of any defined block of text, or oftext you type in with the Text tool. You can also specify the color of any of the structured graphic tools you draw with, or of structured frames for graphic or text boxes. By default, the ink colors immediately available in Professional Page are nine shades of gray, from black to white. However, if you select the From List sub-item, a requester will appear, giving you access to all of the colors in the current color database. You can select an already defined color, or you can define a new ink color of your own using Color/Define. Fill Color ---------- The Fill Color item works exactly the same as Ink Color item, but it allows you to specify the color of patterns and fills for structured drawings. Defining a Color ---------------- You can create almost any color to use with the Ink Color or Fill Color items. If you select Define, a requester appears and you can specify custom colors for display and printing. RGB Color --------- Screen colors are defined in terms of RGB values. On the left side of the requester is a set of Red, Green, and Blue sliders. These sliders let you set any color from the Amiga's palette of 4096 colors. For example, moving the Red and Green sliders to the top, and the Blue slider to the bottom creates a yellow color. The color you define appears in the Current Color Display gadget in the lower right of the requester. You can name the color by clearing the Name text line and typing in the name of the new color. Ust the standard naming conventions of your choice. Yellow, Magenta, and Cyan ------------------------- In printing, yellow/magenta/cyan colors are used. Below and to the right of the RGB sliders are three small text lines labelled Y, M, and C. These are linked to the RGB slider, and show the color separation equivalent of the computer's video colors. The Yellow, Magenta, and Cyan text lines allow you to specify color information more precisely than it can be displayed on the screen. Type in the precise color values ror each of the three color components, name the color, and save it to your document's Color database. When color separating the document, the Professional Color separator will generate the black, yellow, magenta, and cyan components from the yellow, magenta and cyan information. Custom Color and Mechanical Color --------------------------------- There are two circular gadgets in the middle of the Color Palette requester, labelled Custom Color and Mechanical Color. A Custom Color is a Yellow, Magenta, or Cyan combination to which you have assigned an arbitrary screen color. For instance, if you have created three very similar shades of blue by typing in the Y, M, and C values in the text lines, you can assign them radically different screen colors so that the shades will be easier to distinguish. The proper color will be used in printing. Mechanical Color indicates that the color that you select is not intended to be separated into Black, Yellow, Magenta, and Cyan components. Rather, any page elements given a Mechanical Color value will be saved as one completely separate color, for printing as part of a two or three color job, or as an extra, solid color in a four color process run. Loading Colors -------------- Select the Load item. This will call up a Load Color file requester. Select the disk drive and directory you have designated for storing your color databases, and select the color database you wish to load. See "Using file requesters" in the Technical Reference section. Saving Colors ------------- When you select Save, a file requester appears. Select a disk drive and directory, and save the new color database. PRINTING COLOR -------------- All of the color information you have created with Professional Page is intended for use widh the Professional Color separator. However, you can still print any document containing color information in black and white, without using the separator. Any color information will be printed as gray tones. 7. DESIGN... ------------ There are two things to consider when designing something for publication. The first is the idea that you are trying to convey. The second is the reader. If you understand what it is you are trying to convey and to whom, you will find it much easier to design a suitable publication. Consider the effect that design has on you as a reader. For example, when you read a newspaper, do you read everything? Probably not. You scan headlines and read articles that look interesting. What draws your eye to an article or advertisement? More often than not, it is an attractive layout, a striking illustration, or an interesting headline. On the printed page form and content are forever linked. When it comes to catching the eye of a reader the way the infornation is presented can be as vital as the informlation itself. Printed communication is a dialogue between the reader and the publisher, client, or author. The quality of the publication's design can affect the reader's choice as much as can their personal interests. An advedising agency spends most of its time creating a concept and a graphic design that makes their ad stand out from all others yet still convey a specific message. If you want a message to reach more readers, spend as much time on the presentation of the message as on the rnessage itself. This is not to suggest that you substitute design for content. Attractive typography and layout show respect for the reader's needs, it makes reading more pleasurable and productive, and this gives your client the best value for his or her money. This section discusses typography, page layout, and design from this perspective. As a desktop publisher, you want your documents to be read. By taking the time to improve your layout skills your creations will be more popular with your readers. This section begins with the basics of typography, and continues on to discuss effective page layout. TYPOGRAPHY ---------- In Professional Page, typography can be changed at any point in the body text. TYpography includes the typeface, size, style, kerning, line spacing, baseline shifts, hyphenation, and justification. All typography attributes can be set in Professional Page's text editor. Many of the attributes can also be set by embedding format codes in the word processor's text (see Appendix F: Formatting Text). Typography is used in the text editor in two ways: * In block mode: Once a block of text is marked (see "Text" in the Using Professional Page section), the typography of the first character in the block is reflected in the Type menu. Pull down theType menu and the typographical attributes are shown with checkmarks beside the chosen values. Should a list not have a sub-item with a checkmark beside it, call up the requester for that submenu, and the current value will be displayed in its text line. Although the attributes displayed in the Type menu reflect the first character of the block, changing the typographical attributes affects the entire block. * In Text mode: The text cursor can be postioned using the mouse or cursor keys. The Type menu will take on the typographical attributes of the character just before the text cursor position. Therefore, without changing the typography, the next character typed will look like the character before it. Changing these type attributes will affect the next character typed. However, should you move the cursor position before typing a character, the Type menu will reflect the typography at the new cursor location and any previous typographical changes made will affect the next character to be typed. NOTE: Be sure to set the attributes at the beginning of the box, since there is no previous character to set the attributes for the next typed character. Let's review type terminology ----------------------------- Letterforms are composed of the following elements: (72 point "Type") Ascender X-Height Serif Baseline Descender Units of Measure ---------------- Typeface sizes are measured in points. There are approximately 72 points in an inch. However, the 12 point pica has become a standard unit of measure. Units of measure (inches, picas, and centimeters) are selected in the Preferences/Layout Tools/Units of Measure sub-item. Rulers, Coordinates, and all other positioning tools use the current unit of measure. When using picas, the number before the decimal place is the number of picas, and the number after the decimal place is the number of points not the decimal fraction of the pica. Styles of Typeface ------------------ Professional Page supports a variety of PostScript typefaces (see Appendix K: Fonts) which can be selected via the Type/Typeface menu item. If the desired typeface does not appear in the sub-item list, select New. This lists all the ypefaces known to Professional Page at the time. You can now pick the needed typeface from the list. Serif ----- Serifs are horizontal widenings or crosslines at the ends of the main strokes of a letter (this text is set with a serif typeface). A serif helps the horizontal flow in reading the text which makes serif typefaces more suitable for body copy. Sans Serif ---------- Sans serif typefaces have constant widths on the main strokes of the letters or characters. They have a cleaner, more "modern" appearance, but are harder to read in long passages. Roman ----- For most typefaces, the Roman version is the normal, balanced version of the typeface, such as you are reading now. A Roman style typeface with serifs on the characters has been shown to be more readable than sans serif or italics. Styles ------ Bold, Italic, Underline, and outline styles are accessible through the Type menu. Novelty or Specialty -------------------- If you look through type catalogues, you will find many script and decorative letterforms mainly used for headlines and advertising display type since they are quite uncomfortable to read in longer passages. Type Size and Column Size ------------------------- Professional Page is capable of handling type sizes up to 127 points. Type Sizes are generally categorized as either Text or Display. Text type is usually fourteen points or smaller, and Display type is more than fourteen points. Your choice of typeface is very important for the reader. "8 point Eyestrain" is not only a description of a typeface, but a reminder that your typeface choice directly affects the reader. Column Width ------------ For easiest reading, body copy (the text of an article) should be set in at least a ten point typeface in columns no smaller than one alphabet wide (a-z). An optimum length is one and one-half alphabets. The alphabet is used to measure this because it has a balance of character widths. As a general rule, a column of text should be not wider than two alphabets. Another popular rule of thumb is that the length of line in picas should not exceed twice the point size. If you are using ten point type, then colunlns should be no more than twenty picas in length. A line should average nine to ten words. Kerning ------- Kerning is the fitting of pairs of letters closer together or farther apart to make the letter spacing more readable. This is becauge some letters naturally fit closer together. For example: letter pairs such as AT, Tu, Ve, Wo, Te, and To. Professional Page has automatic kerning, which can be turned on and off by selecting the Type/Kerning item. When kerning is selected, type will have a more compact, and consistent letter spacing. Manua] kerning is done by tracking two letters (see "Tracking" in this section). Line Spacing ------------ Line Spacing is the amount of space inserted between lines of text. Sufficient line spacing makes text more readable. There is no set rule for the amount of line spacing you should use, but there are severa] useful guldelines: * A sans serif typeface may need more line spacing than a serif typeface because it has less honzontal flow. * The longer the measure (the wider the colunn), the more line spacing is necessary in order for your eye to pick up the next line as you read down the page. * Small point sizes need proportionately more line spacing to spread out the type and make it easier to read. * "Fat" typefaces (those with large a x-height and short ascenders and descenders) need more line spacing than typefaces with a small X-height and long ascenders and descenders. Professional Page offers four kinds of line spacing: * Fixed * Relative * Leading * Paragraph Spacing. Line spacing in Professional Page is calculated from the top of a capital on one line to the top of a capital on the line below it. To set the line spacing, select Type/Line Spacing. A Line Spacing requester will appear. Select one of the Fixed, Relative, or Leading sub-items by clicking on the appropriate button. Enter the line spacing value desired into the appropriate text line. Fixed line spacing and Leading are defined in points (for example, 10 point text on 11 point body would insert one point of leading between each line). Relative line spacing is defined as a percentage of the largest text point size on the line. For example, 10 point text with relative line spacing of 110% would have one point of leading between lines. If "baseline shift" is active on the line, the program will automatically adjust inte-line spacing accordingly. Leading (pronounced "ledding") is the constant space between lines of text. It gets it name from the strips of lead that were once used to separate lines of type when typesetting was done using slugs of cast hot metal (lead) to form each line of type. The body text of this manual was set using 12 point type woth leading of 2 points. This could be defined: * fixed line spacing 14.00 (i.e. 14 points) * leading 2.00 (i.e. 2 points of leading in excess of the point size) * Relative 117% (i.e. 117% of the point size) Extra spacing between paragraphs is often useful in indicating paragraph divisions clearly. The Paragraph Spacing sub-item allows extra paragraph spacing to be set as a percentage of the current line spacing. The interparagraeh spacing between text paragraphs of this manual is set at 150% of line spacing (i.e. 150% of 14 points or 19 points total between paragraphs). Tracking -------- Tracking is the adjustment of the horizontal spacing between characters by the insertion or deletion of space. Tracking is specified in terms of hundredths (or a percentage) of a em space. It can be performed on a marked block by either selecting the Type/Tracking menu-item or using the left and right cursor keys. Each press of these keys adjusts tracking by 2% of a em space. Baseline Shifts --------------- In some cases, not all text in a column is set in uniformly straight lines (for example, when setting mechanical equasions, or using sub and superscripts). To allow you to control variations in the baseline of sections of text mark a block of text, and then move its baseline up and down. Select the Type/Baseline item and a Baseline Shift requester appears. Type the point size of the baseline shift into the text line for example: +5.000 to move up five points -5.000 to move down fie points and the marked block will be moved up or down. It can also be adjusted by using the up and down cursor keys. Each press will adjust the baseline by 1/2 point. Paragraph Indents and Tabs -------------------------- Tabs are specified on a box-by-box basis (see the Set Tabs gadget in the Box/Alter/Active item). When a tab position is entered in the requester the cursor skips to the next available location. The paragraph indent is also specified in the Set Tabs requester. The first line of a paragraph can be flush with the body of the paragraph, indented, or outdented ("hanging"). Paragraphs in the body ttxt of this manual are all "flush", and all items preceeded by "bullets" are an example of "hanging" indents. Justification ------------- Justification is the method of setting text so that itl lines up with the left, right, both, or neither margins of the box. Text can be: Flush justified. Text is flushed to both left and right margins. The spacing between words is adjusted so that both left and rigjht margins align. Left justified. Text is flushed left, leaving a ragged right edge to the paragraphs. This is sometimes referred to as "flush left/ragged right". Right justified. Text is flushed right, leaving a ragged left edge to the paragraphs. This is sometimes referred to as "flush right/ragged left". Centered. Text is centered on each line. This produces both left and right ragged margins. The justification of the line is determined by the justification setting for the first character of that line. Hyphenation ----------- Hyphenation is the breaklng of a word at the end of a line so that part of the word appears at the end of the line, and the rest of the word appears at the beginning of the following line. This allows you to create better proportioned word spacing, especially in narrow columns. Text is hyphenated in Professional Page poge in two ways. The program has a hyphenation algorithm and a built-in exception dictionary which look for where to break the word. Hyphenation can be turned on and off by selecting Type/Hyphenation. To not hyphenate a word, block the word and turn hyphenation off. To control the number of characters before and after a hyphen select Preferences/Hyphenation Control, and type the value you want (the default value is two). The larger the prefix and suffix value, the harder it is for the hyphenation program to break small words, but the less likely it is that you will see odd word breaks. The program also uses a user-defined hyphenation-exception dictionary containing a list of words with permissible word breaks specified. You can customize the dictionary by using the text editor of your choice to create a list of words with the prefenred breaks indicated by hyphens. If a word is not to be hyphenated enter the word without hyphens. To access the list in Professional Page, select the Preferences/Hyphenation Control item. You may now load your list in as the new exception dictionary or merge it with the existing one. An alternate means of hyphenation control is to use "discretionary hyphens" within the Professional Page text editor. While editing text, "soft" hyphens are inserted at preferred hyphenation point by typing "-" (hyphen) while holding down the CTRL-key. PAGE LAYOUT AND DESIGN ---------------------- When you think a page needs a little variety in typeface, do not choose another typeface but instead vary the standard typeface with bold, italic, underline, outline, or a combination. Unless you want to emphasize a phrase or passage, body copy should not be set in bold or italic style. Setting text in all capital letters will emphasize a passage, but at the expense of reading speed. Limiting the Number of Typefaces -------------------------------- A common mistake is using too many typefaces in a document. One typeface for the body copy may even be sufficient, though this runs the risk of being boring. A document should have no more than two typefaces for the body copy and no more than two for the headlines. Advertisements or special messages are exceptions to this rule. When the reader encounters a new typeface, particularly a novelty typeface, it is similar to coming into a dark room after being in the sun. The reader's eyes need a moment to adjust. Similar Typefaces in a Document ------------------------------- Do not mix similar typefaces. For example, Palatino and Garamond would give a very unpleasant look to your document if they were both used for setting body text on the same page. Typefaces in Professional Page ------------------------------ Professional Page comes with metric tables (font width tables) for a variety of typefaces (see Appendix K: Fonts). If your laser printer or typesetting machine has these fonts available, you can choose from all of these fonts to design your document. A Professional Page Type Specimen Book -------------------------------------- Designers, typographers, and printers use a "specimen book" to choose typefaces. The specimen book shows a particular set of characters in every typeface available. This set of characters might be a complete alphabet, or just a characteristic sentence of your choice. It is worthwhile to make your own specimen book with the typefaces available in your laser printer. It should have exanaples in the typeface sizes you most often use. Creating a Consistent Style --------------------------- The layout of the page should let the reader get the most information in the least amount of time. Even if your document is a one-time thing, a consistent style helps the reader find infornlation. A consistent, recognizable style is even more vital if your document appears on a regular basis, since that style is the basis of how people recognize and judge the quality of your publication. Many things should be consistent in a professional publication. The typeface, the size of the margins, the way articles are composed, the way authors are given credit, and the size and weight of box borders should be all carefully chosen and maintained. If a document is published regularly, such as a monthly newsletter, a consistent style makes your job easier. The templates in Professional Page allow you to use the same basic page layouts from issue to issue. Functional Layout ----------------- The physical layout of your pages influences the way information is presented. For example, newspapers are folded into quarters. on the newsstand or in a street corner newspaper box, only one corner of the entire sheet is visible. A newspaper layout artist keeps this in mind when designing a front page. Consider the ways in which a newspaper's physical shape affects its graphic layout. The most familiar parts of a front page are the name plate and the banner headline. The name plate displays the name of the newspaper in a particular typeface and style that does not vary from day to day. Very often the front page has an eye-catching picture in the upper-right corner, just above the fold. On the left edge of the front page, there is a summary of articles inside. Each item on the front page is carefully chosen and placed for the best effect on the prospective reader. If you are composing a newsletter, consider its physical layout and how it affects your graphic layout. Newsletters are often mailed to a reader. If the newsletter is printed on standard 8 1/2 by 11 inch paper it may be folded for mailing. This creates two faces that could be seen by the reader, one where their address is printed, and another blank side. To make a newsletter stand out, an eye-catching graphic or a headline on the outside face of the folded newsletter are excellent ideas. Grids and Templates ------------------- The grid method is the most common way of organizing a page. With a grid, the page is divided into a pattem of rectangles that guide the placement of all elements on the page. The grid lines are not printed on the page, but only serve as placement guides. All elements of the page layout (such as pictures and columns of text) can be aligned with these grid lines. To lay out a grid on a page, use the Page/Create/From Default sub-item and specify a number of columns (see the Technical Reference section for more details). Once the page has been defined, it can be saved as a template using the Page/Make Template item, and called up later. Using grids and templates helps you lay out pages quickly and consistently. Organizing the Page ------------------- Before you place anything on a page, ask yourself some questions. First, how important is this element? If it is important, then it should be in a prominent place on the page, like the above-the-fold picture on the front page of a newsletter. What should this element line up with? Finally, how does the entire page look with the element in this position? The grid makes these decisions very easy. If your text boxes have a default width that is an even division of the page width, page composition is much easier. Each box should also have internal margins that maintain the proper spacing between columns. Design elements can cross grid lines. Consider a page wAth two pictures. The most important picture should be in a prominent place, illustrating the article directly below it. A less important photograph for this story can be tucked into a less prominent part of the page. The photographs are cropped to the edges of the internal margins. The left edge of the page has the ends of two articles from previous pages. (An article continued from a previous page is called a "jump".) It is possible to mix grid sizes on a page, although this should be done cautiously, and only if you wish to emphasize a division of the page into separate areas. For examlple, the top portion of a page could have five grid rectangles across, while the lower page, perhaps featurig an article by a different author or on another subject, could have only three grids across. Paragraph and Column Layout --------------------------- After you have selected a layout style, you will spend most of your time composing pages of the document. There are a few tricks that can speed the process. One common device is a dummy. This is a small model of the doculent. For a newspaper or newsletter, the dummy can be made from sheets of typing paper folded in half and nested together. The grid lines are marked on the dummy in advance. You can make these dummy sheets with Professional Page by making boxes with frames. Block out the elements of your layout that are are never moved, such as a name plate or a masthead. Then place the other articles on the dummy pages by measuring or estimating their length. Headlines --------- Headlines are commonly set in bold or bold italic. A common practice is to have the headlines in a sans serif typeface, and the text in a serif typeface. Headlines are most easily read when composed in mixed upper and lowercase, just like body copy. The largest headlines should be placed high on the page because they draw the eye to them. Never "butt" (position) two headlines horizontally. This is called a "tombstone." The reader may read both headlines as one. If butted headllnes are unavoidable, be sure to use diffeent typefaces to make them distinct. Gray and White Space -------------------- White and gray space are aesthetic terms for the overall appearance of a layout element. Body copy is gray space. Viewed from a distance, columns of text look gray. Margins are white space. A good layout artist seeks a balance between white and gray space because readers ignore large areas of gray space. Pictures and graphics are good for breaking up large gray spaces. Another easy wvay to break up gray columns of text is the quote box. Choose a particularly interesting quotation from the text. Make a small box to break up a long column of text, and give it a simple border. Place the quote in the box in a type size between body copy and headline size. The reader's eye is drawn to the quote, and it may induce them to read the story. Fit to Print ------------ Fitting an article to available space is a valuable skill. There are several ways to stretch or shrink the length of an article. The crudest way is removing sentences or paragraphs from the article. Two other ways were mentioned above, the addition of pictures and the quote box. can also adjust spacings within the text itself. Spacing ------- Spacing within text can be adjusted both horizontally and vertically to fit the text into a specific area. Horizontal spacing acts on the space between characters and words. Vertical spacing acts on the spacing between lines. Horizontal Spacing: ------------------- Horizontal spacing within text can be adjusted by setting or re-setting any of the following type options: * Hyphenation. If ON, hyphenation shrinks the size of a column by increasing the number of characters which fit on each line, thus decreasing the number of lines (of depth) in each column. Hyphenation should always be ON in flush justified copy. * Inter-word spacing. The default inter-word spacing is preset to be proportionally correct for each typeface. Using other units of inter-word spacing (for example EM, EN, or Thin spaces) between words will adjust the number of words which fit on each line. (See Glossary section for definitions). * Tracking. Another form of horizontal spacing control which adjusts the constant space between all characters in a line or block (the default setting is zero). If you "track in", space is reduced between characters, while "tracking out" adds space between all characters on a line (or in a highlighted block). Tracking is adjustable in units of 1/100 of an EM. * Kerning. A vanation of tracking that operates on specific letter pairs. Kerning can be set to ON within an entire text block to automatically adjust all pairs set within the program, or can be controlled between individual letter pairs. Vertical spacing: ----------------- Vertical spacing within a text block can be controlled by adjusting any of the following: * line spacing (or leading) to change the anaount of vertical spacing between each line of text. It is recommended that line spacing for all columns of text of the same point size and typeface sbould be consistent on any one page. * paragraph spacing. To fill (or reduce) the amount of text within any one column, adjust the amount of inter-paragraph spacing. * fixed spacing. The most aesthetically pleasing way to adjust the overall depth of text within a column is to adjust the anount of spacing above and below headings or sub-headings within the column. After the article is fitted into the space allotted, look for what are called "rivers of white". These can be eliminated by adjusting either the inter-character and inter-word spacing, or by manually hyphenating a word at the end of the line using the discretionary hyphen. Borders ------- Boxes and box frames highlight text. They should not dominate the page or overshadow the text inside. The border of a box should be achieved by adjusting the inner margins of the text boxes if required. Your choice of box should become part of the consistent layout style you use. Summary ------- The layout of your documnent affects whether your message effectively reaches the reader. By improving your layout, you improve the quality of your document as a form of communication. The simpler and more consistent your layout style, and the clearer the emphasis on the main ideas contained in the text, the better your documents will be. 6. TECHNICAL REFERENCE... ------------------------ This section provides a detailed explanation of all elenaents of the Professional Page program. Each menu selection and gadget is exhaustively examined, with explanations of what it does, how it can be accessed, what it looks like on the screen, and how it works. You should re@er to the Technical Reference section when you have a question about where to find an item, or what some part of the program does. The Professional Page Screen ---------------------------- The Professional Page screen is the Amiga equivalent of a designer's drawing table. The strip along the top displays the menus which give you access to various parts of the program. The strip down the right hand side has a variety of tools to assist you in laying out pages. This reference begins at the top left corner of the screen, and works its way across the top and down the right hand side to the bottom, explaining each feature along the way. For many menu selections, there are keyboard equivalents. These are summarized in the Appendix B: Keyboard Equivalents as well as the Quick Reference Guide. COMMON ELEMENTS --------------- Let's look at some common elements before getting to the main body of the Technical Reference section: using requesters and using extended selection. Using Requesters ---------------- Requesters are used whenever additional information is needed by Professional Page. Requesters prompt for required information or acknowledgement of an action. There are several types of input components that requesters use, including: listings, booleans, strings, buttons, and slider requesters. Listings: Listings are displayed in a small window. They may contain directories and file names, color names, or font names. If there are more entries than can fit into the window, the scroll bars (to the right of the window) can be used to diaplay different sections of the list. Scroll arrows (above and below the scroll bar) can also be used for this purpose. To select an entry in the window, click on the entry. In most requesters, it is possible to select an entry and acknowledge the requester by double clicking on the entry. Boolean: Booleans are "ON/OFF" type requesters. "ON" (a filled circle) shows that a particular feature is active. "OFF" (an empty circle) shows that a particular feature is inactive. Generally speaking, clicking in the circle will change a "ON" to a "OFF" state and vice-versa. Strings: String requesters expect information to be typed in. To enter information, click the text line associated with the string requester and use the normal Amiga editing features to enter the information. Text input should be terminated by pressing the RETURN key. Buttons: Button requesters are used for selecting a further requester and for acknowledging the current one. They are rectangular in shape and are activated by clicking on them. Sliders: Sliders are used to input values on a scale. For example, in the color definition requester, there is a scale for the percentage of red to use on the screen. Adjusting the slider will adjust the amount of red used. File Requester -------------- In Professional Page, all access to disk files is done through a file requester. The file requester has the following components: * Listing: All directories and files are listed in the listing window. Clicking a directory or file will place the name into the Drawer or File string text line. Double clicking on a file will select the file and acknowledge the requester. Chicking on a directory will open that drawer on disk. To close a drawer, jugt click on "/<PARENT>" entry in the listing. * String Components: Drawer and File names can be entered directly into the appropnate text lines. * Buttons: Drive selection and acknow;ledgement buttons are also in the file requester. Moving Requesters ----------------- If the requester obstructs your view of a part of the page, simply grab the requester box by the moving gadget (the horizontal lines at the top of the requester). Extended Select --------------- This technique greatly speeds up the process of making a series of menu selections using the mouse. This offers the ability to make several mouse selections with one pass of the mouse across several menus. * Pull down a menu, and, keeping the right mouse button pressed, click with the left mouse button on several items and sub-items as you work your way down the menu. * When you release the right button, the various items and sub-items you selected will be enacted in the order in which you selected them. * For example, if you have selected the Text tool, and then select Type/Typeface/New, Type/Size/New, and Type/Style/Bold all in one pass, those items with requesters will automatically present their requesters in sequence, while the items which toggle on/off will have changed to the setting you desire. PROJECT MENU ------------ The Project menu is the most general menu, consisting of nine items. New --- Creates an environment for a new document. * Clears the existing document from memory. There can only have one document open at a time (though that document can have many pages). * New is automatically executed upon startup. * The name of document is changed to "Untitled". * Any material which is located on the art board is not deleted. Open ---- Opens an existing Professional Page document, reading it from a floppy disk or a hard disk. * Open deleted the document in memory. A warning requester appears to confirm that the current document should be deleted. * Opens the file requester to allow you to enter the name of the document to be loaded. * Any materials located on the art board will be deleted. This is because you are loading an entire document, including a saved art board which may have materials already on it. Save ---- Saves the version of the document that you've been working on, using the current document name as the filename. If no name has been specified, the document will be given the file name "Untitiled". * Select Save frequently while working on a document, to ensure not losing data because of a power failure or a system crash. * The art board is saved as part of the document. * See Project/Information and Project/Save As to change the current document name. Save As ------- Saves the current document under a new name. * The file requester is used to select a new filename for the document. * The art board is saved as part of the document. * The new filename becomes the current document name. Information ----------- Displays information related to the current document. * The "Document Information" requester includes user-definable text lines for the document name (file name), author's name, comment, and revision number. * Type in any changes necessary. Changes made with this requester are saved with the document. * Two dates/times are saved with each document: the date/time it was first created and the date/time it was last saved. * The List Bitmap Files gadget calls up another requester which shows a list of the bitmap graphic files used in the document. Professional Page may prompt you to make these files available when you load or print the document. Import ------ Import is used to import box components (such as text, bitmap graphics or structured drawings) into the document. Import/Text ----------- Imports text generated by various word processors and text editors. * Imported text sits in the text paste buffer until the Paste item is issued from the text editor. * The file requester will ask you which file to import. * The requester's title tells you which type of file the program expects. (See "Preferences/Text Format" later in this section regarding importing specific files saved by word processor programs). * Text files can have native and imbedded formatting codes. See the Using Professional Page secting and Appendix F: Formatting Text for more details. Import/Bitmap Graphic --------------------- Imports a bitmap picture. A "bitmap" is a computer picture composed of a pattern of pixels of colors or gray tones. The Amiga has a standard file format, called IFF, for all bitmap pictures created by paint programs such as Deluxe Paint II or video digitizers such as Digi-View. The resolution of a bitmap picture is determined when it is created: Professional Page cannot change it. * An Import IFF Bitmap? file requester prompts you for the desired file name. * Imported bitmaps are placed directly into the active box, so you must have an empty, active box before you can import a bitmap graphic. * Any IFF including HAM mode graphics can be loaded into Professional Page with any number of colors from two to 4096. * All resolution modes are supported. A bitmap picture on the Amiga can range in size from a single pixel to as many as 1024 by 1024 pixels. Since any picture can have a different color map and Professional Page uses only 16 colors on the screen, the colors from the imported graphics are rendered in 8 gray scales when displayed. The original color information, however, is retained in the graphic's original data file and will be used when you print or color separate the page. * Since color must be converted into gray levels for display, a large bitmap picture takes time to load: so be patient. * Depending on how much memory you have on your Amiga, you may face limits on the number of graphics you can have in a document. * In order to load the document or to print the page in black and white, you must have all the original picture disk files available. You will be prompted for the appropriate disk when needed. * It may be desirable to place all the images for a document in the same directory of a disk so that they can be found again easily when it is time to print the document (with fewer disk swaps). * Proof printing does not require the bitmap disks. (See "Project/Print".) * For information on sizing, cropping, and moving bitmap graphics see the Using Professional Page section. Import/Structured Drawing ------------------------- Imports a structured drawing. A "structured drawing" differs from a bitmap in that instead of being composed of a mosaic of dots, it is made up of "vectors"--mathematical descriptions of line direction, width and so on. A structured drawing can be printed out on a laser printer or a typesetting machine at the printer's maximum resolution. This means that structured drawings can be very smooth without the "jaggies" of a bitmap image. * The Import Drawing? requester prompts you for the file name. * Similar to the bitmap graphic, a structured drawing is placed directly into the empty active box. * All of the graphic elements, line weights, fill shadings, and fill patterns, from Aegis Draw Plus are supported. The drawing is automatically sized so that it is entirely visible, and occupies the largest possible area of the active box, while maintaining the aspect ratio of the drawing. Print ----- Print is used to get hard copy output from a PostScript device. The Pring item has three sub-items which give you a choice as to what you want to send to the laser printer or typesetting machine. These sub-items are: Current Page, Entire Document, and Thumb Nail. (See Using Professional Page for more information on printing.) Print/Current Page, Entire Document, Thumb Nail ----------------------------------------------- Generates hard copy output. A requester will prompt for: * the number of copies you wish to print. * the printer port or disk file you wish to send the output to (click on the ser:, par:, or disk gadget). * Manual or Automatic paper Feed. * Proof mode. This is used if you wish to print only the text and structured drawings without the delay of printing bitmap graphics. * Override Custom Spece. This is used to override the special output settings specified in the Page requester. * The Print Entire Document requester also asks for a range of pages to print. * The Print Thumb Nail requester asks for a range of pages to print, and whether there shoudl be 2x2, 3x3, or 4x4 thumb nails per output sheet. About ----- Brings up an information window displaying copyright messages and credits. Quit ---- Exits from Professional Page. A requester asks for confirmation of the action. PAGE MENU --------- The Page menu allows operations on individual pages or template. Pages and templates may be created or deleted, saved or retrieved from disk, or modified. Template Pages -------------- Template pages are individual pages that are used as a prototype when creating other pages. The newly created page will have the same dimensions and contain the same boxes and contents as the template page. You can specify separate even and odd template pages, to allow for the way the final document will be printed and read. The newly created page takes the attributes from the appropriate template. note that all boxes on a page creted from a template are locked, but can be unlocked if desired. Pages may be inserted at specified location in the document. If necessary, pages are shifted upwards, to accommodate for the newly created pages. Create ------ Creates a new page, either from an existing template, or from a default page that can be tailored to the requirements of the job being done. Create/From Template -------------------- Creates a number of pages to be inserted into the document. Pages will take on the attributes and contents of the appropriate template page. A requester will prompt for the page range and for the desired action. The options are: * Use Page Numbers: Pages will be created using the Odd or Even template, depending on whether the page number is odd or even. * Use Odd: Pages will be created using only the Odd template. * Use Even: Pages will be created using only the Even template. Create/From Default ------------------- Adds a range of pages to a specified location in the document, from the default attributes. * Brings up the New Page requester so tha you can change the attributes of the new page. Load ---- Loads a saved page into the even or odd template, or directly into the document as the current page. The Load item has three sub-items: New Current, Even Template and Odd Template. * Loading a page file into a template replaces the existing template with the page just lo9aded. * Loading a page file into current adds that page to the end of the document. Save ---- Saves a particular page separately from the rest of the document. The Save item has three sub-items: Current, Even Template and Odd Template. NOTE: A page file only holds one page at a time; it does not contain any information on the page number or the art board. it is a good idea to give your page files a suffix like ".page", ".even" or ".odd" so that it is easier to find them in the future, and not confuse them with document files. Finally, the page and document files have completely different formats - pages cannot be loaded as documents and vice-versa. Delete ------ Removes the current page from the document. * If there are boxes on the page, you will be asked whether you want to continue or abort the deletion. * If any of the deleted boxes contain text which is linked to boxes on other pages, the text is not deleted, but flows into the next linked box. If all of the linked boxes are on the deleted page, however, the text is deleted along with the page. * Pages are resequenced after the current page is deleted. Alter ----- Alters the parameters of the current or default page. Alter/Current ------------- Alters the page parameters of the current page. You can change the page size, page number, number of columns, the width of the gutter between columns, and margins of the page. When you change the attributes of the current page, only one page is affected so you can have different page formats in a document. * The requester consists of five page format options which determine page dimensions (four predefined, and one user-definable): a Page Number gadget, four margin text lines, a column numbering text line, a gutter width text line, and a PostScript Output Specs gadget. * To move a page within the document, change the Page Number gadget. Pages are resequenced after the move. * The Output Page Specifications requester appears when you click on the PostScript Output Specs gadget. It allows you to set the position, scale, rotation and orientation of the current page output. Type the numerical values for Position, Scale and Rotation into the appropriate text lines, pressing RETURN after each entry. The outline of your modified printed page will be superimposed over the white rectangle of the printer's output dimensions. Alter/Default, Even Template, Odd Template ------------------------------------------ Changes the parameters of the default, even or odd template page (which will be used to create new pages). * A page format requester pops up, almost identical to the Alter/Current Page Format requester in appearance and operation. The only difference is that it lacks a page number gadget. Make Template/Even, Odd ----------------------- Template pages are useful if many pages share common design elements such as headers, footers, and page numbers. Once you have created a template page, new pages can be created with all of the template's design elements already on them. There can be two template pages in a document, one for odd-numbered pages and one for even-numbered pages. * The Make Template item replaces either the odd or even of the template pages with a copy of the current page. All of the boxes on the current page are copied to the template page(s). The links between text boxes on the current page are kept in the template, but any links between the current page and other pages are broken. Visible ------- Hides the current page from view temporarily. BOX MENU -------- Allows operations on individual Boxes in the document Show Active ----------- The outline of the active box flashes so that it can be quickly identified. The view is repositioned so that the active box is visible. Clone Active ------------ Makes a duplicate of the active box. All of the box's contents and attributes are copied except the position. The cloned box overlaps the original, slightly lower and to the right. If the active box is linked to other text boxes, the cloned box will have the same visible box contents as the active box, but will not be linked to anything. Delete Active ------------- Deletes the active box. Where this box is part of a chain of linked text boxes, the box will disappear, but its contents will be distributed to the following boxes. If the box is not empty and is not lined in a chain, a requester appears to confirm the deletion. Alter/Active, Default --------------------- Changes the attributes of the active box. The various attributes are set in a requester. * An Active Box requester appears, consisting of a row of icons, four Margins text lines, four Position text lines, and the Set Tabs gadget. * There are five gadget icons at the top of the requester. They are: Lock-Unlock, Transparent-Opaque, Permeable-Impermeable, Quick Display on-off, and Frame on-off. * Lock-Unlock: A Locked box cannot be moved, resized, or deleted. Locked boxes are easy to identify because they don't have sizing handles on their outlines. When the lock "opens", the box is unlocked. When it "closes", the box is locked. NOTE: All boxes from a template page are locked automatically, but when a page is created from a template, you may then unlock the boxes you want to edit. * Transparent-Opaque: Makes a box transparent or opaque. This is especially useful if you have one box on top of another (for example, a line of text on top of a scanned photo). Clicking on the icon toggles between transparent and opaque. The active box is opaque if the solid-outline icon obscures part of the dashed-outline icon behind it. * Permeable/Impermeable: If a permeable box is placed in front of a text box, the text will intrude into the box, and may be obscured depending on whether the front box is transparent or opaque. If the front box is made impermeable, the text flows around the front box, making a "runaround". If the impermeable box is behind the text box, there is no runaround. Clicking on the icon toggles between the two settings. If type is visible through the small square, the active box is permeable. If not, it is impermeable. Changing the permeability of a box causes runarounds in text boxes behind that box, but has no effect on text in the box itself. NOTE: You may want to set a margin around the image area of the impermeable box, to give it some "breathing room" from the surrounding boxes. * Quick Display: If Quick Display is on, the contents of the box are not displayed. This greatly speeds up normal operations (i.e. you can move the box around without having to wait so long for the page to be redrawn.) The box is displayed, although its contents are not visible on the screen. Graphic boxes are depicted with an X and text boxes are filled with a pattern. * Frame: Causes the frame to be turned on. The frame takes on the attributes currently set in the Draw menu (see "Structured Drawings" in the Using Professional Page section). NOTE: Box frames cannot be attached to boxes containing structured drawings. * Margins: Selects a margin around the image area of a box. You can specify the top, bottom, left, and right margins separately. No text or graphics appear outside these margins in a box. To change the margins, type the desired margin widths into the appropriate margin text lines. * Position: Specifies the position and size of a box precisely. You can enter the position of the top left hand corner and the height and width of the box. When the requester first comes up, these text lines contain the position and size of the active box. These parameters cannot be set for the default box and are not shown in the Alter Default requester. * Graphic Scale: Scales bitmap graphics or structured drawings in both the X and Y directions. This technique is useful to resize images to fit the layout. Enter the desired X and Y sacling values into the Graphic Scale string gadgets. NOTE: The Graphic Scale parameters only appear if the active box contains a graphic or a drawing. You cannot scale text with this option. * Set Tabs: Defines up to fifteen different tabs, plus paragraph indent. This makes it simple for you to import text and insert it at the correct tab location relative to the left edge of the box. Select the Set Tabs gadget in the requester and a Set Tabs requester appears. NOTE: The Set Tabs gadget and requester will only appear if the active box is a text box or is empty. GROUP MENU ---------- A group is a collection of boxes on either a page or the art board. Once a collection of boxes has been grouped, it can be treated as a unit. The group can be moved as a single unit (all boxes keeping the same spatial relationship), cloned (copied), deleted, or aligned. If a group is moved such that there are boxes on and off the page, the boxes completely off the page will drop to the art board and the boxes on the page will remain as a group. If the entire group is moved to or from the art board, the group remains intact. Only one group can exist at any given time. To create a group, select the Make Group tool (discussed later in "The Tool Palette") and drag a outline around all the boxes to be grouped. Note that after the group has been created, the cursor reverts automatically to the Null Pointer. All of the non-active boxes in the group now have solid black outlines. To add a box to the group, click in the box while holding down the SHIFT key. To remove a box from a group click in the box while holding down the CTRL key. To move a group, hold down the SHIFT key while dragging one of the boxes in the group. To move an individual box within the group, select the box and drag it, in the normal fashion. The box will remain in the group. Clone ----- Creates a new group of boxes identical to the original in both attributes and content. The new group appears slightly beside and below the original group. The original group is "forgotten", and the newly cloned boxes form the new group. If any of the boxes in the original group were linked to other text boxes, those links do not exist in the clones group, and the contents are limited to what ws in its member boxes at the time it was cloned. Delete ------ Deletes all of the boxes in the current group. If some boxes in the group are not empty, a request is made to confirm the delete. If some boxes in the group are linked to others, the text is not deleted, but remains as part of the linked series. If, however, text is not linked to outside the group, it is deleted. Graphics and drawings will always be deleted. Forget ------ Undoes or "forgets" the current group, without changing any other attributes of the boxes in the group. Align ----- Aligns all boxes in the group with the top, botom, left, or right side of the active box. This gives you a very quick way of reorganizing your group. * Make active the box (by clicking on it) that you wish the others to be aligned with. * Select any one of the four available Group/Align sub-items (Top, Bottom, Left, and Right). Center ------ Centers all boxes in the group either vertically, horizontally, or both, with the center of the active box. * Make active the box (by clicking on it) that you wish the others to be centered with. * Select any of the three available Group/Center sub-items. Merge ----- Merges all structured drawing components within the group into one structured drawing box. This is very useful for combining a series of structured drawing segments or parts into a unified illustration. It also stabilizes your structured elements into one unit that can't be accidentally disrupted. (See "Structured Drawings" in the Using Professional Page section). * Ensure all desired structured drawing elements are in the group. * Select Group/Merge. * The new structured drawing can be manipulated in the same manner as any other structured drawing. NOTE: Once a group of structured drawings has been merged, it cannot be undone. If you're not sure whether a particular box should be included in the merge, leave it out. You can always use Merge again later to add more boxes. TYPE MENU --------- The Type menu contains most of the typographic controls for the program. Professional Page has two methods of assigning typesetting parameters to text. First, when you create text with a word processor, you can embed special codes in it, which Professional Page interprets when the text is imported. (For an explanation of this, refer to Appendix F: Formatting Text.) The second method is through the use of the formatting tools in the Type menu. All text creation and editing can be done in the active box. To enter the text edit mode, select the Text tool. The items in the Type menu operate in conjunction with marked text blocks. If a block of text is marked, selections made from the Type menu will affect the entire block. If no block is selected, any changes in the Type menu take effect at the next typed character. Attributes shown in the Type menu are that of the character preceding the cursor if there is no marked block, and that of the first character in the block if a block exists. The method of marking blocks of text is described in Edit Menu. Typeface -------- Selects the current typeface. In the Typeface item, a list of active typefaces is shown (by default, only Times will be active when you start up). Typeface/New ------------ If the desired typeface is not shown, choose a new one by selecting the New sub-item. This will bring up a requester listing all the available fonts. * All the typefaces for which you have Metric Files (font width tables) on your fonts: directory (usually on the fonts and Utilities disk) will be listed in the requester. * Select the typeface you want by double clicking its name. NOTE: Professional Page comes with nineteen metric tables loaded. if you wish to use other typefaces, it is simply a matter of loading other metric tables onto your Fonts and Utilities disk. This program demands to see all the fonts for a given document on a single disk. If you do not have a hard disk, and still wish to use many fonts, you may find it useful to make up a set of metric file disks with different combinations of fonts on each. A maximum of 127 typefaces can be used within a single document. Size ---- Selects the current size of the typeface choses (a point size of 12 points is selected by default when you start up). In the Size item a list of active sizes is shown. If the desired size is not shown, a new one can be chosen by selecting the New sub-item. * A Point Size requester appears. * Delete the current point size listed in the requester, and type in the new one. NOTE: point sizes up to 127 points in increments of 1 point may be specified. Style ----- Allows you to select text styles: Plain, Bold, Italics, Outline, and Underline. To undo all of the selected styles, select Plain. Kerning ------- Turns kerning off and on. Selecting Type/Kerning toggles kerning off and on. A check mark next to Kerning shows that it is on. Tracking -------- Sets the tracking. * Select Type/Tracking and the Tracking requester appears. Type in the numeric value for tracking desired. * You can also track a selected block by using the left ad right arrow keys (which shifts in 2/100 of an Em space for each keystroke). Line Spacing ------------ Sets spacing between lines of type. * Select Type/Line Spacing and a Line Spacing requester appears. * Click on the Fixed, Relative, or Leading gadgets. Type numeric values into the text lines. * Fixed spacing is spacing between lines, independent of the text point size. * Relative spacing is specified as a percentage of the largest point size on the line. * Leading is the amount of extra space to add to the largest point size on the line. It is expressed in points, and can be negative or positive. Only one of these can be in effect at a time. * Paragraph spacing is specified as a percentage of the line spacing you have chosen. It is always operative, regardless of whether you have selected Fixed, Relative, or Leading. * The linespacing attributes of the last character of the line is used for the entire line. Baseline -------- Moves the baseline of a block of text up or doen. * Select Type/Baseline and a Baseline Shift requester appears. * Enter the desired baseline shift into the string gadget. Both positive and negative values are acceptable. * Baseline shifts can also be changed (in increments of 0.5 points) by using the up and down arrow keys for a selected block. Hyphenation ----------- Turns hyphenation on and off. Prefix and Suffic parameters for hyphenation are specified through the Preferences menu (se "Preferences/Hyphenation Contol" later in this section). If there is a check mark to the left of the Hyphenation sub-item, then hyphenation is on. See Design section. Justification ------------- Selects the justification of the text: Left, Right, Center, or Flush. The justification of the first character on the line is used for the entire line. Paragraph Indent/In, None, Hanging ---------------------------------- Selects how paragraphs are to be handled. A RETURN n the text indicates a paragraph break. Paragraphs indents can be: * None: The start of the paragraph lies flush with body of the text. * In: The start of the paragraph is indented in from the rest of the body of the text. * Hanging: The start of the paragraph is indented in from the rest of the body of the text. NOTE: the amount of indents is determined by the paragraph spacing in the Set Tabs requester selected from the Box/Alter/Current sub-item. EDIT MENU --------- This menu is used to access the text editing functions of Professional Page. Editing text is described in the Using Professional Page section. The items of the Edit menu are used to enter and edit text in the manner of a word processor, and also work hand in hand with the typographical tools found in the Type menu. Cut --- Cuts out the marked block of text. The cut block will be kept in a paste buffer to await pasting. Copy ---- Copies the marked block of text to the paste buffer. This differs from the Cut item in that the Cut removes the block from the current box, while Copy leaves it there. Paste ----- The contents of the past buffer are placed at the current cursor position. Unmarked Block -------------- The current block is unmarked. Save Block ---------- Saves the marked block as an ASCII text file. A file requester will prompt for the file name. All typographic information is translated into imbedded ASCII codes. Select Box ---------- Blocks all visible contents of the current text box where the cursor is located. Select All ---------- The entire article is selected as a block. If the box containing the text cursor is linked to other boxes, all of the text in these boxes will be blocked. Find ---- Searches through the entire article associated with the active box for a text string. If there are any embedded ASCII formatting commands (such as style or font size changes) in the search string the search will match only those strings with the specific attributes. If there are no embedded ASCII formatting commands, the search will match text with any attributes. * Select Edit/Find and a Find requester appears which has a string gadget for specifying what to search for, a directional gadget (an arrow), and a button which allows you to ignore letter case in the search. * Click on the arrow to choose the direction of the search, and Professional Page will search through the article in the desired direction. If a match is found, it will be blocked. Replace ------- Searches through the entire article and replaces one string with another. This may be done once, or for all occurrences of the Find string with optional confirmation before each substitution. * A Find/Replace requester, similar to the Find requester, appears. It contains the same gadgets described under Find. In addition, there is a Replace with string gadget. If an occurrence of the Find string is found. it will be replaced by the contents of this string. If Global is on, every occurrence of the Find string from the text cursor to the end of the article (in the specified direction) will be replaced. If Query is selected, you will be asked, at each occurrence of the string, whether to replace it or not. As with the Find item, you may wish to use embedded ASCII formatting commands. Find Next --------- Finds the next occurrence (in the current search direction) of the Find string. Replace Next ------------ Finds the next occurrence of the Find string and replaces it with the Replace string. If Query is selected, you will be asked for verification before the replacement is done. DRAW MENU --------- Drawing parameters apply to both structured drawings and box frames. Select the Box Create tool or nay of the structured drawing tools, and any changes to the drawing parameters take effect upon the cretion of the next structured drawing or the frame of the next box created. If you are not in the box create of structured drawing mode, changes to the drawing parameters affect the active box. The attributes in the Draw menu are those of the active box. Line Weight ----------- Lists the line weights for the drawing tools or box frames. You can choose None (zero width), 1/2 point, 1 point, 2 points, 3 points, 4 points, or Hairline (which prints out at the minimum width your printer is capable of, but is shown on the screen with a single pixel width). You can also choose a Custom line width sub-item. * Select Draw/Line Weight/Custom. * A Line Width requester appears. * Type in the desired line width in points (to the nearest 1/2 point). Line Patterns ------------- Allows yu to select various line patterns for use by the drawing tools and the box frames. Fill Patterns ------------- Lists fill patterns, including None if no fill is desired. COLOR MENU ---------- Professional Page keeps track of and handles colors to be used by the Professional Color separator. Colors can be selected for structured drawings, frames, and text. Color information is maintained for bitmap graphics, but not displayed. A database of colors may be defined and saved for later use. A color is specified by a name, now it should appear on the screen, and how it is to be printed (eg. separated or mechanical colors) by the Professional Color Separator. Ink Color --------- Selects the ink color from the list of available colors or from the submenu. The ink color is used in text, structured graphic lines, and box frames. * Selecting Color/From List produces a requester asking for a color name. Fill Color ---------- Allows you to select a fill color from the list of available colors or from the submenu. The Fill colors are used to fill structured drawings and box frames. Define ------ Defines a new color for use with text or structured drawings. * Select Color/Define to bring up a list of available colors and a plaette to change an existing color or define a new one, which is added to the available colors list. The new colors will not be added to the submenus until it is used by choosing Color/Ink Color/From List or Color/Fill color/From List. Load ---- Loads from disk a set of previously defined colors. In this way you can set up a database of useful colors which can be loaded into a document at will. Save ---- Saves to disk the set of colors currently defined in this documnt. NOTE: You can use up to 127 colors in a document. although only 16 colors are displayed on the screen (9 of which is used by bitmap graphics), all colors will print correctly using the Professional Color separator. PREFERENCES MENU ---------------- This menu lets you set a number of the environment parameters for a document. Many of these affect the appearance of the screen, or other aspects of Professional Page's operation. These settings, however, have no effect on the appearance of the document when printed. These settings are saved with the document. Magnification ------------- The regular Amiga high resolution screen display (typically 640 by 400 pixels) is quite detailed for an off-the-shelf personal computer. Despite this, it is impossible to show an entire typeset page on screen in full detail. To allow you to view individual letters, as well as to see the whole page, there is a zoom option. There are five levels of magnification: 25%, 33%, 50%, 100%, and 200%. These magnifications are presented as sub-items. A check mark identifies the current magnification level. Layout Tools ------------ Brings up a requester with several features that help you lay out a page precisely. The Layout Tools are divided into several sections, including: Units, Grid, Ruler, and Outlines. Unit ---- Defines the unit of measure in your document. You have a choice of inches, centimeters, or picas to use as your measurement units. The one you choose is used throughout Professional Page whenever you are asked for a size or a position. Grid ---- Rules the page into a precise grid, to position elements accurately. Grids can be turned on or off. They can be user specified in both the x and y directions, or selected from any one of four predefined grids. Snap to Grid ------------ If this is selected all positioning and sizing will snap precisely to the intersection of the two nearest grid lines. This makes precise placing of boxes with the mouse very quick and easy. If Snap to Grid is on, grid snap occurs whether or not the grid is visible. Ruler ----- Allows you to turn the ruler on or off and to specify its units. Outlines -------- Normally, every box is surrounded by a dotted border (solid if the box is active), and may have handles. If Outlines is turned off, these borders are not drawn. Turn Outlines on when editing a page, and off to see how it will look as output. Columns ------- If this is turned on, the page margins and columns (as set by the Page/Alter items) are displayed as dashed lines. Columns are only visual indicators. They can be used as guides for the placement of boxes on the page (see the Tutorial and Design sections). Text Format ----------- There are a wide variety of word processors and text editors available for creating text on the Amiga. In addition, you may wish to import ASCII (raw text) files from other machines such as MacIntoshes, IBMs, and so on. Many of the Amiga text editors have particular file formats which require special interpretations to import them into Professional Page. Professional Page understands several of these formats. * Always check what sort of text file you are importing, and select the text format accordingly. If there isn't a format which exactly matches your file, use the generic setting. * You may embed a wide variety of formatting codes in your file at the word processing stage (see Appendix F: Formatting Text for further information). * In addition to their own formats, many word processing programs can save a "text only" version of the file. If your word processor is not one of those supported, use text only if you can. Hyphenation Control ------------------- Sets the previx and suffix parameters for hyphenating text and allows you to load or change the current exception dictionary. Hyphenation Control is located in the Preferences menu rather than the Type menu because it is global, set once, and not usually reset in the course of the document's production. To add to, or load a new exception dictionary, type the name of your list in the string gadget and click either Load or Merge. Print Specifications -------------------- Sets up the global output device environment. Print Specifications requester will provide the following information: * Output Page Size: specifies the physical sheet size of the output device. For example, a laser printer. * Roll Paper Size: specifies the roll size for a continuous output device. For example, a laser typesetter. * Negative print: indicates whether the image should be printed as a negative. * Mirror print: indicates whether the image should be mirrored before printing. * Halftone Screen: specifies the density and angle of screen. QuickMove --------- Controls whether the contents of your box are visible while being moved. By default, when you pick up a box to move it, only the outline acutally moves. The contents stay where they were, and only move when you put the box down. Sometimes it is convenient to see the contents while you are moving the box. If the QuickMove is turned off, the box contents will be picked up and moved around. This item toggles QuickMove on and off. The contents of the Box do not show even when the QuickMove item is off if the system is low on memory. Memory Warning -------------- If at any time you are low in contiguous chip memory, Professional Page gives a "low memory" warning. his item allows you to turn the low memory warning on or off. Note that if you do get this warning, you should save your document to be on the safe side. Black & White ------------- This option switches Professional Page into a black and white operating mode. This results in increased speed and memory efficienty. If you don't require Professional Page's color capabilities this option should always be on. In black and white mode, bitmap graphics are dithered for onscreen display. Output is not affected. FRONT-BACK GADGETS ------------------ This standard Amiga gadget allows you to toggle between one screen and another. For example, you may be running another Amiga program in the background, and wish to go from the Professional Page screen to this other program without rebooting. Just click on the left gadget to switch screens. THE TOOL PALETTE ---------------- The tool palette contains a variety of layout and structured drawing tools. The palette is divided into five parts: The Page Number gadget, the General Tools palette, the Screen Position gadget, the box Control tools, and the Structured Drawing tools. NOTE: Once you select one of these tools, it will generally stay selected until you specifically select another tool. Note that the tool gadget stays highlighted and the mouse pointer changes to reflect the state. PAGE NUMBER GADGET ------------------ The Page Number gadget allows you to view any page in your document. The gadget indicates the page number of the currently visible page. * Pressing the top arrow will ring up the next page in the document. * Pressing the bottom arrow will bring up the previous page. * Pressing the down arrow from the first page, shows the "even", then "odd", template pages. Template pages can be edited exactly like any other page. * The text line in the middle of the gadget displays the current page number. To go directly to another page, delete the current page number, type in the number of the page you wish to view, and press RETURN. * Type "e" or "o" to see the even or odd template. THE GENERAL TOOLS PALETTE ------------------------- Box Create Tool --------------- Makes boxes anywhere on a page or on the art board. * Click on the Box Create Tool icon. This turns on Box Create mode. The pointer turns into crosshairs on the screen. * Click and drag a box to the desired size. You can create more than one box by just clicking and dragging each box in turn. * Make sure you return to the tool palette and exit from the Box Create mode if you want to use some other tool. * Using Augo Box, a box can be automatically created to the size of the particular column. It will take on the maximum possible size in that oclumn without overlapping other boxes. To use Auto Box in Box Create mode, ho9ld the CTRL key down while clicking in that column. Null Pointer ------------ The Null mode is used to move and size objects on the screen. Clicking in this gadget turns off the current mode and returns it to Null mode. The mouse pointer changes to an arrow. Make Group ---------- Selects one or more boxes as a group. * To make a group, drag out an outline around the boxes to be included in the group. Those boxes that are completely contained within the outline will form the new group. * After a group is made, the Group tool automatically turns off, and returns to the Null mode. Hand Move --------- Turns on Hand Move mode. If you are in a higher magnification mode where not all of the page is visible, this mode allows you to pick up the page and drag it around to see other parts of it. * Drag the page in the direction that you wish the page to move relative to the screen. Text ---- Turns on Text Edit mode. * Select the Text tool * Select the box to edit by clicking in that box. To select another box to edit, simply click in the other box. * Using Auto Box, a text box can be created in a particular column automatically. The text box will be the largest possible box in that column without overlapping other boxes. To use Auto Box, click in the desired column while holding the CTRL key. Mop --- Mops up or deletes the contents of a box or a series of linked boxes. * Select the Mop tool, and click in the box whose contents you wish to mop. The contents of the box will be deleted after confirmation. WARNING: If the box is a text box linked to other text boxes, the contents of the other linked boxes will also be deleted. PAGE POSITION GADGET -------------------- Scrolls around a magnified page. The gadget shows a white positioning rectangle representing the screen image, inside a larger black rectangle indicating the entire page. The positioning rectangle indicates the location of the visible portion of the page in the current magnification mode. * To change the position, simply drag the smaller rectangle around within the representation of the full page. NOTE: You can use the Page Position gadget to find the general area you want, and then Hand Move for fine adjustment. BOX CONTROL TOOLS ---------------- This group of gadgets represents functions that affect the relationships among boxes. Box to Front/Box to Back ------------------------ Reorders the layering of overlapping boxes. The boxes are normally layered in the order in which they were created. Each box is created in front of all the others. You can change the order of the boxes by bringing the active box to the front or sending it to the back. Next Linked Box --------------- If the active box is in a text chain (linked to other text boxes), clicking on the Next Box gadget will activate the next box in the chain. The view will shift to show the next box if it was not previously visible. Previously Linked Box --------------------- Similarly, the Previous Box gadget will activate the previous box in the current chain of text boxes. NOTE: These gadgets will only work on text boxes that are linked to other text boxes. Link ---- Creates a chain of text boxes. * The active box must be a text or empty box either isolated or at the end of an existing chain. * Select the Link tool. Click in the box you wish to add to the chain. This box will now be added to the chain and will become the active box. * An Auto Box can be created and linked by holding the CTRL key down while clicking the mouse button. Unlink ------ Breaks a chain of text boxes. * Select the Unlink tool. Click in he box which you wish to unlink. The chain will be broken at the beginning of this box. This box will now become the first box in a new chain which contains the rest of the previous chain. DRAWING TOOLS ------------- These gadgets enable you to draw structured or object oriented (CAD type) drawings, anywhere on the page or art board. Professional Page allows you to create shapes in a variety of line weights and colors. The line weight, line color, and fill pattern can be changed from the Draw menu. Straight Line ------------- * Click on the page and while the left mouse buton is still down move the mouse to drag out the line. Once you are satisfied with the positioning of the line, release the mouse buton to put the line on the page. * If you hold down the ALT-key when you put down the first point of the line it will be constrained to the nearest 45 degrees. Rectangle --------- * Click on the page; this anchors one corner of the rectangle. * Drag the opposite corner to the required size. * Holding down the ALT-key while drawing the rectangle constrains it to a square. Ellipse ------- * Click on the page, the location of the center of the ellipse. * Drag the corner of the ellipse box out to the desired size. * Holding down the ALT-key while drawing constrains the ellipse to be a circle. Bezier Curve ------------ Draws curves in a manner similar to the "rubber band" curves that Amiga users are familiar with from bitmap paint programs such as Deluxe Paint II. * Draw a line as described in the Line tool * A "rubber band" curve will follow the cursor. * Click and release the left mouse button when the curve looks the way you want it. * Holding the ALT-key while drawing the initial line constrains it to be at the nearest 45 degrees. Free Hand Drawing ----------------- Draws freehand shapes. * Press the left mouse button. As long as you keep it depressed, you will draw wherever the mouse moves. * As soon as you release the button, everything drawn is placed in a box. Polygon ------- Draws straight line polygonal shapes. * Click and release the left mouse button to start the first line segment. Move the mouse to the next point. Clicking and releasing draws the first line segment and starts rubber banding the second, continue as long as you want. Double-clicking the left button ends the polygon (after drawing the last line segment). * Holding the ALT-key before drawing the initial point will close he polygon regardless of where the last point is. APPENDICES.... ------------- APPENDIX A: TROUBLESHOOTING GUIDE ---------------------------------- This appendix provides solutions to common problems and some suggestions on how to avoid them. Save Your Document ------------------ The best insurance against unexpected problems is to save your work often, so that if your system crashes or hangs up, you will only lose a few minutes of work. Memory Warning -------------- If the memory warning requester appears, you are running low on "chip" memory. Even if you have several megabytes of RAM, it is possible to use up your 512K of Amiga chip memory while you still have plenty of fast memory unused. You should: * Save your work to disk by selecting Project/Save. * Close any windows on the Workbench screen. * Stop any multitasking (terminate any programs other than Professional Page) * Break up a long document into several short documents. Won't import text, graphics, or drawings ---------------------------------------- * Check to see that you are using the right import format (for example, you may have tried to import a structured drawing file with the Project/Import/Bitmap Graphic sub-item). If you are importing a text file, ensure that Preferences/Text Format has been set to accept the particular file format that you wish to import. * Be certain that you have selected an empty, active box to receive the file for bitmap and structured graphics. If the active box already has contents, the file won't laod. Won't Print ----------- * Be sure the printer is turned on. * Check that the printer and the Amiga have the correct baud rate set (eg. 9600). * Ensure that you have the proper cable (eg. null modem cable), and that it is connected properly. Waiting ------- If you have selected Load, Save, or Print, and nothing is happening, be patient. It takes time to load and print large files, and to load bitmap graphics. Fills don't work in High Magnification -------------------------------------- Any structured graphic fill (including box frames) that exceeds the size of the screen will not be filled in on the screen. The attributes are kept, and will show up in lowe magnification mode. APPENDIX B: KEYBOARD EQUIVALENTS ----------------------------------- Many of the gadget and menu functions can be accessed using keyboard shortcuts. The following list contains all the menu items and sub-items and their shortcuts, if available. Note that the same convention followed in the rest of the manual is followed here: * A x Hold the right Amiga key down and press key "x" * a x Hold the ALT key down and press key "x" * c x Hold the CONTROL key down and press key "x" * s x Hold the SHIFT key down and press key "x" NOTE: Keyboard equivalents are CASE SENSITIVE! PROJECT MENU ------------ Project/New A N Project/Open A O Project/Save A S Project/Save As A Z Project/Import/Text A T Project/Import/Graphic A G Project/Import/Drawing A D Project/Print/Current Page A P Project/Print/Entire Document A E Project/Quit A Q PAGE MENU --------- Page/Create/From Template c T Page/Create/From Default c N Page/Load/New Current c C Page/Load/Even Template c O Page/Load/Odd Template c C Page/Save/Current s C Page/Save/Even Page Template s E Page/Save/Odd Page Template s O Page/Delete c D Page/Alter/Current Page a C Page/Alter/Even Page Template a E Page/Alter/Odd Page Template a O Page/Alter/Default a D Page/Visible A V BOX MENU ------- Box/Show Active A A Box/Clone Active A C Box/Delete Active A X Box/Alter/Active a A Box/Alter/Default a B Lock toggle c L Impermeable toggle c [ Quick Display toggle c X Frame toggle c F TYPE MENU --------- Type/New Typeface A F Type/Size/New A . (period) Type/Style/Bold ON F6 Type/Style/Bold OFF s F6 Type/Style/Italics ON F7 Type/Style/Italics Off s F7 Type/Style/Outline ON F8 Type/Style/Outline OFF s F8 Type/Style/Underline ON F9 Type/Style/Underline OFF s F9 Type/Style/Plain F10 Type/Style/Plain s F10 Type/Kerning A K Type/Tracking A W Type/Line Spacing A Y Type/Baseline A B Type/Hyphenation A H Type/Justification/Left A L Type/Justification/Right A R Type/Justification/Center A - (hyphen) Type/Justification/Flush A J Type/Paragraph Indent/None A , (comma) EDIT MENU --------- Edit/Find F2 Edit/Paster F1 Edit/Cut s F1 Edit/Select Box F4 Edit/Select All s F4 Edit/Replace F3 Edit/Find Next F2 Edit/Replace Next s F3 COLOR MENU ---------- Color/Ink Color/From List A I PREFERENCES MENU ---------------- Preferences/Magnification/200% A 1 Preferences/Magnification/100% A 2 Preferences/Magnification/50% A 3 Preferences/Magnification/33% A 4 Preferences/Magnification/25% A 5 Preferences/Layout Tools A L Set Grid, Ruler and Units to Inches c I Set Grid, Ruler and Units to Pica c P Set Grid, Ruler, and Units to Centimeters c M Grid toggle c G Snap to Grid toggle c S Ruler toggle c R Box Outline toggle c B GENERAL GADGETS --------------- Page Up s > Page Down s < Box to Back s B Box to Front s F Next Linked Box s N Previous Linked Box s P AMIGA KEYS ---------- A A Box/Show Active A B Type/Baseline A C Box/Clone Active A D Project/Import/Structured Drawing A E Print/Entire Document A F Project/Type/New Typeface A G Project/Import/Bitmap Graphics A H Type/Hyphenation (toggle) A I Color/Ink Color/From List A J Type/Justification/Flush A K Type/Kerning A L Type/Justification/Left A N Project/New A O Project/Open A P Project/Print/Current Page A Q Project/Quit A R Type/Justification/Right A S Project/Save A T Project/Import/Text A V Page Visible (toggle) A W Tracking requester A X Box/Delete Active A Y Type/Line Spacing A Z Project/Save As A - Type/Justification/Center A . Type/Size/New A 1 Preferences/Magnification/200% A 2 Preferences/Magnification/100% A 3 Preferences/Magnification/50% A 4 Preferences/Magnification/33% A 5 Preferences/Magnification/25% ALT KEYS -------- a A Box/Alter/Active a B Box/Alter/Default a C Page/Alter/Current a D Page/Alter/Default a E Page/Alter/Even Template a O Page/Alter/Odd Template (only available with Professional Page Text Editor) a SPACEBAR Thinspace CONTROL KEYS ------------ c B Layout Tools Box Outline toggle c C Page/Load/New Current c D Page/Delete c E Page/Load/Even Template c F Frame toggle c G Grid toggle c I Set Grid, Ruler, and Units to Inches c L Lock toggle c M Set Grid, Ruler, and Units to Centimeters c N Page/Create/From Default c O Page/Load/Odd Template c P Set Grid, Ruler, and Units to Picas c R Ruler toggle c S Grid Snap toggle c T Page/Create/From Template c X Quick Display toggle c [ Impermeable toggle c SPACEBAR EN Space SHIFT KEYS ---------- s B Box to Back Gadget s C Page/Save/Current s E Page/Save/Even Template s F Box to Front Gadget s N Next Linked Box Gadget s O Page/Save/Odd Template s P Previous Linked Box Gadget s < Page Down Gadget s > Page Up Gadget s SPACEBAR EM Space FUNCTION KEYS: ------------- These work in Text Editing Mode only F1 Edit/Paste s F2 Edit/Cut F2 Edit/Find s F2 Edit/Find Next F3 Edit/Replace s F3 Edit/Replace Next F4 Edit/Select Box s F4 Edit/Select All F5 Edit/Save Block as ASCII F6 Text/Style/Bold On s F6 Text/Style/Bold Off F7 Text/Style/Italics On s F7 Text/Style/Italics Off F8 Text/Style/Outline On s F8 Text/Style/Outline Off F9 Text/Style/Underline On s F9 Text/Style/Underline Off F10 Text/Style/Plain SCROLL KEYS: CURSOR ARROW KEYS ------------------------------ UP Scroll View up 1 inch on page. s UP Scroll View up 4 inches c UP View top of page DOWN Scroll View down 1 inch on page. s DOWN Scroll View down 4 inches c DOWN View bottom of page LEFT Scroll View left 1 inch on page s LEFT Scroll View left 4 inches c LEFT View to left edge of page RIGHT Scroll View right 1 inch on page s RIGHT Scroll View right 4 inches c RIGHT Shift View to right edge of page OTHER KEYS ACCESSIBLE BY KEYBOARD --------------------------------- EN space c spacebar EM space s spacebar Thinspace a spacebar Use ALT key down and Hand Move gadget to move image within box Use ALT key down and Handles to size image in box USE OF THE ARROW KEYS --------------------- When in Text mode the arrow keys ace on the selected block The Left and Right arrows increase and decrease the tracking for the current block in Text mode. The Up and Down arrow keys move the basline of the curently selected block while in Text mode. The Up and Down arrow keys move the baseline of the currently selected block while in Text mode. When not in Text Mode but viewing a magnified page the arrow keys move the screen view around the page. EXTENDED SELECT --------------- Users making several menu selections at once can use extended select by holding the mouse menu button down and hitting the select button on each desired selection. DOUBLE CLICKING --------------- File names on requesters can generally be double clicked to load. RETURN KEY ---------- Generally when a requester asks for information to be typed in pressing RETURN after the text will select the OK gadget on that requester. APPENDIX C: UTILITIES ----------------------- MAKEFONT -------- The MakeFont program is used to make new screen representations of existing fonts in different sizes. For example, to make Helvetica 13 point, use a different size (such as 12 point) and expand it to 13 point. The user need not create a screen representation for every font size they wish to use. If Professional Page cannot find a screen representation for a given size on disk it uses the next smalles size and scales it up on-the-fly. However, this degrades the performance of the system. For often used sizes, it is recommended that MakeFont be used to create permanent representation. Users will note that fonts which have been greatly expanded from their original size will be jagged and missing pixels. Your WorkBench 1.2 disk contains a FontEd program which can be used to tidy up your new sizes if desired. It is generally better to expand a font than to contract. To use MakeFont --------------- * Double click on the MakeFont icon. * Once the program starts up, enter the name and size of an existing font in string gadgets on the top half of the screen. This font must exist in your current fonts directory. * Enter the name and size of the font you wish to create in string gadgets on the lower half. * Click OK * The new font will be created and saved in your current fonts directory. APPENDIX D: CONNECTING YOUR AMIGA TO A PRINTER ---------------------------------------------- *WARNING* Before connecting your Amiga to any printer, check with the vendor(s) of the Amiga and the printer for instructions on how to make the connection safely. The Amiga 1000 has a non-standard RS-232 connector which will feed a 5-Volt current through a standard printer cable. This is enough to damage or destroy your printer! You will need a special Amiga 1000 printer cable in order to avoid this. The Amiga 500 and the Amiga 2000 use standard cables. If you have a mixture of Amiga 1000's, 500's, and 2000's, ensure that you have all the proper cables, and label them correctly. Gold Disk Inc takes no responsibility for damages and injuries that may arise from installation or use of hardware. This appendix in intended as a brief guide to help Professional Page users connect their computers to various printers or typeseting machines. Remember to turn the power off on the computer and printer when connecting cables. Professional Page will output to all PostScript output devices. Generally, a Null-Modem cable is required between your computer and printer. LASER PRINTERS -------------- You may want to connct your Amiga to a PostScript compatible Laser Printer, such as an Apple LaserWriter or a QMS PS/800+. In this case connect the serial port of your Amiga to the serial port of the printer. Some printers may require special gender changer plugs or cables. Ensure your laser printer is configured to accept PostScript input. TYPESETTERS ----------- You may want to connect your Amiga to a Raster Image Processor (RIP) and a PostScript compatible typeseting machine such as a Linotronic 300 or a Linotronic 100 typeseter. Again check that you have the correct cables and plug converters (if necessary). Check that the RIP is configured to accept PostScript output at the same rate as your Amiga serial port is sending the data. The serial port transmission rate can be set from Preferences. Plug the cable into the RE232C port on the RIP. NOTES ----- Questions of what sort of paper or file to use, and what fonts are available, are beyond the scope of this appendix. The vendor of your printer should be able to give you information in this area, and books and magazines on desktop publishing, as well as the Gold Disk periodical "The New Laser Times" contain specific information on these subjects. APPENDIX F: FORMATTING TEXT ---------------------------- Many users will want to enter large quantities of text using a word processor. This leads to the problem that a given program may not support many of the formatting commands used in Professional Page. To work around this Professional Page supports imbedded ASCII formatting codes. If these codes are put into the original file Professional Page will import these codes as well as any word processor specific codes according to which file format you have selected under preferences. Note that all formatting commands consist of a backslash (\) followed by a number of codes. No space should be left between the backslash and the code. Some codes are followed by a parameter, either a number (fixed point or float) or a name given further information. If a parameter is needed type the less than sign (<), the number, and the closing greater than sign (>). Also the case of the formatting code is significant. LINE SPACING ------------ Fixed Linespacing: A specific point size can be given. * \lf<point size> * eg. \lf<24> for 24 pt fixed spacing Relative Linespacing: A percentage of the largest type size appearing ona specific line can be used. * \lr<percentage> * eg. \lr<120> for 120% relative spacing Leading: The size of the typeface being used plus (or minus) a specified amount of leading can be used. * \l1<points of leading> * eg. \l1<2> for 2 pt leading BASELINE -------- Additionally the baseline can be shifted a given number of points. * \ls<points of shift> * eg. \ls<2> for a 2 pt baseline shift TYPE ---- Typeface: A particular typeface can be specified. This typeface must exist in your fonts: directory. * \ff<font name (from directory)> * eg. \ff<helvetica> Size: A particular type size can be specified. * \fs <size (in points)> * eg. \fs<24> JUSTIFICATION ------------- Various justification modes can be specified. * Left: \jl * Right: \jr * Centered: \jc * Flush: \jf PARAGRAPH INDENT ---------------- Various paragraph indents are possible. * indent: \pi * outdent: \po * no indention: \pn Paragraph break size: This is set as a percentage of the line space. * \ps<percentage> * eg. \ps<150> to indicate paragraph spacing to be 150% of current line spacing. TYPE STYLE ---------- Various styles can be selected. These codes toggle these modes on and off. * Bold on: \B * Bold off: \b * Italics on: \I * Italics off: \i * Underline on: \U * Underline off: \u * Outline on: \O * Outline off: \o This code turns oall the above styles off giving plain text. * \n COLOR ----- A color form thos contained in the color database may be selected. * \c<color name> * eg. \c<Red> LETTER SPACE CONTROL -------------------- These codes turn automatic kerning on and off. * Kerning on: \K * Kerning off: \k These codes turn automatic hyphenation on and off. * Hyphenation on: \H * Hyphenation off: \h This code sets tracking in 100ths of em spaces. * \t<tracking> SPACES ------ The following codes insert EN, EM, and thinspaces respectively. * EN: \N * EM: \M * thin: \T OTHERS ------ This code is used to indicate the end of the text to be imported it it is not the end of the file. * \. This code indicates a soft (discretionary) hyphen. * \- APPENDIX G: USING OTHER AMIGA PRODUCTS WITH PROFESSIONAL PAGE ------------------------------------------------------------- Professional Page is designed to allow you to take advantage of a wide range of other Amiga software. Many word processors and text editors are supported. In addition, the Amiga's superb graphics are available for you to use in your documents, either in graytones within Professional Page, or in full color using the Professional Color separator. The program also has its own full-featured word processor. We recommend the use of some of the graphic software described below. Once the picture has been created, Professional Page has many options for scaling, sizing, screening, combining with type, and printing out. Word Processors --------------- The Text Format item in the Preferences menu allows you to select from a variety of word processing support programs. Generic ASCII text is also supported so that text from virtually any Amiga word processor or text editor, or from computers other than the Amiga, can be used. Some of the Amiga file format supported are: * WordPerfect * Scribble * TextCraft * Generic You may need to test how ASCII files from various sources come into Professional Page. Not all word processors produce identical raw text files, and there may be undesired characters in the file when it comes into Professional Page. Remember that formatting codes can be inserted into the text at the word processing stage, greatly simplifying your task of using Professional Page to typeset a document (See Appendix F: Formatting Text). Bitmap Graphic Software ----------------------- Professional Page supports the full range of Amiga IFF graphic software. Any size of bitmap up to 1024 by 1024 pixels, and any number of colors up to 4096 in Hold And Modify (HAM) mode, can be accommodated. The Professional Page screen display is in high resolution (640 by 400 pixels on NTSC Amigas), and pictures created in this resolutin or in low resolution or in low resolution will appear on screen in the proper proportions. Pictures created in medium or interlace resolutions will appear distorted when they are imported into Professional Page. Using the Graphic Scale values in the Box/Alter/Active sub-item, you can rescale pictures to the correct proportions. Examples of bitmap graphics programs supported by Professional Page are: * Deluxe Paint II paint program * Aegis Images paint program * Digi-Paing Hold And Modify (HAM) paint program * GraphiCraft paint program * Digi-View video digitizer * Easyl pressure sensitive drawing tablet * 3D or animation software, such as Sculpt-3D, Videoscape, Animator's Apprentice, or any animation program which can save and export IFF imaages. * Grabbit screen capture utility. If you are interested in using Amiga graphics in your documents, you will probably want to combine several of the above mentioned packages. For instance, a photograph scanned into the Amiga with the Digi-View video digitizer can be retouched or composited with other scanned photos, using Deluxe Paint II or Digi Paint. Digital Photography Tips ------------------------ Any photographic print or line art can be scanned into the Amiga with Digi-View and a video camera. What yields the best results is to use a film negative or transparency rather than a print. Lit from underneath using a light box with a color-corrected bulb, better detail, contrast, and tonal or color values are captured digitally. Easyl tips ---------- The Easyl pressure sensitive drawing pad can be used with its own paint package (Easyl Paint), or with any other paint package (so, for example, you can draw or trace directly into Deluxe paint II with the Easyl and an ordinary pencil and paper). The Easyl is an excellent tool for tracing as well as freehand drawing. Maps and photos can be traced very rapidly and accurately. Image Processing Software ------------------------- There are also Amiga programs which will allow you to edit images created with the products mentioned above in very usefulways. Butcher is an excellent graphic editing utility. It allows you to view and change palettes with ease, converts size formats, and allows you to perform many other manipulations with ease and speed. Interlace Flicker Reducers -------------------------- If you have a long persistence phosphor monitor, then the flicker produced by the Amiga's interlaced high-resolution display won't be a problem. If you have a regular Amiga monitor, you may find it irritating to work with an interlaced display for long periods. A simple and inexpensive alternative is a tinted screen, which will greatly reduce monitor flicker, such as Jitter-Rid, Flicker-Master and EYE-RESolution screen covers. Memory Expansions ----------------- If you have an Amiga 1000 or an Amiga 500 with 512K of memory, you will need to expand your memory to at least one megabyte to use Professinal Page. The larger the documents you wish to produce, and the more bitmap graphics you use, the more memory you'll need. Memory boards are made by companies like Comspec, Alegra, Amega, and Microbotics. For the Amiga 2000, one or two megabyte RAM expansion cards can be inserted into card slots inside the computer, to give you up to a maximum of nine megabytes of memory. Hard Drives ----------- If you are using Professional Page with your Amiga to do a significant volume of commercial production, you will find a hard drive to be useful. Hard drives are available for the Amiga 1000 and a variety of 5 1/4", and 3 1/2" hard drives and hard cards are available for the Amiga 2000. APPENDIX K: FONTS ------------------ Metric tables for the following fonts are provided on the Professional Page Fonts & Utilities Disk. AmericanTypewriter AvantGarde Benguiat Bookman Courier FitzQuadrata Garamond Glypha Helvetica helveticanarrow Lubalin Machine NewCenturySchoolbook Palaino Souvenir Symbol Times ZapfChancery GLOSSARY.... ------------ Active Box - The curent box to which all box operations are performed. art board - The Professional Page representation of a designer's drawing or light table. An area on the screen where pages and boxes are stored and manipulated. ascender - The top part of a upper case charater that rises above the body of the letter. article - An article refers to a text "story". An article may or may not span several linked boxes. ASCII - Ancronym for "American Standard Code for Information Interchange". The standard code used for character representations. aspect ratio - A ratio between the width and the height. backspace - A key marked either "Back Space" or with an arrow poiting to the left. baseline - The imaginary line on which the base of all letters rest. baud rate - The rate at which information is transferred between a computer and output device. Bezier curve - A mathematically defined smooth curve (defined as a cubic equation). bit - An abbreviation for "binary digit". Groups of bits are used to represent characters and other information. The most common grouping is the "byte" (8 bits). bitmapped graphic - A graphic created with pixel representation. block - A segment of text selected for an editing operation. body text - The main text of the document, not including headings. bold - Letters with a heavier, blacker appearance. box - A container for text, graphics, or structured drawings. bullet - A large dot often used to add emphasis to parts of text, or to designate a list. byte - A group of 8 (8) binary digits (bits) forming one character. caption - The descriptive matter printed above or below an illustration. carriage return - Often referred to as the RETURN key. CLI - Acronym for "Command Line Interface". An Amiga operating system level user interface where commands are entered manually. camera ready - A term used for artwork or copy ready for final film production. centered justified text - Text centered on the full line, with both ragged right and ragged left margins. color separation - The division of a multicolored original into four basic colors: black, yellow, magenta, and cyan. cropping - To trim a graphic to a reduced size by removing part of the image. descender - The bottom part of a lower case letter that falls below the baseline. digitized picture - A picture converted into an electronic format that can be processed, stored, and reconstructed. dingbat - A decorative element such as a border. discretionary hyphen - A hyphen entered by the user that is not displayed but tells the computer where to break the word, if necessary. document - The project currently being worked on within Professional Page. drag - The process of moving objects on the screen using the mouse. drop cap - A large capital letter at the start of a block of text that drops into the lines below. drop shadow - A show behind an image designed to make the image stand out. EM - The unit of measurement for type width usually defined as the horizontal distance equal to the point size of the font. EM space - A space dqual to the point size of the font being used. EN - The unit of measurement for type width as one half the horizontal width of an em (i.e. one half the point size). EN space - A space equal to the height of an "em" and the width of an EN (i.e. half the width of the point size). file requester - A way of accessing both files and directories on the screen. fill color - The color used in the fill pattern. fill pattern - A pattern used to fill objects in a drawing or box frame. flush justified text - A body of text where the letters are flushed to both right and left margins. font - A complete set of characters of one type size, type style, and typeface. frame - The printed border and/or fill associated with a box of text or graphics. gadgets - The icons within a requester, window, or screen that are used to change the display or to access a tool grid - A set of non-printed lined similar to graph paper used as a guide for page layout. group - A collection of boxes. gutter - The space between columns of text. hairline - The thinnest line that an output device can render. halftone - A continuous gray tone simulated by a pattern of pixels. handles - Boxes have eight handles, one on each corner and one in the middle of each side. They are used to change box proportions. HAM - Acronym for "Hold And Modify" mode on the Amiga. Used to access 4096 colors on the screen. hard disk drive - A hardware device attached to the Amiga with more storage than a floppy drive. hyphenation - The splitting of words at the appropriate point at a line break. icon - A pictorial representation of a tool, document, or gadget. italic - Text modified to slant to the right. justification - The way text is formatted on a line. It can be centered, flush, left, or right justified. kerning - The adjustment of space between individual characters to give the test a tighter appearance. kerning pairs - Character combinations that are typically kerned. Different fonts have different combinations, including AV, Te, etc. Kickstart disk - A disk containing the information on the Amiga requires to begin operations. landscape printing - Output pages in horizontal orientation. layout - An outline that gives the general appearance of the printed page, including text and graphics. leading - The amount of additional space or "lead" between two lines of type. left justified text - Text with a straight left margin and a ragged right. line pattern - The pater with which a line is drawn such as dashed, solid, or broken. line spacing - The spacing between lines of text. In Professional Page, this can be fixed, relative, or in terms of leading. Note Professional Page calculates both leading and lne spacing from the "cap height" (the top of the ascender) to "cap height" of any two lines of text. line weight - The thickness of lines used in structured graphics and box frames. linked text boxes - A series of boxes linked together to make up an article. lowercase - Non-capitalized letters of a font. manual feed - Paper put into a printer by hand. margin - The blank area surrounding the printed matter on a page. masthead - The details regarding the publisher printed in the editorial or contents pages of a periodical. mechanical separation - The separation of a solid specific colors from a layout. In printing, this oclor will be printed as a separate place on the printing press. menu bar - The strip menu headings at the top of the screen accessed by pressing the right mouse button that contains menu titles. metric file - A file used in Professional Page that provides information about a particular typeface. This information includes the width of each character and kerning pairs. micro-justification - The adjustment of space between individual letters to achieve flush justificaion. opaque box - A box through which nothing is seen. page description language - A computer language (usually built into an output device) that describes the page to be printed in terms of abstract graphical entities. paper size - The physical dimensions of the paper on which the document is to be printed. pica - A standard unit of type size measurement approximately equal to 16th of an inch. pixel - The abbreviation for "picture element": the smallest item of display information on the screen (one dot). point - A typesetting unit of measurement equal to 1/12th of a pica (approximately 1/72"). The height of a font (the distance from the top of the ascender to the bottom of the descender) is normally expressed in points. pointer - The moving object controlled by the mouse, on the screen used to select items, icons, and gadgets. portrait painting - Outputs pages in vertical orientation. PostScript - A standard page description language that describes the appearance of text and graphics on a printed page. printable area - The area of the paper tha can be printed upon. The dimensions differ with different output devices. program - A set of instructions given to the computer to process information. proportional fonts - The space allotted for each character is based on the character's width. Thus, a "w" takes up more space than an "i". requester - The display element of the screen that requests a response to proceed with the next action in a sequence. resolution - A measure of the dot density of an output device. right justified text - Text with a straight right margin and a ragged left. roman - The term used to distringuish upright letters from italics. ruler - A marked strip along the left side and top of a page. Used as a positional guide for page layout. sans-serif fonts - Typefaces without serifs. scaling - Changing the size of an image proportionally. screen - The physical display area of the Amiga monitor. serif - Projecting crosslines that end the main strokes of letters. string gadget - A gadget used to enter or modify strings or numbers. structured drawing - A picture stored as a mathematical representation of what is seen on the screen. submenu - The additional menu that appears below and to the right side of a menu item. subscript - A character whose baseline is shifted down, relative to the character proceeding it. superscript - A character whose baseline is shifted up, relative to the character proceeding it. template - The prototype of a page used for all similar pages. text runaround - Used with impermeable boxes, forces text to flow around a box. thin space - A typesetting unit of measurement equal to one half of an "en space". thumbnail printing - A reduced version of a page. Several pages of a document can be printed on a single page of output to get an impression of the overall layout. tile printing - A document page larger than the paper used for output is printed on several pages in overlapping segments. tool - A facility for working with the onscreen display. tracking - The additional spacing between individual letters. type family - Type with common design characteristice (i.e. Times). typeface - A particular combination of type family, style and weight. typography - The general design and appearance of printed matter using type. uppercase - Capital letters. Workbench - The icon-based interface used to perform system operations on the Amiga. WYSIWYG - Acronym for "What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get". The output from word processors with WYSIWYG is similar to the screen representation of the page. x-height - Defined as the height of a lower case letter, not including ascenders and descenders. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ERRATA ------ Thank you for purchasing Professional Page. May we remind you to return the registration card. This will enable you to take advantage of Gold Disk's support privileges. Contents of this errata: * Corrections to the Manual * Corrections to the Quick Reference Card * New features * Using Professional Page on a Hard Drive system * Warnings. CORRECTIONS TO THE MANUAL ------------------------- TUTORIAL - Using "Save As" ------------------------- During the Tutorial, you are asked to select PROJECT/SAVE AS. Immediately after the "Save Document As" requester appears, a System Request may also appear, asking you to "Please replace volume PPage in any drive". Just hit the "Cancel" gadget in this System Request. TUTORIAL - Coordinates ---------------------- The manual states, "when you are resizing your box (the menu bar coordinates represent) the box dimensions, not its position." This is also the case when you are creating a box. TUTORIAL - Group outlines ------------------------- Boxes in a group (other than the current box) are displayed with long dashed lines, not with solid black lines as stated in the manual. TUTORIAL - Locked Boxes on Pages created from Templates ------------------------------------------------------- When you create a page from a template, all of its boxes are automatically locked. In order to perform any operation on a locked box (like repositioning, resizing, or deleting it), the box must first be unlocked. The operations found in the "Onto the Art Board" and "Rearranging the Page" sections of the Tutorial require this additional step. To UNLOCK a box: * Make the Box Active * Select the BOX/ALTER/ACTIVE sub-item * Click on the LOCK gadget (an unlocked box is indicated by an open padlock) * Click on OK TUTORIAL - Hidden boxes behind opaque boxes ------------------------------------------- You are requested to delete one of the boxes. When you do this, notice that there was another box, containing a bar graph, behind the one you just deleted. TUTORIAL - Scaling Bitmap Graphics ----------------------------------- You are told to adjust the graphic scale to 0.8. The values for both X and Y should be adjusted. USING PROFESSIONAL PAGE - Show Active Boxes ------------------------------------------- BOX/SHOW ACTIVE will flash the border around the active box in black, not green. USING PROFESSIONAL PAGE - Text in Aegis Draw Plus drawings ---------------------------------------------------------- Text is not supported in Aegis Draw Plus drawings under structured drawing import. TECHNICAL REFERENCE - Group outlines ------------------------------------ Group outlines are displayed as long dashed lines, not as solid black lines. TECHNICAL REFERENCE - Edit/Replace ---------------------------------- The requester for Replace now has an "Ignore Case" option, similar to that for Find. TECHNICAL REFERENCE - Text Formats ---------------------------------- IFF text is not supported. TECHNICAL REFERENCE - Hyphenation Exception Dictionary ------------------------------------------------------ Only one exception dictionary is allowed. Its name is kept with the document, and the dictionary will be loaded upon reloading the document. There is no "merge" option on the "Hyphenation Control" requester. The options are "load", which loads the named dictionary, and "clear", which tells the program not to use any exception dictionary at all. TECHNICAL REFERENCE - Printer Output Specifications --------------------------------------------------- Output size must be specified, even if roll paper is selected. All document pages will be clipped to this paper size. APPENDIX B - Keyboard Equivalents --------------------------------- Corrections to the Quick Reference Card (listed below) also apply to this appendix. APPENDIX B - ALT keys ---------------------- The phrase "(only available with Professional Page text editor)" should be ignored. CORRECTIONS TO THE QUICK REFERENCE CARD --------------------------------------- RightAmiga-L key: This is a shortcut for TYPE/JUSTIFICATION/LEFT. PREFERENCES/LAYOUT has no keyboard shortcut. BOX/DELETE ACTIVE: Both SHIFT-BackSpace and SHIFT-DEL are shortcuts for BOX/DELETE ACTIVE. RightAmiga-X is not. NEW FEATURES ------------ No-Eject Option --------------- There is a new option in the Output Specifications in the PAGE/ALTER/ACTIVE requester which specifies that the current page is not to be ejected after printing. This option enables you to combine several pages on a single output sheet. Bitmap Loading Enhancements ---------------------------- If a box containing a bitmap graphic is set to Quick Display, the graphic will not be loaded into memory. This reduces both the time needed to load a document and the amount of memory needed to hold it. When opening a document, you have the option to sel all of its bitmaps to Quick Display, and hence not load any of them. If, when the program tries to load a bitmap, the appropriate file cannot be found, you will be asked for a substitute bitmap. This can happen when loading a document, or when printing it. USING PROFESSIONAL PAGE ON A HARD DRIVE SYSTEM ---------------------------------------------- To use Professional Page on your hard drive system: Installing Professional Page on your hard drive system ------------------------------------------------------ * Boot up your hard drive system normally * Enter the Command Language Interface (CLI) * The steps to install Professional Page onto your hard drive are collected into an installation command file. The individual steps taken by the installation command file is explained later in this section. Please check that the installation does not affect your system setup. Execute the installation procedure by typing: 1> EXECUTE PPage:HardDriveInstall * Remove the Professional Page floppies from your drive(s). These floppies must not be in the disk drive when starting up Professional Page. * Professional Page is now installed. Re-boot your system to use. Running Professional Page on your hard drive system from Workbench ------------------------------------------------------------------ * Double-click the Professional Page drawer * Double-click the PPage program -----------------------------------END-------------------------------------