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_ _ _ _ / \ | |_| | __ _ _ __ | |_ __ _ / _ \| __| |/ _` | '_ \| __/ _` | / ___ \ |_| | (_| | | | | || (_| | /_/ \_\__|_|\__,_|_| |_|\__\__,_| --------------------------------------------- Advanced shareware font manager for RISC OS --------------------------------------------- This manual describes version 1.46 --------------------------------------------- C o n t e n t s Introduction...........................................................1 The basics.............................................................2 Font list window. .....................................................2 Font preview window....................................................2 Load new fonts window..................................................2 Quick start............................................................3 Installing new fonts...................................................4 Possible problems......................................................4 None standard font distribution........................................4 Switching fonts on and off.............................................5 Issues resulting.......................................................5 Sorting fonts..........................................................6 Create a directory.....................................................6 Open and closing a directory...........................................6 Deleting fonts.........................................................7 Issues resulting.......................................................7 Previewing fonts.......................................................8 Renaming...............................................................9 Problems involved in renaming..........................................9 Choices...............................................................10 File scanning.........................................................12 Saving the state......................................................12 ShareWare.............................................................13 Licenses..............................................................13 Distribution..........................................................14 Contact...............................................................14 Atlanta 1.45 ________________________________________________________________________ Introduction ———————————— Atlanta is an advanced shareware font manager for Risc OS. It allows fonts to be easily installed as well as allowing fonts to be switched on and off when they are not in use. This will help to save memory in your computer. Atlanta will also allow you to sort your fonts out in to groups depending on what type they are, where you got them from or any other system you want to use. The purpose of this manual is to try and explain how to use Atlanta. However it has been designed to be as simple as possible to use and you will probably be able to grasp the basics from the reading just two sections. The Quick start chapter has been written so that you can probably get Atlanta working in about 5 to 10 minutes. Page 1 Atlanta 1.45 ________________________________________________________________________ The basics... ————————————— Atlanta has been designed to be as simple as possible in use as it can be. When loaded the Atlanta icon should always appear next to the ROM applications folder, so it should be easy to find. There are three important windows that are used; Font list window. —————————————————— This is where you can control which fonts are available and which are not. It is also from here where you can access the other functions of Atlanta such as delete, rename, as well as those listed below. Font preview window. ———————————————————— It is from this window that you can preview a font before deciding whether you want to switch it on for use in other Risc OS applications. You can also use this window to find out some limited information about the font. Load new fonts window. —————————————————————— This is the window you use to install new fonts in to Atlanta. You simply have to drag the directories on to it. Page 2 Atlanta 1.45 ________________________________________________________________________ Quick start ——————————— By following the instructions below you can probably have Atlanta up and running in about 5 to 10 minutes. You need to make sure that you have enough hard disc space before you start. About 500K will probably be more than enough for the standard Acorn fonts but the more fonts you install the more space you will need. • Copy Atlanta on to your hard disc drive. In to the root directory is the recommend place. • Double click on the !Atlanta application and run the copy you have just put on your hard drive.. • Click on the icon bar icon and the font list window will be opened. On the tool bar that is connected to it click on the + tool and the 'add new fonts' window. • Drag a font directory on to the ‘add new fonts’ window. After a while the fonts will be installed in to Atlanta and the pointer will change back to normal. • Close the ‘add new fonts’ window • To switch a font on, select them by clicking on them with ADJUST and then click SELECT on the tick button in the tool pane. To switch them off, so they can not be used by other applications, select them and click on the cross button. • When you want to add some more fonts click on the plus icon and the add fonts window will open. Atlanta should now be up and running with fonts installed. If you have had any error messages appear you should delete the copy of Atlanta that you have made and try to free some more disc space and repeat the quick start from the beginning. You should now read the rest of the manual as this gives a much more detailed description of Atlanta and what each of the functions are and how they work. Page 3 Atlanta 1.45 ________________________________________________________________________ Installing new fonts ———————————————————— Installing new fonts is relatively easy. With Atlanta loaded you need to open the main window by SELECT clicking on the Atlanta icon on the icon bar. From there you need to click on the plus [+] icon on the font list tool pane and then drag your fonts on to the window that appears. After a while they will be installed. Possible problems ————————————————— Error messages. If any errors occur whilst you are installing a new font it will not be installed. You will need to correct the problem and try again. Some of the possible problems are: • Out of memory. This is caused by ArcFS or SparkFS when you try to installed the fonts directly from them in to Atlanta. The work around for this is to copy them on to a Ram disc or on to your hard disc temporarily, install them and once they are installed, delete the temporary copy you made. • Out of disc space. You haven’t got enough space on your hard disc to install these new fonts on to it. You will need to free some more space and try again. You may need to delete/move some files. None standard font distribution ——————————————————————————————— As there is no standard way to distribute fonts many systems have been developed, the most of them will be incompatible with Atlanta. The most notable of these is Computer Concepts !FontInst application. To install these fonts properly you will need to create a temporary font directory and install them in to it. Then install this temporary font directory in to Atlanta and then delete the temporary font directory. DO NOT MANUALLY ALTER THE FONTS INSTALLED Page 4 Atlanta 1.45 ________________________________________________________________________ Switching fonts on and off —————————————————————————— The most powerful feature of Atlanta is its ability to switch fonts on and off. This can help to speed up your computer as well as cutting down the amount of memory used and disc activity. To switch a font on or off you need to select it. This can be done by either a SELECT or ADJUST click on it. To select a number of fonts in one go hold down the Control key and then use SELECT or ADJUST to drag the mouse pointer and rubber band them. When you use the select button any previously selected fonts are also deselected. Issues resulting.... ———————————————————— Unfortunately switching fonts and off can have unexpected results especially to any application that is still using them. Acorns Draw is very well behaved in this respect in that is just switches to using the system font instead. Computer Concepts Impression Style is not as well behaved as it should! It can go weird and is especially unstable after a ‘Font ***** not found’ error is reported. Atlanta has a system built in to it that will prevent you from switching a font that is in use by an application. This system can be come confused if an application crashes or doesn't tell the Acorn font manager that it is no longer interested in using a particular font. You will not be able to switch this font off till after you have reset your computer. Page 5 Atlanta 1.45 ________________________________________________________________________ Sorting fonts ————————————— Another powerful feature of Atlanta is its ability to help you organise your fonts in to groups. These groups can be anything you want to use. Where you got them or what style of font they are is recommended. The organising of fonts is handled by creating ‘directories’ for them to be stored in. Create a directory —————————————————— To create a directory you need Atlanta to be loaded and for the main font list to be displayed. [See ‘Installing new fonts’ for details] Clicking on the directory icon of the font list tool pane will open a small window with three icons in. ‘Create’, ‘Cancel’ and a writable icon. You need to enter the name of the directory in to this icon and then click on Create to make it. The new directory will appear at the bottom of the font list. Fonts can then be dragged in to it them as well as other font directories so as to create a directory structure. Open and closing a directory ———————————————————————————— Open and closing a directory is done by double clicking on a directory. If it is already closed then it will be opened and vice versa. Page 6 Atlanta 1.45 ________________________________________________________________________ Deleting fonts —————————————— Deleting a font is very simple its just a matter of making a selection and choosing the Font ‘Selection’ => Delete menu item from the main font list menu. Any directories that are selected will also have their contents deleted at the same time and you will be warned about this when you select the delete menu item. Once deleted a font can not be recreated. Basically there is no UNDO feature so use this function with care. Issues resulting.... ———————————————————— Unfortunately deleting fonts can have unexpected results especially to any application that is still using them. Acorns Draw is very well behaved in this respect in that is just switches to using the system font instead. Computer Concepts Impression Style isn’t! It can go weird and is especially unstable after a ‘Font *** not found’ error is reported. Atlanta has a system built in to it which will prevent the deletion of fonts that are still in use. This system should not be relied upon though as it can become confused if an application crashes inadvertently and doesn't tell the Acorn font manager that it is no longer using a font. This font will not be delectable until after you have reset the computer. Page 7 Atlanta 1.45 ________________________________________________________________________ Previewing fonts ———————————————— This is probably the most used function of Atlanta, the previewing of fonts. To preview a font either SELECT double click on it or use the Font ‘<font name>’ => preview dialogue box. In the preview is quite a bit of information. The first bit is the name, this appears under the example, this is the name originally given to it. If you have renamed it then it will not display this name as some badly written software ignores this alias and uses the old name. Also in the preview window is the default X and Y dpi that Risc OS will use unless you tell it different and what type of font it is. If the font is a computer generated font then Atlanta will make sure the font it is modelled off is also loaded. Entering text in to the preview window is very simple and can be done a number of different ways. You can...... * Simply type it in normally * Drag a text file on to the icon to load the first 255 characters * Press Ctrl-V if you are using a global clipboard supporting application - such as Impression Style, StrongEd, EasiWriter (I believe) If you need to save the text out it is simplicity its self just click on the text and hold with the SELECT button and drag the text file icon to wherever you want to. Page 8 Atlanta 1.45 ________________________________________________________________________ Renaming ———————— Renaming is used in two different ways in Atlanta. These are; * Actual renaming of directories. * The setting up of Aliases for fonts. The setting up of Aliases for fonts is done in the same way as the renaming of directories. The main difference between the two is that the actual renaming of fonts is not done. What actually happens is that Atlanta tells Risc OS ‘Font XXXX wants to be known as YYYY. Please make sure all applications do this’. Problems involved in renaming ————————————————————————————— Normally this system is Ok but not always as some applications ignore what the operating system tell them and do there own thing. Impression is yet again another one of the applications that does ignores the operating system about this. Draw and Edit both take notice and use the correct names. Page 9 Atlanta 1.45 ________________________________________________________________________ Choices ——————— To open the choices dialogue box for Atlanta you will need to access the icon bar menu and click on Choices. The choices window operates by each of the choice icons on the left controlling which part of Atlanta is being configured at anyone time. Currently this can be either the font list, the actual font handling of the fonts themselves, the tool bar, and how directories of fonts are handled in the font list window. The font list options affect the way that the main font list window works. They mostly affect the way the window looks but a copule will affect the way that the font list window works. * The colour for highlighted fonts. * The colour for installed fonts. * The colour for none installed fonts. * The background colour of the font list. You can also control how the selecting of the directories affects the contents of them and how taking certain actions against them affect the contents. * The automatically select contents option means that when the directory is selected then so are the contents. * The automatically install contents option means that when the directory is installed/de-installed then so are the contents. * The automatically delete contents option means that when the directory is deleted so are the contents. This option is off by default. The actual font handling options are more complicated though and are described below in detail. The report fonts already installed option reports when a font is already installed when you install a new directory in to Atlanta. The Ensure Font$Path change option should be switched on at all times and makes sure applications know that the fonts installed have changed. The complicated options are for the setting which font to use as default. These control which font is installed when you click on their family name in a font menu (in supporting applications). The radio icons control the name that is set to be installed. Oblique fonts are treated the same as italic fonts automatically. The tool bar options allow you to customise the tool bar. The sprite name is basically the sprite name in the Sprites file to use. There must be <sprite name> and p<sprite name> sprites available other wise tool_? is used. Page 10 Atlanta 1.45 ________________________________________________________________________ A list of commands which can be used are include below; * install_selection() Any selected fonts are installed when this button is clicked on. * deinstall_selection() Any selected fonts are de-installed when this button is clicked on. * open_new_dir() Opens the create new sub directory window. From where you can create a new directory. * open_load_win() Open the load fonts window. From this window you can install a new set of fonts. * button_switch_select() When selected clicked all the fonts are selected. When adjust clicked all the fonts are deselected. * select_all() Selects all the fonts and directories. * deselect_all() Deselects all the fonts and directories. * open_rename_win() If only one item is selected then it opens the rename item window. If not it does nothing. * open_preview_font_win() If only one font is selected then it opens the font preview window. If not then it does nothing. * Any star command You can also run any other star command so long as it has a * at the beginning if not then it will be reported as a unknown command! Page 11 Atlanta 1.45 ________________________________________________________________________ File scanning ————————————— Atlanta itself will not scan files. However it can use an external task to do this. Currently the only piece of software that supports this action is Font finder which is available separately from http://www.atlantic.oaktree.co.uk/software/applets/ It should have been included in the distribution archive / installer. It operates in a pretty straight forward way. When a file is dragged on to the Atlanta icon on the icon bar if Font finder is not loaded it will automatically be loaded. After Font finder is loaded it will scan the file or report an error. If Font finder is already loaded then Atlanta will tell it to load a file and scan it. Once the file has been scanned it will make make Atlanta load all the fonts used and then run the file. Saving the state ———————————————— You can save the state of the font list as well as being able to save the state of font cache if you wish. Both options are available from the Miscellaneous sub menu under Save list and Save cache respectively. When you choose to save the font cache you should also realise that it will probably only load on the version of RISC OS that you are running at the time. If you upgrade to a newer version of RISC OS then you will need to save it again as it will not load. When you save the font list you can choose whether or not it should save all the fonts (those that are switched on and off) or just those that are switched on by ticking the All fonts tick box that is in the save window. Page 12 Atlanta 1.45 ________________________________________________________________________ ShareWare ————————— Atlanta is ShareWare. This means that you may use Atlanta for only 30 days as a trial period. If, after this time, you decide that you want to continue using Atlanta you must register it by completing the registration form included in the Atlanta distribution package. If you decide not to register Atlanta then you must either destroy all the copies that you have or give way all the copies that you have. Please support Shareware development as without your support a large number of high quality applications will not be written! The single user registration fee is currently just £15, making Atlanta the cheapest professional font manager currently available for Risc OS. The registration fee includes a disc with a fully registered copy of the latest version of Atlanta, and if you require it the printed Impression manual that is only supplied with registered copies. Please take note that this is not professionally printed manual but is just a copy printed on a bubble jet printer. Atlanta uses the WimpKey module written by © Jason Williams. Licenses ———————— There are currently two types of licence available, each with a different and appropriate price. They currently are; • Single user – priced at £15, this covers any individual person. You may not use this version on a network of more than 3 machines. This includes the right to use Atlanta indefinitely as having the right to use new shareware versions when they are released. • Site License – priced at £30 which allows the user to use Atlanta on 3 or more machines at any one time on a single site. Remember that the site licence is still cheaper than a single user copy of some the commercial font managers that are available! Page 13 Atlanta 1.45 ________________________________________________________________________ Distribution ———————————— Unregistered copies of Atlanta may be distributed freely so long as the following conditions are meet: • Atlanta must be distributed intact, excluding the Impression format manual which must not be distributed. Any alterations made to the program must be removed before distribution. • Atlanta may only be distributed so long as no commercial gain or advantage is made via its distribution, without my prior consent. Distribution ‘costs’ maybe charged so long as they are less than the equivalent of £5.00 UK sterling. • Atlanta may not be distributed on any CD–ROM or with any commercial product without my prior consent. Registered versions of Atlanta may not be distributed at all. They have the licensees name embedded in the software. Licensees of Atlanta may make infinite backups, so long as Atlanta is installed and used according the the type of licence that has been purchased. Contact ——————— I can be contacted by mail or e mail at the addresses below. The latest version of Atlanta can also be downloaded from my web site, at the WWW address that has been included below. David McCormack, 2 Cornwall Avenue, Beeston Rylands, Nottingham, NG9 1NL E Mail davemac@atlantic.oaktree.co.uk WWW http://www.atlantic.oaktree.co.uk/ Page 14