Need a poster? Got a GS compatible printer? Are you reading this? If you answered yes to all these questions, you are in luck--What A Poster prints out super-hi-res graphics!
How big will the printout be? You can print them out from about 1/36" to, as Jason puts it, "a size larger than you would want to print." (That's 6' wide x 8' high -- hope you have a lot of ribbons lying about.)
YOUR FIRST POSTER
Print this documentation out, and follow along as we print out your first graphic!
Step One: Run What A Poster!
This is rather obvious. Choose it from the menu and choose run.
Step Two: Load in a file
Select "Open" from the File menu. Click on "Volumes" and choose "SDGS.18" (if you aren't already there). Double click on "What.A.Poster", then double click on "WAP.Pictures". Finally, double click on "Happy.Birthday" to load this file.
Step Three: Choosing a size
Pull down the Size menu and choose "1/2". This means the image will print out at 1/2 normal size.
Step Four: A Word about the boundaries
What A Poster will show you where the page boundaries lie and show a rectangle around the data that is to be printed. If you don't want these lines messing up your picture perusal, choose this. For this example, however, DON'T, because you won't be able to do any of the neat things we're about to tell you how to do!
Step Five: Sizing the image
We can selectively print out just the words "Happy Birthday" from the picture. Use the arrow on the lower right side of the window to scroll the image down until you see a line. Now use the arrow on the right side of the bottom to scroll the image right until you see that line meet another line. You will see a little dot where they meet. As you move the cursor over it, the cursor changes to four-way arrows. Drag the dot upward a lot, then scroll the window upward, then move the dot up, then the window, and so on until you see the "Happy Birthday" graphic. Let go when the rectangle you are sizing surrounds the graphic without touching it. You can move the upper left corner of the rectangle closer to the image as well.
Step Six: Printing the image
Now choose "Print" from the File menu. If everything looks all right for your printer, click on "OK." Make sure your printer is online and has paper. The program will recognize if you have a color ribbon in your printer and allow you to use that option if present.
There you are--your first poster! OK, it's not very big, but you now know how to use the most important features of What A Poster.
WHAT'S ON THE MENU?
Let's look at all the menu options available in What A Poster!
Apple Menu
About Tells you Jason wrote it and we own it.
File
Open Open up a graphic document for printing. What A Poster will
load in Super Hi-res Screen Image, Packed Super Hi-res Image,
PICT,and Apple Preferred format pictures. You can have
multiple images loaded in at once.
Open Clipboard
Lets you load in something you saved in the clipboard from,
say, AppleWorks GS.
Page Setup
Allows you to change paper type or height for the print out.
Print
Prints out the currently selected image. If you want to
cancel, press Open-Apple-Period.
Close
Closes the current selected document.
Quit
Quits.
Edit
Undo,Cut,Copy,Paste,Clear
This menu is here for desk accessory support.
Size
1/8, 1/4, 1/2
These print out the image at a reduced size.
Normal
This prints out the picture just as it seen on the screen.
2x, 4x, 8x
These will print out the image at a much larger size.
Options
Show page boundaries and image location
If you want to see the outline of the image and where the
page boundaries lie, then by all means, select this.
A WHAT A POSTER! TIP
Move the cursor onto the image. The cursor will change to a hand. Click and hold down the mouse button. Now you can drag the picture around inside the first page. Moving images like this can be useful. For instance, if you want to center the image on the poster you print out.
If you were to move it farther, and the bottom of the image entered the next page, the poster information would change to "2 pages".
You can't drag the image off the first page. (Why would you want to print out a bunch of blank pages?)
WHAT A POSTER! AND LOW-MEMORY, ONE-DRIVE CONFIGURATIONS
If you have 768K and one drive, What A Poster will, like most programs, be a pain when it needs stuff. When you are loading or printing and it seems the program has waited a long time, switch the program disk and the system disk, then press ESC. The system software is usually looking for your printer, or information on the system disk. GS/OS 5.0.4 isn't very happy when it is in 768K, and makes you do a lot of work if you have one drive. Keep in mind that 256K costs about $29, and an AE drive costs a little over $200. If you intend on using 5.0.4 from now on, I'd seriously consider these purchases.
COPYING WHAT A POSTER
Select "File Copier" from the File menu (or just press Open-Apple-F) to run the copying utility. Click on "What A Poster" and select the disk you'd like to copy it to.
