THE POSTER PROGRAM.

Version 1.3 12/20/93.

INTRODUCTION.

This program has been designed to let you easily and quickly create 
large posters  signs, and banners,  printing them at up to 9 feet by 9 
feet.

The program was originally created to allow my daughter to generate 
large posters for use in presentations for her 4-H club.  The posters 
are text and graphcs.  After creating a poster, she prints in double 
size (4 sheets of paper) and pastes it onto a poster board.  For a 
typical presentation, she will use six to ten posters.

The program has been enhanced to be of general use in a variety of 
situations for printing big pages:
1. Creating large posters for presentations, projects, charts, etc.
2. Creating large signs for advertisments, announcements, etc.
3. Creating banners for special events, etc.
4. Enlarging pictures, charts, etc. for display.

This program is "Freely Distributed". The author has given permission 
for the file to be distributed without restriction, but does not permit 
alterations to the file. 

ADVANTAGES OF POSTER.

This program is very easy to use, and it is very simple to create large 
posters and banners.  It is especially useful when you have a number of 
fonts installed, as the font selection menu displays renditions of all 
the true-type fonts. The final poster size is fully configurable.

VERSION 1.3 IMPROVEMENTS.

1. Fixes printing of color text.
2. Adds support for OLE embedded objects (like microsoft draw & 
wordart).
3. Adds easy banner support.
4. Adds print preview.
5. Removes restrictions on special characters and the number of 
pictures.


SUPPORT.

If you have any problems or suggestions, please send me a note.  My 
email address is rfb@sdc.cs.boeing.com.  

If you find this program useful, please send me some email. In lieu 
of money, this is great positive reinforcement.

REGISTRATION.

Please, please, register this program if you find it useful. There is NO 
FEE for registration. Just email me a note. This allows me to notify you 
of bug fixes and new versions as they become available. It helps me 
guage the usage of the program, and what enhancements should be made.

It also helps make my day!


INSTALLATION.

If you have unzipped the files, then you have practically installed the 
program.  
The package consists of the following files:
1. This README file.
2. POSTER.TXT, which is  the documentation for POSTER.  All of this 
   documentation is also in the on-line help file.
3. POSTER.EXE, which is the poster program itself.
4. POSTER.HLP, which is the on-line help file.
5. CTL3D.DLL, the 3d controls library.

To install the program, do the following after unzipping the poster 
download file:
1. Create a directory called POSTER.
2. Copy the files POSTER.TXT, POSTER.EXE, and POSTER.HLP into that 
directory.
3. Copy the file CTL3D.DLL to your \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. 
4. Create a program manager icon for POSTER by doing the following:
	a. Select the program manager group where you want the icon.
	b. Select NEW.
	c. Select Program Item.
	d. In the dialog box, fill in Description ("Poster"), 
		The command line: C:\poster\poster.exe
	The working directory: C:\poster
	If you have unzipped into a different directory, use it instead of 
	c:\poster.
5. You may view and print the documentation file, POSTER.TXT, with 
notepad.
      However, this entire document is included in the online help file.

USING POSTER.

To start using poster, simply double click on the poster icon.  POSTER 
will start and ask you for the poster or banner format. After selecting 
the format you want, it will present an empty page to you.  Just start 
typing to begin making your poster.

You can also associate "POS" file types with poster (do this with File 
Manager).  Then, double clicking on a POS file will automatically start 
poster with that file.


PRINTERS.

This program has been successfully tested on the following printers: 
	HP Laserjet II and compatibles
	HP Laserjet III - see special setup instructions below.
	HP LaserJet 4 - See special setup instructions below
	HP DeskJet PLUS
	HP DeskJet 500
	Epson dot matrix and compatibles
	Postscript printer - See special setup instructions below

If you cannot get POSTER to work properly on your printer, try checking 
the box marked "Method A" in the PRINT dialog box. This should work ALL 
printers (but not plotters).  If this still doesn't work, try "Method 
B".  Also, see the special setup instructions below.



LASERJET III USERS.
If the posters you print are missing characters at page edges, then do 
the following:
1. Select "Method A" in the Poster Print Dialog box.  Also, be sure your 
printer is set to 300 dpi.

LASERJET 4 USERS.
To successfully print posters, you must configure your printer as 
follows:
1. Select "Printer Setup":
2. Set resolution to 300 dpi. (At 600dpi, printing takes a very long 
time, and may hang the printer.)
3. Select "options". 
4. Select "Graphics Mode" = "raster", "Graphics Quality"="high", and
     check "print true-type as graphics".
If posters still do not print properly, then in the PRINT dialog box, 
check the boxed marked "Method A". This should always work.  

POSTSCRIPT PRINTER USERS.
POSTER cannot always automatically switch a postscript printer from 
portrait mode to landscape mode.  If  "Print Preview" shows the printer 
to be in the incorrect mode,use the "Print Setup" menu item to manually 
select the proper mode.

If you get postscript errors, or you are loosing characters at page 
boundaries:
1. From the control panel, select Printers, then select 'Setup.
2. Select "options", then select "advanced".
3. Select "print true type fonts as" "Bitmap (type 3)".
4. Close the control panel.
5. Start POSTER.
If posters still do not print properly, or print too slow, then in the 
PRINT dialog box, check the boxed marked "Method A". This should always 
work.

COLOR PRINTERS.
POSTER should now properly print color text and graphics.
If you import a *.bmp file (a bitmap file) and it prints in black-and-
white instead of color, use the following workaround:
1. Start Windows Paintbrush.
2. Import the *.bmp file into Paintbrush.
3. Copy the picture to the clipboard.
4. In POSTER, Paste the picture from the clipboard.

SLOW PRINTING.
Sorry, but Windows printing is s..l..o..w.  I have no good solution for 
this.  Be sure to verify your poster with "Preview" in the "Print" 
dialog box.  Then, have patience while it prints.

Bob Bedoll
12/20/94.
Seattle, WA.
email: rfb@sdc.cs.boeing.com.
(206) 865-6414 or (206) 848-0467.