Item 8080720 94/08/04 07:44 From: DARREN_SMITH@NEXT.COM@INET00# Internet Gateway Subject: PRESS RELEASE: Thoughtful Software announces new version of HyperSense Cc: next-announce@digifix.com FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: M. Baun internet: info@thoughtful.com phone: 303/221-4596 fax: 303/221-0841 Fort Collins, Colorado, August 1, 1994 - Thoughtful Software announced the release of a new version of HyperSense, its easy-to-use multipurpose authoring software for NEXTSTEP. This new release debuts many features which enhance the program, and make it even more accessible for all users. HyperSense lets anyone create and use interactive documents such as medical and business tutorials, multimedia databases, hypertext documents, personal applications and much more. A drag and drop interface makes document creation easy. Understandable SenseTalk scripts provide the power and versatility to master complex tasks, and support the use of HyperCard stacks which can be converted for use in HyperSense. HyperSense has been enthusiastically received in the educational, medical and business communities. Users have found HyperSense to be an effective tool for presenting and interacting with text, images and sound. "HyperSense provided me all the tools I needed to create my hypertext dissertation on prostate cancer," said first-time authoring system user Greg Gliemi. "Without it I would have been lost." The latest release of HyperSense is available by FTP in the /pub/next/HyperSense directory at the Oregon State archive site (cs.orst.edu). The full file paths are as follows: ftp://ftp.cs.orst.edu/pub/next/HyperSense/HyperSense1.00B10b.README.rtf ftp://ftp.cs.orst.edu/pub/next/HyperSense/HyperSenseApp.pkg.1.00B10b.tar ftp://ftp.cs.orst.edu/pub/next/HyperSense/HyperSenseDocs.pkg.1.00B10b.tar The Oregon State site also contains a growing repository of freely available HyperSense documents contributed by users of the program, ranging from a loan calculator which generates nicely formatted amortization schedules, to an extensive tutorial on 16th-century music theory. For those without FTP access to the Internet, Thoughtful Software will ship the software on floppy disks for a small media and shipping charge. The software can be fully enabled by purchasing a license from Thoughtful Software. Licenses for this pre-release version are available at the special price of $299, and include a free upgrade to HyperSense 1.0 (with printed manual) plus any other releases issued through June 1995. Quantity and educational discounts are available, as well as a special student license (no printed manual) for $99. ________________________________ Highlights of the New Release include: - Custom Help: Users can now easily add context-sensitive help to any document. - A new DocumentTools palette facilitates creating and modifying documents. The new panel (which is itself a HyperSense document) provides buttons for creating new documents in several formats, plus tools to make it easy to resize the pages of any stack, to change page colors, and to extend any windowFrame with the automatic addition of navigation buttons. - New Polygon and CurveLine drawing tools enhance the range of graphic objects available. - A new Preferences panel enables users to set a variety of personal preference options easily. - WindowFrame elements can now automatically resize with the window. - Many new object properties were added, including the ability to add a border to an imageElement and specify a different image for it to display on each page (thus effectively creating a "picture field"). - Numerous SenseTalk enhancements, including the ability to access and modify the properties of elements embedded within field text. - Many new or improved documents are included with this release, including an updated Home document and a new Bookmarks panel which allows each user to record a personal list of markers for quick navigation to any page of any document. ________________________________ Standard HyperSense Features include: - A rich document-based architecture, with multiple Stacks of Pages and multiple WindowFrames (window and panel definitions) within any Document. - Multiple Layers of elements on any Page or WindowFrame. Layers can be shared by various Pages in any combination, and can be hidden, redisplayed, and reordered either manually or under script control. - Object oriented drawing, on multiple layers. Each graphic is an independent object that can be resized, repositioned, or hidden. Graphic shapes include rectangles, ovals, lines, polygons, freehand shapes and curve lines. - User interface objects (controls) including fields, push buttons, switches, radio buttons, browsers, sliders, and more. - Drag and drop TIFF and EPS images onto a page to create scriptable image elements. - SenseTalk scripts can be assigned to any HyperSense object: Documents, WindowFrames, Stacks, Pages, Layers, and all types of Elements (both graphics and control objects). - Custom palettes of drag-and-drop elements are easily created. Palettized objects may include fully scripted functionality. - "Point and click" creation of active hypertext links from any Element to any Page of any Document. - Rich text fields with full support for multiple fonts, margins, rulers, spell checking, text-based services (Digital Webster, etc.), and embedded elements within the text. - Scripts can be assigned to any graphics and buttons embedded within text. - Shared and Unique Layers allow for forms-type database functionality plus the flexibility of adding unique fields and elements on individual pages. - Ability to search for text in all fields of a stack, or within a selected field on every page. - Object Inspector provides convenient access to all object properties. Multiple elements can be selected and modified at once. - HyperSense Browser gives a complete overview of all objects within a document, and permits reordering of pages, layers and elements by simply dragging them to a new position within the browser. - Digital audio recording, editing and playback capabilities are built in (on machines which support sound). - Exceptionally easy-to-understand SenseTalk scripting language is very English-like, and is compatible with HyperTalk. - Literally hundreds of built-in commands, functions, and object properties provide complete control of all aspects of the HyperSense environment, as well as a full range of capabilities for text manipulation, time and date conversion, mathematical and financial calculations, file import and export, and much more. - Script editing windows provide auto-indenting of scripts. A SenseTalk Browser panel lists all commands and features of the language in a convenient format, with brief descriptions and a fill-in-the-blanks template of each one which can be inserted directly into a script. - Complete serial port access is built into SenseTalk, giving control of laser disc players or any other device which can be controlled through a serial port. - Custom commands and functions can be added to the SenseTalk language through dynamically loaded external modules (XModules) - Ability to convert HyperCard stacks into HyperSense documents, with full access to all objects and scripts. - Fully indexed on-line manual, created in HyperSense. - Many sample HyperSense documents are included with the package, and more are freely available at major FTP sites. - A HyperSense-User e-mail list provides users with an open forum for exchanging ideas and receiving ongoing technical support. =END=