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This is the instruction manual for HyperRead and
HyperRead Generator. It is also a demonstration HyperRead
file. You can flip through this document one page at a time
using the <PgUp> and <PgDn> keys. You can move one line at
a time by holding down the Ctrl key as you press <PgUp> or
<PgDn>. You can also move through the document by pressing
the up or down cursor key. If the screen cursor gets to the
top or bottom of the screen and you continue pressing the
cursor key, the text will scroll. You can move to the top
of the document by pressing the <Home> key on your
keyboard, or go to the end of the document by pressing the
<End> key.
You also can jump around in the document using the link
words or phrases. Link phrases look like this. To jump to a
section of text containing more information on a link
phrase, use the cursor keys to move the screen cursor to
the link phrase, then press the <J> key on the keyboard.
You may do this repeatedly, going from one link word to
another. You can backtrack along this path by pressing the
<B> key on the keyboard. There is more information on this
"jumping" later in this document.
You can also control HyperRead Generator using a mouse
if you have one installed. This will be explained later (or
you can jump to this subject now by jumping from the word
"mouse" and then backtracking to this page when you are
done).
You may now read the manual. Enjoy, and feel free to
experiment with the link phrases.
Every few years, a new concept comes along that offers a
whole new use for personal computers. Typical examples have
been word processing, telecommunications and BBS's,
spreadsheets, and desktop publishing. The latest new idea
is hypertext.
What is hypertext? It is an indexing system that allows
people to use their computers to read computer text files
quickly and easily. It does this by allowing them to jump
from one part of the file to another, following whatever
train of thought they want.
In an ordinary printed document, the reader must read
the document linearly. That is, the person must read from
the beginning to the end, one page at a time. Sometimes the
person can jump around a little by using the index or the
table of contents, but this is very limited. The index can
only list a few key words, and the pages listed for those
words are usually simply where the word is defined or first
mentioned. The table of contents points only to broad areas
of the document where a general subject is discussed. In
any case, flipping through the pages is time-consuming and
tedious.
With hypertext, the author of a document can create
"tunnels" or links within a document that allow the reader
to jump from one area of the document to another. The
reader uses a computer to read the text on the screen. When
he or she finds an important word or phrase in the text
that needs clarifying, the computer can jump to the part of
the text that explains the term or gives more information.
For example, suppose you are reading a story about the
history of the electric light bulb. The story mentions that
it was invented by Thomas Edison. If you get curious about
Edison, you can jump directly from that part of the text to
the part that tells you more about Edison. That part of the
text might mention some of Edison's other inventions. If
you see one that looks interesting, you can jump directly
to the part of the text that describes this invention. This
can vastly increase the speed at which you can find
information.
HyperRead Generator and HyperRead are programs that
allow you to create and distribute hypertext documents.
HyperRead Generator allows you to convert an ordinary ASCII
text file into a hypertext document, which you may then use
or distribute. This program is shareware. It can be
downloaded from various Bulletin Board Systems or ordered
directly from Leithauser Research or a qualified
distributor. HyperRead is the program that allows you to
read the hypertext documents. This program is freeware, and
you may distribute it freely with any HyperRead files you
create. Both programs can be used with or without a mouse.
Before explaining how to use HyperRead Generator, an
explanation of how to operate HyperRead will be helpful.
This is partly because the person who reads the document
will be using HyperRead, so a thorough understanding of
HyperRead is important to anyone who plans to use
HyperRead Generator to create HyperRead files. It is also
helpful to understand HyperRead because HyperRead
Generator operates almost identically to HyperRead,
except that it has some extra functions and is missing a
few minor ones from HyperRead.
Using HyperRead
To read a HyperRead file, you need only run HyperRead
and load the desired HyperRead document. There are two ways
you can do this. You can simply type the program name (HR4)
at the DOS prompt. If there are more than one HyperRead
files in the current default directory, the computer will
then display a list of HyperRead files and ask you which
file to load (Otherwise it simply loads the one file). Type
the name of the file and press the ENTER key. Note: All
HyperRead documents actually consist of two files. There is
a text document file that can have any name and extension.
There is also a control file that has the extension HRF. It
is not necessary to type this extension to load the file.
For example, to load the file GENERATE.HRF, just enter the
name GENERATE.
Another way to run HyperRead and load a file is to type
the program name (HR4) followed by the name of the file to
load at the DOS prompt. For example, this file is called
GENERATE.HRF. You can run the program and load this file at
the same time by typing HR4 GENERATE at the DOS prompt (it
is not necessary to include the extension). This feature
makes it easy to create a batch file that automatically
runs the HyperRead program and loads a HyperRead file.
When the program has loaded the file, it will display
the first page of the file. At the bottom of the screen,
you will see a list of options. These options are PgUp,
Home, Help, Load, Quit, Jump, Backtrack, Search, Print,
End, and PgDn. For the PgUp, PgDn, Home, and End options,
press these keys on the keyboard. For the other options,
press the first letter of the option. These options are
explained below.
PgDn
Pressing the <PgDn> key moves the page of text on the
screen to the next page. That is, it scrolls down 23 lines.
If you hold down the <Ctrl> key while pressing the <PgDn>
key, however, the screen will scroll only one line.
PgUp
Pressing the <PgUp> key scrolls the text up 23 lines. If
you hold down the <Ctrl> key while pressing this key,
however, the text will scroll only one line.
Home
Pressing the <Home> key moves you directly to the first
page of the document. If you are in the middle of a long
document, this can be a faster way to get to the beginning
than repeatedly pressing <PgUp>.
End
Pressing the <End> key moves you to the last page of the
document. If you want to get to a page near the end, you
can press <End> and then <PgUp> a few times. This is
sometimes faster than pressing <PgDn> repeatedly.
Cursor Keys
You can move the screen cursor with the cursor keys and
also scroll through the document by moving beyond the top
or bottom of the screen.
Help
This option displays a Help screen. This screen gives a
short summary of the other options and how to use them.
After viewing this help screen, you can press the space bar
to return to the HyperRead document.
Load
This loads a document file into memory. The computer
will display a list of HyperRead documents in the current
directory. Type the name of the file and press ENTER. It is
not necessary to include the extension. This option allows
you to read several documents without returning to DOS to
reload HyperRead and load a new document.
Quit
This option ends the programs and returns you to DOS.
Jump
This is the function that allows you to move directly to
another area of the document that is pointed to by a link
word or phrase. If you have a color screen, the default color
for link words is blue on a black background. If you have a
monochrome screen, default color for link words is black on
a white background. You can change these at program startup.
To select a link word, use the keyboard cursor keys to
move the flashing screen cursor until it is somewhere on
the link word. Then press the <J> key. The computer will
then display the page of text pointed to by the link word.
Once you have moved to this page, you can move normally
through the document using the <PgUp> and <PgDn> keys. You
also can jump to other areas of the document from there
using other link words. For example, suppose you jumped to
a page using the link word "Thomas Edison" and that page
contained the link word "light bulb." You could then jump
directly to the page pointed to by "light bulb."
If the link word is the name of a PCX picture file,
"jumping" to it displays that picture on the screen. For
example, moving the screen cursor to the word SATURN.PCX
and pressing the <J> key will display a sketch of Saturn.
Pressing any keyboard key (except control keys like Shift,
Ctrl, or Alt) or either mouse button will return you to the
document text.
If the link word is an executable file name with an EXE,
COM, or BAT extension, "jumping" to it will cause
HyperRead to run that program (assuming that it exists in
the current directory). For example, jumping from the word
NOTHING.COM will run the NOTHING.COM program. When the
program or batch file finishes running, HyperRead will
come back and display the page it was on before you ran the
program.
Backtrack
This function allows you to reverse the effects of the
Jump function. When you press the <B> key, the computer
will take you back to the page containing the most recently
used link word. For example, if you jumped to a destination
page using the link word "Thomas Edison," pressing the <B>
key would take you back to the page containing "Thomas
Edison."
You can use the backtrack function repeatedly. For
example, suppose you jumped to a page pointed to by "Thomas
Edison" and that page contained the link word "light bulb."
You then used the "light bulb" link word to jump to another
page. Pressing the <B> key twice would jump back to the
page containing "light bulb" and then to the page
containing "Thomas Edison." You can repeat this process
until you reach the page containing the first link word you
used.
Search
This option allows you to search the document for a
specific text string, such as a name. It is handy if you
want to find information on a subject, and there is no link
word on the screen that would take you to that subject.
When you pick this option, the computer will ask you for
the string of text to search for. Type the string and press
ENTER. If you have already used this option, the default
will be the last string you searched for. This allows you
to easily continue the search if you want more information
on the string.
The computer will always begin the search at the line
the screen cursor is on in the document. It does not find
any appearances of the string that occur before this in the
document.
The search is case-insensitive. That is, it disregards
capitalization. If you asked the computer to search for
"home," it would find "home," "Home," and "HOME."
The program searches each line of text for the search
string. It will not find the string if it is broken by the
end of a line. For example, if the string were "George
Washington," the program would not find it if the text
contained the word George on one line and Washington on the
next. For this reason, it is best if you limit your search
string to one word if possible.
When the program finds the search string, it displays
the page of text containing the string. The line containing
the string will be at the top of the screen. If the
document does not contain the string after the current
screen cursor position, the program will display a message
saying "String not found. Press space bar to continue."
When you press the space bar, the text will be at the same
point where you started the search.
Print
The Print function will send a copy of the document to
the printer. If the document contains page feed characters,
HyperRead will use those to format the document.
Otherwise, HyperRead will create its own formatting. It
will print out the document with margins at the top and
bottom of the page and a page number at the bottom of each
page.
To use this feature, set the printer at the top of a
page of formfeed paper, turn it on, and press the <P> key
on the keyboard. This is intended primarily for people who
are distributing HyperRead instructions for their Shareware
or public domain programs. This makes it unnecessary to
include a separate ASCII file of the instructions to print.
Mouse Support
If you have a mouse driver installed, HyperRead will
support the mouse. If you have a mouse driver installed,
you will have two cursors on the screen. One is controlled
by the mouse and one is controlled by the keyboard cursor
keys. The mouse cursor is somewhat darker in color. You
might need to move the mouse around a bit to help you find
the mouse cursor.
You can use the mouse to operate the HyperRead
navigation functions. Moving the mouse cursor to the word
PgUp at the bottom of the screen and pressing the left
mouse button (known as "clicking on it") has the same
effect as pressing the <PgUp> key. Clicking on PgUp with
the left mouse button has the same effect as <Ctrl-PgUp>.
Clicking on PgDn at the bottom of the screen with the left
mouse button has the same effect as pressing <PgDn>.
Clicking on it with the right mouse button has the same
effect as <Ctrl-PgDn>. Clicking on Home or End at the
bottom of the screen with either mouse button has the same
effect as pressing the <Home> or <End> buttons.
Clicking on a link word with the left mouse button
causes HyperRead to jump to the information referenced by
that link word, just as pressing the <J> key does. Pressing
the right mouse button causes HyperRead to backtrack
through the links just like pressing the <B> key does,
regardless of where the mouse cursor is located.
Other functions, such as Load, Quit, and Search, cannot
be controlled using the mouse. In some cases this is to
prevent you from accidentally activating the function (like
Quit) with the mouse. In other cases it is because the
function requires keyboard input anyway, such as the word
to search for.
Using HyperRead Generator
HyperRead Generator creates the HyperRead control file
that allows HyperRead to read a HyperRead file. First,
you must create the document you want to convert to
hypertext on your own word processor or text editor. Almost
any word processor will do, provided it can create and save
a file with the following characteristics:
1) The file must be saved in plain ASCII.
2) There must be a carriage return at the end of each line
3) Each line of the file must be less than 80 characters
long. If your word processor saves a document with lines
longer than this, you must use some text editor or other
program to break up the lines into lines of 79 characters
or less. The EDIT function that comes with DOS 5.0 and
above will serve nicely for this purpose.
4) The document may contain page feed characters (ASCII
character 12) to force page feeds. However, it must not
contain tab characters (ASCII character 9). Convert any
such characters in your document to a series of spaces.
5) The lines of the document may not contain any embedded
line feeds other than those that accompany carriage returns.
6) The document may not contain any nonprinting characters,
such as bells or Esc characters. It may contain printable
ASCII characters, such as graphic characters (ASCII 129 and
above).
What all this really amounts to is that the document must
be pure ASCII.
When you run HyperRead Generator (HRG4.EXE) or select the
Load option, HyperRead Generator will ask if you are loading
a new file. A new file would be an ASCII document that you
have not yet created a HyperRead control file for. If you
press Y, HyperRead Generator will display a directory of
all documents in the correct directory and ask you which
one to load. Type the full name and press ENTER. HyperRead
Generator will then load the file.
If you press N when the program asks you if it is a new
file, HyperRead Generator will display a list of HyperRead
control files. Type the name of the file you want to load
and press ENTER. You can then add new links to the old
document.
Once you have loaded a file, HyperRead Generator
operates very much like the HyperRead program. You load
and view files the same way as with HyperRead. HyperRead
Generator simply has several additional options that allow
you to create the link words and save the new document to
disk. The Print and Help HyperRead options are omitted
from HyperRead Generator. You do not need these options
with HyperRead Generator, anyway. You do no need the Help
option, since you can print out the manual using
HyperRead. You also can use your copy of HyperRead to
print the file, if you want to see how it looks printed out
by HyperRead.
The additional options for HyperRead Generator are Mark,
Unmark, and Disk. These options are explained below.
Mark
This is the option to create the HyperRead links that
allow the reader to jump from one part of the document to
another. You can create up to 1000 links in each document.
If you try to create more, the computer will just beep at
you.
To create a link, move the document with the <PgUp> and
<PgDn> keys so the word or phrase you want to turn into a
link phrase is on the screen. Then use the cursor keys to
move the screen cursor to the beginning of the word or
phrase. Press the <M> key. Use the right cursor key to move
the cursor to the end of the desired link word or phrase.
You will notice that the word becomes blue (or reverse
video with a monochrome display) as you move the cursor.
You can use the left cursor key to backtrack if you go too
far.
When you have marked the entire link word or phrase,
press the ENTER key. That ends the marking. Now move the
document to the part of the document that you want the link
word to point to (called the destination page). You can use
all the normal movement techniques, such as PgUp, PgDn,
Home, and End, to move within the document. You can even
use the Search or Jump options.
When you have found the beginning of the destination
page, move the screen cursor (with the cursor keys) to the
desired first line of the destination page. That is, the
line that you want to be at the top of the screen when the
user selects the link word. With the cursor on that line,
press the <M> key again. The link is now established. The
computer will then go back to the page with the link word.
You can abort the marking process at any time until you
have marked the destination page. Just press the <Esc> key
to abort marking.
The entire link word or phrase must be on one line. That
is, once you have marked the beginning of the link phrase
with the <M> key, you cannot move to the next line. Suppose
you want to mark a phrase that is split at the end of a
line. To do this, first mark the phrase up to the end of
the first line. Hit the ENTER key, go to the destination
page, and mark it with the <M> key just as you normally
would. Then go back to the link phrase, mark the rest of
the phrase starting at the beginning of the second line.
Point this link phrase at the same destination page. What
you are actually doing is creating two link phrases that
point at the same page. It will act, however, as if the
link phrase extended over several lines.
If you want to create a link to a PCX file so that
jumping from that link displays the file, simply include
the name of the file in your ASCII document. Then mark the
entire file name including the .PCX extension. After you have
marked the word and pressed ENTER, simply press M to link
the word to itself. If the link word ends in ".PCX", HyperRead
automatically assumes that it is a PCX file and tries to load
it. For example, the file name SATURN.PCX has been included
in this document and linked. Clicking on it with the left
mouse button or pressing the <J> key while the screen cursor
is on it will display the picture. If the program cannot find
this PCX file, it will display an error message.
If you want to create a link to an EXE, COM, or batch file
so HyperRead will run that program, simply put the name of the
program in your ASCII text document. You must include the
".EXE", ".COM", or ".BAT" extension in the name. You may
include command-line parameters. Mark the full name of the file
(including command-line parameters) and link the word to
itself. For example, NOTHING.COM has been marked in this
document. If HyperRead cannot find the file when you try to
jump to it, HyperRead will return to its original state with
no error message.
Unmark
This function allows you to remove a link. Use the
keyboard cursor keys to move the screen cursor to the link
phrase you want to remove. Then press the <U> key. The
phrase will no longer be a link phrase.
Disk
Pressing the <D> key causes the program to save the
HyperRead control file on disk. If this is the first time
you have saved this file, HyperRead Generator saves the
file with the same name as the original ASCII text file,
but with the HRF extension replacing whatever extension
your ASCII file had. If you loaded a document that already
had a control file, HyperRead Generator will use the same
name the control file had when you loaded it. You should
always save the control file before ending the program if
you have made any changes in it (marked or unmarked any
link words).
HyperRead Generator does not modify the original ASCII
document file in any way. Only the control file is changed
or created.
PCX graphics
For HyperRead or HyperRead Generator to display a
graphic, it must be in the 16 color, 640 by 350 pixel
format. There are basically two ways to generate such
pictures. You can use a scanner to scan existing hard copy
pictures, or you can create such pictures using a paint
program such as Windows Paintbrush. If you use the scanner,
you must be careful to set the scanning program to generate
the proper type of file. If you use a paint program, you
must be sure to set the palette and picture properties
correctly. The easiest way to do this is to load the
BLANK.PCX file provided with HyperRead Generator into the
paint program. This will automatically configure the paint
program to the proper settings. You can then draw on the
blank screen. When you are finished, save the picture using
the Save As option and give the picture a different name.
If you do not change the name, you will overwrite the
BLANK.PCX file, making it harder to create pictures in the
future.
Note: Some paint programs, including Windows Paint,
create pictures that are slightly distorted (thinner) when
viewed by HyperRead. To compensate for this, you might
want to draw the pictures a little thicker horizontally
than you want them to appear on the screen. The pictures
will then look correct when displayed by HyperRead. You
might want to create a few sample pictures of circles and
squares and load these into HyperRead to check this out
before you create any elaborate pictures with your paint
program.
Modifying HyperRead documents
Once you have created a HyperRead control file for a
document, you should not change the ASCII text file. Doing
so can mess up your link pointers or cause other
undesirable results. In particular, any change that
decreases the total number of lines in the file will cause
HyperRead to crash when trying to load the file. If you
add lines, the new lines will not be read in when you load
the document into HyperRead. If you add lines in the
middle of a document, all links after the added lines will
be in the wrong places. Adding text in a line will cause
all links on that line after the added text to be wrong.
About the only changes you can make to the ASCII file are
minor corrections to lines that contain no links, provided
the corrections do not change the number of lines in the
file. (Of course, you could unmark the links and then
restore them after you make the corrections.) For these
reasons, it is strongly recommended that you thoroughly
proofread your document before you run it through HyperRead
Generator. Of course, in a worst case scenario, you can
delete the control file for your document and start all
over with the linking process by loading the modified
document into HyperRead Generator as a new file.
Mouse support
HyperRead Generator uses the mouse the same way as
HyperRead.
System Requirements
Both HyperRead and HyperRead Generator should run on
any IBM compatible computer with at least 256 K of memory.
The text portion of the document will display on any
display system, even an old MDA card with a monochrome
display. To display the PCX files, you must have an EGA or
better graphic card. The Print option will work with any
type of printer, even a daisy-wheel.
Distributing HyperRead Documents
To distribute a HyperRead Document, you need to include
in the package the following items:
1) Your original ASCII text file.
2) The HyperRead control file for that document with the
HRF extension.
3) The HyperRead program. This is a freeware program, so
you can distribute unlimited copies. It is suggested but
not required that you include the READER.DOC and READER.HRF
files with the program itself so the user can fully
understand the features of the reader. Otherwise, your
document itself should include considerable instructions on
how to use HyperRead.
4) Any PCX, COM, EXE, or BAT files that you have linked
with your document.
Uses for HyperRead
You can use this program to create any type of
easy-to-read document you like. For example, you can create
a HyperRead instruction manual. The users can quickly zero
in on any problems they have by using link words to go to
more and more specific descriptions of the problem. This
document is an example of such a file. Instruction manuals
for shareware programs are a particularly good use for
HyperRead.
HyperRead reference "books" can also be easy to use.
Consider a HyperRead cookbook. The first few pages of the
HyperRead file could be a list of recipes. The name of each
recipe could be a link word or phrase. The user could jump
directly to the recipe by pointing to it with the cursor
and pressing the <J> key. Within the recipes, some of the
more unusual ingredients could be link words. These links
could take the reader to a section at the end of the "book"
that gives information on the ingredients.
In a similar fashion, you could make each item in a
table of contents of any file a link phrase. The reader can
then jump directly to that page using the link phrase.
A more entertaining use of the HyperRead function is
interactive fiction. This is an increasingly popular form
of literature. In such a book, the reader does not read the
book from start to finish. Instead, the book offers the
reader choices on what to read. A typical story might say
something like, "If you want to explore the cave, turn to
page 38. If you want to continue on the path, go to the
next page." With HyperRead, you could have the reader
select which action to take by selecting the proper link
phrase. The program would then take the reader to the
proper page. This is similar to text adventure games.
Registering HyperRead Generator
HyperRead Generator is shareware. You are free to
experiment with it and create test documents for as long as
you like. However, before you may distribute any HyperRead
documents you create with HyperRead Generator, you are
required to register it by sending $25.00 to:
Leithauser Research
4649 Van Kleeck Drive
New Smyrna Beach, FL 32169
This is a one-time fee. Once you have registered
HyperRead Generator, you may use it on one computer to
create as many HyperRead documents as you like without
paying any additional fees.