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0660103030566 9[....................................................] ReviewofüZOOMRACKSÇ byäNormandBrassard,ÇSysOp,àF.A.S.T.E.R.BBS.Ç June,the15th1986.  àZOOMRACKS,OriginalConcept,PracticalPersonalFileManager. ä IntroductionandDescription: Ç ZoomracksisapowerfulsoftwarebyQuickviewSystemsthatadopts anoriginalanddifferentapproachtoclassificationof information.Itassemblesdatabase,mailinglistandclassifier capabilities. InZoomracks,theconceptofinformationclassificationisthe timecard"Rack"visualmetaphor.Thesmallentitiesofdata,theä fieldsÇarecalled"êfieldscrollsÇ",theärecordsÇarethe"êquickcardsÇ" whicharecontainedintheäfilesÇcalledherethe"êzoomracksÇ". äSoftwareCapability:Ç Asfarascapability,eachofthoseäfieldscrollsÇcanhavea differentlenghtupto250lines,80columnswide.OneäquickcardÇ cancontain29äfieldscrollsÇandwitha520ST,morethan400 äquickcardsÇcanbecreatedforeachäzoomrackÇ.Theprogramleaves you9äzoomracksÇavailable(the10thonealwaysbeingkeptfordisk directory).Allofthose9filesä(zoomracks)Çcanbedisplayedat thesametimeonthescreen,allowingforeasycomparisonbetween differentfilesordifferentäquickcardsÇinthesameordifferent äracks.ÇThedataisRAMbased,leaving56,000bytesavailableona 520STfreeofaccessories. äFeatures:Ç TheprogramiswrittenforboththeATARISTandtheIBMPCand unfortunatelydoesnotmakeuseofGEMgraphicswhichwouldhave greatlysimplifiedthelearningofitsuse.Itcomeswithawell written,verydescriptive128pagesdocument,inspiteofthe absenceofanindex.Thiswouldhavehelpedconsiderablythe learningoftheuseofthisratherelaborateandcomplicated program.Likemanyotherdatabasesofdecentpower,thetrialand useisthebestwaytolearnanditisatime-consumingexperience totrylookingforfunctioncommandsinamanualwithoutanindex. However,theprogramcontainsaverygoodtutorialinthefirst ärackÇtofamiliarizethebeginnerwiththeorientationofthe filingsystem.Also,itoffersaconstantavailabilityofhelpby the"Help"keyoftheAtariaswellasthe"F4"key,togglingthe helpfunctiononandoff.Helpappearsintheformof4linesof instructionsatthebottomofthescreen. Oncetheprogramisloaded,themenuchoicesarevisibleagainat thebottomofthescreen,enablingyoutooperatethesystem withoutsearchingforcommands.Onceamoreexperienceduser,you haveachoiceofnotusingthismenuandsimplytypetheavailable commandswiththe"Alternate"keyorthe"Shift"keyplusaletter orsome"F"keys.Typingacommandasecondtimereversesthe actioninmostsituations,socostlyerrorsareavoided. Theinformationisarrangedshowingyouupto9äracksÇatonce, (excludingthedirectoryärackÇ),andyoucanzoominandoutof oneärackÇatanytime,move,copy,deleteortransformanyäcardÇ fromortoanyärackÇ. Simplewordprocessingisalsosupportedbythe250linestext äfieldsÇ.Thiscangiveyoutheopportunitytoeditandformat personalizedlettersorsimilardocuments.TheäfieldsÇcanalsobe organizedinshortfixedones(unfortunatelypredeterminedandnot fullyvariable)orincolumns. OneexceptionalfeatureofüZoomracksÇisitsämacroÇsystem,theuser definabledatafilesissuedbyasinglekeypress.ManyämacrosÇare alreadyprovidedasexamplesbytheprogram,(thefirstonebeing thetutorial),andtheycanallberedefinedindividually.The systemallowsoneärackÇwithupto26ämacrosÇ.AlltheäracksÇcanbe savedinZOOMRACKorASCIIformatforusewithotherprograms. PrintingispossibleinthesystemforalläquickcardsÇatonceor simplyonespecificoneatatime.Furthermore,labelsof adjustablesizescanbeeasilycreatedandprinted. äImprovements:Ç A:Theprogramwouldbenefitgreatlyofaversionspecific fortheST,makinguseofGEMGraphicswiththemouse.Itwould simplifyitslearningforthebeginnerandnotlimititspowerfor theexperienceduser. B:Numericalandmathematicalcapabilitywouldincreaseits powerandapplicationstremendously. C:ThecreationofvariableäfieldsÇinsteadofpredetermined oneswouldfacilitateitsapplications. D:A"DiskFull"messagewouldpreventthelossofimportant data,workandtime. E:Thecreationofadirectoryoffilesinmemorywouldsave timeandeffortinretracingdatamovedinthesystemduring operations. F:Theadditionofanindexintheinstructionmanualwould alsofacilitateusage,particularlyfortheinexperienceduserand savetimeinthelearningprocessoftheprogram. äPracticalUseandConclusion:Ç Infact,üZoomracksÇisaprogramforvarioususetoassembledata andinformationonapersonallevel,wherenomathematicalsupport isnecessary. Itisagoodpowerfulprogram,withoriginalconceptsanduseful manipulationcapability.Itisobviouslyimpossibletodescribe everythingüZoomracksÇcando.Itisavaluablepieceofsoftwareif youareinterestedinusingonlyoneprogramtokeepallpersonal data.However,itislimitedasaprofessionaldatabasesystem. ThecompanyhaskeptthesoftwareêunprotectedÇ,intendingtoupdate itperiodically.Giveitatry.Allinall,itisnodoubtworth it(approximately$80.00US).Giveyourfeedbackto: üZOOMRACKSÇ QuickviewSystems 146MainStreet LosAltos,CA94022 (415)965-0327.