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PAGEPRO.TXT
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2006-10-19
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ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN LIMA
NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER 1989
^^^^^^"PAGE-PRO" REVIEW
^^^^^^^by Charles Good
^^^^^Lima Ohio User Group
^^A picture is worth a thousand words.
The pages that contain this article have
been entitely composed using PAGE PRO
and its associated utilities so that you
an see for yourself what the printed
output of this fine software looks like.
The different fonts you see on these
pages come with the basic PAGE PRO
package. PAGE PRO is exactly what
Asgard Software claims it to be, a page
making utility that allows you to mix
text and pictures on the same page with
total on screen "what you see is what
you get" capabiltiy.
^^The text of this article was typed in
the normal way with Funnelweb's editor
using any margins I desired and leaving
groups of 8 blank lines in the body of
the text for later insertion of graphics
by PAGE PRO. This DV80 file was then
processed with a modified version of
PAGE PRO's COLUMNIZER utility to prepare
the text for use by PAGE PRO. Contrary
to the printed instructions that come
with PAGE PRO, it is not necessary to
save the text file with PF. Also,
contrary to the PAGE PRO documentation,
processing with COLUMNIZER did not take
nearly as long as the stated 15-45
minutes per page. Other than inserting
"^" for each desired indented space and
making sure that each paragraph ended in
a carriage return symbol (a little cr),
it was not necessary to do anything
special to the original DV80 file prior
to processing with COLUMNIZER.
^^COLUMNIZER took my original file and
split it into PAGE PRO page sized blocks
of text, each a separate DV80 file.
Each page of test was in 2 right
justified columns This was all done
automatically by COLUMNIZER. I then
booted PAGE PRO itself and imported each
DV80 page of text into a PAGE PRO one
page at a time. The header box, header
text, and page border were then manually
added to each page to make the page
resemble the normal format of this
newsletter. Graphics were then inserted
in the body of the text. Everything
including border and graphics was
visible on screen in a "what you see is
what you get" format as each page was
composed. Each page was then printed
and saved to disk.
^^COLUMNIZER, as it comes with the PAGE
PRO package, normally leaves 2 blank
lines at the top and bottom of the page
and spreads text out to the extreme
right and left edges of the 60 column
page. I needed 4 blank lines (not 2) at
the top to leave room for the header box
shown here, and I needed each line of
text indented 1 space on the right and
left to leave room for the page border.
Since COLUMNIZER is in XBASIC, I was
able to modify it to meet these special
needs (see below). There is much to be
said for having software written in
XBASIC so that it can be easily modified
by the user. Assembly is fast, but is
much harder for the average user to
modify. The actual PAGE PRO program is
in assembly.
^^With PAGE PRO you get a 60 column by
66 line page to work with. As you can
see on the pages that contain this
article, this quite adequately fills a
printed page. The screen window is 1/2
of a page width and approximately 1/5 of
a page length. You window left/right
and up/down with the TI Writer standard
F4 F5 and F6 keys. You can also scroll
up/down one line at a time with the
arrow keys. At any one time only 1/10
of the page is in view on the screen.
The current position of the cursor, with
respect to the entire page, is indicated
at the bottom of the screen with a very
clear numerical row and column
indicator. There is a Geneve specific
version of PAGE PRO, but its screen
display looks just like the 99/4A
version. The Geneve version does not
yield an 80 column display.
^^You can type directly onto the page,
and this is the usual method of text
entry. As you type you have full screen
cursor control with the arrow keys, but
there is no automatic word wrap or right
justification. The only way to edit
existing text is with single line
editing such as is done by inserting
within, deleting from, or typing over
an existing line of text. Other text
lines are not directly affected by such
editing. If you "import text" from any
DV80 file such as that created by
COLUMNIZER, everything else on the page
is erased, a distinct disadvantage.
^^Two text font sizes are available at
one time, one twice the size of the
other. Each of the several large and
small fonts included included with the
PAGE PRO package contains a complete set
of upper and lower case letters and
other keyboard characters. You can also
use software in the PAGE PRO package to
convert TI Artist or CSGD fonts to PAGE
PRO disk format. Although you are not
limited to a particular font, you ARE
LIMITED to the font sizes and spacing
shown on these pages. It is not
normally possible with PAGE PRO to use
th tight CONDENSED printer pitch (17
characters per inch) that is normally
used for text in this newsletter. It is
possible to give the appearance of
having more than two text fonts on a
PAGE PRO page by including a graphic
made out of text. Some examples follow:
^^Unlike importing text, graphics
(pictures) can be imported anywhere onto
a PAGE PRO page without altering the
rest of the page. Graphics are seen on
screen exactly as they will appear on
the printed page. You position the
cursor where the upper left part of the
picture will be and enter the disk file
name of the graphic. If you don't like
what you see you can press CTRL/K to
"kill" (erase) the picture. As many as
28 graphics on a page are allowed.
Several graphics are part of the PAGE
PRO package, including this 99/4A
console.
^^You can convert any TI Artist instance
into a PAGE PRO graphic disk file with
software provided with the PAGE PRO
package. This software automatically
converts all instances on a disk into
files usable by PAGE PRO. It takes
about 2 hours to convert a full SSSD
disk of instances, but this only has to
be done once. In the future software is
promised (probably at extra cost) that
will convert other graphic formats (such
as TI Artist pictures with file names
that end in "_P") into PAGE PRO graphic
format. In theory one graphic can be as
large as an entire PAGE PRO page. It is
possible to type text over a graphic,
but this leaves holes in the graphic.
If you import graphics with blank areas
within the outline of the graphic, the
picture will "flow around" existing text
without disturbing text that already
exists in the graphic's "holes".
^^A wide variety of lines and shapes can
easily be drawn on a PAGE PRO page just
like typing text. CTRL/8 puts you in
Lines mode. You then put lines and
shapes on the page by typing specific
upper and lower case letters. A very
clear display on the lower half of the
screen shows you which keys produce
which lines. The shapes are, in effect,
a third font. The borders and header
box of the pages that contain this
article were made in this way. This
line creating ability makes PAGE PRO
great for drawing borders and making
business forms and graphs. Several
sample page files that are included with
the basic PAGE PRO package, including a
blank INVOICE form, are examples of what
is possible.
^^If you are trying to create a vertical
design, such as a straight up/down line,
it is very inconvenient to have the
cursor move one space to the right every
time you type a line drawing key. With
PAGE PRO you can specify the direction
of cursor movement (left, right, up,
down) after each character is typed.
CTRL/EXSD sets the cursor movement
directon until you change this
direction. You still have full screen
cursor control with the arrow keys.
--DISADVANTAGES OF PAGE PRO-
^^It is very easy for me with PAGE PRO
to create a blank newsletter page
template with borders, header box, and
header text and save this template to
disk. I normally use xeroxes of a
professionally printed page template for
the cut and paste masters of these
newsletter pages. IF I could load my
newsletter page template into PAGE PRO
and then import some DV80 text created
with COLUMNIZER onto this template this
would be fantastic! I can't. When text
is imported, everything else on the page
is erased. The borders and headers on
the pages that contain this article had
to be individually drawn on each page
after importing the text. Since a PAGE
PRO graphic can, in theory, be as large
as an entire page, it may someday be
possible to store page borders as a
single large graphic and overlay this
graphic onto a page of text. As of now
the utility software needed to do this
does not exist.
^^When a PAGE PRO page is printed, the
printer uses dot addressable graphic
mode to print everything, including
text. You can choose single, double, or
quadruple density for the printout. As
stated earlier you are limited to only
the two font sizes shown on these pages.
You cannot with PAGE PRO directly access
the printer's built in fonts (NLQ,
emphasized, condensed, etc). Also you
can't insert special printer features
such as single word double strike,
underline, or italic into the body of
the text. Such features are easily
available with PLUS! when printing from
the TI Writer formatter. In my opinion
the PAGE PRO text looks grainy. It just
doesn't look as good as text created
from the printer's normal fonts.
Compare the various pages of this
newsletter to see the differences.
^^PAGE PRO apparently uses every last
bit of VDP memory with a 99/4A. If you
have an AVPC card as part of you system
it is necessary to run the SET99/4A
program that comes with the AVPC prior
to booting PAGE PRO.
^^^^^--CONCLUSIONS--
^^PAGE PRO is quite easy to use. It is
great for the creation of single page
signs, forms, ads, greeting cards, and
stationary. The ability to mix text,
pictures, and lines on the same page and
the "what you see is what you get"
screen display are unequaled in the
world of the 99/4A and Geneve. I intend
to purchase my review copy. However I
do not plan to use PAGE PRO to produce
this newsletter. For the newsletter
layout I am usually going to stick the
with the good old cut and paste
technique that gives me the total
flexiblity I require. I guess other
newsletter editors agree with me in this
respect. I have seen favorable reviews
of PAGE PRO in other newsletters, but I
have not seen an entire issue of any
newsletter produced with PAGE PRO.
^^The COLUMNIZER XB program that comes
with PAGE PRO is a very useful utility
in and of itself. It is one of the
easiest to use text column making
programs I have seen, much easier to use
than its documentation would suggest.
^^The basic PAGE PRO package ($24.95 +
$0.75 shipping) comes with several on
disk sample pages, graphic files, and
alternate fonts, as well as COLUMNIZER.
Included also is a well written hard
copy manual and detailed tutorial.
Extra cost picture and font disks are
available. Asgard accepts VISA and
MASTERCARD as well as personal checks.
ASGARD SOFTWARE
P.O. Box 10306
Rockville MD 20850 USA
Phone 703-255-3085