Load the application by double-clicking the icon in the viewer in the usual way. It will take a few seconds to do this, then it will install itself on the icon bar.
Please note that the application must have the Outline Font Manager module installed before it runs. The program uses font SWIs which the older 'bitmap' Font Manager does not have. You can get the new Font Manager from commerical software which uses outline fonts. If you do not have the Outline Font Manager this application will not work.
By moving the pointer over the icon on the icon bar and pressing the Menu (middle) button on the mouse the main menu will appear. This is made-up of three items :
'Info' shows the program information (which should say which version of the application you are using)
'Fonts' is another menu which is made up of the following items :
'Display' - This is the same as pressing the Select (left) mouse button on the icon bar. This displays the current typeface (font, style and weight) in a particular width and height (in points). There is two button icons ('Redraw' and 'Reset'). 'Redraw' will simply redisplay the typeface in the window, while 'Reset' will change the typeface, width, height and the text to the default settings (see Default Settings below).
'Font Info' - This is the same as pressing the Adjust (right) mouse button on the icon bar. This displays information about the fonts in the font directory. The window displays the number of families (number of font names not including the styles or weights (ie. 'Trinity Medium' and 'Trinity Bold' belongs in the same font family; 'Trinity'), also the total number of typefaces (fonts including styles and weights), the Font Manager information (version, total font cache, font cache used) and finally the path of the fonts.
'Make bitmap' - This makes a bitmap version of the current font in the specified size. Making a bit map version of a font would allow a particular size of a font to be stored on disc so that it can be cache and displayed much quickier. Although, this also means that there would be an extra file on the disc and so would make less room on the disc.
'Configure' - This will control the Font Managers *Configure settings. This will only update the Font Manager when it has been reinstalled. (see '*help fontm.' or the Programmers Reference Manual for more details)
'List' - This uses the familiar 'save as' window most commerical software uses. Once the icon is dragged to a filer or another application an ASCII list of all the fonts in the current font directory is created. This is similar to the *fontcat command. There is a button called 'info' which is an option to include the font totals (families and typefaces). This feature is useful if you have quite a lot of fonts you may wish to keep track of their whereabouts, especialy if you have several font directories.
'Quit', exits the application.
Default settings
When the application starts the computer searches the fonts in the current directory and attempts to locate 'Trinity.Medium'. If the font cannot be found the first font in the directory will be used. This font is the default font. The default size is 14 x 14 points with the text; 'The Quick Brown Fox Jumps Over The Lazy Dog'. The default settings cannot be changed without modifing the BASIC program and the window templates.
Adding new fonts
If you have any new fonts to add to the current font directory just drag the directory to any of the open windows of this application or the icon on the icon bar. It will give you warning, clicking the OK icon will copy them into the directory.
Changing the font name
The display and bit map windows can change the font name by clicking the menu (middle) button on the mouse and, after a short while, a menu of all the font families will appear. If there are any styles or weights to the families a new sub-menu is generated when the pointer moves to the right arrow shape.
ie.:
the family
font menu
the corpus
/------------\ font menu
| Fonts |
|------------|/----------------\
| Corpus > || Corpus |
| Dingbats ||----------------|
| Homerton > || Bold |
| Trinity > || Bold.Oblique |
\------------/| Medium |
| Medium.Oblique |
\----------------/
Note that 'Dingbats' does not have a style or a weight so it does not have a arrow on the right of the menu.
If a family name is selected from the menu (eg. 'Corpus') then the first style is selected (eg. 'Corpus.Bold').
There is a small bug in this menu. If a font family has more than one style or weight then the application expects a proper style such as 'Bold' although if the first typeface in the family does not have a name the application will treat the family as if there is no styles at all. I have only seen this in one font; 'Character' which came with Computer Concepts' 'Impression Junior'. You are welcome to try to change the menu structure if you wish but I prefere my kind of structure as I think it is easier to use.
And finally
If you have any comments to make please send them to :
