Welcome to Award® 1.04 Using Award should be fairly intuitive. Most of the menus and tools are standard items you have probably seen in several other programs already. The interface is much like MacPaint® or MacDraw®. The graphics contained in Award and/or created within the application are "object oriented" and are not "bitmaps". For printing on a LaserWriter make sure to read the help section on "Printing" and "Page Setup".
¶File Menu
• New
This will open a new empty Award window, providing there is no window currently open. Award 1.04 only supports one window at a time (which cuts down on the program's RAM requirement). Future versions may support more than one window.
• Open
This will open an award from an award document saved previously to disk. Award 1.04 will open any awards or documents created from previous versions of Award.
• Save
This will save the current award document to any disk.
• Save as
This gives you the option of saving the current award under a new name.
• Close
This closes the current window. If you have not saved your work you will be presented with a SAVE dialog box at which time you can either choose to Save the award document or proceed without saving the award.
• Page Setup
This gives you the ability to set the printer options. Selecting between wide format and tall format is critical to the layout of your certificate. Most awards are printed in "landscape" orientation (sideways). If you decide to choose "portrait" orientation (upright) then you will have to keep track of the objects you have created. To ensure that the document window does not "hang over the edge" of a document, the window is automatically resized and the scrollbars are repositioned if necessary whenever the page layout is altered. Borders are also automatically adjusted within the program.
• Print
Prints the current award. High quality and standard quality are supported. Draft quality is not supported on any printer that has this option such as the ImageWriter® and StyleWriter®. Printing on a laser printer involves some special steps to take, so if you have a laser printer, be sure to read the “Laser Help” section in this help window.
• Quit
You figure this one out. Again, you will be prompted to save your work if you haven't already done so or you can bypass the "save" routine and just Quit without saving.
¶Edit Menu
• Undo
Undo is not supported in Award 1.04, (which also keeps RAM requirements low). It is only included for use in desk accessories concurrently opened that support it such as DeskPaint®, DeskDraw®, DeskWrite®, MiniWriter®DA and others.
• Cut
This will cut the selection from the window and place it in the clipboard. Although you can past in text and graphics from other programs, Award 1.04 does not allow you to cut a graphic from a certificate and paste it into another program.
• Copy
This will place a copy of the item(s) or object(s) selected into the clipboard. See Cut, above.
• Paste
Paste does several things, depending on the circumstances. If you have cut or copied an object from within an award document, Paste will place a new object that is identical to the one cut or copied (a copy and then an immediate paste will cover the original object with the identical copy, covering the original completely). If you have cut text from another program (or desk accessory) paste will insert the contents of the clipboard into the currently active text box (if there is one active). If no text object is active, you will get a message telling you to create one before pasting.
• Clear
This will cut the object or objects selected from the window, but will not place it in the clipboard. It will be deleted from the page. Because of the lack of an undo option, this is a dangerous command.
¶Features Menu
• Select Border...
There are a total of twenty separate borders that you can choose from in Award 1.04 This menu selection will present you with a window that allows you to choose which border you want. There are two types of borders ("normal" and "topical") and you select between them by clicking on the two radio buttons at the extreme right and bottom of the window. The names of the borders will change depending on which set of borders you have selected. Ten borders are listed at the top right of the window, and clicking the mouse on any of them will immediately display a sample of the border in the area to the left of the buttons. There are also two check boxes labeled "Thin Line" and "Thick Line" that allow you enhance the border you have selected. Both of these boxes can be checked at the same time. To select a border for your document, simply experiment until you find a border you like, then click the "OK" button. After a few seconds the border you have chosen will be displayed in the main window. Borders cannot be selected like other objects, but they can be overwritten, so be careful. If you decide to get rid of a border, simply choose this menu option again and click on the "No Border" button. If you decide that the original border you had selected was best, simply click on the "Cancel" button and your document will remain as it was before you chose the menu option. Although Award 1.04 does not have an "undo" feature per se, the above mentioned tips should provide a sufficient work-around.
• Select Seal
I have provided a few "seals" for your awards. These are simply samples and you are encouraged to design your own seals in a graphics program and to paste your design into your documents. If you decide to use one of these, simply click the mouse on whichever seal you like and it will immediately be pasted into your document. For that real “official” look, take a trip to a gift shop and purchase some gold leaf envelope seals and attach them to the printed award.
• Reduced View...
Gives you a quick look at your entire document.
• Nudge (Right,Left,Up,or Down)
This will move all selected objects one pixel in the chosen direction. This is a great help in positioning your objects.
• Align Objects...
Speaking of aligning objects, Award 1.04 allows you to align objects in a variety of ways. The most important of these is the align to page options. This will allow you to quickly and easily center your text and graphics for better eye-appeal.
• Bring to Front/Send to Back
If one object completely covers another, these two menu choices will allow you to move or resize the object that is buried, then send it back under the first object when you are satisfied.
¶Lines Menu
This special menu allows you to control the type of lines you want. It works for the rectangle, oval, and line tools.
¶Arrow Tool
The arrow tool allows you to select, move, and resize objects.
¶Rectangle Tool
Selecting this tool changes the cursor to a "cross" while in the document window. To draw a rectangle click the mouse button once, holding the button down, then drag to the desired size. A rectangle will follow the mouse until you let up on the button. You cannot draw a rectangle (or any other shape) outside of the window area. Once a rectangle is drawn you can use the arrow tool to move or resize it. Moving rectangles (or any other object) is simple: Click the mouse inside the objects boundary rectangle, hold the mouse button down, and drag. A gray outline will follow the mouse to the edge of the window, but no furthur. Resizing rectangles is done by positioning the arrow cursor on the "handle" at the lower right corner of the object (this is the same for all objects except lines) clicking the mouse, and then dragging the mouse while the button is still down.
¶Oval Tool
Ovals are identical to rectangles except that the objects drawn are ovals, not rectangles.
¶Text Tool
The large letter "A" indicates a text box. Text boxes are very flexible and can contain any font, style, or size variation you may want. (Each text object can only have one font, style or size.) The boxes are fully editable at all times. To create a text box simply select the tool and click the mouse wherever you want the text positioned on the screen. Each new text object will contain the currently selected font, style, and size characteristics, but you can change them at any time. Cutting, copying and pasting of text both within a box and between boxes is supported. You can move and resize text objects in the same manner as rectangles.
¶Line Tool
Clicking on the Line tool allows you to draw a line from the place where you click the mouse to the place where you release the mouse button. Lines are slightly different from other objects. The "handle" for resizing is always at the "endpoint" of the line. You can stretch and rotate a line to any point you wish, as long as you don't go outside of the window.
¶Resizing
Each object on the screen can be resized. Rectangles, ovals, text boxes, and graphics pasted in all have a “resize handle” at the lower right corner of the object when selected. Using the arrow key, you can click and drag the mouse in this handle to size the object however you like. Lines have a resize handle also, but it is located at the “end” of the line, wherever that may be.
¶Limits
Award 1.04 can contain many separate objects within each created award you make. The absolute limit of items, both in the document and in the clipboard combined, is one thousand (1,000). I really can't see anyone making an award with this many objects but you can if you like ! Each text box can contain about 32,000 characters, and each PICT object (pasted in from outside) is restricted to the dimensions of the page. Text boxes do not resize automatically if you change fonts or font size but everything you type in while not totally visible is "in there". All you need to do is use the re-size handle, (bottom right open-square handle), to resize the text box to accomodate a larger font or font size. At the same token, you may need to re-size the text box after entering a smaller font in order to make the box smaller and take up less space. Objects that are dragged to an edge of an award document window will not induce automatic scrolling so when you come to the edge of the window and need to move an object lower or higher or sideways beyond the window size - drop the object and manually use the scroll bars to reposition your view on the award and then, (using the arrow tool), re-select that object and move it again to where you want it placed.
¶LaserWriter Help
Awards printed on the LaserWriter may take a little while to print if there are a lot of fonts in the award or many graphics. Laser output and StyleWriter® output (also probably HP DeskWriter), is not in alignment with ImageWriter output. A standard printout of a certificate on the LaserWriter et al will cut off a part of the border. To avoid this, print the certificate out at 90% or 95% or choose a reduced printing size.
¶Other Cool Things
You can make nice invitations simply by printing at 40%, 50%, or 60% reduction (50% seems to work best), then cutting out the re-sized result. On the LaserWriter you can use Award 1.04 to print the cover of a birthday card by flipping the printout horizontally or vertically, then printing out at 45% (or thereabouts -- you may need to experiment). You can hold the shift, command, and question mark key down (simultaneously) to see how many objects are included in your document.
Any distribution of this software shall be done only with permission of the author.
The author retains all rights to this software including the application (Award - all versions), the Award_Help file, and the informative "all about Award" file. If permission is granted by the author to distribute this software then ALL files (Award application, Award_Help, and "all about Award" read me file) must be included in the distribution.
The author can be reached through either email or US Postal address.
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email reply:
AOL: SD Bandit
internet: sdbandit@aol.com
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The author's full postal address is:
Steve DiRosa
Bandit Software
324 Barker Circle
West Chester, PA 19380
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Not all graphics contained within Award 1.04 were personally drawn but were taken from various public domain graphic collections and made a part of the program's resources.
Award 1.04 is shareware. Not only is it important to honor the shareware fee ($10) but encouragement and feedback go a long way... if you liked Award or even if you hated it - let me know by dropping me a digital postcard, a postal mail response or an email reply. Of course any bug reports will be greatly appreciated and supportive comments are welcome ! It is also nice to hear how people are using Award and if it has helped them in any way. Let me hear from you !
