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Item 8080720 94/08/04 07:44
From: DARREN_SMITH@NEXT.COM@INET00# Internet Gateway
Subject: PRESS RELEASE: Thoughtful Software announces new version of
HyperSense
Cc: next-announce@digifix.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: M. Baun
internet: info@thoughtful.com
phone: 303/221-4596
fax: 303/221-0841
Fort Collins, Colorado, August 1, 1994 - Thoughtful Software
announced the release of a new version of HyperSense, its
easy-to-use multipurpose authoring software for NEXTSTEP. This
new release debuts many features which enhance the program, and
make it even more accessible for all users.
HyperSense lets anyone create and use interactive documents such
as medical and business tutorials, multimedia databases, hypertext
documents, personal applications and much more. A drag and drop
interface makes document creation easy. Understandable SenseTalk
scripts provide the power and versatility to master complex tasks,
and support the use of HyperCard stacks which can be converted for
use in HyperSense.
HyperSense has been enthusiastically received in the educational,
medical and business communities. Users have found HyperSense to
be an effective tool for presenting and interacting with text,
images and sound. "HyperSense provided me all the tools I needed
to create my hypertext dissertation on prostate cancer," said
first-time authoring system user Greg Gliemi. "Without it I would
have been lost."
The latest release of HyperSense is available by FTP in the
/pub/next/HyperSense directory at the Oregon State archive site
(cs.orst.edu). The full file paths are as follows:
ftp://ftp.cs.orst.edu/pub/next/HyperSense/HyperSense1.00B10b.README.rtf
ftp://ftp.cs.orst.edu/pub/next/HyperSense/HyperSenseApp.pkg.1.00B10b.tar
ftp://ftp.cs.orst.edu/pub/next/HyperSense/HyperSenseDocs.pkg.1.00B10b.tar
The Oregon State site also contains a growing repository of freely
available HyperSense documents contributed by users of the
program, ranging from a loan calculator which generates nicely
formatted amortization schedules, to an extensive tutorial on
16th-century music theory. For those without FTP access to the
Internet, Thoughtful Software will ship the software on floppy
disks for a small media and shipping charge.
The software can be fully enabled by purchasing a license from
Thoughtful Software. Licenses for this pre-release version are
available at the special price of $299, and include a free upgrade
to HyperSense 1.0 (with printed manual) plus any other releases
issued through June 1995. Quantity and educational discounts are
available, as well as a special student license (no printed
manual) for $99.
________________________________
Highlights of the New Release include:
- Custom Help: Users can now easily add context-sensitive help to
any document.
- A new DocumentTools palette facilitates creating and modifying
documents. The new panel (which is itself a HyperSense document)
provides buttons for creating new documents in several formats,
plus tools to make it easy to resize the pages of any stack, to
change page colors, and to extend any windowFrame with the
automatic addition of navigation buttons.
- New Polygon and CurveLine drawing tools enhance the range of
graphic objects available.
- A new Preferences panel enables users to set a variety of
personal preference options easily.
- WindowFrame elements can now automatically resize with the
window.
- Many new object properties were added, including the ability to
add a border to an imageElement and specify a different image for
it to display on each page (thus effectively creating a "picture
field").
- Numerous SenseTalk enhancements, including the ability to access
and modify the properties of elements embedded within field text.
- Many new or improved documents are included with this release,
including an updated Home document and a new Bookmarks panel which
allows each user to record a personal list of markers for quick
navigation to any page of any document.
________________________________
Standard HyperSense Features include:
- A rich document-based architecture, with multiple Stacks of
Pages and multiple WindowFrames (window and panel definitions)
within any Document.
- Multiple Layers of elements on any Page or WindowFrame. Layers
can be shared by various Pages in any combination, and can be
hidden, redisplayed, and reordered either manually or under script
control.
- Object oriented drawing, on multiple layers. Each graphic is an
independent object that can be resized, repositioned, or hidden.
Graphic shapes include rectangles, ovals, lines, polygons,
freehand shapes and curve lines.
- User interface objects (controls) including fields, push
buttons, switches, radio buttons, browsers, sliders, and more.
- Drag and drop TIFF and EPS images onto a page to create
scriptable image elements.
- SenseTalk scripts can be assigned to any HyperSense object:
Documents, WindowFrames, Stacks, Pages, Layers, and all types of
Elements (both graphics and control objects).
- Custom palettes of drag-and-drop elements are easily created.
Palettized objects may include fully scripted functionality.
- "Point and click" creation of active hypertext links from any
Element to any Page of any Document.
- Rich text fields with full support for multiple fonts, margins,
rulers, spell checking, text-based services (Digital Webster,
etc.), and embedded elements within the text.
- Scripts can be assigned to any graphics and buttons embedded
within text.
- Shared and Unique Layers allow for forms-type database
functionality plus the flexibility of adding unique fields and
elements on individual pages.
- Ability to search for text in all fields of a stack, or within a
selected field on every page.
- Object Inspector provides convenient access to all object
properties. Multiple elements can be selected and modified at
once.
- HyperSense Browser gives a complete overview of all objects
within a document, and permits reordering of pages, layers and
elements by simply dragging them to a new position within the
browser.
- Digital audio recording, editing and playback capabilities are
built in (on machines which support sound).
- Exceptionally easy-to-understand SenseTalk scripting language is
very English-like, and is compatible with HyperTalk.
- Literally hundreds of built-in commands, functions, and object
properties provide complete control of all aspects of the
HyperSense environment, as well as a full range of capabilities
for text manipulation, time and date conversion, mathematical and
financial calculations, file import and export, and much more.
- Script editing windows provide auto-indenting of scripts. A
SenseTalk Browser panel lists all commands and features of the
language in a convenient format, with brief descriptions and a
fill-in-the-blanks template of each one which can be inserted
directly into a script.
- Complete serial port access is built into SenseTalk, giving
control of laser disc players or any other device which can be
controlled through a serial port.
- Custom commands and functions can be added to the SenseTalk
language through dynamically loaded external modules (XModules)
- Ability to convert HyperCard stacks into HyperSense documents,
with full access to all objects and scripts.
- Fully indexed on-line manual, created in HyperSense.
- Many sample HyperSense documents are included with the package,
and more are freely available at major FTP sites.
- A HyperSense-User e-mail list provides users with an open forum
for exchanging ideas and receiving ongoing technical support.
=END=