Printers' Apprentice is a screen & printer font viewing utility for
Microsoft Windows 3.0. It features a sharp looking, NeXT like interface,
access to all of your fonts, the ability to call the Windows & Adobe
Type Manager control panels, color support, viewing of all ANSI
characters, symbols, dingbats, etc..., point size display from 1 to 100
points, and all attribute options (bold, italic, etc...)
Printers' Apprentice fills a void in the Windows utility arena in that
it is not simply an ANSI / ASCII chart, but it allows you to view every
character in a font set with a true WYSIWYG display.. How many of you
keep Windows Write on hand just so you can preview a new ATM font you
just pulled off of a bulletin board system?
Printers' Apprentice is my first true Windows application. It was
programmed in a matter of evenings after receiving Microsoft's Visual
Basic programming environment. Working with VB has been nothing short of
a pleasure. VB has enabled me to write programs I never thought I would
be able to. Printers' Apprentice is a very simple program. However, I do
not like to think of the C code (and the $$ for the SDK!) that would be
required to grind out Printers' Apprentice.
USE OF PRINTERS' APPRENTICE
Being a Windows application, PA is quite easy to grasp. Once PA has
found the fonts in your system and added them to its menus, it is ready
to roll. The display is divided into two sections. On the left is the
display area and the right half contains the control panel. PA will
always begin by displaying a 30 point Helv "A." Every system has Helv,
so that makes things easy. Defaulting to some other font may cause
problems for users without that particular font. The display may easily
be changed by selecting fonts, attributes, point sizes, and different
characters. The pull down menus contain options to change character
specimen colors, directly type in a new character, and start up the
various control panels. If you start up the Windows control panel and
add screen fonts (FON files) use the Refresh Font List command to have
PA reread the font list. If you crank up the ATM control panel, you must
restart Windows before PA will recognize the new fonts.
NOTE: IT IS ASSUMED THAT ADOBE TYPE MANAGER 1.0 / 1.1 IS ON YOUR SYSTEM.
IF YOU DO NOT OWN THE ATM, THE OPTION BUTTON WILL PROBABLY RESULT IN AN
ERROR. That's about all there is to it right now.
THE FUTURE
Coming in the weeks ahead for PA!
-Quick and dirty printer support for the currently displayed character
- Printing of a formal spec sheet for each typeface. This will include a
variety of point sizes, attributes, and a listing of ALL characters in
the typeface
- Support for the SuperPrint 2.0, MoreFonts, and BitStream Facelift font
packages (Please leave me email on the I-Link Windows Conference, HH
Info Net, or CIS concerning the commands to do this!)
- Support of display of printer fonts only
- Improved error handling
- Online help support using the Windows help engine (I still have to
purchase the VB Help add on!)
- Open to suggestions!
A FEW WORD ABOUT VISUAL BASIC
Visual Basic is a new programming environment for Windows from the folks
up in Redmond, Washington. It may be one of the most important software
releases in the past few years (not counting Windows 3.0 release!). With
VB, users can simply draw controls on forms and then write the code for
events, procedures, and change the properties of the controls. The
programming language is still a form of BASIC, but it has been both
trimmed down and beefed up for the Windows environment. It is NOT
instant programming! It is NOT another ToolBook! Look into it, it is
HIGHLY recommended.
This program is currently being distributed as FreeWare. I see no reason
to collect $$ for this project of mine. I am a starving college student,
and will not turn down any money sent!
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