ANTIC PUBLISHER¢¢SUPER DISK BONUS MANUAL¢¢BY NADAV GUR¢¢ Antic Publisher is all the¢software you need for creating¢personalized newsletters, ads,¢flyers, greeting cards in a multitude¢of print styles that you design¢yourself. Add graphics and then¢print the page just as it appears on¢your screen.¢¢ It's all done nearly effortlessly¢with pull-down menus and a joystick.¢Antic Publisher is both a font editor¢and a page designer. Several¢interesting fonts are included with¢Antic Publisher -- including a Hebrew¢alphabet designed by this software's¢Israeli author.¢¢ At the top of the screen you'll¢see a menu bar with four choices --¢Font, Graphics, DOS and Quit. Move¢your cursor with the joystick. When¢you press the trigger, the menu you¢chose drops down and another cursor¢appears on the top menu option.¢Again, use the joystick and trigger¢to select an option. At the bottom¢of each one of the first three menus¢is the Exit option. Clicking on Exit¢returns the cursor to the Menu Bar.¢ Many of the windows must also be¢closed by pressing the joystick¢button. The Disk Directory display¢is a good example of this.¢¢ Let's see a quick example of just¢what ANTIC PUBLISHER can do by¢loading a sample screen. Click on¢GRAPHICS, turn your disk over so that¢Side 'A' is facing up (we didn't have¢enough room for these files on Side¢'B') and click on LOAD.¢ Next, choose either HOWDY or NADAV¢Press [CONTROL][SHIFT] [I] to change¢screen colors, if necessary.¢ Press [SELECT] to return to the¢Main Menu.¢¢FONT MENU¢¢ A Character code in Antic¢Publisher is a number assigned to¢each specific character. Each font¢has a maximum of 85 characters, so¢the codes range from 0 to 84.¢¢ Each character in Antic Publisher¢is assigned a keystroke too -- the¢key you must press to get that¢character onscreen. For instance,¢the standard Antic Publisher¢character coded 27 is "A" and you put¢it on the graphic screen by pressing¢the "A" key. It's a good idea to¢make sure that your character codes¢match the keystrokes.¢¢ After choosing the EDIT selection¢in the font menu, enter the code of¢the character to be edited. This¢character must be present in memory.¢¢ The EXTEND selection lets you add¢characters to the font in memory¢without editing them. For example,¢if you want to create an "A" and have¢it correspond to the [A] key (code¢27), but don't want to create¢characters 0-26, you can EXTEND your¢font to 27 and start working on the¢[A] immediately. After selecting¢EXTEND, the computer will ask you for¢the code (maximum 84) of the¢character you want to start with.¢¢ When you select LOAD, the computer¢will look for .FNT files. Selecting¢a font erases the one currently in¢memory.¢¢ If you choose SAVE, enter a¢filename at the prompt -- only the¢filename, no extender or device¢specification.¢¢ Use the CREATE selection to create¢a new font. A window shows the sizes¢8 X 8, 8 X 16, 16 X 16 and 24 X 16.¢Again, this option erases the font¢currently in memory.¢¢ The STATUS selection opens a¢window showing the last symbol in¢memory, as well as the height and¢width of the font.¢¢GRAPHICS MENU¢¢ You can load and print 62-sector¢graphic files such as uncompressed¢Micro Illustrator and Micro-Painter¢pictures. Make sure each file has a¢.PIC extender before you load it¢through the graphics menu.¢¢ The first option of the Graphics¢Menu is EDIT, which switches you to¢the graphics editor. ERASE simply¢erases the graphics screen.¢¢ LOAD and SAVE work like those on¢the Font Menu, except that the¢extender for the filename will be¢.PIC instead of .FNT, and the file¢loaded or saved will be a 62-sector¢graphics file. (Try using your¢favorite GRAPHICS 8 microscreens¢and ComputerEyes images here!)¢¢ The PRINT option is a screen dump¢for Epson-compatible printers with¢graphics capability. Printouts are¢twice as big as what you see on the¢screen display.¢¢ The SPACE option can change the¢number of pixels moved by the cursor¢each time a character is printed on¢the graphics screen. The number you¢enter is actually offset from the¢font's width. For example , I¢designed a small font -- only four¢pixels wide -- using the 8 X 8¢setting from the Create menu. The¢spacing I used was -4. Font width 8¢plus the offset of -4 moves the¢cursor four pixels each time I type a¢character.¢¢ In Hebrew, you write from right to¢left, so when I designed the 8 x 8¢Hebrew font included on this disk, I¢made the bit spacing -17. A font¢width of 8 plus the offset of -17¢makes the cursor move backwards.¢¢ The DOS menu contains the options¢Directory, Rename, Unprotect and¢Protect, which all work just as they¢do with standard DOS.¢¢FONT EDITOR¢¢ When you enter the Font Editor,¢the sign you chose to edit is seen¢enlarged. Below are its code and¢keypress, along with the six editor¢commands.¢¢ Edit the enlarged image of the¢character with the joystick.¢Pressing the joystick button toggles¢the selected pixel on or off. Enter¢a command by typing its first letter¢on the keyboard:¢¢ COMPUTE places the character¢you're editing into memory. If you¢exit without computing it, you'll¢lose it. EXIT returns you to the¢main screen.¢¢ KILL clears only the character you¢are editing, erasing it from memory¢whether you compute it or not.¢¢ NEXT moves you to the next¢character. If there isn't one, the¢program extends the font to it and¢clears it.¢¢ The LAST command moves you to the¢previous character. You cannot edit¢characters with a code less than 0 or¢greater than 84.¢¢ MOVE lets you copy characters.¢You'll be prompted for the the source¢and destination characters.¢¢GRAPHICS EDITOR¢¢ The graphics editor is where you¢edit the page to be printed. All the¢editing is done on a GRAPHICS 8¢screen.¢¢ The graphics cursor at the top of¢the screen can be moved with the¢joystick or [ARROW] keys. The¢[RETURN] key moves the cursor to the¢start of the next line. Pressing the¢joystick button paints a pixel¢onscreen. Pressing the button again¢pixel erases it. Pressing [START]¢draws a line between the pixel¢underneath the cursor and the last¢pixel plotted. Use [OPTION] to exit¢the Graphics Editor.¢¢ To invert your screen colors¢simultaneously press [CONTROL]¢[SHIFT] [I].¢¢ Pressing a key puts the¢corresponding character on the¢screen. A character which doesn't¢exist yet will not appear. Pressing¢[SELECT] toggles between uppercase¢and lowercase letters.¢¢ You can load pictures created with¢other programs , add text and print¢them. You can use uncompressed Micro¢Illustrator pictures, Micro-Painter¢files, and any other picture¢occupying 62 sectors on the disk.¢All you have to do is rename the¢picture to have a '.PIC' extender and¢than load it through the graphics¢menu.¢¢SCREEN DUMP¢¢ The screen dump is 1.5 bigger than¢a normal Epson dump. Since the¢control codes are stored in separate¢strings, it should be easily¢adaptable to other printers which¢have 640-column graphics capability.¢It is very easy to modify it to¢printers which have an upside-down¢pin configuration (top pin = 1).¢ (You may have to adjust one¢or more of your printer's¢configuration (or DIP) switches¢before the screen dump will work¢properly.)¢¢ Public domain and commercial¢screen dumps offer variable sizes¢which can make Antic Publisher an¢even more useful and creative¢program. Since Antic Publisher saves¢its screens as standard 62-sector¢Graphics 8 screens, almost all screen¢dump software will be able to use it.¢
