* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *¢¢ Special Effects¢ and¢ Print Star 1.3¢ by¢ Thomas J. Andrews¢NOTE: [EFFECTS.PSP.] will be found on¢S-2 of the OL'HACKERS newsletter disk.¢¢WISH LIST?¢ Have you ever wanted to add some¢special effects to your Print Star¢pages, like italicized words or bold,¢double-width section headings? ¢¢TWO PROGRAMS NEEDED plus EFFECTS.PSP.¢ You'll need two programs to do it.¢First, of course, is Print Star 1.3.¢Second, you'll need a word processor¢like Atariwriter Plus that can display¢in more than 40 columns, and will¢display entire printer control codes¢including the ESCAPE character.¢Another program, REFORMAT 2.01, would¢be helpful in preparing text for Print¢Star. Another helpful item would be a¢reference for your printer's software¢command codes.¢¢GETTING STARTED.¢ The first step is to prepare your¢Print Star text. This, of course,¢needs to be formatted in 40 columns or¢less, and may or may not be justified.¢This article, as you can see, is 38¢columns wide and fully justified. The¢one thing you need to plan for at this¢stage is those double-wide section¢headings. Those lines will have to¢be kept shorter. Remember, every¢double-wide letter takes up two print¢spaces and if you use too many you'll¢throw the column alignment off. Don't¢put in the printer codes now - they'll¢count as characters and throw the¢alignment off, too.¢¢ You'll need to send the Print Star¢output to a disk file. If there are¢multiple pages, it's best to put each¢page into a separate file. While in¢Print Star, you can add special¢effects to the header, byline, or¢footer by including the printer codes¢when you enter the lines - if there¢aren't too many. Remember, printer¢codes are not printed and don't take¢up any space on the printed line, but¢Print Star doesn't know that.¢Headers, footers, and bylines are all¢centered by Print Star, and printer¢codes will be counted as characters¢when that centering takes place. A¢little offset due to a couple of codes¢might not be noticeable, but more¢certainly would be. One more thing -¢if you DO decide to add effects this¢way, don't forget to turn them off¢again.¢¢THE BEST WAY!¢ The best way to add effects is to¢wait until the next step and use¢Atariwriter Plus. (AW+) Boot up AW+¢normally, then load the page file you¢want to work on into it, and move to¢the EDIT screen. Now comes the tricky¢part. Press OPTION and C together.¢You'll then be asked, "How many¢columns?" You should respond with, oh¢- 150 or so. (You can go up to 249,¢but use at least 135) The screen will¢instantly change and you'll see most¢of the Print Star columns fall into¢perfect alignment. The only lines¢that won't be in alignment are the¢header, byline, footer, and the lines¢that already contain printer codes.¢¢ This OPTION C command adjusts the¢display width. You still have a¢maximum of 40 columns displayed at one¢time, but the screen becomes a¢scrolling window to the entire¢display. You scroll the window by¢moving the cursor from left to right¢and back. The cursor will not go¢beyond the end-of-line character on a¢particular line, so if it's on a short¢line you won't be able to scroll the¢window across the full page.¢¢ Say you want a word italicized.¢Just move the cursor to the beginning¢of the word and insert your printer's¢command to turn on the italics font.¢Be sure to use the ATASCII characters¢for the command. DO NOT use the¢decimal equivalents or the AW+ CONTROL¢O command. Consult your printer¢manual for the proper codes. For¢characters that are also AW+ commands,¢just press SHIFT ESC, then the¢keypress for the character. Consult a¢reference chart for the proper¢keypresses.¢¢ This addition will move the columns¢out of alignment on the AW+ screen,¢but remember that the codes will not¢be printed, so the alignment will be¢preserved on the printed page.¢¢A TURN OFF.¢ To turn off the effect, just go to¢the end of the word and insert the¢code to turn it off. If you want to¢italicize a passage that takes up more¢than one line, be sure to turn the¢effect off after the last character in¢that column and turn it back on again¢on the next line. If you don't turn¢it on and off for each line,¢everything in all columns will be¢italicized until you do turn it off.¢¢CAN YOUR PRINTER DO ALL THIS?¢ This works the same for several¢effects besides italics, like¢underlining, NLQ, emphasized, even¢super- and sub- scripts. Just make¢sure your printer can produce the¢particular combination of effects you¢try, and don't remove any of the¢control codes put there by Print Star.¢Don't change the line feed size,¢either. That would really mess things¢up.¢¢DOUBLE-WIDTH¢¢ Double-width section headings are a¢special problem. Remember, you were¢to be sure to make them no longer than¢20 characters. Print Star, of course,¢didn't know these characters were to¢be in double-width, so that line was¢padded with spaces to preserve the¢column alignment. In addition to¢adding the printer codes it will be¢necessary to for you to remove the¢extra spaces, one for each character¢that is widened. Don't count the¢printer codes, but spaces between the¢words DO count as characters.¢¢TO SAVE YOUR LITERARY GEM!¢ When you're all done, use the SAVE¢ASCII command (OPTION S from the main¢menu) to save a copy to a new disk¢file. This file can then be copied to¢the printer from DOS, producing the¢page. You can dump the text directly¢to the printer from AW+ if you want,¢but it's best to save it in a disk¢file first, just in case. DO NOT USE¢THE AW+ "PRINT" FUNCTION TO PRINT THE¢PAGE.¢¢THATS IT, OR IS IT?¢ That's all there is to it. If your¢page doesn't come out as you wanted it¢to, just reload it into AW+ and edit¢it again. Visualizing your effects as¢you put them in may take a little¢imagination, but it will get easier¢with practice.¢¢AN EXAMPLE FOR YOU.¢ To give you an idea of what the¢finished product might look like from¢AW+, I've asked ALEX to include a file¢(EFFECTS.PSP) on this newsletter disk¢containing this article formatted on a¢Print Star page. I've sprinkled some¢italics, underlining, superscripts,¢and double-width printing in the¢article. You can load this into AW+,¢change the display width, and look it¢over. If you have an Epson- or¢Gemini- compatible printer, you can go¢to DOS and copy it directly to your¢printer to see what it would look like¢on paper.¢WHERE IS IT?¢ (EDITOR: "EFFECTS.PSP" program will¢be found on side 2 of this disk!)¢¢NOTE:¢ If you use Print Star for something¢interesting or unusual, I'd be happy¢to hear about it. You may contact me¢on GEnie as J.ANDREWS24, or at the¢following address:¢¢ Thomas J. Andrews¢ 7805 US Route 20¢ Manlius NY 13104¢¢(orjust write to EDITOR, ALEX PIGNATO,¢c/o OL' HACKERS AUG; 3376 Ocean Harbor Dr.; Oceanside, N.Y. 11572, and I will get it to TOM.)¢* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *¢
