This file is best viewed in SimpleText. It contains an exact copy of the help available from within Email Effects, however in this format it can be viewed separately, or printed.
Introduction and Help
Email Effects is a program for getting the most out of email. With it, you can send pictures, drawings and tables with simple plain text.
There are tools available in the toolbar at the top of the screen. Most mirror normal painting tools, but in Email Effects characters are used instead of pixels. Other tools perform tasks specific to Email Effects.
Designed primarily for emails, Email Effects enforces some necessary limitations. Firstly, each line of text produced will be of a fixed width - this ensures that the messages display correctly on the receiving computer. This width may be set - although most systems can theoretically handle 80 characters, it is recommended to limit this to 74 or less. The dimensions of the document can be edited by choosing Dimensions from the Email menu. The number of rows will always be automatically increased if necessary.
The second limitation is the characters available for use. Unless the message is being sent to another Macintosh computer (and even then there may be problems), any characters outside the standard ASCII range (values 32 to 127) will emerge garbled. Attempting to use a character out of this range will produce an error message. This restriction can be removed in the Preferences dialog box, but we recommended keeping it on.
There are two sources of help within Email Effects. First is the textual help, available from the Help menu. This contains general information, a section covering each of the tools and details on certain areas of capability. The second source is Active Help, displayed at the bottom of the toolbar, which gives details about the area under the mouse. This can be toggled in the Help menu.
We hope you enjoy using Email Effects. If there are any queries, comments or suggestions, please contact us at support@sigsoftware.com.
Sig Software
http://www.sigsoftware.com/
Payment and Registration
Email Effects is freely distributed as trial software. You are permitted to evaluate it for 28 days before discarding it, or purchasing a license.
Licensing
You must purchase one license for each computer on which Email Effects is used. Licenses can be purchased with the enclosed Register Email Effects program, using a page on the World Wide Web, or via telephone. Payment may be made by cash, check, VISA, MasterCard or American Express.
Pricing
Current pricing is $15 per license. A bundle with a license for Email Merge ($30 on its own) costs just $35. See our web site for more information on Email Merge and other Sig Software products. For excellent discounts on volume licensing for any product, please contact us at pricing@sigsoftware.com.
Purchasing online (easiest)
• Click Purchase Online… in the about box or go to http://order.kagi.com/?BX
• Wait for your web browser to load up the page.
• Select how many of which products you wish to purchase.
• Enter your name, address and email address in the areas provided (all are required).
• Please enter any additional comments in the space provided.
• Follow the instructions on the web page to enter your credit-card details.
Purchasing via email
• Click Purchase Alternative… in the about box or run the Register Email Effects program.
• Enter your name, address and email address in the areas provided (all are required).
• Select how many of which products you wish to purchase.
• Please enter any additional comments by clicking the speech bubble next to the product name.
• Select the VISA, MasterCard or American Express payment method and enter your card details.
• Click the Copy… button to copy out the text for emailing.
• Create a new email message in your email software.
• Choose Paste from the Edit menu.
• Address the message to shareware@kagi.com and send it.
Purchasing over the telephone
• Call (US) 510 658-5244, available 10am to 5pm PST weekdays and at some other times.
• Follow the instructions on the telephone.
• When asked, specify how many, of which products you wish to purchase.
• When asked, state your name, address and email address clearly (all are required).
• Please note that telephone orders carry an additional handling charge of $5.
Purchasing via fax
• Click Purchase Alternative… in the about box or run the Register Email Effects program.
• Enter your name, address and email address in the areas provided (all are required).
• Select how many of which products you wish to purchase.
• Please enter any additional comments by clicking the speech bubble next to the product name.
• Select the VISA, MasterCard or American Express payment method and enter your card details.
• Click the Print… button to print out the form for faxing.
• Fax the printed form to (US) 510 652-6589.
Purchasing by mail (slowest)
• Click Purchase Alternative… in the about box or run the Register Email Effects program.
• Enter your name, address and email address in the areas provided (all are required).
• Select how many of which products you wish to purchase.
• Please enter any additional comments by clicking the speech bubble next to the product name.
• Select the Check, Cash, VISA, MasterCard or American Express payment method.
• If you are purchasing by cash, select the currency you wish to pay in.
• If you are purchasing by credit-card, enter your card details.
• Click the Print… button to print out the form to sent with your payment.
• Send to : Kagi, 1442-A Walnut St PMB #392-BX, Berkeley, CA 94709-1405, USA.
After you have purchased
As soon as your payment has been processed by Kagi, you will automatically receive an email with the subject Thanks for your Payment. You will then be emailed your permanent license code or contacted if there is a problem (a human has to check your details before sending a permanent license). If you wish to trace an order, please contact support@sigsoftware.com.
Select Tool
The Select Tool is the most versatile tool in Email Effects. With it, rectangular areas may be deleted, moved, duplicate, transferred to the clipboard, dragged to another window or program, inverted, flipped, rotated, exploded, imploded, or sent directly to an email client program.
Make a selection by dragging out a rectangular area. Hold down the Command (or ‘Apple’) key while doing this to automatically shrink the selection, removing blank space. Choose Select All from the Edit menu to select the entire document.
The Transparent button on the toolbar controls whether the selection is transparent or opaque. If it is transparent, blank space characters in the selection will let the underlying design show through.
Move the selection by pressing the arrow keys on the keyboard or dragging it from within the selected area.
Delete the selection by pressing the delete or escape key on the keyboard or choosing Clear from the Edit menu.
Duplicate the selection by dragging it while holding down the option key.
Transfer the selection to the clipboard by choosing Cut or Copy from the Edit menu. The selection can also be dragged directly to another window or program by dragging it outside the document window and dropping it into the desired destination.
Invert, flip, rotate, explode or implode the selection by choosing one of the transformations from the Effects menu.
Send the selection to an email client program by clicking the correct button at the right-hand end of the toolbar. Alternatively, choose the correct item from the Email menu.
Picture Conversion
Email Effects enables conversion of pictures into text. This works by using darker characters (such as %$#) for darker areas of the picture and lighters ones (such as .,') for lighter areas of the picture.
If Custom Picture Characters is on in the Preferences, pictures are converted using the characters specified, otherwise Email Effects will automatically choose characters that will look good. In both cases, pictures are automatically contrasted and sampled for darkness before being converted to text.
To convert a picture, simply paste it in from the clipboard or drag it into the document from another program. It will instantly appear in a picture selection, ready for manipulation. You can also choose Place from the File menu to place a PICT picture file (or many other formats, including GIFs and JPEGs if QuickTime translation is available) into the document.
Move the picture by pressing the arrow keys on the keyboard or dragging it.
Resize the picture by dragging one of the edges of the selected rectangle. The way in which the resizing takes place will depend of the Picture Scaling setting.
Delete the picture by pressing the delete or escape key on the keyboard or choosing Clear from the Edit menu.
The Transparent button on the toolbar controls whether a picture is transparent or opaque. If it is transparent, blank space characters in the picture will let the underlying design show through.
The Picture Scaling button on the toolbar toggles between three different scaling modes :
If set to Direct, the height/width ratio of the picture will be the same as the rows/columns ratio of the characters produced. This will produce accurate results for pixel-accurate visual elements such as icons, but the results will be elongated (because characters on screen are taller than they are wide).
If set to Proportional, the height/width ratio of the picture will be the same as the height/width ratio of the results on the screen. This will produce natural-looking results for pictures, but will result in a reduction of the vertical resolution. This may cause problems with pixel-accurate visual elements such as icons.
If set to Free, the picture may be freely stretched horizontally and vertically. This is the most versatile mode and will allow for experimentation for best results.
Table Conversion
Email Effects enables conversion of tables into text. Tables are converted from tab-delimited text form. This means that each row ends with a return, and cells within a row are separated by a tab character. Almost all spreadsheets and word processors will provide tables in this format when copying to the clipboard.
To convert a table, simply paste it in from the clipboard or drag it into the document from another program. It will instantly appear in a table selection, ready for manipulation. You can also choose Place from the File menu to place a tab-delimited text file into the document.
Change the width of a column in the table by clicking and dragging on the right-hand edge of the column. This may not be easily visible, depending on the Table Ruling setting but the shape of the cursor will indicate the correct position.
Change the justification of a column in the table by clicking and dragging horizontally from the center of a column. The shape of the cursor will indicate the areas where this may be done.
Move the table by pressing the arrow keys on the keyboard, or dragging it from near, but not on the edge of a column.
Delete the table by pressing the delete or escape key on the keyboard or choosing Clear from the Edit menu.
The Transparent button on the toolbar controls whether a table is transparent or opaque. If it is transparent, blank space characters in the table will let the underlying design show through.
The Table Ruling button on the toolbar controls four different ruling modes, for both columns and rows. The four possibilities are : none, outermost only, outermost plus header, all. Drag horizontally to change the setting for columns, and vertically for rows.
Cursor Tool
The Cursor Tool allows easy one-by-one editing of characters.
Set the cursor position by clicking or using the arrow keys and type text to write at the cursor position.
The Cursor Mode button on the toolbar controls how characters typed will affect the cursor position. In Insert mode, characters typed will be inserted at the cursor position, and characters on the row will be moved right. In Overwrite mode, characters typed will write over the cursor position, and the cursor will move on. In Step mode, characters typed will write over the cursor position and the cursor will move the same distance in the same direction as it last went. The shape of the flashing cursor also changes for each mode.
Text Tool
The Text Tool allows simple text to be placed anywhere in the document.
Create a text box by clicking on one side and dragging to the other. Text will be entered into an expanding box which can be moved or resized later if necessary. You can now start typing.
The Transparent button on the toolbar controls whether the text box is transparent or opaque. If it is transparent, blank space characters in the text will let the underlying design show through.
The Justification button on the toolbar controls whether the text will be left, center, right or justified and the text will move accordingly within the text rectangle.
Copy the typed text to the clipboard by choosing Copy from the Edit menu. The text can also be dragged to another window or program by dragging the text box outside the document window and dropping in into the desired destination.
Paste text in from another window or program by choosing Paste from the Edit menu. Text can also be dragged into the current text box from another program. You can also choose Place from the File menu to place a text file into the document.
Move the text box you have created by pressing the arrow keys on the keyboard or dragging it.
Adjust the left or right edge of the text box by moving the mouse to the edge and dragging it left or right. The text will automatically rewrap itself as you drag.
Big Text Tool
The Big Text Tool allows big, ‘expanded’ text to be created. This works by expanding one of the ordinary fonts installed so that every black pixel in the font (as it is normally drawn on screen) is represented by a single character.
Create a big text box by clicking on one side and dragging to the other. Big text will be entered into an expanding box which can be moved or resized later if necessary. You can now start typing.
The Character button on the toolbar controls which character will be used for creating big text. Set this to Automatic by clicking the character button in the toolbar or pressing delete. In this mode, each character is made up out of little versions of itself. Type a character to use it for all letters. Note: The character must be set before a big text box is created.
The Transparent button on the toolbar controls whether the big text box is transparent or opaque. If it is transparent, blank space characters in the big text will let the underlying design show through.
The Justification button on the toolbar controls whether the big text will be justified to the left, right or center and the big text will move accordingly within the big text box.
The Font, Size and Style area on the toolbar controls which font, size and style will be used for creating big text. It is recommended to either use a scalable TrueType or PostScript font (if Adobe Type Manager is installed) or a bitmapped font at one of its standard sizes. Note: Using italic text will produce erratic results, and may need some touching up.
Copy the typed text to the clipboard by choosing Copy from the Edit menu. The text can also be dragged to another window or program by dragging the text box outside the document window and dropping in into the desired destination.
Paste text in from another window or program by choosing Paste from the Edit menu. Text can also be dragged into the current big text box from another program. Either of these will convert the original text into big text.
Move the big text box you have created by pressing the arrow keys on the keyboard or dragging it.
Adjust the left or right edge of the big text box by moving the mouse to the edge and dragging it left or right. The big text will automatically rewrap itself as you drag.
Figlet Tool
The Figlet Tool allows attractive text to be created with Figlet fonts. The Figlet font system was developed by Frank Sheeran, Ian Chai, Glenn Chappell (FIG) and John Cowan and is the standard system for ASCII Art fonts.
Create a Figlet text box by clicking on one edge and dragging to the other. Figlet text will be entered into an expanding box which can be moved or resized later if necessary. You can now start typing.
The Transparent button on the toolbar controls whether the Figlet text box is transparent or opaque. If it is transparent, blank space characters in the Figlet text will let the underlying design show through.
The Justification button on the toolbar controls whether the Figlet text will be justified to the left, right or center and the Figlet text will move accordingly within the Figlet text box.
The Figlet Font area on the toolbar controls which Figlet font will be used for creating Figlet text. Any Figlet font (whose file name ends in .flf) in the Figlet Fonts folder will be accessible. Email Effects comes with a small selection of these – more can be downloaded from the Figlet page at the address below.
Copy the typed text to the clipboard by choosing Copy from the Edit menu. The text can also be dragged to another window or program by dragging the text rectangle outside the document window and dropping in into the desired destination.
Paste text in from another window or program by choosing Paste from the Edit menu. Text can also be dragged into the current Figlet text box from another program. Either of these will convert the original text into Figlet text.
Move the Figlet text box you have created by pressing the arrow keys on the keyboard or dragging it.
Adjust the left or right edge of the Figlet text box by moving the mouse to the edge and dragging it left or right. The Figlet text will automatically rewrap itself as you drag.
For more information on Figlet and to obtain additional Figlet fonts (which can be used with Email Effects), go to the official Figlet web page at http://st-www.cs.uiuc.edu/~chai/figlet.html
Pencil, Rubber, Bucket Tools
The Pencil Tool allows single characters or a circular or rectangle area to be drawn on the document.
The Rubber Tool allows single characters or a circular or rectangle area to be erased on the document.
The Bucket Tool allows contiguous or outlines areas to be filled in with a specified character.
Draw with the pencil by dragging the cursor around on the document window with the mouse down.
Erase with the rubber by dragging the cursor around on the document window with the mouse down.
Fill with the bucket by clicking somewhere inside the contiguous area you wish to fill. A contiguous area is an area containing identical adjacent characters.
The Character button on the toolbar controls which character will be used for pencil drawing and bucket filling. Type the desired character to set it. For pencil only, it can be set to Automatic by clicking the button in the toolbar or pressing delete. In this mode, the character used will automatically follow the direction of drawing.
The Shape and Size button on the toolbar controls the shape and size that will be used for pencil drawing and rubber erasing.
Click on a character while holding down the Option key to pick up the draw character from the current document.
Hold down the Command (or ‘Apple’) key while drawing to temporarily toggle between the Pencil and Rubber tools.
Line, Circle, Rectangle Tools
The Line Tool allows lines to be drawn on the document.
The Rectangle Tool allows rectangles and squares to be drawn on the document.
The Circle Tool allows circles and ovals to be drawn on the document.
Draw with any of these tools by dragging the cursor from one corner of the shape to the other.
The Character button on the toolbar controls which character will be used for pencil drawing and bucket filling. Type the desired character to set it. Set it to Automatic by clicking the button in the toolbar or pressing delete. In this mode, the character used will be based on its position within the shape.
The Size button on the toolbar controls the pen size that will be used for drawing.
The Compounds button on the toolbar controls whether characters are automatically compounded. For example, a ‘/’ written over a ‘\’ will compound to a ‘X’. If compound characters are off, the shape drawn will always overwrite the underlying design.
Click on a character while holding down the Option key to pick up the draw character from the current document.
Files and Direct-to-Email
Email Effects files are simple plain text. This not only means that Email Effects files can be opened in almost every other Macintosh application but also that Email Effects can open text files created with any other application.
When opening a text file created in another application, it will be placed in a movable and resizable text box.
You can open PICT pictures and tables (as tab-delimited text files) for instant conversion. If QuickTime translation is available, many other picture formats, including GIFs and JPEGs, can also be opened.
Because Email Effects is designed primarily for creating emails, it implements a useful feature for users of Claris Emailer, Qualcomm Eudora and Microsoft Outlook Express, the three current most popular Email client programs on the Macintosh.
Select which Email client to use from those currently available on your system from the Email Client submenu in the Email menu. To send the message, choose To Email Message from the Email menu or click the button at the right-hand end of the toolbar. A new outgoing message will automatically be created in the chosen program with the entire document in the message body. If there is a current selection, that area will be moved across instead.
Email Effects adds the Message Prefix before outgoing messages (and text copied to the clipboard) to help recipients whose email software is not configured to view text in a fixed-width font. The prefix can be changed in the Preferences dialog. It is always worth using a fixed-width font such as Courier or Monaco in Email software for technical and historical reasons.
Preferences Dialog
Edit preferences by choosing Preferences from the Email menu. The dialog box contains field for many global settings.
New Document Dimensions : This controls the default width and height of new documents created with Email Effects. The width will also be used when opening text documents created with other application. Although most systems can theoretically handle a width of 80 characters, it is safer to stick with 74 or less. The number of rows will always be automatically increased if necessary.
Ruler Color : This controls the color in which the horizontal and vertical rulers will be displayed at the left and top of each document. The scaling on these rulers can be edited by dragging from inside the rulers.
Background and Foreground : These control the color to use for the background (blank page) and foreground (drawings) of documents. By default, they are white and black respectively.
Font : This controls the font and size to use for all displaying documents. Only fixed-width fonts are allowed as others will produce distorted results in Email messages. It is recommended to set this to the same as your Email package so that the results look consistent.
Characters to use for Pictures : Pictures are converted into text using these characters. The pixels in a picture are automatically sampled for darkness and compared to these characters in the current display font and size, and the correct character is chosen based on this comparison.
Allow non-ASCII characters : This allows the full Macintosh characters range (values 0 to 255) to be used for drawing in emails. Foreign, or other specialty users may wish to use this setting, however it is not recommended for general use.
Message Prefix : Email Effects adds this before outgoing messages (and text copied to the clipboard) to help recipients whose email software is not configured to view text in a fixed-width font. It is always worth using a fixed-width font such as Courier or Monaco in Email software for technical and historical reasons.
Defaults : These two default settings are for using Monaco 9 or Courier 12 for document display. The Picture Characters are set to values which produce optimal results in those typefaces.
Any distribution of Email Effects must include this file. No responsibility about Email Effects' functionality or integrity is implied. This document and Email Effects are copyright of the author. Other trademarks are copyright of their respective owners.
