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1990-12-02
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M A G N E T I C P A G E S
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Introduction:
Magnetic Pages is a software package consisting of 3 programs, that
allow you to create and display a disk-based magazine. The magazine produced
is of a similar format to that of a traditional paper magazine. You can
combine text and graphics on a single page, you can branch to different
sections of the magazine by clicking on icons on a page and you can play
sound and music.
The original concept was conceived about 2 years
ago. I became the club magazine editor for the New Zealand Amiga User Group
and was responsible for producing a magazine each month. Our magazine came
out on disk because of the advantages of this format. A close friend of mine,
Simon Frantzen, suggested I write a program that could display text and
graphics in a format similar to that of a standard paper magazine. Well I
liked the idea and wrote a reasonably simple program that did the above,
complete with page turning. I used this program for about a year, until I
became fed up with the system. It wasn't the magazine format that was the
problem, it was the time required to set up a page. Each page was defined
using an ASCII control file that contained information about the page layout,
graphics files needed and the text. Another reason I didn't like the system
was because no one else could easily produce an article in the magazine
format.
Finally I decided to write a new package that would include an editor
that would allow you to design a page using a user-friendly, intuition
based environment. And so after a few months of programming in my spare time,
Magnetic Pages was born.
The Magnetic Pages package consists of three programs, the Editor,
the Organiser, and the Displayer. The Editor lets you create the articles,
the Organiser allows you to assemble the articles into a magazine and the
Displayer will display your magazine.
Below is a brief description of Magnetic Pages features.
1) Text and graphics can be displayed on the same page using an 8 or 16
colour hires screen. Text is flowed automatically in the boxes (columns)
you define.
2) An all graphics page allows you to display any IFF picture in any screen
mode. (eg HAM, Half Brite, etc)
3) By clicking on certain boxes, the reader can branch to different
sections of the magazine. This allows a magazine to be divided up into
various sections.
4) Digitised Sound and Soundtracker Music are supported. Sound/Music can
be played when the reader first turns a page or by clicking a
specific box (icon) on the page.
5) Different text styles and colours are supported. eg Bold, Italics,
Underline, etc.
6) Articles may be printed, or saved as text or graphics files by the reader.
7) Page colour,box colour, shadows and borders are user defineable.
8) Boxes can have several frames of animation or be simple push buttons.
9) PAL/NTSC compatible.
10) Articles can be compressed using PowerPacker.
To get a better idea of its capabilities, take a look at the example in
this package.
Distribution:
The Magnetic Pages package contains the following files. They must be
distributed together and may not be altered in any way.
* Magnetic_Pages - The document you are reading.
* Order_Form - Application to obtain the Organiser and become a
registered user.
* Editor - The program used to create articles.
* Editor.docs - Documents for the above program.
* Tutorial - A tutorial on creating articles using the Editor.
* Displayer - The program for viewing a magazine.
* Displayer.docs - Documents for the above program.
* Mag_Ctrl - Control file for the demo/tutorial.
* ExampleMag - A directory containing the articles for the demo.
* Pictures - A directory containing pictures used in the tutorial.
* Text - A directory containing text used in the tutorial.
* Sounds - A directory containing sounds used in the tutorial.
Magnetic Pages is not public domain. However the Editor and the
Displayer are freely distributable. No fee may be charged for their
distribution, apart from a small copying charge for the disk. However
if the Displayer is used to display a magazine, etc then obviously there
can be a charge for the actual magazine.
The Organiser is NOT! freely distributable. You will notice that the
Organiser hasn't been included in this package. This is because there is a
small charge associated with it. Without the Organiser it is impossible to
make your own magazine. The Editor will allow you to create articles, but
they will not be able to be displayed by the Displayer. You need the
Organiser to create the control file associated with each magazine. This
file contains information about the order of the articles and what sections
they are in. It also contains a line of text stating who the registered
owner is. This appears every time a magazine is loaded by the Displayer.
To obtain a copy of the Organiser and become a registered owner
fill out the order form in this package and send $25 US or $50 NZ to:
Mark Gladding
66 Churchill Rd
Murrays Bay
Auckland 10
New Zealand.
The above cost is only a minimum. Feel free to send larger amounts
if you think Magnetic Pages is worth more.
There is an order form included in this package which you can print out
and fill in. If you don't have access to a printer, just make sure your
letter contains all the necessary information.
This offer ONLY applies to non-commercial organisations such as User
Groups, public schools, etc. All commercial enquires should be sent to the
above address.
All registered owners will be notified when updates of the Organiser
become available.
New versions of the Displayer and the Editor will be distributed
freely in the same manner as the original package was. The latest versions
of the Displayer and the Editor will also be available on the New Zealand
Amiga User Group BBS (phone (+064) 09 4792245). Users may also call this
BBS for help in using Magnetic Pages and to report any bugs. All messages
can be left to Mark Gladding, and will usually be answered in under 24hrs.
If you need to talk to me urgently or don't have a modem, you may call
me at home on (+064) 09 4794619. Make sure you take any time differences
into account. People calling outside the times 8.00am to 9.00pm will
receive a less than friendly response.
COPYRIGHT NOTICE
Magnetic Pages is Copyright (C) 1990 by Mark Gladding. All Rights Reserved.
DISCLAIMER
No warranty, either express or implied, is made with respect to the
fitness or merchantability of Magnetic Pages.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Special thanks to Simon Frantzen for the excellent artwork. All the graphics
used in the example magazine were drawn by Simon as well as the icons for
the Editor, Displayer, etc.