ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN LIMA NEWSLETTER SEPTEMBER 1989 ^^^^^^"PAGE-PRO" REVIEW ^^^^^^^by Charles Good ^^^^^Lima Ohio User Group ^^A picture is worth a thousand words. The pages that contain this article have been entitely composed using PAGE PRO and its associated utilities so that you an see for yourself what the printed output of this fine software looks like. The different fonts you see on these pages come with the basic PAGE PRO package. PAGE PRO is exactly what Asgard Software claims it to be, a page making utility that allows you to mix text and pictures on the same page with total on screen "what you see is what you get" capabiltiy. ^^The text of this article was typed in the normal way with Funnelweb's editor using any margins I desired and leaving groups of 8 blank lines in the body of the text for later insertion of graphics by PAGE PRO. This DV80 file was then processed with a modified version of PAGE PRO's COLUMNIZER utility to prepare the text for use by PAGE PRO. Contrary to the printed instructions that come with PAGE PRO, it is not necessary to save the text file with PF. Also, contrary to the PAGE PRO documentation, processing with COLUMNIZER did not take nearly as long as the stated 15-45 minutes per page. Other than inserting "^" for each desired indented space and making sure that each paragraph ended in a carriage return symbol (a little cr), it was not necessary to do anything special to the original DV80 file prior to processing with COLUMNIZER. ^^COLUMNIZER took my original file and split it into PAGE PRO page sized blocks of text, each a separate DV80 file. Each page of test was in 2 right justified columns This was all done automatically by COLUMNIZER. I then booted PAGE PRO itself and imported each DV80 page of text into a PAGE PRO one page at a time. The header box, header text, and page border were then manually added to each page to make the page resemble the normal format of this newsletter. Graphics were then inserted in the body of the text. Everything including border and graphics was visible on screen in a "what you see is what you get" format as each page was composed. Each page was then printed and saved to disk. ^^COLUMNIZER, as it comes with the PAGE PRO package, normally leaves 2 blank lines at the top and bottom of the page and spreads text out to the extreme right and left edges of the 60 column page. I needed 4 blank lines (not 2) at the top to leave room for the header box shown here, and I needed each line of text indented 1 space on the right and left to leave room for the page border. Since COLUMNIZER is in XBASIC, I was able to modify it to meet these special needs (see below). There is much to be said for having software written in XBASIC so that it can be easily modified by the user. Assembly is fast, but is much harder for the average user to modify. The actual PAGE PRO program is in assembly. ^^With PAGE PRO you get a 60 column by 66 line page to work with. As you can see on the pages that contain this article, this quite adequately fills a printed page. The screen window is 1/2 of a page width and approximately 1/5 of a page length. You window left/right and up/down with the TI Writer standard F4 F5 and F6 keys. You can also scroll up/down one line at a time with the arrow keys. At any one time only 1/10 of the page is in view on the screen. The current position of the cursor, with respect to the entire page, is indicated at the bottom of the screen with a very clear numerical row and column indicator. There is a Geneve specific version of PAGE PRO, but its screen display looks just like the 99/4A version. The Geneve version does not yield an 80 column display. ^^You can type directly onto the page, and this is the usual method of text entry. As you type you have full screen cursor control with the arrow keys, but there is no automatic word wrap or right justification. The only way to edit existing text is with single line editing such as is done by inserting within, deleting from, or typing over an existing line of text. Other text lines are not directly affected by such editing. If you "import text" from any DV80 file such as that created by COLUMNIZER, everything else on the page is erased, a distinct disadvantage. ^^Two text font sizes are available at one time, one twice the size of the other. Each of the several large and small fonts included included with the PAGE PRO package contains a complete set of upper and lower case letters and other keyboard characters. You can also use software in the PAGE PRO package to convert TI Artist or CSGD fonts to PAGE PRO disk format. Although you are not limited to a particular font, you ARE LIMITED to the font sizes and spacing shown on these pages. It is not normally possible with PAGE PRO to use th tight CONDENSED printer pitch (17 characters per inch) that is normally used for text in this newsletter. It is possible to give the appearance of having more than two text fonts on a PAGE PRO page by including a graphic made out of text. Some examples follow: ^^Unlike importing text, graphics (pictures) can be imported anywhere onto a PAGE PRO page without altering the rest of the page. Graphics are seen on screen exactly as they will appear on the printed page. You position the cursor where the upper left part of the picture will be and enter the disk file name of the graphic. If you don't like what you see you can press CTRL/K to "kill" (erase) the picture. As many as 28 graphics on a page are allowed. Several graphics are part of the PAGE PRO package, including this 99/4A console. ^^You can convert any TI Artist instance into a PAGE PRO graphic disk file with software provided with the PAGE PRO package. This software automatically converts all instances on a disk into files usable by PAGE PRO. It takes about 2 hours to convert a full SSSD disk of instances, but this only has to be done once. In the future software is promised (probably at extra cost) that will convert other graphic formats (such as TI Artist pictures with file names that end in "_P") into PAGE PRO graphic format. In theory one graphic can be as large as an entire PAGE PRO page. It is possible to type text over a graphic, but this leaves holes in the graphic. If you import graphics with blank areas within the outline of the graphic, the picture will "flow around" existing text without disturbing text that already exists in the graphic's "holes". ^^A wide variety of lines and shapes can easily be drawn on a PAGE PRO page just like typing text. CTRL/8 puts you in Lines mode. You then put lines and shapes on the page by typing specific upper and lower case letters. A very clear display on the lower half of the screen shows you which keys produce which lines. The shapes are, in effect, a third font. The borders and header box of the pages that contain this article were made in this way. This line creating ability makes PAGE PRO great for drawing borders and making business forms and graphs. Several sample page files that are included with the basic PAGE PRO package, including a blank INVOICE form, are examples of what is possible. ^^If you are trying to create a vertical design, such as a straight up/down line, it is very inconvenient to have the cursor move one space to the right every time you type a line drawing key. With PAGE PRO you can specify the direction of cursor movement (left, right, up, down) after each character is typed. CTRL/EXSD sets the cursor movement directon until you change this direction. You still have full screen cursor control with the arrow keys. --DISADVANTAGES OF PAGE PRO- ^^It is very easy for me with PAGE PRO to create a blank newsletter page template with borders, header box, and header text and save this template to disk. I normally use xeroxes of a professionally printed page template for the cut and paste masters of these newsletter pages. IF I could load my newsletter page template into PAGE PRO and then import some DV80 text created with COLUMNIZER onto this template this would be fantastic! I can't. When text is imported, everything else on the page is erased. The borders and headers on the pages that contain this article had to be individually drawn on each page after importing the text. Since a PAGE PRO graphic can, in theory, be as large as an entire page, it may someday be possible to store page borders as a single large graphic and overlay this graphic onto a page of text. As of now the utility software needed to do this does not exist. ^^When a PAGE PRO page is printed, the printer uses dot addressable graphic mode to print everything, including text. You can choose single, double, or quadruple density for the printout. As stated earlier you are limited to only the two font sizes shown on these pages. You cannot with PAGE PRO directly access the printer's built in fonts (NLQ, emphasized, condensed, etc). Also you can't insert special printer features such as single word double strike, underline, or italic into the body of the text. Such features are easily available with PLUS! when printing from the TI Writer formatter. In my opinion the PAGE PRO text looks grainy. It just doesn't look as good as text created from the printer's normal fonts. Compare the various pages of this newsletter to see the differences. ^^PAGE PRO apparently uses every last bit of VDP memory with a 99/4A. If you have an AVPC card as part of you system it is necessary to run the SET99/4A program that comes with the AVPC prior to booting PAGE PRO. ^^^^^--CONCLUSIONS-- ^^PAGE PRO is quite easy to use. It is great for the creation of single page signs, forms, ads, greeting cards, and stationary. The ability to mix text, pictures, and lines on the same page and the "what you see is what you get" screen display are unequaled in the world of the 99/4A and Geneve. I intend to purchase my review copy. However I do not plan to use PAGE PRO to produce this newsletter. For the newsletter layout I am usually going to stick the with the good old cut and paste technique that gives me the total flexiblity I require. I guess other newsletter editors agree with me in this respect. I have seen favorable reviews of PAGE PRO in other newsletters, but I have not seen an entire issue of any newsletter produced with PAGE PRO. ^^The COLUMNIZER XB program that comes with PAGE PRO is a very useful utility in and of itself. It is one of the easiest to use text column making programs I have seen, much easier to use than its documentation would suggest. ^^The basic PAGE PRO package ($24.95 + $0.75 shipping) comes with several on disk sample pages, graphic files, and alternate fonts, as well as COLUMNIZER. Included also is a well written hard copy manual and detailed tutorial. Extra cost picture and font disks are available. Asgard accepts VISA and MASTERCARD as well as personal checks. ASGARD SOFTWARE P.O. Box 10306 Rockville MD 20850 USA Phone 703-255-3085