Desktop Publishing everyone can
afford?
XLENT
Software (UK)
The king is dead, long live the king! That's one way of looking at
Typesetter Elite, the upgrade from Typesetter ST. Gem based, mono
and colour versions, print preview, undo command, quad density
output to Epson RX/FX printers are just some of the new improvements
embedded into Typesetter Elite. One of the major improvements to me
is the documentation, I can now actually understand what the
programmers are trying to say which is probably due to an outsider
being hired to write the manual.
Typesetter Elite is a program that allows you to
compose pages of text and graphics on the ST and then print them out
on a range of different printers. The amount of detail in this
program is tremendous and if I had to review every single command
then this review would take up half of the magazine. If you've ever
used any Xlent Software programs before then you'll know that the
manual will need to be read over and over again to fully understand
the program and Typesetter Elite is no different, below is a précis
of the main part.
There are seven drop down menus from the main menu
bar, each menu has from four to ten commands, each command usually
has a number of options and many commands and options can alter the
output of other commands! Not only do you have to contend with the
menus but also the function buttons change with some of the commands
chosen. Under the Menu 'FILE' you can load a page (80K), screen
(32K), font, NLQ font, Icon, border, and 80 column text page. Page,
screen, Icon and borders can also be saved to disk. The drive can be
changed from 'A' through to 'F'. View the directory, alter the
loading mode from Replace to Overlay and Quit finally finish off
this first menu!
An example of how involved the program can be is the
use of 'screens and pages'. When you view a screen you see
approximately forty percent of the page, in other words you're
looking through a window which can be moved around to suit your
requirements. Fonts can be loaded from the program disk or from
Megafont ST or DEGAS compatible files. With the load mode on Replace
this will overwrite the current image on the screen/page and by
using Overlay you can create interesting effects by laying
screens/pages on top of each other WHICH is an extremely handy way
to build up your designs. The 80 column text page is a separate part
to Typesetter Elite and this will be discussed further on.
The second menu is the graphics mode. Selections here
include the basic commands generally found in most graphics programs
- Draw, Line, K-line, Rectangle, Ellipsoid, Fill and Eraser. Other
options include Drag (move), or Copy and these can be in either
Replace or Overlay mode. The move and copy functions are a little
peculiar, the maximum size of the screen you can move at any one
time is about eleven percent in mono and about twenty-five percent
in low res colour. Many of the commands in the graphics menu can be
altered by the commands from the following menu, the Graphics
options. These include Pen sizes in nine thicknesses from one pixel
wide to about seven millimetres wide, a fill index for interior
patterns with surprisingly only five choices and four colours
(colour version only), a fill style for rectangles and ellipsoids
such as Hollow, Solid and Pattern plus another of the mode selectors
i.e. Replace, Transparent, and XOR. This last one is an experimental
mode and alters text/graphics in a mysterious way. Finally in this
section, Grab screen and Paste screen operate as you'd expect.
Menu four controls the graphic text. Graphic fonts
are designed on an 8 x 16 matrix and once loaded they can be altered
to ten different heights and ten separate widths. Fonts can be
Replaced or Overlayed and inverse can be toggled to suit.
All-in-all, over 200 variations can be achieved with just one font.
In the colour version of Typesetter Elite, the variations can be 800
by using the four colours available.
Graphic fonts are not the only fonts available to the
user. In menu five there are twenty-three system fonts. These are
loaded in at boot up and selected via the system font selection
menu. Further options are Thickness (bold), Intensity (light),
Italics, Underline, Outline, Replace, Overlay and Alternate.
European, Hebrew, Greek, and Control characters are just some of the
range of styles. The graphic and system fonts can be toggled by
using F4 and F3 respectively with the last font loaded/chosen as the
default. Margins can also be set by using function keys.
The penultimate menu is the scrolling window. Up,
Down, Left and Right with in-between positions for all directions.
There is also a handy HOME position for the top left hand corner.
The final menu is Pot Pourri. Four printer drivers are included on
the disk, Epson 960/compatibles, Epson 1920/compatibles,
Prowriter/NEC 1023 and Gemini 10X. Your drawing/layout can be
positioned on the paper either at the margin or the actual position
it takes on the screen. If you have a printer capable of quad
density (Epson 1920 compatibles) i.e. the FX/RX range, then double
offset strike can be selected for bolder printouts. Those who are
prepared to wait for approximately four minutes per printed page,
can choose the number of copies from 1 to 99.
The Execute Print function has an output size
selection which should cater for most people. Choose from Full Page,
Screen, Free Form, 75mm x 125mm Index card, 100mm x 150mm Index
card, 50mm x 70mm Rolodex card and 24mm x 90mm label. With all the
card/label options, the sizing box can be moved around the screen to
select your particular portion of the picture. The Free Form option
allows you to print out any portion of the screen. The only option
missing is the Pre-set 3.5 inch disk label; although this can be
achieved by using the free form option. Having selected your size of
printout there is an option to preview the page as it will appear on
paper. Included in Pot Pourri is an eraser option which has Full
Page, Screen and Icon selections although using the Full Page option
returns you to the Desk Top, so be warned! Bringing up the rear is
Icon Block which allows you to pre-select the position of the Icon
when it's loaded from file.
Well we're finally at the end of Typesetter Elite but
not at the end of this review, for included on the disk is an 80
column text editor designed especially for Typesetter pages. Text
may be written using the editor or Pre-Processor as Xlent call it or
alternately load in your text from 1st Word files and save it as a
Typesetter 80 Page. (TSE80) This page can be loaded into Typesetter
Elite using the 'Load 80 Page' command. The TSE80 is compatible with
Thunder (spelling checker) from Batteries Included. Commands within
TSE80 are fairly simple and sparse.
Typesetter Elite is a huge improvement from the
original Typesetter ST. It's priced at £34.95 from Xlent Software
(UK) or from most advertisers in Page 6. It's not copy protected (well
done again, Xlent), comes with a 28 page manual which is
surprisingly easily read although it has the usual hallmarks of
good humour and spelling mistakes associated with Xlent!
On a personal note, whilst I thoroughly enjoyed using
Typesetter Elite (it gets much easier the more you use it) I don't
like the forty percent windowing technique. Slider bars would have
made this a much more enjoyable package. The lack of Zoom
facilities, the annoying 'blob' that gets left on the screen every
time you click on something from one of the Drop down menus if
you're in the drawing mode, the all important 3.5 inch disk label
function (what size of disks do Xlent use?) and the small size of
the printed page (8" x 9") were frustrating. To be fair to Xlent
Software, Typesetter Elite is not meant to be a full featured page
layout program but by using your own pictures, Icons or Rubber Stamp
(Xlent Software) you can create a page layout with a host of attributes
that should please the majority of ST users, me included!
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