Using Matrix maker 3.0.1


Please take note of the splash screen inviting--OK, begging--you to pay the $15.00 registration fee. This program is not equipped with any magic "let's-get-even-with-those-who want-it-for-nothing" routine that forces you to do something dreadful such as installing Windows 95. We rely upon the honesty of the users to help us in our efforts to improve the program and to add new features. You'll notice a little box on the splash screen that comes up when you first install Matrix maker. This box says simply, "I paid." Checking this box eliminates the shareware reminder. You can, of course, simply check it and be done with it. But we hope that if you do, the sense of guilt will become unbearable and will eventually prompt you to send in the fee. The handy Register Matrix maker 3.0.1 application in the folder will assist you in doing this.


Matrix maker 3.0.1 is quite "user-friendly." Simply double-click on the application to open it. After the splash screen disappears, nothing further will happen until you select "New" (Command-N) or "Open" (Command-O) from the "File" menu (or by using the keyboard shortcuts).

Selecting "New" will open a window that will prompt you to enter the data for the creation of your matrix. Choosing "Open" will open an existing file.

NOTE: The Matrix maker file-type is unique to this application, and its files can be opened only by application itself. Pre-existing files must be opened from within the application. Double-clicking on a file will open the application but not the file itself. Also, drag-and-drop is not implemented in v 3.0, so files created by it cannot be printed by dropping them on a desktop printer; you must instead use either "Print" from the "File" menu or its keyboard shortcut (Command-P). These issues will be addressed in v 3.1.

The range of options offered by Matrix maker is very wide and encompasses so many different possibilities of combinations that they cannot all be covered in this documentation. Thus, I am offering a sample of the prompts and user's responses in a more or less "typical" run that will create a matrix using some of the more unusual options in addition to the most common ones. Please note that the program allows the user to specify whether s/he wishes to make use of these optional features and to bypass them completely if the user says "no."


Sample input/output


When the program has completed the creation and formatting of a matrix, the matrix may be saved in the ordinary way (selecting Save from the file menu or typing "Command-S"), which will invoke the standard "Save" dialog) or by clicking the "Close" box in the upper left-hand corner of the matrix window. In the latter case, a dialog will appear that asks the user what to do, with one of the choices being that the matrix will be saved within the Matrix maker 3.0.1 folder under the name that was originally entered as the title of the piece. (This also happens when the user attempts to quit the application without saving a matrix file that has been created.)

Multiple matrices may be created, one after the other, without quitting the application, simply by selecting New from the "File" menu or by using the "Command-N" shortcut. HOWEVER, because of memory limitations, only one matrix file may be open at a time! This problem will be fixed in v 3.1.


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