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There are two headline-sized lines of title text. One on TOP and another on the BOTTOM for the title of your album, software or disk, plus a second name for an artist (or a two line title). These lines can be moved up and down and side to side by changing the values inside the boxes labeled U û D (Up and Down) and L û R (Left to Right). There are a set of these adjustments for both lines. If the Center box is checked the TEXT centers automatically as you enter letters or edit the line, so if you want to place the text off to one side this must be done manually by first REMOVING the check mark from the Center box and then changing the position in the L û R window (a lower number moves left and a higher number moves to the right). These positions are in pixels. You can also change the FONT FACE to any supported font on your system (note an error and program crash WILL occur if the font specified does not exist when the file is re-loaded), the size of the font in points and the color of the font. Font effects BOLD, ITALICS, STRIKE THROUGH and UNDERLINE are supported for both TOP and BOTTOM headline text. Finally if you want you can enclose either of these lines of text inside a black outline. The color of this outline always stays black and works best with bright or white backgrounds. If you do not want one or both of these lines of text, just leave them blank. Neither the picture image nor background color is affected by a blank line.

There are two thick lines, one below the default starting place for the TOP line of text and another above the default starting point for the BOTTOM line of text. You can change the thickness of these lines by increasing the value of the number next to LINE THICKNESS or you can remove one or both lines independently. You can also change the color of the lines by pressing the button marked LINE COLOR. If you leave the thickness boxes blank the line automatically reverts to 1 pixel as a minimum. We left these lines ON to give you a starting point in cover design. You can turn one or both of the lines off. They are, however, fixed at these locations.

You can also make the background a variety of colors if you are using a color printer, press on the BACKGROUND COLOR button and make your selection. Remember, however, that adding color will use more ink, the cover will smear for a while until the ink dries or 'cures' and the printing process will be slower than with a white background. Also some low cost printers do not provide black ink with a color setting so anything black will come out dark gray or green. Deep colors like fire engine red tend to show printer flaws (streaks) which can only be corrected by using a top quality printer, with glossy paper and maximum print quality. None of these flaws are caused by this program. They are hardware flaws.

If you want to add a picture of the band, artist or a graphic for your software, press the PICTURE button and select from any JPG, GIF or uncompressed Windows BMP file from any drive source. The picture will automatically stretch to fit the square default image size and will stay centered on the form at all times. You can then adjust either the Width or Height of the picture by changing the values in the W or H boxes. Not only can you correct for malformed images but you can also increase the image size to fit the whole page. A perfectly square image is required for a full front cover and a slightly wider image is needed for the backside 456 x 456 pixels and 456 x 519 respectively). The file path is shown below the button. The file must remain in this location when you recall the layout in the future. If you move any of the image files you will get a FILE LOAD ERROR MESSAGE and must browse and insert the file from the new location and save the work a second time! When using this program between machines on a local network first SELECT 'Network Neighborhood' from the file selector list of drive options, then find the NETWORK NAME OF YOUR COMPUTER from the paths shown or click on the FILE SERVER COMPUTER holding the picture images. Then search for the picture you want to use. This way the file path will include the MACHINE NAME as part of the path name and thus ANY computer on your network should be able to use the layout files with no FILE LOAD ERRORS!

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You can select one, two or all three images by clicking the appropriate check box for the picture or logo and putting a CHECK mark into the box, pressing the OK button when finished. If you change your mind, then just LEAVE THESE UNCHECKED and press OK. Once you remove a picture you must save the new file before the change is permanent.

You can also add two small (40 x 40 pixel) thumbnail sized pictures or logo images for your company. One can be added to either side on the bottom with the LOGO 1 and LOGO 2 buttons. See ADD PICTURE above for details on importing files from a local area network (LAN) system.

You can use either the Paint or Photo program which generally comes with Windows 95/98 (or any other third party paint program) to create, convert or modify most any graphic or image and turn them into either a GIF, JPG or UNCOMPRESSED BMP file format.

The paths for these two logo images are shown next to the buttons.

The next TEXT BOX is for the bottom line of text, which can be moved like the TOP line. You can even move this line up to the TOP so you have two lines of text. As with the top line the COLOR, FONT and FONT SIZE can be adjusted.

You can also put a frame, square or (for the back side) rectangle around the outer edge of the form by putting a CHECK in SHOW BOX. This inner square can be made thicker by increasing the value of the THICKNESS box in pixels. You can also change the color of this inner square. White works best if you are sizing a picture across the full form.

If you want to post a Copyright notice on the form, check the POST COPYRIGHT box and the CURRENT CLOCK YEAR (subject to your computer clock being current) will automatically appear. You can manually change this year to any other year you'd rather show. Also the words "All Rights Reserved" will be added providing you with extra protection under some treaties. The word "Copyright" and the circle 'C' symbol will also appear. You can enter the legal owner's name in the box below. If you CHECK the COPYRIGHT BLACK check box this notice will always be in black ink. If you leave this UNCHECKED it will take the color of the SONG TITLES (and not the larger headline titles). If you CHECK the ADD (P) check box the letter P enclosed in a circle will be added next to the C enclosed in a circle. NOTE! Windows system fonts do not currently support this text symbol so we created the Circle P as an image, so if you change font color or background color a small white square and black Circle P will be seen. Since the P must be enclosed in a full circle û using parenthesis, such as ( P ) is not generally acceptable to the United States û we opted to create a small bit map image of the circle P which cannot be changed in color or background. You add this symbol for musical CDs to protect the actual sound recording as required by treaty. The copyright notice moves up the page as you increase the thickness of the optional BOX.

The SHOW TITLES CHECK BOX let you add up to 20 song titles or software features plus extra spaces for music publisher, players, programmer, producer or engineer credits. Finally there is a box to enter liner notes, players, studio and other information. While this bottom most box expands on the actual printed cover image, in the ENTER TILES form you must put the cursor inside the very bottom line and then use the arrow keys to move left and right within the line of text. You have the option to keep this area at 6 point type (the LOWER SMALL check box ) and in black ink (LOWER BACK check box ) or you can keep this at the same font size and color as the rest of the titles. The text just above this lower area (for the producers and publishers) will be slightly larger. The very bottom small text is a fixed font (Arial) but the rest of the titles (and producer credits) can be changed to another font face.

The publisher, producer and engineer credits will also stay at 10 point type or at the size of the other titles (which are 10 point at starting default but can go larger).

You can enter the titles and credit by pressing the ENTER TITLES push button. A new form will appear. By checking on the bottom CHECK BOX you can change the tab order from DOWN to ACROSS. When you press the ENTER or CARRIAGE RETURN key while typing the cursor will move down the column or across to the next adjacent box. You can either MINIMIZE this new box or CLOSE IT. When you open it again the names will still be in the text boxes for editing and changes. You may have to add spaces and use multiple lines to keep these titles neat on the form.

The TITLES FONT button lets you adjust the color, size and font face for the 20 titles, publisher and producer credits. You can leave the producer and publisher credit size small and the color black, while changing the size of these items. But remember the bottom-most group of text will always stay in the fixed font.

You also have an option to CENTER the very bottom paragraph of fine print (album credits, etc.) or leave it flush to the left with a jagged right edge (like a typewriter).

Because no two sets of "titles" on a CD will be the same, you will need to pad the various entries and change spacing or use multiple lines to see that all elements line up correctly. This is especially true when switching from a FRONT to BACK cover format.

Here you will notice a SAVE PROMPT check box. By default this program will generate an ALERT BOX and prevent you from CLOSING the program, OPENING a new file or starting a NEW layout giving you a second chance to SAVE the current layout. This is your last line of defense against putting time into a layout and forgetting to save it! If this feature annoys you, CHECK the box and NO PROMPT will be given (and you may lose a work in progress). Remember you must defeat this SAVE PROMPT each new time you run the program.

If you CHOSE the SAVE PROMPT option, you must check either YES or NO at the prompt. If you chose YES the program will automatically send you to the SAVE option so you can save this under the current name or give it a new name. If you say NO the action you requested (NEW, OPEN or EXIT) will happen. Because you may make a false start and the program doesn't know what is false or real, this feature can be an annoyance, hence we allow you to defeat it with this CHECK BOX.

At the far left bottom are two RADIO BUTTONS to change the width of the form (and centering) for the rear (back) side of the jewel case (which is wider than the hinged front flap) or the front side (front and inside on the back of the flap are the same size). A CUT box is proved. You can cut inside this box, on the line or outside the line. All three cuts will generally fit the case. Leaving the lines in place can be an additionally decorative feature. Cutting ON the line works well with scissors.

Next are five PUSH BUTTONS.

PRINT SET-UP lets you change from portrait to landscape mode (generally this is not required to make a good cover, but if you want a V FOLD cover the landscape setting will provide this extra wide size on standard paper sizes). You can also adjust the number of prints, the print quality (some color printers lets your print in black and white using GRAY SCALE). Printer settings ARE NOT SAVED and you must set these up each new time you run the program.

The PRINT button prints the finished, selected size cover ONLY of the MYDEMO.JCC file.

OPEN lets you open a previously saved layout. All image files must remain in their original location or an ERROR message will be generated. Titles will generally import into the pixel positions specified when you saved the original file. Remember, if you make a change the new text will automatically center on the form!

NEW re-sets the form to default settings so you can make a fresh layout.

SAVE lets you save a new or edited layout to disk. It generally saves (or opens) from the last file location you used when working your computer. You can change the path in the usual manner and save your files in the program directory or any other location you desire.

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The "down" tab format goes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24.

The "across" tab format goes 1, 11, 2, 12, 3, 13, 4, 14, 5, 15, 6, 16, 7, 17, 8, 18, 9, 19, 10, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24.

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This box is generated when you press NEW, OPEN or the CLOSE button (top right "x" box on the form), without first SAVING your work.

When this box comes up you either press YES (if you want to save your work) or NO (you don't want to save the work). Once you SAVE your work this PROMPT no longer appears.

If you press NO the function you requested (OPEN, NEW or EXIT) will occur.

If you don't want this prompt feature then UN-CHECK the SAVE PROMPT check box, but be advised you can lose a layout if you don't remember to save it!

The rest of the file will generally load, but line spacing may need some manual correction and you will need to locate and import the image files again, then re-save the document. Or you must find the files and move them back to the original location and then call this layout back into the program.

Just click on the CLOSE button (the small X at the upper right) to get rid of this or any alert form.

Just put a check mark in one or more of the items and press OK to remove the main picture or small logos from the current cover.

If you did this in error, just leave all three box UN-CHECKED and press OK to close the form without hurting your layout.

If you decide AFTER removing a picture to restore it and HAVE NOT YET SAVED this new file, then simply press OPEN and call the original file back in to the program OR find the picture on your computer and insert it back into the layout.

When you press the SAVE button after starting a NEW project the default file name of mydemo.jcc will be used IN THIS DEMO VERSION ONLY. You must either keep this name (and overwrite the existing file) or UPGRADE to the FULL VERSION to SAVE AS another name (note, SAVE will continue using the name MYDEMO.JCC for any file of any name you open).

Several copyrighted sample layouts are provided to show you the possibilities!