In the Summer of 1994 I designed a chess font which is Included in the revised version of Font Pro 2, Types of Distinction published by Wayzata Technologies. (More about it below.) I had no particular reason for designing it other than it seemed like a fun thing to do. Then in the fall of 1994 as I wandered the internet, I noticed that at least one chess editor existed for DOS and Windows, but I was unaware of any for the Mac. It struck me that a simple chess editor would not be very difficult to program (I was overly optimistic), that it might be of use to some people, and that it would make my chess font much more useable. It would also be an excellent way to let people know about my chess font (called Chessterton, by the way) and the many other typefaces I have designed.
ChessEdit is not meant as a stand-alone program. Rather it is a helper program or utility designed to arrange a chessboard and then transfer the results to a word-processor or page layout program. To use the program one MUST have a chess font installed. (For those who do not have a chess font, I provide the bitmapped version of Chessterton. If you want the real thing, you have to buy Font Pro 2, the revised edition.)
STARTING
On opening the program, one gets a blank chess board and a set of chess pieces. To place the pieces, click on one. The cursor then changes into this piece. Wherever you click on the board, this piece will appear. Clicking off the board will get you back to the arrow cursor. To erase a piece from the board, click on one of the two blanks under the columns of chessmen, and your cursor will change into a blank square. Clicking on any square now will clear it. I hope you find it as simple as I intended it.
When one has the board arranged as one wants, there are two ways to move the results out so you can get them into another program. The first is to Save it from the File Menu. This will give you a text file which can then be opened in another program. Note that it will appear as a bunch of letters and characters, not as chess men on a board. To get it to look like a chess board, one must format it using the chess font Chessterton from within your word processor. This means you must have this font installed.
The second way to move the results is to select the Translate-to-Field button. This action opens another window with an edit field and dumps the results into it. One then can then copy this text and either store it in the scrapbook (under the Apple Menu) or take it directly to another program. For example, if one has a word-processor open, once can switch back and forth between it and ChessEdit, cutting and pasting chess boards. Again, the formatting will not go with the results; they will have to be reformatted with a chess font in the word-processing program.
(Why, you ask, have the bother of this second window. Why not copy directly from the Composing window? Because, I answer, it was a heck of a lot easier for me to program it that way. If I were great programmer, I would probably do it differently, but I would also probably not be doing something as elementary and marginal as this.)
MORE FEATURES
ChessEdit has a couple of neat features. The nicest is that it can be configured to work with just about any chess font, whether it be TrueType or PostScript or even bitmapped. This presents a difficulty because different authors of these fonts place the pieces in different places. ChessEdit allows one to enter a translation key so that the results from ChessEdit will be appropriate for other (not Chessterton) fonts. Included with ChessEdit are keys for a whimsical chess font called Funny Chess. See the note with the typefaces for more information.
If you find another chess font, you can configure your own translation code. First you must figure out which keys each of the characters is on. (It is possible for them to be on combinations--the bishop on one key, and the black background on another, so a bishop on a black square might take two characters. Do not worry; ChessEdit handles this.) Once one knows how the characters are mapped, open up a Edit Key Code, and enter the appropriate pairings. Then save it. When you translate to the edit field, you may get what looks like garbage, but if you have done the translation correctly, your chess board will look fine when you export it to your word processor and format it the proper chess font.
Notice that what you save depends on which window you are in. If you are in the composing window, you save the chess board in Chessterton format. If you are in the Translate-to-Field Window, you save the chess board in the translated format. Finally, if you are in the preferences window, you save a key code.
I hope all of this is not too confusing. Play with it a while, and see what you get.
OTHER STUFF
The standard software disclaimer applies to this program. That includes all the stuff about how I do not guarantee that this program will do anything for you or that it is error free or that it will not do nasty things. You use the program at your own risk and the author (me) is not liable for any problems you may have.
The program is copyrighted by Robert Schenk in 1994. No alternations can be made to it. All the standard software license restrictions apply to it--stuff about not decompiling it, etc.
This program is shareware. If you like it, you can register by buying my CD-ROM Font Pro Vol 2, Types of Distinction. (Make sure you get the revised, 1994 (or later???) version, because it is much better than the original and only it has Chessterton.) I would also like any feedback you can give me. Please report any bugs or suggestions for improvements to the address given below. And finally, if you use this program to produce any commercial product, I would really appreciate a copy. Only your feedback will give me the incentive to maintain this program.
ChessEdit maybe distributed freely on the internet. It may be placed on any CD-ROM which has a policy of giving a copy to authors of included program, such as the info-mac CD of Pacific Hi-Tech. Others should contact me for permission.
I can be reached at:
bobs@saintjoe.edu
or
PO Box 404
Rensselaer, IN 47978-0404
Font Pro 2 is published by Wayzata Technology. They are at 2515 East Highway 2, Grand Rapids, Minnesota, 55744. Phone numbers are 800-735-7321; 218-326-0597; 218-326-0598 (fax). Their e-mail address is WayzataTec@aol.com
In addition to Font Pro 2, I also designed the typefaces on Font Pro 3, Designer Type. In addition to lots (125+) of typefaces in both PostScript and TrueType formats (trademarks of Adobe and Apple, respectively), it has a number of programs I have written. The best of the lot is MazeMaker, part of an awesome maze construction kit.
