<<**>>¢ Daisy Dot III¢ A review of the SHAREWARE Program¢ by JOAN RYAN, ACE ST. LOUIS¢¢ Reprinted from ACE ST. LOUIS ¢ by the OL' HACKERS AUG.¢ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=¢ (Editor, though this is a reprint¢ it is such a valuable review of¢ a FANTASTIC UPGRADE of what was¢ already a great program for the¢ 8 BIT, that its worth reading or¢ re-reading even if you read it¢ before!)¢¢Just when I was getting cozy with¢Daisy Dot II, Roy Goldman's NLQ¢software print processor, along comes¢Daisy Dot III. It has been released¢in a shareware version and a¢commercial version which costs $25.00.¢ Share version does lack the ability¢to designate font changes from your¢document and it will not work with¢Sparta X, but it is complete enough to¢allow me to do this review.¢¢You are looking at the most impressive¢new revision found in DDIII. This¢font and others like it are the¢closest your 8-Bit 9 pin printer can¢get to "Point" type DTP fonts that I¢have seen to date. The next good news¢is that you no longer have to format¢your margins with your word processor¢and "Print" your file to disk along¢with its embedded commands. DDIII¢will take a straight ASCII file, (not¢a saved, tokenized file) and neatly¢format its own margins. The resulting¢printout saves you that frustration¢you experienced in DDII when your text¢didn't quite center. You can still¢use embedded formatting commands¢within the body of your text to¢center, expand print, block left, etc.¢ It has new commands which handle¢hanging indents and hard and soft¢hyphens. DDIII supports Epson and¢compatibles, Star, Blue Chip,¢Mannesman Spirit, XMM801, and¢Prowriter.¢¢There are a few points about DDIII¢which I found to be quite frustrating.¢ The Print Processor does not include¢a number of the handy items found in¢its predecessor. Among these are the¢ability to center and block left or¢right directly from the program.¢¢Processor's menu no longer controls¢the amount of vertical space between¢letters, either. If you are using a¢"handwriting" font, which requires 0¢spacing, you must include an imbedded¢command, or re-customize your defaults¢from the basic program. The latter¢choice involves quitting DDIII,¢rebooting your disk with basic and¢running the customizer program .¢Sadly, it will no longer include 62¢sector pics files, so Chris Wareham's¢"Billboard" dump will now go unused.¢¢DDIII includes the most elaborate Font¢Editor that I have ever seen. It has¢more editing commands than most¢drawing programs. Scroll these¢commands through a handy window to¢refresh your memory or use the docs¢provided. You may never need it,¢however. Eleven fonts are included on¢disk, and if you send for the "fancy"¢version you get many many more fonts.¢I understand DDIII will accept most¢DDII fonts, so don't throw away your¢nifty club disk. DDII, however, will¢not return the favor.¢¢If the included fonts don't satisfy¢your needs you can go to the Font¢Utilities section, use "Magnify" and¢enlarge any font up to 4 times its¢original size. Font Utilities will¢also italicize a font OR convert any¢standard Atari font to DDIII format.¢Note: Magnified fonts may be too large¢for the font editor. ¢¢Meanwhile, back at the Print¢Processor, we need to examine a few¢more things DDIII does. Both the¢Print Processor and the Font Editor¢must be custom configured from¢individual basic files. The Font¢customiser is a simple one shot¢process that you need not repeat.¢With The PP Custom.bas file, you¢designate your printer, character¢spacing, horizontal line spacing,¢margins etc. The difficult way to¢change your text is to go back to this¢file and RE config every time. Avoid¢it if possible. Set your favorite¢generic defaults and then use the¢relatively simple DDIII embedded¢commands from your original text to¢change or refine them. The defaults¢are in 40ths and 72ths of a inch! You¢can regulate spacing to the last pixel¢with parameters this exact, provided¢you can understand them. Luckily I¢got help VIA BBS from a very bright¢and patient expert in Columbia. John¢McGowan, teacher, math guru, grad¢student and absolute genius with¢Textpro, DDIII and fonts in general¢explained DDDIII so that even I could¢understand it. Note: The customizer¢prints your choices to Print Processor¢and then has the annoying habit of¢defaulting back to its original¢format, so be sure to write down what¢you did to your program. Although not¢visible, the commands are still in¢there.¢¢Help is on the way for you picture¢fans! Disappointed with the current¢lack of pics, John got busy and¢figured a way to incorporate Print¢Shop icons into magnified fonts. Yes,¢you can load any number of individual¢fonts which have up to 10 or more P.S.¢icons hiding in them. He wrote a¢conversion program, arc'd it with Shop¢Tool P.S. to DOS 2 converter, and¢uploaded it to Gateway BBS, along with¢instructions and Textpro macros to aid¢you. Its real value is to registered¢owners of DDIII because it allows you¢to change fonts (aka icons) from your¢text file. The P.S. icons can be¢centered or blocked left or right.¢You can also make a decorative row¢similar to "Tile" option in Print¢Shop. I will write more on this next¢month after my commercial version¢arrives. This icon perk is best used¢by people who re-use particular icons¢to identify parts of a newsletter or¢flyer. It's not for you "6000 icons¢for any occasion" fans.¢¢I cannot overstate the value of DDIII.¢ You can compose flyers with the¢larger fonts and write newsletters¢with the smaller ones. Currently I am¢earning mucho brownie points by¢writing my Mom with this "easy to¢read" font. Wait till she gets a look¢at the icon-multifont version! Do¢experiment with the shareware version.¢ I'm willing to bet you'll end up¢buying DDIII.¢¢ Joan Ryan¢ <<end>>¢
