_) _) | / | | \ . < | | _ \ _|\_\\__/_/ _\ _| | (_-< - \ _| _|\ \ \ / _ | _| -_) ___/\___/|_| \__| \_/\_/ \__,_|_| \___| | _) _ \ _| _ \ _ | | \ _| _| | _ \ \ (_-< .__/_| \___/\__,_|\_,_|\__/\__|_|\___/|_| _\___/ _| present A new era in Alive article making with The Alive KoloUr tAgger (AKT) Introduction ------------ Have you ever written an article for UCM or Alive? If yes, you must be aware of how painful it is to add colour to your documents without previewing em. STS adressed that problem by finally releasing a mini shell of the UCM/Alive shell, but in my point of view it is a bit quirky (you have to edit the main text in order to make the shell load your text, a bit long loading times if you are using a disk drive -me included-, etc.) Adding colour to logos also makes up for some very cool fx in the final result, but again it is _impossible_ for most people to make it without losing their hair in despair. Well, fear no more! The AKT is here and it solves all of the above problems! All you have to do is enter your text, load it in the AKT and then colour it! Usage ----- The AKT was written on an Atari STE in GFA BASIC (and a bit of asm to speed up the display routines). So it should be run in ST low or ST med resolutions. To run it just load ALIVETAG.EXE. It will then bring up the file selector (provided you are at the correct resolutions). Select a text (use this manual) and it will load (kinda slow, I'm afraid). After the load/process procedure it will hopefully display your text and a cursor waiting at the top left cornner of the screen. You can move the cursor with the following keys: Up/Down/Left/Right: Standard movement Shift+Up/Down: Up/Down a page Shift+Left/Right: Left/Right a word (currently chokes with many spaces, but works anyway) On the bottom of the screen there is a status bar that displays the cursor position, as well as coordinates for F1 and F2. What are these? Well, in order to colour anything in AKT you have to define first a block. Use F1 to mark the start of the block and F2 to mark the end (or vice versa). The status line will be updated accordingly. Say now you want to colour a sentence. Just press F1 at the first character of the first word and F2 at the last character of the last word. Now press 1 to 4. Nice? Simple? I should think so. Now, if you think that's all, boy, you're in for a treat :). I suggest that if you've read this manual so far from an editor other than AKT that you quit that editor and load it in AKT. The show is about to begin :-) First select the whole sample text below. (you know, F1 at the top left char, F2 at the bottom right) AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!! AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!! AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!! AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!! AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!! AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!! AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!! AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!! AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!! AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!! AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!! AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!! AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!! AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!! AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!! AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!! Now, press 'q' and wait a bit..... How about that? Now, press 'w' to 'u' for the rest of the fx (gradfill under construction, sorry!) Now, to cover quickly the rest of the functions provided. Press 's' to save the document (as a safety precaution do not overwrite the original file. Not that I've lost any data using this program, but you never know. I will not be held responsible if this prog erases your 300KB document!! You've been warned!). AKT will save the document in the UCM/Alive format and it is able to load it back (in case you change your mind). Pressing 'c' will alter the number of colours used in the effects (but some are 4-colour only). Pressing 'v' will prompt you to set the order of the colours used in the fx. Just press 1-4 at any order you wish. The status bar will be updated accordingly. Pressing 'x' will bring up the character set, where you choose which characters will be included/excluded from fill. Select a character with cursor keys and space. Esc leaves this selector. This should be used in conjuction with the 'f' key, which selects the type of will (normal, fill only with the selected characters, fill with all characters but the selected). Let's say that in the above sample text you didn't want to colour the exclamation marks. Just press 'x', make sure you select the '!', press 'esc', press 'f' until "exclude" is selected, now press 'q' (for example). Finally, press 'space' to exit the program (just like a demo screen ;) (If you need on-line help, just whack 'help') Known bugs/future enhancements ------------------------------ This software in its current form is beta. Yes, I know it ain't too cool to release beta stuff, but I feel that I'm spending a lot of time on a piece of software that probably no one will ever use. So I'm releasing it as it is, and if I get enough encouragement I will continue to work on it. Currently the following list of stuff runs though my mind: - It doesn't handle correctly headers and picture inclusions. - When it loads virgin text, it's all in green. - Gradient fill doesn't work - Loading is too slow. - Shift+left/right with spaces bug. - The fx are all a bit buggy (now that I remember it, PLEASE don't try to use the fx with small blocks, or the program will choke) - Blocks are not visible. - Include/exclude doesn't work with colour fill. - Character selection screen is a bit crappy. - I hope that now it works on all keyboards (thanks for the tip STS :) - Mouse usage isn't implemented (partially because I have no mouse :( ) - I want to clean up the house. - I want to finish university so I can go back to Athens. - I want to see Madrugada play live again. - etc., etc. As I said above, to fix these problems I need ENCOURAGEMENT!! An e-mail with flames/good words will be appreciated. Messages in boards (such as DHS board) won't be taken into account (they don't encourage me too much). Credits ------- Coding and ripping of the UCM/Alive main font: GGN/KA software productions. Palette/debugging assistance: STS/LOud! (thanks man :) Greetings --------- Atari scene: Dead Hackers Society (Evil, Gizmo, Loke), Paranoia (Paranoid), LOud! (ST Survivor), Wildfire (Baggio, Zounds), Mystic Bytes (Grey), Teenage (Phenomenon, Berserker), Cream (Candyman, Tao, Abyss, Agent T), Maggie Team (CiH), Pyjama (Exocet), FLA (CosmosH), Reservoir Gods (Mr. Pink), Checkpoint (Defjam), Falcon Users Netherlands (Earx, Havoc, D-force), Equinox (Keops), Alain Derpin (hi :), Mind design (Deez), all who will e-mail me, and all I forgot. PC scene: Tran, Statix, TBL (the rest are just lamers :-) Miscellaneous: Jubanka, TiS (Stoned), Tricky, The rest of KA (hi lamers ;-) Fact sheet ---------- Name: Alive KoloUr tAgger Type: Utility Version: 1.0 beta Format: PRG executable Code by: GGN of KA software productions Gfx by: The guy who made the UCM font Software used: GFA BASIC v3.50E (coding) Turbo Assembler v1.7 (coding) Packed with: Pack Ice 2.40 Compatibility: Hopefully, all machines that can handle ST-low (even emulators) Approved by: Ummm.... no one Dedicated to: All UCM/Alive writers E-mail: GGN: ggn@atarist.com Epilogue -------- Microsoft Linux? When will the nightmare end? -GGN