THE POSTER PROGRAM. Version 1.5 2/25/95 INTRODUCTION. POSTER has been designed to let you easily and quickly create large posters signs, and banners, printing them at up to 9 feet by 9 feet. The posters consist of text and graphics. The program automatically enlarges all text and graphics, and tiles the output over multiple pages. POSTER was originally created to allow my daughter to generate large posters for use in presentations for her 4-H club. After creating a poster, she prints in double size (4 sheets of paper) and pastes it onto a poster board. For a typical presentation, she will use six to ten posters. The program has been enhanced to be of general use in a variety of situations for printing big pages: 1. Creating large posters for presentations, projects, charts, etc. 2. Creating large signs for advertisements, announcements, etc. 3. Creating banners for special events, etc. 4. Enlarging pictures, charts, etc. for display. This program is shareware. The author has given permission for the file to be distributed without restriction, but does not permit alterations to the file. If you find this program useful, you may register it to receive future upgrades and a set of borders. ADVANTAGES OF POSTER. This program is very easy to use, and it is very simple to create large posters and banners. It is especially useful when you have a number of fonts installed, as the font selection menu displays renditions of all the true-type fonts. The final poster size is fully configurable. VERSION 1.5 IMPROVEMENTS. 1. All known problems with color printer support have been solved. POSTER should be able to enlarge full color bitmaps, such as those created from photo-CDs. 2. An easier way to change font sizes, and full-size font-size images. 3. Printing was enhanced to allow a single arbitrary sheet to be printed. 4. You can now override the default sheet sizes and margins. 5. Metric support has also been added by request. VERSION 1.4 IMPROVEMENTS. Support for metafiles and bitmap files as borders and backgrounds Preview screen in graphics import dialog box Inclusion of some metafile borders VERSION 1.3 IMPROVEMENTS. 1. Fixes printing of color text. 2. Adds support for OLE embedded objects (like Microsoft draw & wordart). 3. Adds easy banner support. 4. Adds print preview. 5. Removes restrictions on special characters and the number of pictures. SUPPORT. If you have any problems or suggestions, please send me a note. My email address is AOL: BobBedoll Internet: BobBedoll@aol.com Compuserv (CIS): 71754,2174 REGISTRATION. You may register this program if you find it useful. The fee is only $8, which is really quite reasonable for a program like POSTER. This fee helps cover costs for distribution and support of the program. If you register, your are entitled to unlimited support, future versions, and a free disk full of fancy borders. To register: From CIS (Compuserv), type GO SWREG By mail, send $8 to: POSTER Software Bob Bedoll 11002 48th St. E. Puyallup, WA. 98372 I'll send you the disk of borders by return mail. INSTALLATION. If you have unzipped the files, then you have practically installed the program. The package consists of the following files: 1. This README file. 2. POSTER.TXT, which is the documentation for POSTER. All of this documentation is also in the on-line help file. 3. POSTER.EXE, which is the poster program itself. 4. POSTER.HLP, which is the on-line help file. 5. CTL3D.DLL, the 3d controls library. 6. Several BORDERx.WMF border files. These can be imported using the Page->Border->From File command. To install the program, do the following after unzipping the poster download file: 1. Create a directory called POSTER. 2. Copy the files POSTER.TXT, POSTER.EXE, and POSTER.HLP into that directory. 3. Copy the file CTL3D.DLL to your \WINDOWS\SYSTEM directory. 4. Create a program manager icon for POSTER by doing the following: a. Select the program manager group where you want the icon. b. Select NEW. c. Select Program Item. d. In the dialog box, fill in Description ("Poster"), The command line: C:\poster\poster.exe The working directory: C:\poster If you have unzipped into a different directory, use it instead of c:\poster. 5. You may view and print the documentation file, POSTER.TXT, with notepad. However, this entire document is included in the online help file. USING POSTER. To start using poster, simply double click on the poster icon. POSTER will start and ask you for the poster or banner format. After selecting the format you want, it will present an empty page to you. Just start typing to begin making your poster. You can also associate "POS" file types with poster (do this with File Manager). Then, double clicking on a POS file will automatically start poster with that file. PRINTERS. This program has been successfully tested on the following printers: HP Laserjet II and compatibles HP Laserjet III - see special setup instructions below. HP LaserJet 4 - See special setup instructions below HP DeskJet PLUS HP DeskJet 500 Epson dot matrix and compatibles Postscript printer - See special setup instructions below If you cannot get POSTER to work properly on your printer, try checking the box marked "Method A" in the PRINT dialog box. This should work ALL printers (but not plotters). If this still doesn't work, try "Method B". Also, see the special setup instructions below. LASERJET III USERS. If the posters you print are missing characters at page edges, then do the following: 1. Select "Method A" in the Poster Print Dialog box. Also, be sure your printer is set to 300 dpi. LASERJET 4 USERS. To successfully print posters, you must configure your printer as follows: 1. Select "Printer Setup": 2. Set resolution to 300 dpi. (At 600dpi, printing takes a very long time, and may hang the printer.) 3. Select "options". 4. Select "Graphics Mode" = "raster", "Graphics Quality"="high", and check "print true-type as graphics". If posters still do not print properly, then in the PRINT dialog box, check the boxed marked "Method A". This should always work. POSTSCRIPT PRINTER USERS. POSTER cannot always automatically switch a postscript printer from portrait mode to landscape mode. If "Print Preview" shows the printer to be in the incorrect mode,use the "Print Setup" menu item to manually select the proper mode. If you get postscript errors, or you are loosing characters at page boundaries: 1. From the control panel, select Printers, then select 'Setup. 2. Select "options", then select "advanced". 3. Select "print true type fonts as" "Bitmap (type 3)". 4. Close the control panel. 5. Start POSTER. If posters still do not print properly, or print too slow, then in the PRINT dialog box, check the boxed marked "Method A". This should always work. COLOR PRINTERS. POSTER should now properly print color text and graphics. SLOW PRINTING. Sorry, but Windows printing is s..l..o..w. I have no good solution for this. Be sure to verify your poster with "Preview" in the "Print" dialog box. Then, have patience while it prints. TECHNICAL TRIVIA. POSTER is written in C, and complied using MS C7.0. It consists of about 10,000 lines of code (proving that it takes a lot of code to not do very much). Bob Bedoll 2/13/95. Seattle, WA. email: BobBedoll@aol.com (206) 865-6414 or (206) 848-0467.