Merry Christmas!
We here at Grasshopper would like to wish you the very best this Christmas season, if not a little late. This holiday season has flown by and we hope to enjoy the last remaining days of 2005 with our families and pray for the same for you. We have been working hard this month on many projects that we are now starting to upload.
First and foremost we have been pushing ahead on new product releases for the Amiga 68k and Macintosh OSX. Add to that a new update of 5.0 for the current platforms that includes not only a few bug fixes and memory leaks, but huge improvements to TrueType printing to postscript including support for very large Unicode fonts and the first release to support the gradient shape fill to screen and non-postscript. Gradient shape fill has always been a PostScript only feature since it was added in PageStream3.0! Top it off with the first public test code for the creating of typeset formulas! Pretty busy, even for the holidays, if I do say so myself.
New updates for Windows, Linux, MorphOS, Amiga OS4, and finally first releases for Amiga 68k and Mac OSX has begun. As each is completed, notes will be posted on our web site and on the PageStream mailing lists. Unwrap and enjoy!
As always, thanks!
Your friend in PageStream,
Dan Kilroy Grasshopper LLC N5750 Langlade Price Road Bryant WI 54418 sales@grasshopperllc.com http://www.grasshopperllc.com
PageStream DTP for Amiga, Linux, Macintosh, and Windows
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The release of PageStream5.0 for Windows and Linux has been very well received by both the press and our users. We can only hope that the Amiga community will be just as eager. Take a look at what a few of our users have said about PageStream5 recently...
"If PageStream were not a superior product I would have had to abandon it long ago for better software. Deron's commitment shows in a program that is continually being updated and is simply the best!" -- MD
"... people like Deron must do it for the love of it, because they work so hard to make sure it runs correctly and is flexible. That is the major reason I love PageStream!" -- DB
"I hardly need add that I didn't just get PageStream for my PC for sentimental reasons (i.e the Amiga connections), or because of concern for the welfare of Deron: above all, it is a first-class program and I use it all the time (figuratively speaking, that is!)." -- MK
"I've been using PageStream5.0.2.2 Pro 5/14/05 exclusively" -- DS
"Pagestream is a great program!" -- RH
New PageStream 5.0 features A brief overview of the top features that we find ourselves using almost everyday. + Transparency for Text and Objects - Object and text can now appear to blend with the page underneath. + Picture Alpha Channel Transparency - Pictures created in paint programs which support alpha channels can now be imported into PageStream and the picture will be masked according to the alpha channel and blend into the page as directed. + Text Widow and Orphan Control - No longer will a single line of a paragraph appear at the bottom of one column or top of the next column if directed. + Definable Printer Marks - Set the printer marks to appear as you need them and provide the right bleed needed for any print job. + More Keyboard Shortcuts + Path Reverse, Flatten and Smooth - Unlike other publishing applications, most drawings and illustrations can be created right inside PageStream. Now additional tools are available to reverse the drawn direction of the path, flatten any curves into line segments, and smooth short line segments into curves. + Hanging Bullets, Drop Caps and Numbered Paragraph - Second and subsequent lines of a special paragraph can now be set to start at the same horizontal location as the start of the first line. + New Duplicate Objects Method - The Object Transform feature now supports new offset methods, incrementing pages, and blending between start and ending object transparencies. + Print to a Bitmap Picture - Generate a TIFF, JPG, GIF or other picture format representations of the page. + and more! - Speed ups, bug fixes, features and numerous new scripting commands.
New PageStream 5.0 Pro features The previous release of PageStream Professional was a bundle of PageStream and a number of add ons. With this release, PageStream Professional now includes numerous features unique to it plus TextFX, Borders 1 & 2, Gary's Effects, Paper Direct templates, and Home & Office forms. + Place PDF Objects - A specific page of a PDF can now be placed onto a PageStream page just like an EPS graphic. + Export Objects as Bitmap - In the past, selected objects could only be exported to a object oriented drawing format, but now the objects can also be rendered into a bitmap at any resolution and saved in any supported picture format. + Automatically Adjust Text Width for Justified Text - By adjusting the text width by slight amounts, the white space in justified text can be more even between lines of text in a justified paragraph. + Gradient/Radial Blend Masks for Pictures/EPS/PDF/Drawings These objects can be made to appear to fade into the page beneath it. Samples can be seen in a previous issue of eDTP World. + Path Math: Union/Add/Unique/Subtract Draw two intersecting objects, and create a single new path that is the outside trace of those objects (Add), or a new object that represents the common region in both objects (Union), a new object that removes any common region (Unique), or a new object that has the second objects area removed from the first object (Subtract). + PageStream5.0 features and more!
Further more, if you have not seen the newest versions of 4.1 Windows you may have missed all the new features that were given to 4.1 Windows users as well. That includes a numerous gems like a new interface with resizeable dialog boxes, Python scripting support, improved and simplified localization support, PNG filter, PDF document import filter for 4.1 and 5.0 Pro, MS Word text filter, improved small caps, font selector with sample display, improved hanging punctuation, and more. In fact, the unadvertised features added to 4.1 for free are more substantial than many upgrades from other publishing applications!
PageStream5.0 Pricing At any price PageStream5.0 is a bargain, but PageStream's low price is a steal. Retail price of PageStream5.0 is a fraction of the other DTP applications at only $99, and the PageStream5.0 Professional package is only $149. But don't let our low prices fool you into thinking PageStream is low-end!
PageStream4.1 customers can upgrade to 5.0 for only $40 and to PageStream5.0 Professional for just $90, while PageStream4.1 Professional customers can upgrade to 5.0 Professional for only $40, and upgrade multiple copies for even less. Customers of prior versions of PageStream (4.0, 3.x, 2.x and 1.x) can upgrade to PageStream5.0 for just $75 and PageStream5.0 Professional for only $125. Other upgrades exist. Check out our order page athttp://www.grasshopperllc.com for more details on pricing.
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PageStream Development by Deron Kazmaier
A few days later than I had hoped, but still within fashionably late terms for a Christmas gift.
Lately I've put a little fun (really, a lot of fun for me) and the beginnings of a large new PageStream project in the next 5.0 Pro. In the Insert submenu of the Type menu, I have added a menu item called Insert Formula. At this time it is a test bed for not only the formula processing and formatting, but also other on going projects and improvements to the general PageStream layout engine. I've been working on bits for right-to-left and vertical language support and advanced glyph composition for eastern languages that will be tested here before integrating into the PageStream layout engine. Other features I hope to integrate in the future include html-like inline text tables, conditional text, and true footnotes.
None of this is ready for prime time, but this is your chance to provide feedback on the kinds of advanced text functionality you would like to see in coming updates to the layout code and more specifically to the formula processing and layout. To play along, just install the latest 5.0.2.10 Pro version as they become available this week for your platform. Choose Insert Formula from the menu, and try typing a few simple formulas. For example, A = B+C/D or A = (B+C)/D. Then click the "Update" button and see your results! Unicode values for math symbols can be entered like in any other string using the \00000 format.
Feedback is welcome on any of the PageStream Beta mailing lists, or privately to me at support@grasshopperllc.com. I hope it is half as much fun for you as it is for me!
Merry Christmas!
Deron Kazmaier
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