These 2 documents show PageStream's great ease-of-use, as well as some of its more powerful features. Print out this text file and refer to it as you look at the CHART.DOC and GRAPHICS.DOC from inside the demo of PageStream 1.8 (file 13710 in the ST library). CHART.DOC ========= Three exclusive features (duplicate, align and text objects) make creating charts a breeze with PageStream v1.8. First of all there is the duplicate feature. This allows you to duplicate anything--any text, object or graphic--any number of times, and with any offset (horizontal or vertical offset). Selecting Duplicate from the Object menu (or typing ALT+D) brings up the duplicate dialogue box. One area in this box asks how many copies you want, the second area asks for the x (horizontal) offset and the third area asks for the y (vertical) offset. When creating the vertical lines for the chart we drew one line, and then entered 10 for the number of copies, .65 (inches) for the X/horizontal offset and 0 for the Y/vertical offset. Bingo, all the lines were drawn. We then grabbed them all (ALT+A or "Select All") and then grouped them (ALT+G or "Group"). Creating the horizontal lines was just as easy--we drew one line and then duplicated it 10 times with a .7 inch Y/vertical offset. Then we grouped them. The nice thing about the duplicate feature is that you are not restricted to any grids or guides. We could just as easily spaced the line 1 inch apart, .43174 inches apart, or whatever. Once we had the two groups of lines (horizontal and vertical) we selected them both and then used the Align command (Object menu bar, or ALT+I). We clicked on the right pointing and down pointing arrows and then hit RETURN, and the chart was instantly aligned on the lower right corner..! The align feature is unique to PageStream. Other ST publishing programs only allow you to snap to grids, and even then you can only align on left and top edges. With PageStream you can align objects against each other- -not just against any grid--and you can align along any edge (or along the mid point). Locking down an object before aligning a group will keep the locked object in its original location and force the other objects to algin themselves around the locked object. Text objects, another exclusive PageStream feature, were used next. We simply clicked on the A icon and then clicked in the upper left chart slot. After changing the point size to 24, we typed in the name Sam. We then moved the word Sam into the exact position we wanted. No need for text frames! Now we selected Duplicate again, and duplicated Sam 9 times with the same .7 offset that we used for the horizontal line. Bingo, all of the names were perfectly positioned in the chart! Now we just edited the names. Finally, we locked down Sam, and then aligned all the new names against Sam's right edge by selecting Align and then clicking on the right arrow only. This made the chart look completely professional. We did the same thing to create the numbers along the top of the chart. Making a chart like this takes about 5 minutes with PageStream. Try it with any other program and you will see it will take about an hour. But we're not finished yet. After creating the chart it was grouped into one single object. You can resize this object and the text will also resize..! Try this: Select the chart (click on the Object--arrow--icon, and then click on the chart so the sizing squares appear). Now Copy it (edit menu), now go to page 2 (click on right arrow at bottom of tool box), now type ALT+2 to go into full page view. Now select Paste (from Edit menu). Before clicking on the page for your pasting, HOLD DOWN THE SHIFT KEY. Now click and hold the left mouse button and drag it a little to the right--about 1/2 the size of the original chart. Release the shift key and the mouse button, and you have a 1/2 sized chart, complete with resized fonts..! This took 5 seconds and would be virtually impossible with any other ST DTP program as they do not let you resize fonts in the manner. Finally, open a new document (impossible with other programs) and paste another copy of the chart onto the new doc. It can even be a different size document, or a landscape document. Remember to hold the shift key down so you can size the copy as you paste it down. GRAPHIX.DOC =========== PageStream can rotate graphics as well as text. Not only can it rotate them, it can slant and twist them. This is a simple document with one text column and 2 pics. First, the original Mona was imported and placed. Then it was duplicated. The duplicated copy was selected, and then a 37% fill was added (select Fill from the Object menu, and type 37% into the fill pattern number area). Then the object was slanted 270 degrees for that interesting effect. The original Mona was then selected and brought to the front. Both Mona's were selected and given a text runaround of 0 for vertical and .1 for horizontal. This makes the text runaround occur. Finally, the two Mona's were grouped into one object. Try this. Go to full page view and select the grouped Monas. Now duplicate them once with a .523 inch X/horizontal and 2.87 inch Y/vertical offset. The new group will be the selected object. Now select Rotate from the Object menu and enter 45 into the rotate area and hit Return. The new group is now rotated 45 degrees (including the one which was already slanted 270 degrees) and text runaround has occurred automatically. If you print out this document on a non-laser printer the Mona's may be a little dark. Sorry about that. Enjoy the PageStream 1.8 demo..!