Online Help (0.95)

INTRODUCTION:

AlbumPager is designed specifically to help you create basic stamp album pages.

For ease of use, there are only two kinds of objects on an AlbumPager layout:

BOXES where you want to put your stamps, and

TEXT objects where you write stamp descriptions, dates, etc.

Some major features:

create boxes, text, and whole sets of boxes quickly
simple page layout options
a variety of line styles for borders
easy object selection, dragging, resizing & group editing
use inches, mm, or points for measurement
include BMP images in any stamp box

INSTALLATION

Run INSTALL.EXE to Install AlbumPager on your system.

The Main Window

When AlbumPager launches, the main window will be shown. This window is split into 4 main parts:

the Main Menu
the Toolbar at the top of the window
the Tools to the left of the window
the Page Layout area, initially blank

The Page Layout Area show the current album page being worked on. All the other parts of the main window give you access to various AlbumPager features.

The Main Menu

The main menu has the following options:

File:

New - creates a new album file
Open - opens an existing album file
Save - save the current album file
Save As - save the current album file to a new filename
Print - print the current album page
Page Setup - basic layout for the current album
Exit - quit AlbumPager

Edit:

Copy - copy the currently selected objects
Cut - cut the current selected objects (they will be deleted from the screen)
Paste - paste objects onto current page
Align - a variety of options for aligning objects
- center horizontal
- center vertical
- center row on page
- align left
- align right
- align top
- align bottom
- build new row
Delete - delete the selected objects
Edit Object - edit the object's text & other info

Objects:

New: Box - create a new box
New: Text - create a new piece of text
New: Set of Boxes - create a new set of boxes
Insert Pages - insert pages to end of current album

View:

Alignment toolbar - show/hide the alignment tools
Nudge toolbar - show/hide the nudge tools
Refresh - redraw the album layout

Help:

Contents - launch this help file
AlbumPager web site - go to the AlbumPager web site
About - show program info

Note on creating new objects:

When you choose New Box, New Text or New Set of Boxes, your mouse cursor will change to show that you have created a new object. You need to click on the page where you want these new objects to be placed. The new objects will be placed with their upper left corner on the spot where you click. When creating a new set, a window will popup first, asking for some details about the set you would like to create.

Main Toolbar:

The Toolbar has convenient speed buttons for Open, Save, Print, Zoom In, Zoom Out, New Box, New Text, New Set of Boxes.

Left-Hand Tools:

The Tools to the left of the page layout can be divided into three groups:

The Nudge Tool for nudging selected objects.
The Alignment Tools for lining up selected objects.
The Page List, which shows the pages in your project; you can click any page to edit it.

The Nudge Tool:

The Nudge Tool has 8 arrows and a dropdown list showing an amount. If you select a nudge amount, the arrows will move all selected objects that amount in the direction shown on the arrow. So, to nudge objects 5 mm to the left, select a nudge amount of 5, then click the left arrow. Note that the nudge amount is currently in millimeters.

The Alignment Tool:

This tool is a series of buttons. If you select some objects, you can then choose any button to align the selected objects a variety of ways. If you hold your mouse over a button for a few seconds, a popup hint will describe the button for you.

Box Info Window

When you edit a box (by selecting it and pressing ENTER), the Box Info Window will pop up. Here you can edit all the information which describes that box:

Inner Text - the text which goes into the box
Width - the width of the box
Height - the height of the box
Border - the border style
Shape - the shape of the box
Picture - the image to draw inside the box
OK/Cancel - click OK when done, or Cancel to skip the changes

Note that you can select multiple objects, both text and box objects, and press ENTER to edit them all in order. When you do this, you will edit all the text objects first, then all the Box objects.

There is a FIND button next to the Picture field. If you click it, you can search for the image file you need. Note that images used by an AlbumPager layout are not saved with the layout file. If you later move the image file, or remove the CD with the image file on it, that page may not load properly.

Page Setup Window:

Each album project will have a certain set of fonts, a title, margins, etc. You can set all of these by going to the File Menu: Page Setup option. The Page Setup Window will appear. here, you can edit all aspects of the page layout:

Page Title - the page title to be drawn on the page
Placement - where to draw the page title
Border: Style - the border style
Border: Draw sides - click here to draw the sides, otherwise just the top & bottom lines of the page border will be drawn
Margins: Left, Right, Top, Bottom - set the page margins here
Fonts - Click to text samples to edit the fonts:
- Text title - the font used for the top line of text objects
- Text additional - the font used for the additional lines of text objects
- Box inner text - the font used for text drawn inside box objects
Units - you can select your preferred units here, either inches, mm or points.
OK/Cancel - click OK when done, or cancel to exit without saving changes

New Set of Boxes Window

When you click the New Set button or go to the Objects: New: Set menu item, the New Set of Boxes Window will pop up. This will let you create an organized group of boxes all at once. You can fill in the following info:

Number of Boxes:
- Number - total number of boxes to create
- Rows - number of rows to arrange the boxes in
Box size:
- Width - desired width of each box
- Height - desired height of each box
Shape - desired shape of each box
OK/Cancel - click OK when done, or cancel to exit without creating boxes

After clicking OK, your mouse cursor will change to show that you have created a new set of boxes. You need to click on the page where you want these new boxes to be placed. The boxes will be placed with their upper left corner on the spot where you clicked.

Example: you have a set of 12 stamps to make boxes for. You want them to be arranged in 3 rows. Click the New Set button, and enter Number 12, Rows 3. Pick a size, click OK. Now click on the page layout where you want the new boxes placed. AlbumPager will create 3 rows of 4 boxes each, all nicely packed together. If you immediately hit ENTER, you can edit the new boxes in order.

Text Info Window

When you select a text object and press ENTER, the Text Info Window will pop up. This is where you edit the info describing the text object:

Text - the actual text to drawn on the page
Width - the width of the text area
Height - the height of the text area
OK/Cancel - click OK when done, or cancel to exit without saving changes

Note that the first line of each text object might be drawn in a different (usually larger) font. You can set these fonts by going to the File: Page Setup menu item.

ABOUT AlbumPager

AlbumPager was designed & written by s.c.virtes.

Note from the author:
I have always wanted to put together a simple program for producing album pages, and I have written various bits & pieces over the years, starting way back in DOS days. But it wasn't until Philatelic.com asked about such a program that I decided to really sit down and finish up a package. I didn't want to see how competing products did it; I spent years drawing album pages by hand, and in PageMaker, and knew exactly the set of features I wanted to see. I hope you find AlbumPager useful; feel free to email us and suggest new features or ideas.
============================== scv

For ordering, contact info, and questions, please visit

http://www.philatelic.com/album/ or http://www.scvs.com/album/