Meadows/BantaIM - Utility Bundle Manual [Seneca Design portfolio]

Meadows/BantaIM: Utility Bundle Manual
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Meadows Utility Bundle Manual - PDF page

The "Utility Bundle" is a set of five production XTensions for QuarkXPress: FontCollector, Page Printer, Picture Namer, Picture Placer and Print Selector. Developer Meadows Information Systems provides these as freeware to individual users. (Meadows is now owned by Banta IM.)

Company owner John Kriho hired Anne-Marie to rewrite and redesign the manual in time for the release of their first-ever Windows version of the software. At first he wanted two manuals, one for Mac users and one for Windows users, but Anne-Marie suggested she combine them into one manual (using separate screen shots and text where the interfaces differed, see first screen shot) as a cost-saving measure. A sample chapter convinced him it would work.

Each chapter of the manual covers one XTension completely, from Usage to Preferences; and including the Installation and Troubleshooting sections, the manual totals over 60 pages. A sample appears below.

To complete the project, Anne-Marie converted the document to PDF. She added chapter and section bookmarks for navigating the manual (see second screen shot), and included internal, e-mail and URL links as necessary. Users download the PDF manual when they download the free software.

John reports that the documentation is working; his staff has noticed a significant decrease in tech support calls and e-mails.

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Writing sample from the Font Collector chapter of the Meadows' Utility Bundle Manual

Font Collector Preferences

To access the Font Collector preferences, select Edit —> Preferences —> Meadows Font Collector.... The Preferences dialog for each platform is shown below:

WINDOWS MACINTOSH
[screen shot] [screen shot]

Note that the Macintosh version of Font Collector has a few more Preference options than the Windows version. All of the options are discussed below.

Always search for missing outline fonts (Mac only): If this option is checked, Font Collector will attempt to locate missing outline fonts by searching in each folder which contains an open suitcase (screen font) file. Note that this option may increase the time necessary to perform the collection. In any event, missing outline fonts will be reported in the Summary dialog at the end of the collection/download.

Collect System fonts (Mac only): Check this option to include “system” fonts in the collection (Helvetica, Chicago, Geneva, etc.).

Collect all sizes for each font (Mac only): Check this option to include all screen font sizes (10 pt., 12 pt., 14 pt., etc.) available on your system instead of a single point size (typically 10pt. or 12pt.) for each one, which is Font Collector’s default behavior.

Download Fonts with EPS: Use the popup menu to select the appropriate EPS downloading option. You have three options for downloading font information with EPS graphics:

Off: Never download fonts.

Prompt: Ask the user if they want to download fonts (default option).

Always: Always download fonts when saving EPS files.

Download System fonts (Mac only): Check this option to include “system” fonts in the download (Helvetica, Chicago, Geneva, etc.).

Download True Type fonts: Check this option to include True Type font information in the download.

Download section: Use this popup menu to specify which “section” of the EPS file you want to receive the downloaded font information. You may choose the Comments, Procedures, or Initialization section. Each selection places the font information in a different location within the EPS file. The default selection for this item is the Comments section.

Pre-Download PostScript Code: Allows you to enter PostScript data which will be downloaded just before the font information. Use \r to indicate where you would like a line feed code to be inserted.

Post-Download PostScript Code: Allows you to enter PostScript data which will be downloaded just after the font information has been downloaded. Use \r to indicate where you would like a line feed code to be inserted.

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