jms@tardis.Tymnet.COM (Joe Smith) (07/17/89)
Someone sent me e-mail asking questions about UltraCard. I am no expert;
these are the things I've determined by playing around with version 1.01a.
Can you mix fonts within a frame? How about ColorFonts
(i.e. the 16 color kind.)
Each object (button) in a frame can have a different font. No ColorFonts.
You can include an IFF picture (which has static ColorFont text) as a
backdrop.
How about SMUS sounds? 8SVX whatevers? (i.e. from Sonix,
Deluxe music, etc.)
So far, I have only gotten it to play FutureSound audio samples.
Anims? From The Director? Dpaint 3 type anims?
Doesn't look like it.
Can you link pre-existing files, or do you have to pour them
into an object, or just make a button for them? (I'm kind
of fuzzy on this hyper stuff...)
I think so, the manual is not clear on the subject.
Can you fix it so you can click on a picture, and get more
info from it? I mean, click on Venus's picture and get more
info on, say, mythology, or Renaissance art...
Yes, you can click on an invisible button on a backdrop picture, which
takes you to a frame that has text.
If you can click on a word to get to more text, can you click
on a word to get to a picture also?
I think so, but you may have to create a button for the word. Note that
UltraCard is mainly hypermedia with pictures and buttons (like HyperCard)
instead of hypertext (like Thinker).
I hope to someday interface UltraCard to YourFamilyTree. I'd like to
click on the button marked "Father" and be taken to the frame with the
person's father, complete with IFF picture of him now, and when he
got married. Click on the "Hello" button, and hear a short digitized
sample of his voice. Nice idea, right?
--
Joe Smith (408)922-6220 | SMTP: JMS@F74.TYMNET.COM or jms@tymix.tymnet.com
McDonnell Douglas FSCO | UUCP: ...!{ames,pyramid}!oliveb!tymix!tardis!jms
PO Box 49019, MS-D21 | PDP-10 support: My car's license plate is "POPJ P,"
San Jose, CA 95161-9019 | narrator.device: "I didn't say that, my Amiga did!"ruslan@ecsvax.UUCP (Robin C. LaPasha) (07/19/89)
I talked to Mike Lehman of Intuitive Technologies this afternoon [7/18]; he told me about present and future revs of UltraCard. A summary of what I got from him follows, but please keep in mind that I _don't_ own the product yet, and can't be more specific (especially concerning UltraTalk.) I'm also not a programmer, so I didn't understand a lot of what he said (nor the implications.) But, anyway: Present - The new Browser is version 1.04b. [You can check the version under the "About UltraCard" menu.] It's been posted to PeopleLink, and will be posted to Compuserve tonight. It'll handle FastFonts. It'll have 11 visual effects available for graphics (i.e. slides and wipes.) Either it or the next rev of the full product will contain the Help stack (missing in browser 1.01a.) By the way, that _AC_ article lists a completely bogus address in Oregon (the correct one has already been posted here twice;) Intuitive Tech knows about it and has informed the Post Office and phone company accordingly. _AC_ strikes again... ;^) Future - UltraCard version 1.1 should be out by the end of the week, before they go to AmiExpo. Mike emphasizes that upgrades within 90 days of purchase are simple - you send in your master disk and a stamped self-addressed mailer, and the new version comes back. (Of course, it's _not_ copy-protected; by "master disk" he means the original copy you purchased.) It will allow some sort of choice of font in a multiline text field. (Either one font of your choice, or multiple fonts - he's still deciding on how to implement the thing.) [The version out now will support one font of your choice in the name of the single-line text object/button thing.] It will be 2-3 times faster. He said something to the effect that they went looking around in DOS and changed their program to make UC grab bigger chunks of data at a time ... or something like that. It will be able to do the wipes mentioned above, and will also be able to call external visual effects (your own wipes) ... via the rastport. (?) Now, concerning some of my own questions that you helpful guys/gals on Usenet and that _AC_ article weren't able to answer: By my own experiments and Mike's affirmations, it seems to support keymaps and high-bit ASCII, including dead keys. ANIMs aren't directly supported, but you can call up your favorite (ShowANIM/movie/projector) critter via the UltraTalk command "CLI"... or via AREXX. A stack has minimum overhead of about 20K. Running "Compact Stack" squishes text and backdrops; IFF image objects are left alone so they'll be faster. Don't know about audio files. One of their test machines is an Amiga 1000 with 2.5M RAM, so that (classic!) configuration should continue to run the program well. HAM and overscan images, as well as mixing types of images within a stack, will ... be a while. Same for audio "instruments." He's interested in getting a bug-squished product out; then, if it makes a hit at AmiExpo and otherwise sells in the next few weeks, they'll be able to put more work into implementing more new goodies. [I'm paraphrasing here, not quoting.] Color cycling can be done somewhat via the "SetColor" command, but not automagically. The "click on a word" hypertext function is implemented within an UltraTalk script; you link the word or phrase to some object in the script, then the link is triggered when you click on the text in a multiline field. (It's _not_ like H*Card, where the link consists of just an invisible button spatially located over where the word is; UltraCard hypertext links will _stay_ when you move things around in the text field!) Disclaimer: This is all from memory (well, mine is _short!_) And as I said before, I don't get the programming stuff, and I don't have any more than the (now-outdated) browser. Now, my own requests - Can somebody going to AmiExpo manage to talk to the guy (preferably somebody who understands what's done with rastports ;^)) and find out some more? (Like, what'll be the 1.1 font solution?) I'd imagine that a group of stacks is growing on Plink and Compuserve, along with the current browser; is any Internet/Usenet/(Bitnet?) archive server or ftp site or whatever planning to keep things as well? Thanks for past and future info on this stuff! -- =-=-=-=-=-=-=- Robin LaPasha |Deep-Six your ruslan@ecsvax.uncecs.edu |files with VI! ;^) ;^) ;^)
raz%kilowatt@Sun.COM (Steve -Raz- Berry) (07/19/89)
In article <7351@ecsvax.UUCP> ruslan@ecsvax.UUCP (Robin C. LaPasha) writes: > I'd imagine that a group of stacks is growing on Plink and >Compuserve, along with the current browser; is any Internet/Usenet/(Bitnet?) >archive server or ftp site or whatever planning to keep things as well? Unless it's posted, currently it won't be archived on kilowatt. If enough people are interested in having this kind of service I could be convinced to set something up. Send me some mail indicating that you would like to see Ultra-card stacks archived. ---- Steve -Raz- Berry Disclaimer: I didn't do nutin! UUCP: sun!kilowatt!raz ARPA: raz%kilowatt.EBay@sun.com KILOWATT: sun!kilowatt!archive-server archive-server%kilowatt.EBay@sun.com