[QuickTacBeta] New member of list

[Peter Sullivan]

Hello Roger,

You've asked the #1 question.  But no, I let documentation slip.

I believe that the two least obvious parts of the user interface are the
embosser setup, the drawing tools and cut, copy and paste.

Embosser setup works like it does in DBT, except that it is accessed through
File, Page Setup instead of Global, Embosser Setup.

Drawing tools all appear on the toolbar and also in the Tool menu.  Once any
tool is selected, it displays its own step-by-step instructions to the right
of the image.  What has confused people most to date is the meaning of
certain terms in the list of fills.  The UI says "clear dots" or "flatten
dots" when it means that drawing a new shape will "white out" the interior
(or even the edge).  "No fill" means that the interior will retain whatever
dots were already there before you began to draw.  I'd like to make this
clearer.  Documentation certainly would help.

Cut, copy, and clear all work as they do in a basic "Paint" program.  But
you must remember that you are cutting, copying, or clearing a rectangular
collection of dots, not an "object" as such.

Paste, however, is a bit odd.  When you paste within QuickTac, the pasted
dots will show up somewhere on your image.  If they show up where you
*don't* want them, then you must be sure that your next click is within the
area that was just modified by the paste.  Click and hold to drag the pasted
dots around to where you want them.  If you don't think to do that, and
click somewhere else instead, then all is lost except to Undo.

Cutting and pasting between QuickTac and other applications is not presently
supported.

There is one -- and I believe only one -- hidden feature.  Shift-click any
place, regardless of what tool is selected, to toggle a single dot.  Any
other "hidden features" that you might find are likely to be bugs.

And there is one "power feature" that does appear on the menus.   If an area
is selected, then you can choose "Save as Fill" from the Edit menu to save
the selected pattern of dots for future use in filling new shapes that you
create.

I hope that helps.

- Peter

-----Original Message-----
From: quicktacbeta-bounces at duxsys.com
[mailto:quicktacbeta-bounces at duxsys.com] On Behalf Of Roger Firman
Sent: Friday, March 16, 2007 6:42 PM
To: quicktacbeta at duxsys.com
Subject: [QuickTacBeta] New member of list

Hello,

Following receipt of a message regarding the new version of the software, I
duly subscribed as I use a braille embosser, which may be helpful for
testing purposes. Appreciating this software may be purely visual to use, I
will be able to gain assistance to this end.

As I have not used earlier versions of the program, I am wondering if there
is any documentation I could access so I can become acquainted with its
features and how it works and, if necessary, advise any one who might help
me to create graphics for purposes of testing. It might also be useful if I
need tactile graphics for some aspects of my work too.

Any help and advice welcome.

Kind regards,

Roger Firman.



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