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                                     present

                       A new era in Alive article making

                                      with

                         The Alive KoloUr tAgger (AKT)

Introduction
------------

        Have you ever written an article for UCM or Alive?  If yes,  you must be
aware of how painful it is to add  colour  to  your documents without previewing
em. STS adressed that problem by finally releasing a mini shell of the UCM/Alive
shell,  but in my point of view it is a bit quirky (you have to  edit  the  main
text in order to make the shell load your text,  a bit long loading times if you
are using a disk drive -me included-, etc.)

        Adding colour to logos also makes up for some very cool  fx in the final
result,  but again it is _impossible_ for most people to make it  without losing
their hair in despair.

        Well,  fear no more!  The  AKT  is  here  and it solves all of the above
problems!  All  you  have to do is enter your text,  load it in the AKT and then
colour it!

Usage
-----

        The AKT was written on an  Atari  STE  in GFA BASIC (and a bit of asm to
speed  up  the  display  routines).  So it should be run in ST  low  or  ST  med
resolutions.  To run it just load ALIVETAG.EXE.  It will then bring up  the file
selector (provided you are at the correct resolutions).  Select a text (use this
manual) and it will load (kinda slow, I'm afraid).

        After the load/process procedure it will hopefully display your text and
a cursor waiting at the top left cornner of the screen.  You can move the cursor
with the following keys:

Up/Down/Left/Right: Standard movement
Shift+Up/Down: Up/Down a page
Shift+Left/Right:  Left/Right a word  (currently  chokes  with many spaces,  but
works anyway)

        On the bottom  of  the  screen  there  is a status bar that displays the
cursor position, as well as coordinates for F1 and F2.  What are these? Well, in
order to colour anything in AKT you have to define first a block. Use F1 to mark
the start of the block and  F2 to mark the end (or vice versa).  The status line
will be updated accordingly.

        Say now you want to colour a  sentence.  Just  press  F1  at  the  first
character of the first word and F2 at the last character  of the last word.  Now
press 1 to 4. Nice? Simple? I should think so.

        Now,  if you think that's all, boy, you're in for a treat :).  I suggest
that if you've read this manual so far from an editor other than  AKT  that  you
quit that editor and load it in AKT. The show is about to begin :-)

        First select the whole sample text below.  (you know, F1 at the top left
char, F2 at the bottom right)

AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!
AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!
AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!
AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!
AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!
AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!
AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!
AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!
AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!
AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!
AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!
AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!
AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!
AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!
AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!
AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!AKTRULES!!

        Now, press 'q' and wait a bit..... How about that? Now, press 'w' to 'u'
for the rest of the fx (gradfill under construction, sorry!)

        Now, to cover quickly the rest of the functions provided.

        Press 's' to save the document (as a safety precaution  do not overwrite
the  original  file.  Not  that  I've lost any data using this program,  but you
never know.  I will not be held responsible  if  this  prog  erases  your  300KB
document!!  You've been  warned!).  AKT  will save the document in the UCM/Alive
format and it is able to load it back (in case you change your mind).

        Pressing 'c' will alter the number of colours used in  the  effects (but
some are 4-colour only).

        Pressing 'v' will prompt you to set the order of the colours used in the
fx.  Just press 1-4 at any  order  you  wish.  The  status  bar  will be updated
accordingly.

        Pressing 'x' will bring up  the  character  set,  where you choose which
characters  will be included/excluded from fill.  Select a character with cursor
keys and space. Esc leaves this selector. This should be used in conjuction with
the 'f' key, which selects the type of will (normal, fill only with the selected
characters,  fill with all characters  but the selected).  Let's say that in the
above sample text  you  didn't want to colour the exclamation marks.  Just press
'x',  make  sure you select the '!',  press 'esc',  press 'f' until "exclude" is
selected, now press 'q' (for example).

        Finally, press 'space' to exit the program (just like a demo screen ;)

        (If you need on-line help, just whack 'help')


Known bugs/future enhancements
------------------------------

        This software in its current form is beta. Yes, I know it ain't too cool
to release beta stuff,  but I feel that I'm spending a lot of time on a piece of
software that probably no one will ever use.  So I'm releasing it as it is,  and
if I get enough encouragement I will continue to work on it.

        Currently the following list of stuff runs though my mind:

- It doesn't handle correctly headers and picture inclusions.
- When it loads virgin text, it's all in green.
- Gradient fill doesn't work
- Loading is too slow.
- Shift+left/right with spaces bug.
- The fx are all a bit buggy (now that I remember it,  PLEASE don't try  to  use
the fx with small blocks, or the program will choke)
- Blocks are not visible.
- Include/exclude doesn't work with colour fill.
- Character selection screen is a bit crappy.
- I hope that now it works on all keyboards (thanks for the tip STS :)
- Mouse usage isn't implemented (partially because I have no mouse :( )
- I want to clean up the house.
- I want to finish university so I can go back to Athens.
- I want to see Madrugada play live again.
- etc., etc.

        As I said above,  to fix these problems I need ENCOURAGEMENT!! An e-mail
with  flames/good  words  will be appreciated.  Messages in boards (such as  DHS
board) won't be taken into account (they don't encourage me too much).


Credits
-------

  Coding and ripping of the UCM/Alive main font: GGN/KA software productions.
             Palette/debugging assistance: STS/LOud! (thanks man :)

Greetings
---------
Atari scene:

Dead  Hackers  Society (Evil,  Gizmo,  Loke),  Paranoia  (Paranoid),  LOud!  (ST
Survivor), Wildfire (Baggio, Zounds), Mystic Bytes (Grey),  Teenage (Phenomenon,
Berserker),  Cream (Candyman,  Tao,  Abyss, Agent T), Maggie Team (CiH),  Pyjama
(Exocet), FLA (CosmosH), Reservoir Gods (Mr. Pink), Checkpoint (Defjam),  Falcon
Users Netherlands (Earx, Havoc, D-force), Equinox (Keops),  Alain Derpin (hi :),
Mind design (Deez), all who will e-mail me, and all I forgot.

PC scene:

Tran, Statix, TBL (the rest are just lamers :-)

Miscellaneous:

Jubanka, TiS (Stoned), Tricky, The rest of KA (hi lamers ;-)


Fact sheet
----------

Name: Alive KoloUr tAgger
Type: Utility
Version: 1.0 beta
Format: PRG executable
Code by: GGN of KA software productions
Gfx by: The guy who made the UCM font
Software used: GFA BASIC v3.50E (coding)
	       Turbo Assembler v1.7 (coding)
Packed with: Pack Ice 2.40
Compatibility: Hopefully, all machines that can handle ST-low (even emulators)
Approved by: Ummm.... no one
Dedicated to: All UCM/Alive writers
E-mail: GGN: ggn@atarist.com


Epilogue
--------

Microsoft Linux? When will the nightmare end?




                                                 -GGN


