 x&                                                                 -letter-count column, unless otherwise specified in this README. This is a 160K Coleco disk.
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FileMGRprg:  a CIS download by Joe Botto of the ++FileManager program. FNEWSMKR REV
       By Dave Sands. This article originally appeared in the ADAM's LEAF of the Edmonton (Alberta, Canada) ADAM Users Group. and is supplied by ADAM News Network.
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   NewsMAKER, by Strategic Software of New Jersey, calls itself "The Complete and Fully Integrated Electronic Publishing System for the ADAM Family Computer." 
   For $29.95 (U.S.) it could also call itself the biggest bargain in desktop publishing anywhere, anytime.
   NewsMAKER uses what the ADAM came with to do a job that's pretty impressive, especially considering the price of anything else calling itself "desktop publishing."
   And, since the ADAM comes with its own printer, a little program that loads from datapacks, runs on BASIC and prints out a formatted, designed on the screen 8.5 by 11 inch sheet on that printer is a great thing to have available.
   It is always easy to be negative about anything, and there are some problems with NewsMAKER, but I"m happy to have it, and I produced a lot of the pages of the ADAM's LEAF with it. I used a simple but effective two column style with lines justified left and right that gave a finished and professional look and didn't take a lot of work.
   Here's a short run through of a page production on NewsMAKER. Once loaded, the program presents a rectangular outline in standard business letter proportions. This is the only page size NewsMAKER offers. Two menu lines supply one word prompts -- Edit, Contents, New, Output, etc. Selecting New in the Edit mode lets you create boxes of any size within the page outline by using the Arrow keys to control a cursor. These boxes, which will usually be columns, will determine your final type layout on the paper. Another prompt, Contents, leads you to NewsMAKER's text creation screen. This is really a SmartBASIC text screen. Type in copy, using the rudimentary word processing controls supplied, and use SmartKEY II to return to Edit mode. NewsMAKER uses SmartKEYS only in this text entry mode. All other commands can be selected by using the spacebar, or, more quickly, by typing the first letter of each command word. "E" for Edit, for example. 
   Once your copy is created, you should Save and then select Print to go into NewsPRINT mode, which uses the ADAM printer. I understand a dot matrix printer patch is now available for the program.
   A daisy wheel printer like the ADAM's can't compete with a dot matrix (or laser) printer in graphics, but NewsMAKER tries. It offers two headline fonts (sizes), a library of illustrations -- flags, etc., and will accept Signshop graphics. My program has yet to print out anything I've created in headline or graphics, however. 
   In laying out this review for the LEAF, I created 13 separate blocks, three picture and 10 text.  This is pushing it, though and my usual NewsMAKER page is two columns with no decorations. Page formats can be stored as files and called up for use as wanted, a considerable time-saver.
   You must create a block first to be able to enter any text or picture. NewsMAKER has no way of telling you how full your blocks are when you are entering copy.  Blocks can be set as Open or Closed. Open blocks will accept text that overflows the previous block, but there is a one page limit -- NewsMAKER can't create     more than one page. The View command lets you check how full blocks are with a screen image of your formatted page.
   My biggest problem with NewsMAKER, in two years of using it to produce the ADAM's LEAF, EAUG's newsletter, is in its inability to "import" files. When I get an article for the LEAF on disk/tape/modem, I cannot use it in NewsMAKER without completely retyping it. Without being able to import files, pages must often be completed by cutting and pasting after printing out. This is really a simple way to get the result you need, and I do it regularly, but it ain't desktop publishing.
   A major bug is that NewsMAKER overprints material from one file onto the next if you print pages in succession; it doesn't clear the memory after printing. That slows down page production.
   The instruction book is adequate, but could certainly enhance the program more than it does. NewsMAKER is not quick, loading and running different portions takes minutes, not the "moments" the instructions constantly refer to. Count on seven minutes to load, five to change to NewsPRINT mode. Printing out is half the speed of SmartWRITER, in one direction only.
   As a regular user of NewsMAKER, I'd like to see a Version 2 that would let me use SmartWRITER and modem files, know where I was in the column or block when typing, and give me a better screen display than the present mode. It also desperately needs some kind of guides on the screen to allow you to create consistent sizes of columns or blocks. NewsMAKER's text entry system needs refinement, too. And the bottom line is that I'd be willing to pay more than $29.95 to get an improved version.
   If you're doing a newsletter or handouts for a church, community league, candidate, or computer club on your ADAM, you have to have this program. It's the only thing of its kind for the ADAM, and reasonably simple to learn and use.
   NewsMAKER, in short, is an elementary, but useful "desktop publishing" program that uses the ADAM's capabilities fully and produces an acceptable product.

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