That’ll be the sound of the user manual landing on your doormat
Last year, Elesar Ltd managed to bring back TextEase Studio for RISC OS, a publishing suite that was first developed and published by SoftEase. The updated suite came with what was, at that point, an updated 72-page but still draft manual, supplied in electronic format.
Being draft, that manual was obviously still a work in progress – and that work has now progressed to the point where the manual is no longer in draft. The software is now supplied with a perfect-bound copy of the 153 page tome, sporting over 180 illustrations.
The software itself was originally developed by SoftEase, targeted at the education market with the aim of helping schoolchildren learn the art of publishing and design, and won awards including the Educational Computing and Technology Primary Award at the BETT exhibition in 1999. Also available for other platforms, ownership of the family found its way to RM Ltd, and it is with their kind permission that Elesar has been able to make it available for RISC OS again.
It conisists of six main applications, covering a number of areas from basic bitmap graphics all the way up to presentations and slideshows, with six main applications in total, all of which are very intuitive thanks to educational origins – so to many people, a manual might be surplus to requirements. However, it is still full of material that may be useful, from reference material such as shortcut key assignments, to hints and tips to help you get the best out of the software.
Users who have already bought the software from Elesar since its December release and who would like to receive a copy of the new manual simply need to contact Elesar’s support department before the end of May to let them know their address.
For new customers, TextEase Studio is available in three main packages. The TextEase Home package comprises the Paint and DTP applications, and is priced at £60.00 including VAT, while the TextEase Educational package costs £78.00 including VAT and adds the Turtle language (based on Logo) and branch classification database. The third package is TextEase Professional, which is £96.00 including VAT, and includes the presentation and slideshow, and spreadsheet and charting applications. All prices are plus postage to get that manual to you.
Existing TextEase users of old can bring themselves up to date with a 25% discount on those prices – to do so, simply order the relevant version, and at the checkout stage enter ‘OLDNEW’ as a coupon code. You will then be contacted by email to validate your existing registered copy.