: :
: ·························+··
___ : :
__/__/_________________ 9 _______ :
\_ ___(_ _____(__)__/ (_ ____///
/ \ / __)__ / \ _ \ \__ :
/ \ \/ / // \ / \/ /
(____\ (____ /(______) (___ / ___ .
\ _/ \__/_____________\__/__/ /_________________ __ ____ _____
\///(_ _____(_ _ (__)\_ ___/__ _ _____ _ \ (__)(_ _ \ (_ /
/ __)__ / / / \/ / \_/ | \ / / / / \/ | \/ /___
/ / // / / / / / | \/ \/ / _ / / /
(____ /(_______(___(____ (________(___/ \__(____| (____ /
\__/ \__/ / \_ |_____\__/
: (________/
:
····+··fOr··WoRd·15··········· K©¡ ············ ·······
:
Since last month's issue it's been pretty hectic for the Carnage crew.
Each member has had his own problems in either the form of university
exams or in deciding what he is going to do at the end of his current
course/placement.
Luckily with the use of our internal group magazine and our e-mailing
list we've managed to just about stay in touch with each other to keep
everyone updated and to keep work on The Word going. So before I
continue with this text, I'd just like to thank the guys in Carnage (and
Dick and Andy!) for the help and support they gave towards this issue
and future issues!
Over the last few issues we've managed to release The Word monthly.
This wasn't easy and a lot of last minute updates occured before the
issue you had before you looked the way it did. With members in exams,
hard at work and basically unable to help out at certain times, we had
to struggle on any way we could to get this issue complete. Luckily,
due to an e-mailing list accident whereby Dick (ex-Freak/NFA) got
included in the CRN mailing list alias (he never joined ya see) he got
an insiders viewpoint of what CRN were up to and so lent a hand.
Because of Dick we now have The Word on-line which spawned Kenco's web
page(s) and then mine which hosts the now official Carnage web pages
with links to the rest.
So now you can download a copy of The Word on-line! This hopefully
will take some of the workload from the diskback service. Also, we
recently heard from several of our overseas contacts and from some of
our UK contacts with overseas contacts, that The Word is becoming
popular outside the UK and that they are pledging their support. Some
suggested that we put a charts section in the magazine but every
magazine does this already so we figured we'd do something different
such as an alternative charts section which would be both funny and
interesting at the same time so if you have any ideas, let us know!
Also after requesting news from any group members, we got more than
usual this issue so instead of seperate files on the menu we compiled a
"Scene News" article which is composed of all the groups news data that
was sent in this issue. And if I get it finished in time, there may be
a "World News" article featuring computing news from around the world
that might be of interest to the average Word reader.
When Amida recently paid a visit and we started work on changing the
Word interface, I decided that altering the menu bar background each
issue was restrictive. I did not like the big icons and figured I'd try
for something different this issue. Variety is the spice of life and
you don't know if it will take until you try it so I did. However if
you don't like any particular changes we make each issue, you can write
in and tell us!
I usually do graphics of people or a particular object when I pixel
paint and a collage of objects representing words seemed a bit of a
challenge. You can see what I came up with by looking at the bottom of
your screen. I'd appreciate any feedback. Did you find the icons any
harder to find/use? It's very colourfull but I'm not exactly 100% happy
with it myself. However if you want a go at creating your own menu bar
then contact Amida and ask for the templates!
The Word's cfg file specifies how the main menu bar will look and where
the clipart headers will be displayed and in what colour. Feeling that
the current ones in use were getting dated I decided to change a few of
them but encountered restrictions implemented in the code. Namely that
they could only be a certain dimension. That they had to be in 2
colours and that the Adverts header was smaller than the rest for some
reason. Amida has promised to take a closer look for next issue so we
can have multiple colour clipart of any size and we can use the cfg
codes to place clipart within an article. I look forward to seeing this
happen. However, if you take a look on disk 2 in the Bonus directory
there should be a template and header information files so you can have
a go at creating your own section headers which we may include in future
issues.
So the Word is now being read outside the UK and is being spread even
more via traders, boards, the diskback service and now the world wide
web (and email). This means that we are gaining more readers! Only
yesterday, a week after The Word went on-line, I checked the Word web
site and the counter (a new feature just added) reported 315 hits!
Let's say that only 50% of those hits were people downloading The Word.
That's about 157 new readers! That's not counting the increase in the
use of the diskback service by people outside of the UK as well as
abroad and those that receive a copy through Carnage traders and the
people we trade with who distribute The Word for us.
The Word web site and Carnage web sites have recently been added to the
Amiga web directory, Yahoo and AltaVista search engines to make it
easier for anyone, anywhere to access a copy. It's even listed on some
sites as an official Amiga magazine! This can only help to promote the
Amiga scene (especially the UK) which is what we originally aimed for!
From your point of view, this means that any articles you write and
submit to The Word will be read by a much wider audience! You can have
your say and it may be read by someone on the otherside of the planet
who just happened to download a copy onto his trusty A1200! So what's
your excuse to not contributing now? Ever wanted to be a jounalist or
article writer for a widely distributed magazine? Well now's your
chance..
I said above that The Word is being distributed monthly. Between this
issue (15) and the next (16) though it will go back to about 6-8 weeks
because during this period I will be moving to Ipswich and I'll only be
taking my PC laptop for the first month untill I get myself sorted with
a place to live, house insurance etc.. Then I will be coming back for
the rest of my gear including my trusty Amiga!
I will continue working on ideas to improve The Word during this time
period though and I will stay in contact with those of you who can
access PC 720 disks or whose phone number I have already. Amida will be
running Carnage for a while and you can re-direct your Word
contributions to his address (see diskback service) but anything to my
old address (41 Lambourne) will be redirected to my new address. If
there is too much mail to re-direct then I will pick up what's left when
I return home to collect the rest of my gear around 15th August. Not
long after this (in August) The Word 16 should be released and will be
available on-line. Those of you who sent disks to the diskback service
will be informed of the new address and will get Word 16 on release.
Other Carnage productions and joint-group productions may be put on
hold while members get sorted. Our main coders are still working on
projects but they may be delayed for a few weeks. Hopefully Amida will
have all the details by the time you read this so contact him with any
questions you may have.
PD companies who were interested in the e-mailing list I was setting up
in order to distribute The Word upon release to you may be interested to
know that it will still go ahead once I get my new email account set up.
At present any previously published email addresses for me in The Word
are now dead. You can still obtain a copy in the usuall ways and The
Word is still freely distributable as long as you read the note that
applies to you in this issue.
Article ideas
When I ask a lot of you to write something for The Word, you generally
say "Well, what about?". Usually I'd say "Write about anything that
interests you. What are your hobbies for instance?". I still get asked
this so often that I thought that for this issue, I would give you an
idea of what you could write about in the hope that it would trigger an
article idea in your head.
Articles about...
Creating ascii art (how to)
Tutorials (issue-by-issue/how to../gfx/msx/code in..)
Interviews (Amiga connected people/sceners)
Your group
Hardware you wish to review.. or software
DIY ..on the cheap?
Debates (hackers/crackers/piracy/Amiga vs../pulp vs e-zine mags..)
Recomended.. (books/videos/films/audios/games..)
Tips.. (game hints/cheats.. fixing hardware/software problems)
[We really need more support for the software and hardware sections!]
TV/Satellite/Cable/Radio program reviews/comments/talk abouts..
Equipment test drive reviews (my new video/microwave/toaster..)
Recepies
Alternative.. music/dress/art/language..
Pet tips
Adult articles (sex stories/tips/jokes) over 18?
How I would.. improve The Word.
Top Ten.. babes/furry animals/video games..
Things you never new about... ?
Jokes
World news
Photo Booth contributions (pix of you, your bedroom, pet(s), computer)
Moans and groans..
Blondes vs Brunettes/Redheads..
Women in the scene(s).. your viewpoint.
Replies to previous issues articles
Comic reviews
Comic stories in graphic forms (you can submit IFFs you know!)
Adverts (IFF and text format)
RPG/D&D/board games... explained
Review of your home town/football club/local cinema/night clubs/pubs
Sports stories
Sports player reviews/bios
Game (sport) charts
Questions (you can now submit questions/letters to Word staff for Q&A)
I hope I gave you some ideas anyway..
Bonus directory
On disk 2 is a bonus directory. This was started by NFA and we just
carried it on. If you have any ideas on what sort of software files
should appear here let us know. At present I'm working on a small CLI
program coded in C which converts Word articles back to standard text by
stripping out all the special codes. It probably won't be finished by
this issue so watch out for it in a future issue! It will be ideal for
converting Word articles to text files for html scripts or to read on
your PC.
Feedback
As always, any ideas or suggestions you may have for adding to or
improving The Word are most welcome! I know we haven't included the
print source yet because me and Amida are rarely in the same place so we
cannot access a printer to test the code. However the clipart code is
nearly complete so send any 2 colour clipart in with your articles
specifying the colour you want them in (or hex value) and we'll take
care of it for you.
end
|