I have had a couple of emails that some have tried the freeware program
Albumeasy mentioned in the previous thread, but was confused by the instructions. So I took the sample.txt file that the author provided and annotated it, trying to explain each step. Luckily since it it a text file, I can post it as text.
If you have the program already or will get the program, could you try this for me and see if it is "understandable"
1. You will need Albumeasy, wordpad, and Acrobat reader.
2. Cut and paste the following text file from "#start" to "#stop" into your word pad program.
3. Do a "save as" and give the file a name such as "test1.txt"
4. Start the Albumeasy program and use the first button to load the "test1.txt" file. If there is an error, the cut and paste was somehow messed up. I've tried this several times in the "testing forum" and it worked OK. If no error, then click the second button on Albumeasy to make the pages which will be in a file "test1.pdf"
5. Click on that file and Adobe Acrobat should show the 2 pages. Print them out and also print out "test1.txt" and read it , comparing the instructions with the output and see if you understand the program a little easier.
6. Also if you have time, the next postings have a couple of pages I made up, just repeat as above using a different file name tahn "test1.txt" such as "olympicpage.txt", etc.
Thanks
Jim
# START CUT AND PASTE HERE
# RUN THIS FILE IN ALBUMEASY AND PRINT THE PAGES SO YOU CAN SEE IT AS YOU #FOLLOW ALONG!
###############################################################################
# sample AlbumEasy file. (c) 2005 Bundu Technology Ltd.
# ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Note: the # character is used for comments, any text following the # is
# ignored.
#
# All measurements are in millimeters, except for font sizes which are points.
################################################################################
# ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# First setup the page elements that are common to all pages in this album.
# ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Only one of the two following lines can have a # to turn it off, Currently set for
# 6.5 x 11. to set for A4 size paper, put a # in front of the 1st line and remove it
# from2nd.
ALBUM_PAGES_SIZE (215.9 279.4) #Set the page to US Letter (8.5 x 11)
#ALBUM_PAGES_SIZE (210.0 297.0) #Use this for A4
# Now set margins in mm in order left, right, top and bottom page margins
ALBUM_PAGES_MARGINS (25.0 12.0 15.0 15.0)
# Now set the border. The first number is the width of the outside border line, the 2nd
# is the distance between the outer and inner line whose width is set by the 3rd number.
ALBUM_PAGES_BORDER (0.5 0.1 1.0)
# Now make the title for the album page.
#TN -Times Roman Normal
#TB -Times Roman Bold
#TI -Times Roman Italic
#TS -Times Roman Bold-Italic
#HN -Helvetica Normal
#HB -Helvetica Bold
#HI -Helvetica Italic
#HS -Helvetica Bold-Italic
# here the title in quotes is font Times bold
# 16 point. Title must be in quotes
ALBUM_PAGES_TITLE (TB 16 "Union of South Africa")
# NOW set the spacings
# The first number of below is horizontal spacing of stamps and elements, the second
# number is the vertical in mm. Smaller number =more compact, larger number=looser
ALBUM_PAGES_SPACING (6.0 6.0)
# Now we actually start planning the page
# ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Define the first page of this album
# ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PAGE_START # needed for each page in this group, so this is page 1
# Page text inserts text as a paragraph, left justified. Font info first and then the
#paragraph in quotes. For long paragraphs it can be broken as below, with the \
# indicating continuation. The last part ends with a ) rather than a \
PAGE_TEXT (HN 10 "The Cape of Good Hope, Natal, the Orange Free State and "\
"Transvaal were united on the 31st of May 1910 to form The Union of South Africa, "\
"The Union existed until the 31st of May 1961 when it left the British"\
"Commonwealth to become The Republic of South Africa.")
# below is the way to center printing. #
#Notice that a \n can be used to begin a new line
# You can use as many page_text or page_text_centre as you want, like below.
PAGE_TEXT_CENTRE (HS 12 "4 November 1910 \n Inauguration of The Union Parliament.");
PAGE_TEXT_CENTRE (HN 12 "Mint")
# Now plan your stamp layout, #stamps in rows, size, and labeling. Use a separate
# row_start for each row. Row_START_FS ( uses fixed spacing between each stamp,
# Row_start_JS gives a justified spacing between stamps, and Row_start_ES, gives a
# equal spacing. Read this part of instructions and experiment
ROW_START_FS (HN 6 0.1 6.0) # ( font type, font size, border size,distance apart in mm)
# Now that we have added the row, time to add the stamp boxes. Using STAMP_ADD.
#the 2 numbers are width and height in mm. There are 6 text boxes, which are the
# six sets of quotes. The first 3 sets print within the box,
#the 4th prints at bottom rt. of
# the box, 5th center of box, 6th at bottom left. Quotes can be "" and nothing will be
# printed. Each quote set should be separated as a space.
# see the print out of this file to see the location of the boxes. Reduce font if
# printing overlaps.
STAMP_ADD (32.0 37.0 "2 1/2d" "deep blue" "blue surface" "sg 1" "" "sacc 1")
STAMP_ADD (32.0 37.0 "2 1/2d" "blue" "white surface" "sg 2" "" "sacc 1a")
# if we want to add any text, we just insert at needed point, using either paragraph
# or center as above. PAGE_TEXT or PAGE_TEXT_CENTRE
PAGE_TEXT_CENTRE (HN 12 "\nUsed")
#Add as many rows of stamps as desired
ROW_START_FS (HN 6 0.1 6.0)
STAMP_ADD (32.0 37.0 "2 1/2d" "deep blue" "blue surface" "sg 1" "" "sacc 1")
STAMP_ADD (32.0 37.0 "2 1/2d" "blue" "white surface" "sg 2" "" "sacc 1a")
# WHEN FINISHED with first page and want to do a second page, REPEAT as above from
# the PAGE_START.
# ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Define the second page of this album
# ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# This is a more complicated page, but just repeating commands as on first page.
PAGE_START
PAGE_TEXT_CENTRE (HS 12 "King's Heads - George V\nFirst Definitives 1913 - 1921\n");
ROW_START_FS (HN 6 0.1 6.0)
STAMP_ADD (25.0 28.0 "1/2d" "green" "" "sg 3" "" "sacc 2")
STAMP_ADD (25.0 28.0 "1d" "rose red" "" "sg 4" "" "sacc 3")
STAMP_ADD (25.0 28.0 "1 1/2d" "chestnut" "" "sg 5" "" "sacc 4")
ROW_START_FS (HN 6 0.1 6.0)
STAMP_ADD (25.0 28.0 "2d" "dull purple" "" "sg 6" "" "sacc 5")
STAMP_ADD (25.0 28.0 "2 1/2d" "bright blue" "" "sg 7" "" "sacc 6")
STAMP_ADD (25.0 28.0 "3d" "black & orange-red" "" "sg 8" "" "sacc 7")
STAMP_ADD (25.0 28.0 "3d" "ultramarine" "" "sg 9" "" "sacc 8")
STAMP_ADD (25.0 28.0 "4d" "orange-yellow &" "olive-green" "sg 10" "" "sacc 9")
#As an example, the below row is equal spaced _ES rather than Fixed spaced _FS
# the numbers in the parentheses is ( font,font size, border width)
ROW_START_ES ( HN 6 0.1)
STAMP_ADD (25.0 28.0 "6d" "black & violet" "" "sg 11" "" "sacc 10")
STAMP_ADD (25.0 28.0 "1S" "orange" "" "sg 12" "" "sacc 11")
STAMP_ADD (25.0 28.0 "1s 3d" "violet" "" "sg 13" "" "sacc 12")
STAMP_ADD (25.0 28.0 "2s 6d" "purple & green" "" "sg 14" "" "sacc 13")
STAMP_ADD (25.0 28.0 "5s" "purple & blue" "" "sg 15" "" "sacc 14")
# AS an example, the below is a justified spacing _JS rather than _ES ,_FS
# the numbers in the parentheses ( font, fontsize, width of border)
ROW_START_JS (HN 6 0.1 )
STAMP_ADD (25.0 28.0 "10s" "deep blue &" "olive-green" "sg 16" "" "sacc 15")
STAMP_ADD (25.0 28.0 "£1" "green & red" "" "sg 17" "" "sacc 16")
# Note the below has a # in front so it is not processed. Later if you get the pair, you
#can remove the # and it will print.
#STAMP_ADD (50.0 28.0 "1 1/2d" "chestnut" "tete-beche pair" "sg 5a" "" "sacc 4b")
# Now you can make another page or save with different name than original pattern page
# But be sure to save as .txt file or it will give error.
# NOTICE THE DIFFERENCE SPACINGS ON SECOND PAGE AS FIRST 2 ROWS are FIXED SPACED
# THE THIRD ROW IS EQUAL SPACED, AND THE 4th ROW IS JUSTIFIED SPACED.
#STOP CUT AND PASTE HERE
Posted 05/20/2008 11:54 am
