Paperback is free, but is Copyright 1994-1996 by David Fedor (fedor@pobox.com). If you want to redistribute the Paperback
application, send me mail. 

What's new in Paperback 2.0?

Paperback 2.0 has the following new features: 

       Automatic table-of-contents generation (exclusive cool feature) 
       Automatic re-wrapping of paragraphs (great for email and such) 
       Faster (especially when built for Newton 2.0) 
       Book reader doesn't need to be in each Paperback book (saves space) 
       Supports rotation (i.e. landscape mode on Newton 2.0 devices) 
       Supports Monaco font if installed (fixed-width text is nice sometimes) 
       Saves your last settings (finally, you don't have to suffer with my defaults!) 
       Quick switching between Paperback books - tap on the title while reading a book to select. 

Note that Paperback books created with Paperback 1.02 will work just fine on Newton 2.0 devices, but if you create a new one
with Paperback 2.0, you can optionally make it Newton 2.0-only, which results in a smaller, faster Paperback book. 

How do I use Paperback?

On the Macintosh or using the Windows File Manager, drop a text file on the Paperback icon. A dialog box will appear, letting
you choose various options. Normally you'll just change the first item (the text displayed in the extras drawer) and hit "OK" to
save the Paperback book on your hard drive. 

The generated package file is now ready to be downloaded using Apple's Newton Package Installer, the Macintosh or Windows
Connection Kit, Newton Backup Utility, or any of the various shareware package downloaders. 

Once you've gotten the package on your Newton device, just tap on the icon in the Extras drawer, and there's your text! 

What are all these options?

When you drop a text file on the Paperback application, there are a bunch of options you can set. Here's an explanation of them: 

The top few fields are: 

       The name to appear in the Extras drawer (keep this short) 
       The title shown at the top of the page while reading the Paperback 
       The unique name of the package (usually just leave this alone. It has to be unique, but other than that, it is mostly
       irrelevant.) 

The next few options are new for Paperback 2.0: 

       Rewrap paragraphs automatically - Many email systems will insert line breaks every 80 characters or so. This
       makes for an ugly display on the narrow screen that MessagePads have. If you check this box, Paperback will attempt to
       undo this mangling. 

       Make Table of Contents - This will automatically generate a table of contents, based on the existing text in your file.
       For instance, if your file has lines starting with "Chapter 1 - The Notepad" then later on, "Chapter 2 - The Datebook" and
       so on, then turn on this option and fill the next field with the text "Chapter " (no quotes). You'll probably also keep the
       "Keep these lines in the book" checkbox turned on in this case, since you want that chapter heading inside the text. 

       Now when you read your file, hit the overview button (between the scroll arrows) and you'll see a table of contents,
       which will look like this: 
              1 - The Notepad 
              2 - The Datebook 
              3 - The World Clock (etc...) 
       ... so you get an automatic table of contents, with absolutely no work on your part! (Ok, ok, I really like this feature,
       sorry...) 

       If you want to create a table of contents but your file doesn't have this sort of text already in it, you can add lines which
       start with something unique (like ###) followed by the table of contents entry. Then put that ### (or whatever) in the
       "Lines starting with" box, turn off the "Keep these lines in the book" checkbox so the body of your file will look correct,
       and you'll get the exact table of contents that you wanted. 

       Include Paperback Reader in the package - Since Paperback isn't part of the Newton ROM, there needs to be a
       program which shows your text to you. However, you only really need one copy of that program on your device (since it
       takes up space)... so the solution is to have at least one Paperback on your Newton device with the Paperback Reader
       included. Then your other Paperback books can be smaller, but you'll really not be able to tell any difference other than
       the fact that you've got more free space! 

       If you don't have a reader in any of your Paperback books, when you tap on a Paperback it'll let you know that a reader
       can't be found. Just create any Paperback book (a blank file will work fine) and include the reader, and you'll be all set. 

       If in doubt, just always keep this checked, and you'll use a bit more space but you won't have to worry about anything. 

       Newton 2.0 only - If you know this Paperback book will only be displayed on Newton 2.0 devices, then check this
       option. Your Paperback will be smaller and faster. 

You can also choose the default font used to display the text. An area to provide contact information or help is also provided; the
users can access that info by pressing the "?" button on the status bar. 

Can I drop my word processor documents on Paperback?

If you're using a word processor like Word or ClarisWorks or whatever, you'll need to save your file as "text only" before giving
it to Paperback. This will remove the graphics, multiple fonts, tables, etc., which Paperback won't know how to display. (See the
next question.) 

Can I put graphics in a Paperback book?

Paperback doesn't support multiple embedded fonts or graphics or any non-text files. There are other applications which support
these sorts of things (Newton Press or BookMaker, both by Apple Computer, NewtsCape, and others) but Paperback is designed
to be quick, efficient, and above all, free. I don't have the time to add this feature, and it would make the reader application much
more complex. 

Are you porting Paperback to the TRS-80?

Paperback currently runs on MacOS computers, and on Windows boxes. It could theoretically run on nearly any computer, but it
doesn't make much sense on platforms which don't have the applications to download the packages to the Newton device! 

If you're a programmer and really really want a version of Paperback to run on your favorite machine, first make sure there's a
package downloader for it. Then write the UI and file handling code for me. Then send me mail and we might work something
out. :-) 

So is it a "real" Newton book?

Paperback does not create "real" Newton books like those created with Apple's BookMaker application or Newton Press. In some
ways that's good - I can implement new features like changing the font on demand, and can support landscape mode (or any size
screen) but it also means I don't support some features like multiple fonts, graphics, multiple columns, printing, etc... and you
also need to have a Paperback reader installed somewhere, since it isn't part of the ROM. 

The reader application (i.e. overhead necessary to display a Paperback book) is less than 15k uncompressed (10k compressed),
which is quite compact for an application. Converting ASCII into Unicode (necessary for Newton devices) doubles the size of the
text, which will result in packages over double the size of the original text. However, the built-in compression on Newton devices
will generally mean your Paperback book will take roughly the same amount of space on the device as it does on your desktop
computer. 

If you're not including the reader application in the package, the overhead drops down to less than 5k, which is then compressed
to about 3k. And just so long as you have a Paperback book with a reader installed on your Newton device, you're all set. 

Can I automate Paperback?

If you want to be able to drop a text file on the Paperback application and have it just create the package without any options, that's
possible. (I didn't say trivial, but it's possible.) Run Paperback once and set the default preferences the way you want them to be.
Then edit the Paperback Prefs file (found inside the Preferences folder of the System Folder) with some text editor like BBEdit
and change the 8th letter from a "@" to an "A". Now save the file and your package will be saved in the same spot as the source
file, with your default options. 

Can I have multiple sets of defaults?

Sigh... I knew you were going to ask that. Yes you can, but you'll just have to send me mail and ask how. If enough people
really want/use this, I'll make it public information :-) 

Comments or suggestions

I'd be happy to get any mail you'd care to send to me about Paperback (or PDAs, life, marriage, Christianity, babies, etc...). I
hope you enjoy Paperback and that you find it useful! 

Oh, since lots of folks have asked, we did have our baby in October '94 - his name is Jason, and he's lots of work but also lots of
fun! His grandparents are just a little gaga over him... 
