Welcome to Impression Style
===========================

Impression Style, part of the Impression family of "Document Processors",
is a powerful word processor, desktop publishing and graphical layout
program for RISC OS.  It is now presented to RISC OS users free of charge
courtesy of RISC OS Developments Ltd.

Original authors "Computer Concepts" coined the term Document Processor
to explain how Impression merged the concepts of desktop publishing (DTP)
and word processing, to give a program where layout and writing are
on an equal footing.

Previously (and to a degree, still today), word processors tend to give
only limited layout control, focussing on being "a page of text" at 
heart.  Impression eschews this, instead saying - "here's a page, draw
a box where you like and type into it".

Suddenly you could draw some boxes, link them together, and then type
into the resulting "frames" like a word processor, with styles, fonts,
effects, all flowing from frame to frame.

Want a picture?  Just draw a box and drop that in too.

Want a little more structure?  Use chapters and create "Master pages"
with pre-created frames, layout, headers and footers.

Whether you wanted to create a letter, leaflet, pamphlet or book /
magazine, Impression has you covered.  Even posters, business cards
and adverts are no problem - just different size pages.

In the modern world, you can print to paper, or generate PDFs for
use on any platform (see the Tutorial guide for more info).


Style, Publisher and Impression-X
---------------------------------

Over the years, there have been five or even six editions of
Impression (you can read the full history in the supplied Impression
Newsletter 1).  However, three editions exist in parallel, targeting
different types of user.

Originally retailing at 116, Impression Style was aimed at home,
education and small business users who needed to produce attractive
documents for printing on their own equipment.

Impression Publisher added a few extra features, most notably 
removing the restrictions on the shape of frames - you could now
have triangular or other crazily shaped frames.  It also added
finer control over pictures, allowing a degree of image processing
(brightness, contrast, colour balance etc).  Several professional-
friendly additions appeared such as handling of CMYK colours and
the like.

Finally, Impression-X (formally known as Publisher+) added a number
of features relating to professional print bureaux (eg. Open Pre-
Press Interface), extended colour handling, fine-grain postscript
control and, curiously, a word-count facility.  Impression-X is
still undergoing active development, recently gaining native JPEG
handling and gradual progression to full 32bit RISC OS support
for modern computers.

All are extremely capable programs, and we think you'll be
pleasantly surprised by how capable Impression Style is, despite
appearing to be the lowliest member of the family.


Aemulor
-------

Impression Style was originally produced during the RiscPC
era (mid 1990s) and is thus a 26bit application and not a 32bit
native one as used by modern RISC OS kit.  To use Impression
Style you will need to download a program called Aemulor from
the following website:
  
  http://www.sendiri.co.uk/aemulor
  
Don't worry - it's free!  Just grab the version that is 
appropriate to your computer, and download it.  Once downloaded,
you'll just need to double click Aemulor before running 
Impression - no further configuration is needed - it will be
totally transparent.

Note - if running on RiscPC-era hardware, or on VirtualAcorn
(emulation for Windows PCs) then Aemulor isn't needed - Style
will run un-aided.


Installing Style
----------------

Please follow the steps below to install Impression Style:
  
  1) Start by double-clicking "!SysMerge" to update your
  System modules.  This will ensure that various key 
  components are up-to-date and installed correctly.
  
  2) Double click !Boot on your main drive, click "Fonts"
  and then, if necessary (RO4.39/Adjust), "Install Fonts".
  
  Drag !Fonts from this zip file into the "Font Merge"
  window, then click Merge to install the fonts supplied
  with Impression.
  
  3) Copy (drag) the Impression folder from this zip onto
  your main drive.  This will copy out the main Impression
  Style program and supporting utilities.
  
  
Starting the program
--------------------

Don't forget to double-click Aemulor first, so that it is
running, then double-click on !Style in your Impression
folder to run the program.  It will appear on the iconbar.

Click its iconbar icon to open a new document and begin
enjoying this fantastic program.


Learning to use Impression Style
--------------------------------

We *strongly* recommend that you follow the easy-to-read
Tutorial supplied with the program in the Impression 
folder.  This will guide you through creation of four
types of document, and introduce most of the major features.
It is supplied both as a PDF (easy to read on other devices)
and as a native Impression document, so that you can see
how it was created.

Beyond that, the program has an in-built online help system
available from the main menu - "Help".  Please explore that
to read more detail about the various capabilities.

A full (350+ page) manual is available as an Impression 
or PDF document with purchases of Impresson Publisher and
Impression-X.  If you're not interested in buying either
of those, it also covers Style and can be acquired by
using !Store and making a small donation ( 10 suggested,
but 5 would suffice) for Style and letting us know your
email address for delivery.

In all honesty, whilst the full manual is always useful,
by the time you've finished the (65+ page) Tutorial, and
poked around with the online help, you'll probably be 
using the program like a seasoned pro already!


What's new in this edition?
---------------------------

By this point you might be assuming that this version is
identical to the 1990s version of Impression Style.  That
is not the case.  Whilst it still needs Aemulor to run,
many (most?) of the supporting modules have been updated
to be 32bit-safe, to allow better interaction with other
RISC OS applications.

Additionally, this means that several issues that would
otherwise affect Impression (such as colour display issues
on some RISC OS platforms, and crashes with OLE and other
facilities) are resolved in this version.

Additionally, there is no protection in this release, so
it can be copied freely onto your computer(s).

There have also been some cosmetic improvements made, and
the MailMerge application has been updated (and is 32bit
safe).

You will note that it is licensed to "DL Edition".  This
is short for "Download Edition" as we expect most users
to download it from !Store or the RISC OS Developments
website.


Is anything missing?
--------------------

Impression Style originally shipped with additional software
applications such as Equasor and TableMate.  These are not
included in this edition, but may be part of other versions
of Impression.

We have also removed two of the legacy "graphic loaders" 
for PhotoCD and Clear format images, since neither of these
are still in use.

Finally, some of the "extension loaders" for 1980s word
processors have been cut for support reasons.

There was also the 350+ page manual, mentioned previously.


About RISC OS Developments
--------------------------

RISC OS Developments was formed in 2016 with the goals of
pushing forwards RISC OS software development and solving
long term problems like the lack of a modern web browser.
In 2018 the opportunity arose to purchase the RISC OS
operating system from previous owners Castle Technology,
which allowed us to make RISC OS fully Open Source, 
attracting new users and commercial customers.

The move to Open Source received widespread praise, and
led to RISC OS Developments being presented with control
over the Impression family development during summer 2019.

We decided that Impression Style should be freely available
to all users of RISC OS, so that new users can experience
one of RISC OS' most beloved applications without barriers.

RISC OS Developments is funded by the RISC OS community,
and it management team give their time freely for the love
of RISC OS.

For more info about RISC OS Developments or to get involved,
please email info@riscosdev.com


