• Intro from the CEO:
  Welcome to our
  Spring Edition
   
• From the COO:
  Beta Update and
  Discounts
   
• Support Notes:
  "Easy on the Eyes"
   

• Customer Center
  Polystyle and
  Multi-Editx
   

 

• Multi-Edit Partners:
  QBS
  Programmers
  Paradise
   

Introduction from the CEO

Hello and welcome to the April Developer News!

- Chad Williams

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Welcome to our packed Spring Edition of The Developer News!

In this issue we are working to prepare our users for the coming release of Multi-Editx. We are nearing ever closer to the final builds of this release and are quickly approaching our Beta Phase. Mr. Brown's article this month details the information on the Beta, as well as a limited and 'final' discount offer prior to the release of Multi-Editx. Be sure to see his article to take advantage of this limited time opportunity before it's gone!

Are you currently a Multi-Edit user who utilizes the formatting capabilities of our included Polystyle Add-on? Make sure you read Michele's article on how to obtain your stand alone Polystyle license today! With the release of Multi-Editx and all future Multi-Edit builds, Polystyle will no longer be an 'included' add-on with your purchase. Previous Multi-Edit 2006 and 2008 users already have an 'included gratis license' for Polystyle. Inside Michele's article you'll find how to request your a stand alone license. This will allow you to continue to utilize your accustomed tools within your Multi-Edit installation.

For all of us who spend hours a day in front of a display, the strain on your eyes can sabotage the endurance you need to finish the day. Clay Martin's 'Easy on the Eyes' article provides information on how to reduce that eye strain when using ME by simply adjusting your Multi-Edit color preferences. Be sure to read his article and 'Ease your Eyes' in a few easy steps.

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Until next time,

Chad Williams, CEO
Multi Edit Software, Inc.
chadw@multieditsoftware.com

From the COO:

Beta Update and Discontinued Discounts

- Brenton E. Brown

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With the release of Multi-Editx closer than ever, now is the time to act and take advantage of incredible savings! Don't miss out on your final opportunity to upgrade to the latest release now to ensure your free upgrade. Act now and take advantage of my special limited time offer of 25% off your purchase. But hurry, this offer is only valid for the next 5 days, the discount will then drop to 15% off your order and will expire entirely with the release of Multi-Editx. To take advantage during this limited time frame visit our online order form and enter 'SpringSavings' at the bottom of the page. This offer is ONLY available by direct purchase through Multi Edit Software, Inc. and only for a limited time.

Act Now!

Back in February I announced that we were taking requests from our users to participate in our upcoming Beta program. I would like to take a moment to update those of you who have applied. As with all projects unforeseen programming conflicts, bugs, etc. can push the deadline out, and Multi-Editx is not immune to these development delays. At this time we are very close to beginning our Beta Phase and will be contacting those selected in the coming weeks with information on how to obtain your Beta copy.

Once again we would like to sincerely thank you for your interest in assisting us, and in assuring that we create the 'Best' Multi-Edit build possible!

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Thank you for your loyal patronage and support,

Brenton E. Brown, COO
Multi Edit Software, Inc.
brentonb@multieditsoftware.com

From the Support Desk

'Easy on the Eyes'

---

While reading an article on web page design I got a flash of inspiration. Well actually the author had the flash but I saw how it could be used in Multi-Edit.

The author was discussing the use of grey text on web pages. He felt that the publicly given reason, "to reduce eye strain" was actually "web designers don't read the text and thus think that blocks of text look artistically better (as images) if the edges are less well defined". He then went on to talk about reducing eye strain. His recommendation was to take the white background and reduce the amount of light put out by the CRT. Remember, CRT's are like a flashlight, not a piece of paper. He had a simple example of black on white text and black on light grey text. You could feel your eyes saying "ahhhh." He actually recommended light pastel colors.

This got me thinking about Multi-Edit. The edit window is a white background. But we have multiple color text displayed on it, more of a mix than on most web pages. Some experimenting showed that one needs a background that is not very dark. The color combination has to be close to white, in red-green-blue terms FF-FF-FF. A very light grey (EEEEEE) showed most of the colors well, but was rather depressing to look at for long periods of time. More experimenting led me to a realization that the real choice seemed to be where to put the one FF and where to put the two EE's. Ok, theoretically DDFFFF would have the same luminosity as EEFFEE, but have you seen the colors you get with those 3 possibilities. So for the sake of argument let's go with FFEEEE, EEFFEE and EEEEFF. Now how do we set this up in Multi-Edit?

Select Tools-Customize-Colors from the main menu. You will need to Select one of the color Templates. Now Multi-Edit does not come with the light colors we need so we will have to create a custom color. Click on the Define button in the lower right hand corner of the dialog. Locate the red, green and blue edit boxes. Enter 255 for the FF entry and 238 for the EE entries of the color you picked. Then click the Add to custom colors button. OK, last step ahead.

In the list box on the left, in the "Editing" section click on each item in turn (excepting Highlight text and Search highlight text) and then right click on the custom color you created. Do the same with all the items in the "Syntax highlighting" section except for brackets. Now most of the selections in the list should have your pastel background. You may want to create a second light background to use in the line changed marker, if you edit a lot of old code. When you are done Select the name of the color template and change it to something else (program, mycolor, whatever) and then you must press the Save button before you exit the dialog, otherwise you efforts will only last until you quit Multi-Edit. Now you need to go to Tools-Customize-Extensions and select the extension you use regularly. In the upper right area of the dialog there is a selector for Colors. Pick the template you made from the list, and use the OK/Close buttons to back out of the dialogs.

You might ask, "Why the slightly darkened background instead of using a black background with white and colored letters?" Well, everyone has their preference. For myself, I don't like to be reminded of years of staring at black background'ed 12" dumb terminals connected to an IBM mainframe, Burrrr!

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Clay Martin
Multi Edit Software, Inc.
support@multieditsoftware.com

 

Input Your Suggestions in the Forum:
http://www.multiedit.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=7

**Please note that you can review/search through all forum topics,
but to submit a post you must register on the forums.

------------------------------Multi-Edit Partners----------------------------

QBS Software is a leading software supplier in Europe providing thousands of products to developers, designers, IT Managers, Network Administrators, DBAs and Corporate Buyers. Products range from IDEs to code tools, components to Installation tools as well as security, reporting, installation, web, database, help creation, system tools and application software.

QBS Software Ltd
Wembley, United Kingdom
» Phone : +44 20 8902 7600
» Fax 020 8902 7600
sales@qbssoftware.com

 

Customer Service

Polystyle changes

- Michele Hegwood

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Earlier Mr. Williams highlighted that Polystyle will no longer be included in any future releases of Multi-Edit, specifically the approaching release of our newest build, MEx. Of course, as w/ previous versions of Multi-Edit, you will be able to select to integrate a stand alone build of Polystyle into MEx so that you can continue to use the add-on. Now for those who use Polystyle & want to continue using it once the new build of ME is released, please simply forward a request to me via email to sales@multieditsoftware.com including your current registration information & your Multi-Edit 2006 or 2008 serial number. Once I've validated your information, you will be sent an email directly from Polystyle providing you w/ a download option & license for a standalone installation, which can then be integrated into MEx. I will also note that the email which is generated from Polystyle will indicate that you have 'purchased a copy of Polystyle', this is simply the default email template used by Polystyle, but be assured that you will not be charged for your requested stand alone license. Polystyle's Matt Jones is allowing 'ONE WEEK' to process all requests for this stand alone licensing, so act now, as it is beyond our control to offer any extensions for this offer.

If you have any questions or need help locating your registration information please send me an email @ sales@multieditsoftware.com, & I'll be more than happy to assist you.

Don't forget to review our previous newsletters highlighting our approaching release of MEx & how you can obtain a FREE UPGRADE @

http://www.multieditsoftware.com/TheDev/v07_i01_2010.htm#CMC
http://www.multieditsoftware.com/TheDev/v07_i02_2010.htm#CMC

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Always at your service and available for any questions,

Michele Hegwood
Multi Edit Software, Inc.
Michele Hegwood: sales@multieditsoftware.com

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