Tag Archives: GST

Designworks 3.5 – Software Overview

Designworks 3.5 is a desktop publishing suite from 1996 published by GST Technology Ltd. It is a slightly more restricted version of GST Technology’s Pressworks software.

See this article for the previous 3.0 version.

Editor Thoughts

This is certainly a curious application as GST were also producing another desktop publishing suite under the Pressworks name. Why cards, logos and certificates are reserved for Designworks and things such as letterheads and bussiness cards are only available in Pressworks is beyond me. I can only see the reason for this being that GST wanted to make a bit more money out of their customers.

The only real difference between Printworks and Designworks is that Designworks appears to be more aimed towards the creation of graphics.

System Requirements

The software package does not list any system requirements to run the software, although the software is intended to be used with Windows 95.

Changelog / Known Issues

The software includes the following changelog items under the Dwk_read.wri file:

  • Because the internal data structures have changed, the file format has also changed. The program will be able to read old-format files (back to file format 1.02). It will not be able to save files in the old DWK3 format.
  • The File menu has a new entry, Send Mail. This will only be enabled when you have an appropriate mail support installed.
  • The new Windows 95 file selector and new Windows 95 controls have been implemented.
  • The OLE handler, which provides improved display and print quality for Designworks objects embedded in other programs, can be enabled/disabled using the Preferences dialog box.
  • New Windows 95 right-click behaviour has been introduced, as required for Logo compliance.
  • Three Help menu entries have moved to the Options menu. These are ToolTips, Getting Started Hints and Cue Cards.
  • Right-click on the Windows 95 desktop to create a new Designworks picture.
  • New Windows 95 Help with context-sensitive Help available on dialog boxes has been included.
  • Centimetres are now the default unit of measurement.
  • Clipart Browser can now be launched from the PagePilots.
  • The display and print performance has been improved.

Extras

The software includes some samples including:

  • 1,200 clip-art images in CGM format.

Gallery

Further Reading

 

Test Information

Software was tested and installed from an ISO copy of The Multimedia Variety Pack.

Software was run under Microsoft Windows 98SE running in a VMWare Workstation 15 environment with the following spec:

  • 256MB RAM
  • 10GB HDD
  • VMWare SVGA II graphics adapter at a resolution of 1280 by 960
  • VMWare sound card with Creative Sound Blaster driver loaded

Around 2 hours have been dedicated so far to the testing of this application.

Designworks 3.0 – Software Overview

Designworks 3.0 is a desktop publishing suite from 1995 published by GST Technology Ltd. It is a slightly more restricted version of GST Technology’s Pressworks software.

This article uses the demonstration edition of the software which is time limited to 30 days continuous use and runs directly from the CD-ROM.

System Requirements

The software package does not list any system requirements to run the software, although the software is intended to be used with Windows 3.1 or Windows 95.

Changelog / Known Issues

The software includes the following changelog items under the Dwk_read.wri file:

  • New tools
    To make Designworks even easier to use, the tools and controls have been organised into a toolbox and five toolbars. Many new tools have been added as shortcuts to commonly-used commands – these shortcuts enhance the speed and ease-of-use of the program.
  • New toolbar behaviour
    All the Designworks toolbars can either be docked at the edge of the picture window, or left floating in a floating toolbox. Each toolbar can also be viewed in various sizes by expanding and collapsing them using the arrow buttons at the edge of each toolbar.
  • PagePilots
    Three PagePilots are supplied to help you create greetings cards, certificates, and logos. When you run a PagePilot you make a series of selections such as the fonts and clipart you want to use. When you have made all your selections, the PagePilot sends a series of commands to Designworks and creates your picture for you.
  • Pre-printed paper
    Templates are provided to show the appearance of pre-printed paper: packs of certificate paper are available from GSP that can be used in conjunction with the Certificate PagePilot. To find out more, or to order your certificate packs, telephone GSP Customer Services on 01480 496575 or fax 01480 460206.
  • Nudge control
    A new nudge control lets you ‘nudge’ the selected object up and down, or left and right to give you greater control when moving and positioning objects in your picture.
  • Set View Size control
    There is now a Set View Size control at the bottom of each picture window which lets you quickly increase or decrease the magnification at the click of a button.
  • Summary information
    You can now save information about your picture using the new Summary Info dialog. This information appears on the New Picture Options dialog, helping you locate the picture you want to open with ease.
  • Printing layer zero
    If your picture is multi-layered, you can now print layer zero. This is useful if you want a proof of your picture, including the background style, without having to waste your pre-printed paper.
  • Tabbed dialogs
    Several of the Designworks dialogs are now split into several tab cards, each containing a set of related options. By grouping related options into tabs, these dialogs are less complicated, and therefore easier to use.
  • Enhanced colour bar
    You can now specify the number of tints of each colour in the palette that you want displayed in the colour bar. This gives you an even wider range of tints to choose from when designing your pictures.
  • Font selector
    The fonts supplied with Designworks are now grouped into categories, making it quicker and easier to locate the font that you want to use.
    By using the FontGroups utility which is supplied with Designworks, you can group all your other fonts into categories, which Designworks will then display in its font selector.
  • Updated PANTONE support
    Including 1000 colours, and separate data for coated and uncoated paper. An icon is added to the Control Panel to allow you to choose the Pantone publication, and to specify the screen and printer for optimum colour matching.
  • Improved bitmap-graphics support
    Image scaling and colour conversion have been improved. Redisplay speed is a lot faster with image cacheing.
  • Long filenames
    When running on Windows 95 – the program supports long filenames for load, save, import and export.
  • Improved help and hints
    Several improvements have been made to the Help system and its related functions to help you find the information you want more quickly:
    If you hold the pointer over a tool for more than a few moments, a small yellow flag appears under the tool with a brief (one or two word) description of the tools function. These yellow flags are known as ToolTips.
    Getting Started Hints appear whenever you select a tool from the toolbox. These hints provide a basic introduction to each of the tools.
    At the end of each PagePilot there is a set of cue cards which guide you through the basic steps of finalising that picture.
    Help buttons have been added to all Designworks message boxes, so you can quickly find more information about a specific message.

The Dwk_Read.wri file also includes the following known issues:

  • SHARE.EXE
    If during the installation a message was displayed informing you that it was unable to install SHARE.EXE, you must modify your AUTOEXEC.BAT before you run Designworks. Refer to the section below for full instructions.

    Note: This problem is only likely to occur on Windows 3.1 – Windows for Workgroups 3.11 and Windows 95 do not need SHARE installed.

While testing the software in a VMWare virtual machine we experienced no faults or issues when running the software under Microsoft Windows 98 SE.

Extras

The software includes some samples including:

  • 88 clip-art images in GEM format.

Gallery

Further Reading

 

Test Information

Software was tested and installed from an ISO copy of The Multimedia Variety Pack.

Software was run under Microsoft Windows 98SE running in a VMWare Workstation 15 environment with the following spec:

  • 256MB RAM
  • 10GB HDD
  • VMWare SVGA II graphics adapter at a resolution of 1280 by 960
  • VMWare sound card with Creative Sound Blaster driver loaded

Around 2 hours have been dedicated so far to the testing of this application.

Border Creator 1.0 – Software Overview

Border Creator 1.0 is a utility for creating document borders from 1995 published by GST Technology Ltd. The application is intended to be used with other GST Technology products such as Designworks and Pressworks.

This article uses the demonstration edition of the software which is time limited to 30 days continuous use.

System Requirements

The software package does not list any system requirements to run the software, although the software is intended to be used with Windows 3.1 or Windows 95.

Changelog / Known Issues

The software doesn’t include any changelog or known issues.

While testing the software in a VMWare virtual machine we experienced no faults or issues when running the software under Microsoft Windows 98 SE.

Extras

The software includes some samples including:

  • 100 border templates

Gallery

Test Information

Software was tested and installed from an ISO copy of The Multimedia Variety Pack.

Software was run under Microsoft Windows 98SE running in a VMWare Workstation 15 environment with the following spec:

  • 256MB RAM
  • 10GB HDD
  • VMWare SVGA II graphics adapter at a resolution of 1280 by 960
  • VMWare sound card with Creative Sound Blaster driver loaded

Around 10 minutes have been dedicated so far to the testing of this application.

Pressworks 2.5 – Software Overview

Pressworks 2.5 is a desktop publishing suite from 1996 published by GST Technology Ltd. It comprises of seven main applications:

  • Clipart Browser
    A basic clip-art browser utility used to arrange and organize WMF image files.
  • FontGroups
    A basic utility to arrange and organise font files.
  • KeyPad
    A character map utility for inserting special characters.
  • PhotoCD Browser
    A basic utility used to view Photo CD’s.
  • PhotoEditor
    A very simple Photo editing and manipulation tool, including a photo album utility.
  • Pressworks 2.5
    A desktop publishing application with various templates allowing you to create books, brochures, business cards, compliment slips, envelopes, faxes, flyers, letterheads, memos, newsletters, notices and reports.
  • SnapShot
    A screenshot utility which allows the user to take screenshots of their screen, active window or a specific region.

The software also includes demos for Border Creator 1.0 and Designworks 3.

Editor’s Thoughts

There are probably a dozen desktop publishers that exist from this era of Windows. Of course many of you probably are familiar with Microsoft’s own Publisher application or the offerings from Adobe with Illustrator, but there were many other small software development houses that existed who were also trying to get a piece of the pie.

Admittedly desktop publishers for me aren’t very interesting. Sure being a kid I used to spend hours with them making books, flyers, calendars and other useless materials in the name of wasting paper and ink – but as an adult I find little enjoyment with these applications unless they include something very unique and special. Pressworks certainly includes a lot of things and appears to be pretty capable for making basic documents with fancy text and graphics. Being from 1996 the software certainly has a very 90s aesthetic to the design language applied to many of the pre-made templates so the software could serve as useful for anyone wanting to tap into some nostalgia when making some stationery.

The software comes with a variety of utilities as well – most of them being small organisers for things like clip-art, photos and fonts. Most of these are very basic and simply exist to allow you to put the various items into simple groups. The most useful utility  that is included is SnapShot; which acts like a very rudimentary snipping tool with the ability to take screenshots of active windows or regions and then save those to bitmap, PCX or TIFF images.

System Requirements

The software package does not list any system requirements to run the software, although the software is intended to be used with Windows 3.1 or Windows 95.

Changelog / Known Issues

The software doesn’t include any changelog or known issues. A SETTINGS.TXT file is also included to advise on how to amend the software INI file to enable / disable additional features.

While testing the software in a VMWare virtual machine we experienced no faults or issues when running the software under Microsoft Windows 98 SE.

Extras

The software includes some samples including:

  • 35 fonts in TrueType format
  • 100 photos in JPEG format
  • 104 clip-art images in WMF format
  • 100 template files in DTP format

Gallery

Further Reading

 

Test Information

Software was tested and installed from an ISO copy of The Multimedia Variety Pack.

Software was run under Microsoft Windows 98SE running in a VMWare Workstation 15 environment with the following spec:

  • 256MB RAM
  • 10GB HDD
  • VMWare SVGA II graphics adapter at a resolution of 1280 by 960
  • VMWare sound card with Creative Sound Blaster driver loaded

Around 2 hours have been dedicated so far to the testing of this application.